Author's Note: It's very easy to get distracted on my days off. I've wanted to play video games all day!

I've realised that indulging in that makes me feel like I've wasted my time; but rewarding myself with it after completing some writing, well...

Here's chapter six. I hope you enjoy - I'm off to play!


Ruby hugged the box closer to her chest. Whatever her burden contained gave a violent wriggle of protest, threatening to scatter the stapled papers resting atop its impromptu prison. "Shh, shh!" She hissed, holding it up to eye level and staring at blank, unfeeling carboard. "We're nearly there. Calm down…!"

It stopped. Ruby sighed – only for it to catch her off-guard with a fresh escape attempt, nearly wrenching itself from her grasp. "Hey- hey! What did I say!?"

She quickened her step, taking the last two flights of stairs at a run. "Phew…" she gasped at the top step, relieved to finally see the sign for the sixth floor. "Alright. Nearly there…"

This time, she said it to herself. She'd stopped caring for the quarrelling box, letting it jerk this way and that as she backed onto the corridor.

Stopped caring, that is, until she saw another person in the hall. She muttered a curse, hastily tucking the papers under her arm and wrestling the box behind her back. They weren't moving, slouched against the door she needed to knock on. Ruby's heart sank, recognising the blonde hair and small body of Kia. Could she be waiting for Ikko?

Ruby approached, footsteps quiet, ears pricked. She heard the sniffling as she drew closer. Why was she crying? She called out softly, then again when Kia didn't answer. "Excuse me?"

The girl's head shot up, fast enough to smack against Ikko's door. "Ow…" She groaned, clumsily wiping her eyes with her sleeves. She'd discarded her uniform for cloth shorts and a dark hoodie.

"Are you okay?" said Ruby, trying to present herself in such a way that carrying a box behind her back didn't look suspicious in the slightest.

"Yeah," Kia sniffed, digging a tissue out of her pocket. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you waiting for someone?"

"Mhm," she nodded tremulously, holding back whatever caused the tears, "My friend, Ikko. He's doing homework."

Ruby arched a brow. "And he's forcing you to wait outside?"

Kia shook her head, middle-length blonde hair scrunched into a clumsy ponytail. "Mm-mm. I tried knocking, but I guess he can't hear me. Must have his music on or somethin'…"

"Well," Ruby set the box down gently, placing her heel on it to mask any rattling protest, "How about you try again? Use your hand this time."

Kia laughed, standing up and dusting herself off. She pawed at damp eyes and streaked makeup with her sleeves before knocking. "Ikko? Ikko, there's someone here to see you."

She paused, looking Ruby up and down. "I-I mean besides me. She has a box. Who are you?"

"I'm Ruby," she bowed her head, fishing in her jeans. "I work security for the Academy. Here – I've got a spare key…"

Kia knocked again. "Ikko?"

No answer. Ruby reclaimed her box and hefted it into one arm, shuffling forward. "Did you check the kitchens already? The common rooms?"

She nodded to both questions. A worry twisted into the pit of her stomach. Ruby slid the key into place. "How come you have a spare key?"

"Huh?"

"Why do you have a key to Ikko's room?"

Ruby stared at Kia. "Because… I'm campus security? We have keys for every room."

"What's in the box?"

Recognising the attention, the box rattled viciously under Ruby's heel. She laughed. "Oh, this? It's just a wild thing I caught out in the dorms. Don't worry about it."

"There's a label on it…"

"We're sending it to a shelter!" Ruby interrupted, putting herself between Kia's wide, bloodshot eyes and the box. "Don't worry about it, seriously. It's not harmful – it's the paperwork that's for Ikko. More importantly…"

Ruby finally turned the lock. The door swung wide.

Kia completed her question. "…Where is he?"


Miss Shirayuki guided him along the cliffside when they'd first arrived at Yokai. A mere two days stretched out like a lifetime behind Ikko, as he stared out into the impossibly endless expanse. The ocean captured the murk of the weather on high, dark clouds shifting like pools of ink.

