Author's Note: Nothing to say today! I hope y'all enjoy this next chapter!
"Ikko – Ikko, I swear, if you're…" Kia's words coupled with the frustrated pounding of her fist on his door. He opened it, peeling back his headset, controller dangling loosely in one hand, shikigami perched on his shoulder. "Oh my god you are."
"I'm what?"
"You're- you! Mmmmrgh!" She stomped past him, Ikko just leaping out of the way. Given an almighty startle, his pet leapt from owner to desk, scuttling back atop the console and resuming its nap. "Look at this! Look at this!"
She ripped back his curtain to reveal the perpetual miserable sky. Ikko never thought he's miss the spring sun. Kia gestured with enough violence to sprain her shoulder. His hurt just from watching her, but he couldn't see whatever it was she pointed to with such violence. "At what?"
"It's light out!"
"That's light?"
"Not the point! Curfew isn't for another three hours!" Kia slumped, defeated. "I'm not enduring another weekend of you gaming. I can't. I can't! You're killing me! Can we please do something else?"
"But I've done my homework…"
Kia stared at him, mouth slightly agape. "You're kidding."
"No – seriously, I've done my homework."
"Not that! Oh, Ikko. Ikko Ikko Ikko Ikko… you're a nerd."
"…Yes?"
"Not the cool, sexy-smart, oh-I-build-robots-in-my-spare-time and girls-are-so-hard nerd. An actual, honest-to-god, eat-sleep-game-repeat nerd."
"Right…?" Though, he thought, girls were hard. Really hard, so he had that in common with the sexy-smart nerd. Didn't he?
"You need a social life. You need friends! I need friends! Something, anything to get you out of this room. I'll take more nerds! Actually, I won't. One of you is enough."
Her exasperation boiled over into exhaustion. Ikko didn't know if he should look surprised or offended, and so did neither. He stared blankly at his best friend as her tirade continued. "Nothing wrong with nerds. That's not what I'm saying. But you can't play games all the livelong day for the rest of the year! I can't watch you! It's so boring!"
"No-one's making you watch." He mumbled, eyes dipping. "Why don't you go hang out with Etsuko?"
He liked Etsuko, truthfully. Kia had introduced them shortly after he'd gotten out of the hospital. She shared their homeroom, but no classes with him; and as another private sort who kept to herself, her writing, and her coffee dates with Kia, he assumed there wasn't much room for 'the nerd'.
"Etsuko isn't you." Kia returned, pointed. Her arms wove tightly under her chest. "I want to hang out with you, Ikko. I want to have fun with you, not… sit here and rot – and she wants to hang out, too!"
"We barely talk…"
"She doesn't know you, and she wants to." Kia huffed, tapping her foot. Ikko set his controller down, hunching over himself. "Look, Ikko. If you're happy playing games every free hour you get, that's fine. It is. It's fine if you want to do that – but you're going to do that alone."
Two weeks ago, he might have contented himself with that – but now Kia's words cut, deeper than she probably meant. Ikko dropped on the bed, elbows on his knees, eyes glued to the floor. What did she want? What could he do? What was fun? All the answers he could think of they'd long tired of or, he saw, now only frustrated and bored her.
Sensing that she'd won in the worst possible way, Kia's stance dropped. She approached, kneeling in front of him. "Ikko?"
"What?" he said, voice trembling.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout."
"S'okay."
"I get it. I do. But – you can't hide out here and expect things to just… get better. You can't."
"I'm not hiding."
"Bullshit you're not hiding." The curse drew his eyes to her. Kia's blazed with an intensity that scorched his feeble excuses. "You might've been dumped here, but it's your choice to be miserable about it. Come out and make some friends, will you? If you need my help, you just gotta ask – you know that."
"And what if they're another Kotsubo?" he whispered, fingers curling. Kia cooled from her rage, grabbing his hands before he could seal them off.
"They won't be. Kotsubo was what he was – a freak, and he got what he deserved, remember? Anyone else tries to get at you, they go through me."
Their fingers linked. Ikko smiled, half-hearted. "You're not very big."
She scoffed. "Dude, seriously. You've seen how big I get. It'd take 'em a week just to walk around me."
He chuckled, soon coaxed by her giggling into a proper laugh. "There. See? I'm way more fun than staring gormlessly at your goddamn RPG's."
