Chapter 9

The Work of Art

A month and a half passed since I enrolled at Yokai Academy. I was still surprised that I managed to survive for this long…thanks to Moka-san and the others. But…now that I think about it, it may be a matter of time before they eventually find out my secret. I sure hope I can hold out for a bit longer…

On her way to school, she and Moka are walking together like usual. The cute pinkette giggles and turns to the shy girl, who smiles back while her pony-tail wags from happiness. They always walk together to and from school, talking and laughing together. While Kasumi enjoys this every single day, she still fears about what will happen if the whole school finds out she's human. But another thing is: someone was telling she is not. Is this some sort of trick? Just a dream? She wants to deny all of it. There is absolutely no way she is not human.

"Hey…Kasumi?" Moka shyly says as the two of them stop near a big tree.

"Yes?" Kasumi inquires, seeing the cute pinkette tap her two index fingers together.

"I'm…kind of thirsty right now…" Moka says as she turns to the brunette. "Please…would you let me have just one drink?"

"U-ummm…Moka-san….?" Kasumi backs away until she bumps into the large thick bark.

Moka looks at her with lovestruck eyes. "Oh, Kasumi. You're the best~" She hugs her tenderly and then bites into Kasumi's neck. "Capu-chuuuuuuu~"

"Hyah! Ahhh…Moka-saaan…!" Kasumi whines, but she didn't fight it.

What the two of them don't notice is Mizore hiding behind another, staring at them.

"Must be nice…" she whispers to herself.

Later*

Mizore sees people stopping and staring at her as she walks down the halls. They have smiles on their faces as she passes by them.

"Is that Shirayuki-san?"

"Wow! She's really changed! Look at her hair!"

"It's so long and pretty! She looks so beautiful now!

"Maybe she's not a bad person after all~"

Mizore blushes at their compliments. Indeed, her hair has grown. Right down to her waist. Since a month and a half has passed, Mizore let her hair grow. Thanks to Kasumi, she can live a happy life as a beautiful young woman. She walks in the classroom and her classmates greet her.

"Shirayuki-san! Wow! You look so beautiful!"

"Please! I wanna go out with you!"

"Dude, she may be taken!"

"Awww, come on, man! She's a beauty now! Can't she at least share?"

Mizore gives a nod and goes over to her desk.

"Looks like everyone likes your new look~" Yukari says.

"I just let my hair grow…that's all…" Mizore says softly.

"Yes, I can see that~" Kurumu says. "Which makes you the most beautiful Snow Bunny~"

"I've been…getting that a lot. But thanks…" Mizore blushes again and turns to Kasumi.

"You've really changed…Mizore-chan~" The shy brunette says with a smile.

"Y-yeah…" Mizore gives a shy smile and then sits down as soon as Nekonome walks in.

"Alright, class!" The cat woman says. "Time to start lectures!" Her cat tail pops up and it wags wildly.

Later*

Around lunch, Mizore takes a look around after she ate. She then looks over to see a large glass door open. She goes over to see a teacher with tons of braids for hair and a black bandana on her head. She is wearing a white buttoned shirt and dark brown jeans. Mizore gets curious about it and walks over to the teacher.

"Sensei?" She says quietly, but still getting the teacher's attention. "What are those…?"

"My work of art~" The teacher says as she closes the glass door. "I just completed my latest one~" She gestures toward a stone figure, which is a female, posing.

"Work of…art…" Mizore stares at the three stone figures that are inside a large glass cabinet. "What if Kasumi were to…"

"Is something troubling you?" The teacher asks.

"I want to learn…how to create sculptures…" Mizore says. "Please teach me, Sensei…?" She bows.

The teacher smiles and pats Mizore's head. "Why of course, my dear! My classroom will always be open. Why don't you meet me after school, okay?"

"I would love to!" Mizore says with a smile. She turns to leave. "Thanks again, Sensei!"