It never rained, despite the constant threat. Neither crack of lightning nor roar of thunder disturbed the grotesque shadows swirling overhead. Murky. Dismal. He wondered what the place looked like in the sun. More monstrous? Less? He'd find out, if only he could live that long.

If only… Ikko scoffed, clutching the scrapbook closer to his chest. Mizore asked him out here, promising answers. Promising the truth. Promising everything. What did that mean? The secrets behind her glare? The reasons behind her instability?

He traced the outline of the scrapbook's cover art. Surely the answers waited for him in these broken pages, in the rebound cover and the myriad scraps stuffed, stitched, and stuck into the original pages of the book. A life's work; perhaps a school life's work. Memories of her time at Yokai? Memories of home?

Memories of Tsukune?

Ikko puzzled these things – but another thought soon caught his curiosity. Why give it to him? Why not bring it along? Why not turn up at his dorm room, like she'd done on his first day?

Why? Why? Why didn't it make sense?

He took a seat a comfortable distance away from the edge, too scared to let his feet dangle. Waves frothed and foamed, breaking upon the face of the cliff before slinking back into the empty dark. Ikko conceded that nothing made sense. Not one jot – not even he made sense at Yokai, the lone human in a school for monsters. Not Kia, the wretched beast who so readily helped him forget their first horrific encounter. Not Ruby, the woman who found a smile as she guided him gently into this savage world. Not Mikogami, who wore a monk's habit in a place surely so far removed from the light of his God. Who even wore such things anymore? Well, his mused, head tipping. Monks.

Even Mizore didn't make sense. She made the least sense, a walking jumble of fractured characters. Time with her was time spent circling a crystal, each facet catching the light in different ways; sometimes subtle, like the difference in her laughs; other times radical, like how she'd swung from sorrowful quiet to hateful silence. Each new facet taught Ikko something, and yet also raised ten more questions about the woman herself. He longed for the easy answer – longed for a simple facet, like her last laugh.

And what a laugh! Wild and wilfully delighted, bright as the sun's glare through melting frost. If only every second of their time thus far warmed to such mirth, his first days at Yokai could have been an altogether more pleasant experience. Even now his own smile curled to think of it. No-one else laughed like that – and how he ached to change that. He wanted Kia to laugh like that – wanted Ruby, wanted Kotsubo and Masumi and all of Yokai. He wanted to make them laugh like that. If only they could. If only he could…

The weight of Mizore's scrapbook reminded him of its presence, dragged him from reverie. He could surely find the key in here. Surely – but no. He would wait for Mizore. Wait for her answers; and then, maybe, strike at the truth of her hurts. Find that smile again.

"There you are."


Mizore picked up almost immediately. She huffed, and the clatter of wooden drawers followed her voice. "Ruby?"

"Mizore, hi," Ruby forced calm into her voice, "I'm with Kia at the moment. I don't suppose you've seen Ikko…?"

"It's your turn," she grunted, swearing to loosen some container or cupboard. "I'm busy."

"Is everything-"

"No!" Mizore shouted, loud enough to cause Ruby to wince away from her phone, and for Kia to stare at it, confused. "No, Ruby, it's not alright. That son of a bitch…!"

"What happened?"

"He broke into my office!" she continued. A sharp snap, the sound of a kicked desk, ripped through the speaker. "Broke into my office and took – he took my goddamn scrapbook…"

"Your- Mizore, that doesn't make any sense." Ruby sighed. "Are you sure you didn't just… leave it somewhere?"

"Yeah, sure – and I turned my office upside-down, did I?"

Her brow furrowed. "No, I suppose you didn't. Still…"

"Wait."

"What?"

"Wait – Ruby?

"What? What?"

"Did you ask me where Ikko was?"

Ruby and Kia exchanged a glance. "I… did?"