"Okay, I get it. Find something new to do."
"Club fest's tomorrow, after school," she suggested, "We could try and find something there?"
"I thought you were already in a club?"
"Not since Masumi," Kia shook her head, "Karate kind've lost its charm."
"Karate?"
"Yeah – y'know, martial arts."
"I know, I mean – you did karate?"
"Don't sound so shocked. Girl's gotta know how to defend herself."
"Huh…"
"What?" Kia pulled away, asking again. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing!" Ikko reclaimed himself from the doldrums, pushing back his unruly mop of hair. "Just- you're a bit, well. I can't see it."
"Sexist!"
"No, no! I just mean that you're, y'know. You're too cute for me to imagine you kicking ass."
Her cheeks flushed, and her smile flickered from surprise into sincerity. "I could kick your ass, cute as it is."
"Of that I have no doubt. Wait, what did you say?"
"Nothing!" she squeaked. "So, we're agreed? Club fest tomorrow?"
He didn't remember agreeing, but was too fixed on her last utterance to pay attention to much else. "Sure, sure – what did you say about my ass?"
"What did who say?" Kia stood, straightening her skirt. "We're going out for coffee. You wanna come?"
"We?"
"Me and Etsuko."
"Do I have a choice?" Ikko asked.
Kia's baby blues rolled. "You have a choice – but there's definitely a wrong one."
Ikko sighed. "Let me save…"
Though they maintained a steady trickle of customers, Kia always managed to secure the same corner booth at the back of Café Black Cat. "She should be here soon," she said, waving Ikko over as he delivered their drinks, "Thanks for coming out."
"You made it pretty clear I should." Ikko muttered.
"Still – you could have said no, and you didn't."
He took the cushion next to her, sinking back and watching the world go by without them. Even on Preternatural Street, the campus mandated that all students maintain their Guise. Revelry beckoned recklessness, to be sure; every so often he spied a horn or scales, maybe an eye too many or too few, but it could just as well have been any other café in any other corner of the human world.
A patron caught his eye as they, too, watched the crowds and smiled at him. Ikko smiled back. "What kind of club do you want to join?" he asked, turning to Kia.
She wiped foam from her lip. "No idea. Newspaper club's always pretty popular. Did you see the latest issue?"
"Oh, with the uh- the festival ad?" Ikko recalled it. The Yokai Times, serving as bulletin, soapbox and cultural hub all at the same time, packed itself full of tidbits and goings on every two weeks. Its second issue this year, delivered to his and every other student's doorstep, advertised committee positions for the upcoming summer academy festival.
"Miss Shirayuki's gonna nag us for a booth idea. I wonder what we'll pick?"
"We'll need a class president, first."
"True. Oh – Etsuko! Here!"
Kia sprang from her seat, waving to the woman who'd just walked in. Ikko saw her hair first, vivid copper blonde flicking and bouncing like strands of flame as Etsuko weaved around the crowds, not once having to excuse herself. A lithe girl, about his height with eyes as green as spring grass and a smile to match. Small wonder she and Kia connected so readily. "Kia!" she exclaimed. "And – Akada? Is that you?"
He waved, meek next to the font of energy. "Good evening, Yanase."
She bowed. He bowed. Kia scoffed. "No, no! None of that. It's Ikko and Etsuko. What are you having?"
"Just a latte," said Etsuko. Kia wove between them, joining the queue. As she passed, the glint in her eyes told Ikko that this was his chance to make good on his resolve to try and be a proper friend.
She took the seat opposite him, smoothing her skirt and pulling her hoodie about herself. Ikko, still in his uniform, clasped his hands in his lap.
"How're you?" They asked together. Etsuko laughed. Ikko apologised. "It's fine. How're you?" she repeated.
"Good, thanks. You?"
"I'm good."
Kia reached the front of the queue. "Did she drag you into this?" Etsuko asked, pointing to her.
"N-no, not dragged. She thought I could, uh. Could use the fresh air."
"You're up on the sixth floor, right?" Etsuko quipped. "How much more fresh air do you need?"
"Apparently more." Ikko mumbled. Etsuko grinned.
"Well, it's good to see you either way. Oh, hey – did you see?"
"See?"
Etsuko bounced from her seat and joined his side, taking her phone out of her purse. Her voice dropped to a low, conspiratorial whisper. "There's been a sighting."