As the Snow Woman leaves, she fails to notice an evil smile on the teacher's face.

Newspaper Club*

"Alright, girls," Gin says as he taps on the blackboard. "Time to get serious here." He points to a picture of a few photos of schoolgirls. "These girls have been reported missing since two weeks ago. Nobody knows how or when that happened. But we should investigate this matter right now."

"Why, um, wait until we jump in?" Kasumi asks.

"Stupid teachers aren't looking into it hard enough, I guess," Gin face palms. "I don't know what kind of research they are looking into, but it's not good enough. Aoi, since you are our photographer, I want you to find evidence."

"Y-yes, sir!" Kasumi straightens up.

"Gin-sempai, let me go with her!" Moka begs. "She cannot go alone!

"Very well," Gin says. "You two will work together. Sendo, Kurono. You two will gather witnesses." He notices that there is one person missing. "Wait. Where is Shirayuki?"

"She said she had something to do," Kurumu says. "She didn't tell me, though."

"Neither did she tell me," Moka says.

Kasumi rubs her chin in thought. She recalls Mizore going somewhere, but didn't bother to follow her. "S-sempai!" She raises her hand. "I will look for Mizore-chan!"

"So will I!" Moka stands up.

Gin gives a nod of approval. "Very well ladies. Sendo, Kurono. Gather the witnesses. And be back to report anything suspicious."

Moka and Kasumi take their leave while Kurumu and Yukari leave seconds later. The four split up and begin the search. Kurumu and Yukari search for the witnesses while Moka and Kasumi go find Mizore's location.

The search is a little difficult, but Moka and Kasumi manage to find where Mizore is after asking a few students who know her. They stumble across an art classroom. There, they crack open the door to see a bunch of girls and some boys inside with the teacher in the front.

"Ishigami-sensei! How does this look?"

"Sensei! Look at my beautiful sculpture!"

"I think I'm getting the hang of it~!"

The art teacher, Hitomi Ishigami, smiles and claps her hands. "Very good, students. Your work of art is flowing within you." She looks over to check Mizore's work and smiles. "You, too, Shirayuki."

Mizore is working on her own sculpture. A little difficult to do without using her ice powers, but it's worth doing it the old fashioned way.

"Seems like she is okay," Moka whispers. "She's just trying something new."

"Yeah…." Kasumi replies. She looks at Mizore who is creating a simple clay figure. "But…we still need to find out what happened to those girls. We found Mizore-chan, but that doesn't explain why those girls were missing." She stands up to back away when she notices a glass cabinet with a row of stone sculptures. "What's this?"

"Some kind of artwork?" Moka questions. "I don't know. Something doesn't seem right about them."

"You're right…" Kasumi takes a photo of the stone figures. "We got our evidence. Well, sort of. Let's go check back with Sempai."

Later*

"The art room?" Gin says.

"Y-yeah. Mizore-chan was in there and I found these stone figures," Kasumi says as she showed him the photos.

"We asked a few girls and they were mentioning an art teacher named Ishigami-sensei," Kurumu says.

"They say she's very popular with the girls," Yukari says. "She loves them as much as they love her. They go and visit almost every day."

Gin takes a look at the photos and nods. "Hmm…I see. I'll look into them a bit further and tell you the details later."

Later*

Mizore exits the art room, feeling a bit happy about learning from Ishigami. She is such a nice person. She walks down the halls when she notices Kasumi walking by. She decides to talk with her since she hasn't had the opportunity.

"Kasumi!" The long haired purplenette approaches the brunette as she calls her name.

"Ah, Mizore-chan," Kasumi smiles. "Where were you?"

"I was trying…new things…" Mizore replies. "I mean umm…it's sort of embarrassing to say…" She shyly holds out a small clay sculpture. "What do you think…?"

Kasumi examines the clay figure and gives a nod of approval. "That's very good, Mizore-chan."

Mizore blushes and giggles. "I'm actually thinking of studying…to become an artist."