"Meaning he's not in his room?"

"No- I'm here now, with Kia."

A dreadful silence weighed on the moments between their words. Mizore spoke again, suddenly calm. Clear. Afraid. "We need to find him. Now."

"Now?" The chime signalling call's end stopped her. Ruby stared at her phone.

"Miss?" Kia whispered, clutching a hand to her chest. "Where's Ikko…?"

Ruby looked to her. Examined her, appraised her. Her smile faded. "What can you do?"

"Miss?"

"Kia, answer me. What can you do? Are you fast? Can you track?"

"I-I can fly, sorta…"

"Good enough." Ruby jammed her hand into her pocket, extracting a wallet and one of the cards within. She pressed it into Kia's hand. "I need you to find Ikko. Can you do that?"

"I don't understand- what's wrong? Is he alright?"

"We're going to find out," Ruby repeated, firm, "You get outside and you fly until you find him, clear? Anyone stops you – and I mean anyone – you show them that card. You don't stop until you find him; and when you do, bring him right back here. Alone. Okay?"

Kia gulped. She clutched the card so hard it might snap. "What if he's not alone?" she breathed.

"You call this number." Ruby pressed her smartphone into Kia's hands, pointing to the field marked 'M. Shirayuki' "You call this number and tell us where we can find him. That's it. Clear?"

"Right. Right."

"Now, Kia! Quickly!" Ruby's urging hastened Kia's flight from the dorms. The box rattled underfoot. "Oh, for the love of-"

She opened Ikko's room and stuck the box inside, praying that the creature wouldn't break out in its boredom, and sprinted for the emergency exit. Once on the metal stairwell twisting down to the ground floor, she pulled up her trouser leg to unhook a small wand strapped to her calf. Basic – but it would suffice. She gathered her magic, conjuring raven's wings of her own to take skyward and join the search. Mizore came first; with Kia's desperation on their side Ruby did not doubt the girl's ability to locate her friend, and if Kotsubo was involved…

She found Mizore sprinting from the main campus. Ruby landed roughly in her path, feathers exploding outwards. "What are you doing?" snapped Mizore, composure burning on the pyre of her fury. "We need to find Ikko – why are you here?"

"I'm here for you." Ruby's wings flexed, stretching. Their tension betrayed the evenness painted onto her features. "If Ikko's in trouble, I need you to focus."

"You're joking. I am focussed-"

"Not on Ikko!" Ruby interrupted. "Kia'll find him before too long, but if Kotsubo gets there first then our priority is to get Ikko to safety. He's not built like us, Mizore, and he isn't like Tsukune; if a fight breaks out and he's caught in the middle…!"

"I know," Mizore hissed. "I know!"

Ruby reached out for her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Kotsubo won't hurt him. Like you said, he's not going to take any risks. Let's find him together – and calmly. Okay?"

"He won't if he's smart," Mizore shook her head, "If he's dumb enough to ransack my office, Ruby…"

"If he is, he's picked a fight with the wrong security officer." Ruby assured. "Now come on – let's help Kia."


Ikko shot to his feet, taking a wary step away from the approaching shadow. "Sir…?"

Kotsubo stalked towards him, smirking all the while. "Akada. What are you doing out here by the staff dorms?"

He stammered, trying in vain to hide Mizore's scrapbook. "What's that you've got?" Kotsubo pressed, leaning to one side. "I know that cover… that's Shirayuki's, isn't it? Where'd you find that?"

"I didn't," Ikko choked on a breath, "I didn't find it, it was-"

"Shirayuki never loses her scrapbook." Kotsubo stopped a foot from Ikko, hands in his pockets. "Never misplaces it. Never leaves it out. If you've got it…"

"It was outside my dorm room!" he protested, voice cracking, "Outside with a-a note, and it told me to wait… here…"

A terrible, epiphanic bud took root in Ikko's gut. Kotsubo sneered. "Which is it, then? Is Shirayuki coming to confess the truth of her obsession? Or are you lying to a teacher, stealing another's most prized possession, and blackmailing some fun out of her? You work fast for a second-year. Only on your second day… I guess snowflakes aren't so unique after all."