"A sighting?"
"Yeah - a monster got caught. Have a look!"
She pulled up a news article on her phone, handing it over. A private blog hosted the article itself, detailing the story of an alleged case of stigmata in a high-school girl, whose wrists, neck and eyes erupted into founts of blood in the middle of class. The blog paid very little attention to the event itself, focussing instead on the response of the school and the community.
Ikko pursed his lips. "How d'you know this is a sighting?"
"Humans go mad whenever something they can't explain happens in front of 'em. What else would cause an 'act of God' like this? Probably some girl awakening to her nature. Poor thing…" Etsuko trailed off. "Besides. See the author?"
He did. G. Morioka. "Morioka?"
"Yeah – he's an alum. Used to run my club a couple've years back. Shuzen knows him."
Names that meant nothing to Ikko, but he nodded anyway. Digging through the blog revealed more posts of a similar nature, documenting community reactions to unexplained phenomena across Japan. "So this – this 'Under Moonlight'. He keeps an eye out for stuff like this?"
Etsuko nodded. "There's a couple of sites like it. Monsters reaching out to let the rest of the community know what to watch out for. If there's one thing scarier than humans, it's a hysterical mob of them. We gotta look out for each other, don't we?"
Ikko tried not to take offense. He passed the phone back. "What do you think'll happen to her? The girl?"
"Well, don't you two look comfy!" Kia announced her return, passing a tall glass to Etsuko and joining them on the couch. All three bunched together, and when Kia saw the article on her friend's phone she sighed. "This again?"
"It's important." Etsuko protested, clutching the screen to her chest, "Ikko hadn't seen it."
"Really?" Kia leaned forward.
Ikko shook his head. "Phone's broken, remember?"
"Oh, yeah… when's that money coming in?"
"Money?" Both girls looked at him. Ikko hid behind his coffee.
"No idea. I wouldn't have known, anyway. Never heard of Under Moonlight or Morioka before."
"Me either," Kia added, "You showed me this morning. First I've seen of it."
"Don't sound so surprised that I hadn't seen it if you hadn't, either!" Kia stuck her tongue out at Ikko's protest. Etsuko laughed, hands flapping between them.
"Now, now. It is what it is – we'll probably see some kind of assembly about it in the next few days. Something something Guises are important."
"Over this?" Ikko asked. Etsuko nodded, stowing her phone and pushing her hair back behind her ears.
"Makes sense, doesn't it? A current event to remind us how important secrecy is."
Kia winked at Ikko whilst Etsuko had her attention on him. "Will you be sticking in your club?" she asked.
"Me? Yeah. What about you two?" Etsuko clapped her hands together. "We could always use more talent. There's a review section with your name on it, Ikko!"
"M-me?" Ikko pointed to himself. "I don't know…"
"Why not?"
"I've never written anything before. Well, once or twice for school, but…" Ikko's thoughts stuttered, revelation sparking. "W-wait, Etsuko. Could you bring that article up again?"
"Huh? Why?"
"I wanna check something. Please?"
Etsuko obliged him, and as he flicked through Morioka's writing, the name of the school caught his attention. "Huh…"
"What?"
"That's my old high school!" Ikko exclaimed. Kia and Etsuko shared a glance.
"You went to a human high school?"
"W-well, yeah. Where else would I go?"
"Man, you really did live out in the boonies." Etsuko murmured, green eyes renewing their gleam.
"You guys didn't?"
"Nuh-uh. Mom home-schooled me."
"Private tutors," Etsuko answered. "It must have been hard, living amongst them for so long."
"Never knew there was another one so close…" Ikko whispered, looking back to the article. A monster in his old high school… he'd only been there a year, but who?
"Surprised?" Kia asked, a knowing quiet in her words.
"I guess not." Ikko returned the phone, leaning back in his seat – and doing so dislodged the others. "I don't think the news club'll be a good fit for me. You seem so busy."
"Journalists never stop, even in their sleep!" Etsuko proclaimed. "Is what I'd like to say. Really – there's so many of us, it's easier to get the work done. You'd be fine."
"This is a hang-out, not an interview!" Kia interrupted, arm shooting skyward. "We're gonna see the rest of the club festival first!"