"Is that why you took an art class?" Kasumi asks.

"Yes…" Mizore replies. "Ever since I was small…my Mama used to make snow bunnies. And then ice sculptures. She is an excellent artist herself. I want to become like her."

"Oh my goodness!" Kasumi says. "That's an excellent dream to follow! Your Mama sounds very nice!"

"She is…" Mizore gives a soft smile."Well…I better put this in my dorm room for safe keeping."

"I'll see you later then." Kasumi waves to Mizore.

Kasumi turns the other way when she sees a happy girl running toward Hitomi. The art teacher smiles and pets the girl. She then leads her to the classroom.

"She's really friendly with the girls," Kasumi says to herself. She wants to get to know Hitomi herself, although she's too shy to.

She turns to leave.

A Week Later*

Mizore takes the art classes every day and her artistic skills get better and better. She can create perfect sculptures now and Hitomi is impressed how Mizore is learning quickly. In fact, she and Mizore are becoming closer as the week went by. The snow woman feels safe when she is around the art teacher. The other girls are jealous but also swooning at the beauty of Mizore being with the beauty that is Hitomi Ishigami.

As for the Newspaper Club, they continue to gather information about the missing girls. It seems that every few days, the girls go missing. And they don't know why or how yet. It's frustrating for them, honestly. The evidence is very well hidden from the rest of the school. The culprit must be super clever.

"This is nuts!" Kurumu groans. "One by one, the girls go missing! How can we find anything worthy at this point!?"

"Haaah…maybe we should give up on the search after all…" Moka sighs. "Probably that's the reason the staff quit as well."

"Damn!" Gin clenches a fist. "If we don't find the culprit soon, there will still be missing reports!"

Kasumi thinks for a moment. There HAS to be at least a clue to get to the culprit. A photo flies off from Gin's desk, revealing a girl that Kasumi is familiar with.

"Wait a minute…!" Kasumi jumps out of her chair to pick up the photo. "This girl!"

"Huh? What are you on about?" Gin asks.

"She was the girl that ran to Ishigami-sensei!" Kasumi says. "She's one of the missing girls!"

"What does that mean?" Kurumu asks.

"Oh I know!" Yukari hops out of her chair. "Ishigami-sensei is popular with the girls right? Well…what if Ishigami-sensei is suspicious of..kidnapping?"

"Kidnapping!?" Moka gasps. "Then that would mean…!"

"Mizore-chan could be the next victim!" Kasumi says. "We gotta go save her!"

"Don't leave me behind!" Moka says. "I'm coming with you!"

"Wait for me!" Kurumu jumps in.

Gin chuckles. "Being the heroines. How admiring~"

Yukari crosses her arms with a grin. "These three are a good trio, after all~"

Art Room*

Mizore creates her sculpture of a tiger. She does it thoroughly and puts on the finishing touches. She then washes her hands to clean herself up when Hitomi approaches her.

"My, my~" she says. "That is brilliant, Mizore-san. You have improved greatly~"

"Th-thank you, Sensei," Mizore says as she takes off her apron and hangs it up. "You taught me very well. I couldn't have done a perfect sculpture without you."

The art teacher smiles and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Always a pleasure. I always look out for my students."

Mizore's face goes bright red. Hitomi is so nice. She feels she can take that class again and again to keep practicing on her skills.

"Say…can you do me a huge favor?" Hitomi hugs the snow woman from behind. "It's just a simple task."

"Wh-what is it, Sensei…?" Mizore asks.

"Do you want to be a model for me~?" Hitomi whispers in her ear. "I am working on another piece of art and I need someone to model for me. You've worked hard to work on your piece of art. Now it's my turn."

"C-can I really do that…?" Mizore has never done this sort of thing before. This is something totally new. "What if I…"

"Don't worry. You will be fine," Hitomi says. "All you have to do is stand still. Pose however you like. But just remember to stay perfectly still. My work of art shall be magnificent by the time we are done~"

"I…I don't know…" Mizore isn't sure about this. Has she asked the other girls to be models before her? What were those statues for anyways?