Defeat slumped Ikko's shoulders. Of course. Of course. There would be no truth from Mizore, no reason for her to part with such a precious thing. No reason at all, unless… "You wrote the note." He whispered.

"Me?" Kotsubo scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. What do I have to gain, drawing you out here?" He unhooked his hands from his pockets, fingers coiling hungrily, "But if I caught a student out here, lurking by the staffs' residence with one of their personal items… You understand how this works, don't you? You understand what I have to do, for the sake of the academy's continued peace?"

Ikko's mouth opened, closed, useless. Trapped. Like Kia before him, he felt his mind slip away, content to watch this all play out. He burned for the injustice of it, giving his next whisper an edge, however feeble. "Let's not mince words…"

"Hm? Speak up, Akada. If you've got something to say, tomorrow's too late!" Kotsubo barely masked his triumphant laugh.

"Let's not mince words." He forced his eyes up, facing Kotsubo. "We're both men here."

"Are we?" His laughter rang out, crushing. "All I see is a kid hiding the truth from his superior."

Ikko's mind raced. What could he want? What could Kotsubo possibly want? If he'd gone to such lengths to get him out here, alone, to frame him with this notebook-

Mizore's notebook…

"What are you doing?" Kotsubo arched a brow. Ikko took another step back, his arm outstretched. He held the notebook over the cliff's edge.

"I'm not lying." He hissed through grit teeth. "I'm not. But you don't care, you- you don't want to care. You want me in trouble, want Miss Shirayuki in trouble…"

"Bold words – but it's still a teacher's authority over the pleas of a stranger. Don't be a fool, Akada."

Ikko paused. It was his turn to smile. "Don't be a fool?"

"Get away from the cliff," Kotsubo growled, smirk slipping, "It's not safe."

"If I drop this, there goes the evidence." Ikko rushed through his retort. "Then it's just a teacher threatening a student, right? Then Miss Shirayuki doesn't get in trouble."

"She deserves a fall." A snarl ripped through Kotsubo's calm, twisting every word. Seizing his advantage, fuelled by the fire of the moment, Ikko took another step towards a cliff.

"She doesn't!" he yelled. "She's done nothing but help me – a-and all you want to do is hurt her! Why? What's she ever done to you?"

Kotsubo lurched forward. Ikko's next breath came through a crushed windpipe as the teacher's hands closed around his throat, lifting him clean off his feet. "Careful, Akada," he snarled, placing Akada over the edge of the cliff. His grip on the scrapbook slipped, held by failing fingers. His other hand scrabbled uselessly at the vice-grip. "You're putting your teacher in a dangerous position with these accusations!"

"Suh-sir…" Ikko kicked and struggled. Spots dotted his vision. "I cuh… I can't…"

"All I wanted was Shirayuki. She doesn't deserve Yokai," Kotsubo lifted Ikko yet higher. His grip tightened. "She'd be gone, you'd be gone, and it would be fine. But now… now I'll have to tell the board how I tried to stop you…"

"Suh-" Ikko gasped, flailing, but Kotsubo had him. His hands coiled like grasping tentacles, hooked into his flesh, unflinching.

"Yeah – that's it. That's all that happened. The new transfer couldn't take the loneliness. Couldn't take Shirayuki's rejection. I tried to stop him – tried to help him – but too late. Off…" Kotsubo took a step. "The cliff." Another. The wind roared. "He-"

Click. The world froze. Kotsubo's grip slackened, giving Ikko just enough air to choke on. He dangled over grass, now, as Kotsubo turned to see Kia, leathery wings ripped through her shirt, panting, drenched in sweat, barely holding onto the phone.