"Wh-who said I was interviewing you?" Etsuko shook her head, her hair a dance of fire between them. Ikko chuckled, but as their small-talk grew more animated, his thoughts again lapsed to the Moonlight article – specifically to the monster in question. What might become of them, now that they were exposed?
Etsuko had said that the only thing scarier than a human was a hysterical mob of them. If she'd awoken the middle of class…
A horrible vision plagued him, but Kia would not let him sit and mope. Her energy, ever infectious, dragged him back to the café, to coffee and friends. The troubles of both worlds, human and monster, seemed so very far away in her company.
Yokai Academy woke to an explosion of activity, nigh-unprecedented in the weeks since the students returned for term. Stalls once-barren and set up to mark space now shone and sparkled with painted signs, posters, demonstrations and invitations. Uniforms swapped out for costumes, mascots, cosplay, and more specific uniforms filled every corridor in throngs, outnumbered only by the students who milled between them, hungry for the spectacle and opportunity to join a new club
Ikko clutched his wrist, holding to his shikigami. Not since the welcome ceremony had he seen such a great throng of people, such a surge of life and passion, and yet he found himself alone in his bafflement. Even the first-years, wide-eyed and inexperienced, willingly gave themselves to the swelling tide of the event. "No such thing as a half-measure," he intoned, "Oh, boy…"
"Cool, huh?" Kia beamed at his side. They'd dodged the crowds and secured a vantage on the first floor, peering down at the main hall from the railings. "There's always another festival to plan for. Good thing this one's just for a day."
"Where do you want to start?" asked Ikko, hoping she'd recommend a club away from the main thrust of the ground floor.
"Anywhere away from the sports pavilions is fine with me," she replied. "Masumi's tending the karate stall, and I don't need that today."
"You're safe from sports with me." Ikko assured.
"I know. You're so scrawny."
"Hey!"
"Like a noodle."
"Kia!" Ikko protested, cheeks flushing. "Come on, that's not fair."
"Would you prefer spaghetti?"
"Okay – point taken, I'm a noodle. Can we pick a club?"
Kia laughed, his reaction successfully baited, and used the opening it created to sidle closer and loop her arm around his. "Let's check out newspaper first. I think Etsuko's heart might actually break if we don't at least show our faces."
"What are you doing?"
"Hanging on," she answered, big blue eyes aflutter, "It's a busy day. I don't want to get separated from my noodle in the crowd."
"I'm not your noodle."
"You just admitted it!"
"A noodle. Not yours."
Refusing any more of her teasing, Ikko moved on. They followed the sign downstairs, skirting the edge of the crowds until they could no longer avoid it. Ikko shuffled and stumbled through the gaggles, excusing and apologising as he and Kia made their way towards the newspaper club room. Of the many and varied organisations, all of which struck Ikko for their bizarre mundanity, the newspaper stall dominated its claim of the festival. Issues and registration forms flowed freely, and both of them had paper pressed into their hands before they could even inquire.
Ikko looked down at the form, discomfort growing with every passing moment he spent in the crowds. A familiar voice caught his attention. "There you are!"
Etsuko bounced over to them, her curled hair frayed by the activity. Ikko, for once, noticed her clothing first; like many of the other club members – specifically the females – Etsuko donned a cheerleader's outfit emblazoned with the Yokai Academy insignia on her chest. She smoothed errant strands of copper-blonde, patting them down as she greeted them.
"What are you wearing?" Kia snorted, "I thought you were newspaper club?"
"I am!" She protested, "This was Miss Nekonome's idea. Said she wanted to drum up new recruits…"
It explained a lot of the attention, though Ikko wondered just how many of those forms were returned with sincere intent and a love for journalism. "Looks like it's working," he noted.
"Yeah, well. We'll see. Most of the forms just have contact numb- Oh, thank you very much!" Etsuko span on her heel, bowing as a particularly star-struck first year handed his registration form back. The flip from complaint to sunshine jarred. "Anyway. Room's open, and it's quieter! We have a bunch of back issues on the display if you want to check 'em out before you join."
"No tour?" Kia pouted. Etsuko returned the display with an exasperated huff. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! C'mon!"
"Wh-oh!" Ikko struggled to bid Etsuko farewell as Kia yanked him into the clubroom. There they found Miss Nekonome who, according to Etsuko, led the charge with her own variant of the cheerleader's uniform. Her tail swished freely, poking through a hole cut exclusively for that-
"Ow!" Ikko winced. Kia held her karate chop threateningly against his shoulder, where she'd struck.