"Come, my dear," Hitomi backs away and holds out her hand. "You will look dazzling as a model~"

Meanwhile*

Moka, Kasumi and Kurumu run as fast as they can to the art room. They must know if Mizore is still here. However, before they step foot inside the classroom, they pass by the open glass cabinet and hear…crying?

"Wait! Who is that!?" Kurumu looks around the hall. "I don't know where it's coming from!"

"I hear crying too!" Moka says. "But where!?"

Kasumi steps toward the cabinet and opens it up. She can see the statue and hear girls crying all at once. Tears appear from their eyes. They are alive yet they have been petrified!

"No…way…!" Kasumi says. "This is where the missing girls are!?"

"What the hell!?" Kurumu takes a look. "No way! They really are crying!"

"Which means one thing!" Moka says as she turns to the door.

Back in the art Room*

"Stay back!" Mizore cries as she backs away further. "What are you doing!? What's happening to your hair!?"

"Oh it's nothing, really," Hitomi says. Her braids of hair rise up and hissing sounds are heard. "You look so beautiful that I cannot help it. You are truly made to be added to my collection~"

"N-no…!" She reaches for a door behind her and opens it. She rushes in and shuts it behind her and sighs in relief. But then…she hears a bunch of crying. There is no one but statues. Wait…are those…tears?

"No way!" Mizore runs up to one of them, seeing tears streaming down from their eyes. "What happened to you!? Why are you made of stone!?"

CRASH!

The door gets knocked down off its hinges, creating a huge cloud of dust.

"I did this…" Hitomi says. "They are my precious work of art. Isn't it nice~?"

The dust settles and it reveals a green scaled woman with live snakes for hair. She grins an evil grin.

"Medusa!?" Mizore gasps. "You were behind all this!?"

"Of course," Hitomi says as she walks over to one of the statues and caresses its cheek. "I wanted to show everyone my masterpieces. My own work of art. These girls here? They became my models for me and look how it turned out~?"

Mizore feels her heart shatter to pieces. She's been working with a criminal all this time. "Why…? Why did I…?"

"You came to me to learn about art, correct~?" Hitomi says. "Well, I am very glad you came to me for help. But you were so naive. How pitiful~"

"I was so stupid…" Mizore clenches her fists and tears fall from her eyes. Her long bangs hide her expression. "Letting you get close to me to earn my trust. How can i let this happen…?"

"Well it doesn't matter now," Hitomi shrugs. "You agreed to be my model, so stay still for me!" She lashes out her snakes to bite her.

"You stay away!" Mizore thrusts out her hand, shooting ice shards at the snakes.

Just then, the entrance bursts open and Kasumi charges toward Hitomi, tackling her to the ground.

"Girls!" Mizore gasps as Moka and Kurumu try to fight off Hitomi.

"Damn it! You dare ruin my plans!?" The art teacher uses her snakes to extend them and wrap around Kurumu and Moka.

"Kya!" Both of the girls scream.

"Don't hurt them…!" Mizore cries.

"I won't hurt them~" Hitomi grins. "They will just be added to my collection~"

Kasumi gets to her feet and grits her teeth. "You get away from Mizore-chan, you beast-Ack!" A snake comes in and bites her neck.

"You are that little runt everyone's talking about~" Hitomi says. "Kasumi Aoi. Prepare to be added to my collection~"

"No! Damn it! Let me go!" Kurumu struggles to get free, but the snakes are too strong.

The other snakes bite Kurumu and then Moka while the pinkette is struggling to get free. Mizore cannot believe what she is seeing. The girls are turning into stone because the snakes are biting them. Within a minute, they completely turn to stone.

"No…no…!" Mizore drops to her knees, seeing her now petrified friends in front of her.