The phone with the camera. Her thumb smashed madly against the screen, each time causing the faked click of a camera shutter. "Put him down." She gasped, wings flaring.

"Tayama…?" Kotsubo paled. "It's against rules to show your-"

"Put. Him. Down."

The stink of grass burned Ikko's nose as Kotsubo dropped him. His knees gave out, bile surged up his throat, salt gnawed at his eyes. Ikko choked it back, curling in on himself, on the scrapbook.

"Tayama," Kotsubo said, voice low, "Don't be stupid. What are you doing?"

"Protecting my friend." She held the phone up, clear to see. Her wings flared outwards.

"You don't understand. I found Akada here with Shirayuki's notebook! He's blackmailing his teacher!"

"You're lying." Kia spoke clearly. Ikko struggled, dragged himself up to see her. Her fists shook, knuckles white. Her eyes boiled and shifted, baby blues overtaken by putrid, rotten depths "All I saw was a teacher choking a student. Someone they're supposed to protect."

"It's a teacher's duty to protect the interests of the academy."

"Stop lying!" Kia howled, her voice piercing the gusts that whipped the cliffside. "How could you, Mr. Kotsubo? How could you do this?"

Kotsubo fell silent. Stunned. Ikko saw his chance, scrabbling to his feet and rushing to Kia's side, only to stumble and fall again, fear crippling what little strength remained to him. "Ikko!" Kia cried, making to bridge the rest of the gap. She stopped as Kotsubo's laughter joined the gales. Quietly, at first, soon growing louder, madder, more horrendous with every breath.

"All I wanted," laughed he, manic, "All I wanted was her gone. Now look what you've made me do, Shirayuki! Look at what I have to do!"

Ikko's world span. Something wet and cold snared his ankle, lifting him aloft. He looked – a tentacle! Another wrapped around his chest. Suckers grasped his shirt. Saltwater burned. As more grasping, writhing arms crushed and smothered him, he saw Kotsubo's body distend and explode outwards, eyes bulging, skull inflating, arms dividing into countless limbs.

Kia screamed – Ikko wanted to, but Kotsubo crushed every wisp of air out of him. He felt his ribs pop. His insides caught fire. Ink drowned his world, turning all to black…


"IKKO!" Kia howled. "LET HIM GO!"

"Why should I?" Kotsubo's voice gurgled from within the grasping mass. His main body thickened and undulated, losing its definition. He became raw muscle, absolute strength well befitting a beast of the depths. "Ah- ah. Not another move, Tayama. He's still alive in there – for now. You stay right where you are, and drop your phone."

"I'll kill you!" Kia seethed, her eyes now fully broken. Her skin took on an rotten shade as her guise began to slip. "Ikko's mine!"

"He's dead if you don't listen to your teacher!" Kotsubo cackled. "Drop the phone! Do it!"

The dull thud of plastic on grass marked her surrender. "Good girl. You made me do this – remember that. You forced my hand. Can't have such sordid things circulating around the academy. Yokai's got a reputation to preserve…"

His arms slithered across the dirt, claiming the phone and dragging it away. "Let him go," Kia shouted, courage failing her, "Let him go! Please!"

"I will. Eventually." Kotsubo sneered. He turned through the galley, admiring each photo as he deleted them. "Students must be punished for their sins. You threatened a teacher." One eye flickered towards her, endlessly black. "I'll make you regret crossing me, and then I'll dump you both. You can have him in the next life!"

His laughter roared, a cruelly crashing wave. Kia fell to her knees. "No… please-! Not Ikko…"

"That's it – beg." Once more, his arms snaked and crawled, this time towards the woman herself. "Beg and behave. I just might change my mind…"

She watched him flick through the photos, deleting each one. "And… that's… it. All- wait."

The phone vibrated. "What's this…?" Kotsubo's mirth stopped dead. "Message delivered… You- you already- you shared it!? Who?"