"Perv."
"What?" Ikko looked around, furtive. She'd drawn no attention with her antics, but he loathed the prospect of risking it again. "She's breaking Guise." He mumbled, defeated.
"Yeah, and it's working. Eyes up, mister."
Ikko turned his attention away from Miss Nekonome and the poor sap she'd cornered with animated chittering, trying to focus on the displays. Arranged in a loose semi-circle and pinned to felt boards on tables, the club displayed cuttings and photos of the club, and their most prominent stories. At the periphery they found simple headlines about successful events or award ceremonies, but as they moved in towards the centre, where most of the students gathered, Ikko noticed a shift in the content. 'Phantom Attackers apprehended!', read one block printed bulletin, 'Monsters and Humans: The Great Divide!' read another. Stories of corruption in the academy systems, teachers exposed, exposés on an attack on the festival. He marvelled at the shifting soul of the club, and as students filtered away, granting him and Kia access to the centrepiece, he saw the heart of that movement framed in a single club photo.
Eight students gathered around a news stall set up for a promotional photo, judging by the way the clippings matched those on display in the room. Ikko's breath caught when he saw a familiar, but far shorter, shock of blue hair at the very edge of the group, peace sign peeking out of an off-the-shoulder sweater. "Mizore!"
"Who?" Kia chirped. Ikko slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Th-that's Miss Shirayuki. There! Behind the other blue-haired girl."
"Where? Oh my god, it is! When was this taken?" She checked the dates on the surrounding issues. "One, two – holy crap, four years ago? She's so young!"
Ikko's finger traced under the caption, reading the names aloud. "Left to right: M. Shirayuki, K. Kurono… T. Aono, M. Akashiya-"
"She's so pretty!" Kia gasped, pointing to the woman at the centre of the photo. Her pink hair and radiant smile led him to agree, but more quietly – fearing another karate chop. He read the rest of the names in silence, recognising Ruby standing proud behind a girl far too young to be in high school, arms around the latter's shoulders like a loving elder sister, and paying especial attention to 'G. Morioka' grinning roguishly on the far right, cutting a sharp figure in his black shirt and silver choker.
He marvelled at the photo, but as he did so, Ikko began to feel more like an intruder than an admirer. Without realising, he'd stumbled across the same memories that Kotsubo no doubt exploited to provoke her so. This Aono, then – unremarkable next to the pictures of grace and charisma surrounding him, but somehow the centre of the photo's attention. Everyone leaned and angled towards him, the nervous, beating heart of the News Club – and looking closer, he saw the fingers of the pink-haired Akashiya laced with his. It snapped into place, and for one terrible instant he understood why Mizore reacted as she did.
"Some of our best work." Etsuko announced herself behind them, tearing Ikko's attention from the photo – and just like that, warmth returned to the room. Clearly glad to find reprieve from the chaos outside, she blazed with a quiet passion. "That group there graduated year before last, but they left us with some massive shoes to fill. We're still waiting for our big scoop, but… maybe that's a good thing. You know Moka Akashiya, Kia."
"I do?"
"Remember at the festival last year? The grad speaker?"
"That's her? No way!"
"Yes way."
"And Miss Shirayuki, too…"
"Right? I couldn't believe my eyes."
Ikko's left arm tingled. He looked down to the sleeve that hid his shikigami, felt her bristle with tension. Strange, he thought. He didn't feel the anxiety that set Ruby's to shrieking...
He looked around the room, dread mounting. Had she noticed something he hadn't? Ikko counted students buzzing about the clubroom, talking amongst themselves. Counted Miss Nekonome still cornering that one hapless student, silent as she talked at him.
Silent as he locked eyes with Ikko. A horrid chill, so unlike the one he'd felt surveying the display, caused him to reach instinctively for the shikigami. "Uh- Kuh… Kia. Kia."
"What? Ikko, I'm talking – what's wrong?"
"We need to-" but he stammered too late. Their eyes meeting, he could but watch as the student gently excused himself from Miss Nekonome's lecture and bore down on Ikko with such purpose and intent that sheer force of will parted the crowds unconsciously around him.
Masumi.