"Hahahaha!" Hitomi laughs. "This is brilliant! It's not every day that i have 3 statues added all at once~!"

"Stop it…" Mizore gets to her feet, her long purple hair turning into ice. "You stop it right now…!"

"Ohhh~? You wanna be next?" Hitomi grins evilly. "So be it!"

She lashes out all of her snakes to go and attack her. But Mizore thrusts out both hands, freezing all of them at once.

"What the!?" Hitomi cannot move her hair. The snakes are frozen solid.

"This is for hurting my friends, you freak!" Mizore summons her ice claws and slashes the snakes, killing them instantly.

"Noooooo!" Hitomi screams. "My hair! My beautiful hair! My snakes! Ohhhh, you will pay for this, you bitch!"

The art teacher charges at Mizore, but the snow woman slashes her back and forth and then kicks her with a roundhouse, making the Medusa stumble back. Mizore then thrusts her hand forward, creating an ice ball to freeze her legs. Hitomi struggles to get free, but her legs are frozen solid. Mizore walks over to the art teacher with a cold expression.

"Not doing well without your snakes, huh..?" She says softly. "Well…I will show you how it feels to be petrified." She raises her regular hand and then thrusts if forward, completely freezing Hitomi solid. She never moves again. "Enjoy your time in Antartica soon…"

She then turns to her petrified friends. She kneels down next to them and gives them a weak smile. "For now…I want to spend time with the people who I love and trust the most…"

Later*

The staff found Hitomi frozen solid and Mizore explained the whole situation. It resulted in the art teacher not only suspension, but also, from what Mizore told them, Hitomi Ishigami is to be dropped to the deepest, darkest part of the ocean in Antartica. She will remain there for eternity.

As for the rest of the students, after Hitomi was defeated, the spell was broken. Everyone was back to normal. Mizore was relieved that her best friends were okay too.

Then, another week later, there are two new art teachers that decides to enroll at Yokai Academy. Two beautiful devils, so to speak. Hiroko Takashiro and Kotomi Hanamori, who turns out to be Hiroko's younger step-sister. And thankfully, they are a lot nicer than Hitomi. They have no evil in them whatsoever, which has Mizore go back to art class to continue improving on her skills.

The Newspaper Club posted Ishigami's suspension and having her frozen self be taken to Antartica. Mizore turned out to be a hero and everyone was very grateful for her saving the school. The snow woman cannot be any happier.

A few days later, a nervous Mizore takes Moka, Kurumu, Yukari, and Kasumi to the art room late afternoon. She turns to face them, her face going red and she is also sweating.

"S-so, umm…I finished my masterpiece…" The long haired purplenette says. "I hope you all will like my actual ice sculpture…"

"I'm sure it will turn out great~!" Moka says.

Mizore nods and slides open the door. She then pulls the cover to reveal a beautiful ice figure. It's a figure skater that has one leg in the air and arms spread wide. Mizore stands next to it with a nervous smile.

"H-how does it look?" The Snow Woman asks.

"Woooow!" Moka exclaims excitedly, clasping her hands together. "You did very well on it!"

"This is truly a masterpiece~!" Yukari tips her hat with a wink.

"I love it too!" Kurumu says. "Great job, Little Snow Bunny~"

Kasumi nods in agreement. "I think it's wonderful Mizore-chan. Your mother would be so proud~"

Mizore glances at her sculpture and then smiles in return. "Yes. She absolutely would~"

This is her masterpiece. This is Mizore Shirayuki's own work of art. Made with love and care.

A/N: Alrighty! Mizore's arc done! Now onto Yukari's story arc! And then after that, the climax of the series. The moment of truth, so to speak. I only saw the last episode of Season 1, so if you would help me out with a filler, I would appreciate it.

Yukari's story arc should be fun because I actually ship her with Ruby. So…stay tuned.

I'm actually surprised people like this fic, which makes me happy. I'm glad to see some positive and encouraging reviews to keep me going.

Have a nice day!