Kia gasped as Kotsubo's arms caught her, taking her by the throat. He held her aloft. "Who did you send this to? TELL ME!"

A chill broke the ocean gales. A flash of white sped by Kia. Claws ripped through Kotsubo's arms, and now the man screamed. "YOU!?"

"Me." Mizore didn't stop. Claws of ice cut through the mass of tentacles in a dance of white and spraying ichor.

"No-" Kotsubo roared, "No- STOP!" He flailed, what arms remained forming a thick trunk to bat her away. She vaulted overhead, swung down and struck true. She landed gracefully, bounding up again and hacking into the mass that bound Ikko. "You'll kill him!" howled the battered gym teacher. "You're KILLING ME!"

"I'm not." Mizore spoke softly, despite the savage violence she exacted upon Kotsubo. Her claws sunk into the heart of the mass, and with one great lurch she ripped Ikko from the heart. She leapt away from his renewed assault, landing beside Kia. Icy claws cradled the broken Ikko, covered in bruised, arm twisted out of shape. "Ruby!"

Kia's eyes snapped to the landing woman, wings beating powerfully to slow a sudden drop. Ruby wasted no time, helping Mizore set Ikko down. "He needs a hospital."

"Take him."

"Right!"

Ruby took flight, carrying Ikko with no trouble despite her slight frame. In the whirlwind of action, Kia could barely find herself. "M-miss Shirayuki…?"

"No time for that." Mizore snapped, matter-of-fact. "Kotsubo's pissed. He's nearly grown them back."

"Shirayuki…!" Kotsubo's maddened mantra echoed out. True enough, the arms she'd severed grew back rapidly, writhing with mounting fury.

"We need to subdue him." Kia's fists balled. "I know-" Mizore added, "I want to, too, but we can't sink to his level. I hate to ask this, but…"

"You don't need to." Kia took a step forward. Her guise slipped all at once, revealing her true form. Her wings splayed full, her jaw dislocated and her throat distended, warping her words into a death mask of her usual bright tones. Her fingers grew long, flesh torn to scrags as bony claws burst from her fingertips "I can stun him," she spoke, "I hope…"

"Alright!" Mizore swiped at the arms he threw their way. "Ready?"

Now twice her original size, Kia nodded. She took a single breath, lungs rasping, chest swelling, before caving in with the force of her shriek. Mizore clapped her hands over her ears, but even that didn't stop the dread song piercing through her. Kotsubo's own screaming drowned under the force of Kia's song.

It lasted only a second, before Kia's tattered throat failed and she surrendered to a violent fit of coughing. Ears ringing, head spinning, Mizore saw her chance. Kotsubo struggled to one knee as she lunged. "No-!"

Ice burst from her palm, freezing the air about the teacher. It clamped shut, forming a cage that bound his every movement, freezing over his mouth and strangling his raving.

Mizore huffed, pulling her palm away. Silence returned to the cliff. Seeing the fight end, Kia forced herself back into human form. Mizore looked away, out of courtesy, as bones snapped back into place and her body broke itself over and again, restoring a healthy blush and a vivid life to the girl's cheeks. She slumped against the grass, still coughing. "Are you alright?" asked Mizore.

"Fine," Kia cleared her throat, voice hoarse, "I'm not used to singing. I'll be fine."

Singing… Mizore strode over to Kia, kneeling in front of her. "You're a siren?"

"Part-siren," she croaked, fixating on the grass. "Half, to be specific."

"Oh…"

Mizore looked back to Kotsubo, trapped in the ice. She reached for her phone, and found the security team's central number. Whilst it rung, she placed a hand on Kia's shoulder. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Miss?"

"Mhm?"

Kia held up the rags of her uniform, shivering. "I can't afford another one…"

Mizore laughed. "I'll sort that."

She sighed relief, lurching forward to catch her breath. Mizore stood, taking the call – and just like that, Yokai Academy returned to normal.