Chapter 5 – "I'd like to talk to you, to listen to you."

The next day, Yukari arrived to a changed classroom. Wanibuchi Tadashi, the class president, and his two henchmen were absent. She could hear that everyone was gossiping when she entered hatless and wandless, and the instant she set foot in the room all eyes were on her. She flinched and hesitated at the doorstep.

One of her male classmates approached her. "…Sorry!"

She blinked, uncomprehending.

"We heard about what happened to you from Moka-san and her two friends! We shouldn't have gone along with what the class president wanted."

"That's right!" exclaimed another student, a girl.

More voices rang out.

"We want you to be part of the class now!"

"Hey, sit over here with us!"

"Sendo-san, come in already!"

She was practically dragged into the classroom, with tears streaming down her eyes.

Moka… Kurumu-chan… Tsukune-kun… thank you all so much!

As for those three, none of them were surprised when Yukari later showed up for a Newspaper Club meeting, asking if she could join the club. Gin was skeptical of the little witch girl's intentions, but he was quickly overruled by the rest of the club, especially Moka. Yukari eagerly took a seat next to Moka and started to work, helping them on the latest issue. Witches keep a keen eye on technological developments, so Yukari was the most familiar with how to work with a computer, even more so than Tsukune the secret human. She was put in charge of editing and formatting the newspaper, while everyone else continued to gather stories and determine what other content would be present.

Many stories and rumors had been floating around recently, meaning there were plenty of events happening worth reporting on. Saizou was still missing, and no one had seen hide nor hair of him in weeks. Nagare had been forced to end his harassment campaign against multiple students and had been threatened with expulsion. And recently, female students who were in the company of a certain teacher – Ishigami Hitomi – had begun to disappear, the first vanishing having happened weeks ago.

"We'll need to be careful about that one," said Gin. "If things are really that bad, the Public Safety Commission will censor the story and we'll need to run something else."

"But... if a teacher is really behind this, then-!"

"The people deserve to know. I agree, Moka-san," interrupted Gin, "but it means we'll have to find another way to spread the word."

"Like... spreading a rumor of our own?" asked Kurumu.

Gin nodded. "We'd need to stay anonymous."

Tsukune and Yukari hung back and kept focused on writing and editing, respectively, as the other three decided how best to handle this rumor and the possible reaction against addressing it in the paper. Fortunately, the answer would come to them in due time. For once news spread about how Yukari had gotten her bully to stop, many others rebelled in the same way.

For the first time in years, the Public Safety Commission was actually forced to do their job and address public safety as Enforcers. And that led to one of their members coming the News Club for help putting a certain rumor to rest...

"Ah, girls, you're both here! Do come in now..."

The two girls gave each other wary looks, and stepped into the art room. One from the Newspaper Club – Akashiya Moka. One from the Public Safety Commission – Ganjonasu Keito.

How had things come to this? The rumor of the missing girls had gained enough momentum that it reached the ears of the Public Safety Commission. Naturally, there was no way they could believe that one of their teachers – a highly celebrated and popular one at that – would be foolish enough to directly assault students under their watch.

...but, just in case, it couldn't hurt to investigate. Only one person needed to be spared, they thought, and Keito drew the short straw.

The Enforcer glared at Moka before addressing the teacher. "You do realize why we're here Ishigami-sensei? The fact that so many students have gone missing under your watch... it's not something we can afford to ignore. Justice must be done, regardless of who the culprit is."

The art teacher chuckled while clapping her hands together. "Certainly, certainly... I would expect no less from your illustrious group." Not that you'll find anything... I've hidden my precious art away from your prying eyes... I won't be able to add Akashiya-san to my collection just yet, but I'm willing to wait for such a beautiful prize. "Now then, I believe Akashiya-san is still my student? Let's get to today's lesson... As for you, Ganjonasu-san, you may search around as you wish."

The chairs were arranged in a semi-circle despite the fact that there would be no crowd. Two easels were facing away from each other in the center, with supplies for oil painting scattered on the ground. The two sat down behind their respective easels, Ishigami's being out of view from the other two girls, as she liked it. It wouldn't do to for them to realize what – or rather, who – she was painting. Not yet, anyway.

As for Moka, she was focused on painting her four subjects – her three new-found friends, and herself. It was meant to be a present for Tsukune's birthday, so she was in a bit of a time crunch if she wanted it to be ready by then. Was turning to this supposed criminal for help during her time of need a good idea? Maybe not, but it gave her an opportunity.

Keito, meanwhile, was just walking around the room and observing things... and leaving behind secret threads of silk strewn about everywhere. She passed from the classroom to the storage room, but found nothing obviously wrong. Though all that meant as far as she was concerned was that the teacher wasn't stupid enough to leave evidence in plain sight...

When Keito returned to the classroom, Ishigami was standing behind Moka and observing her paint. "You're improving nicely," was all she said before returning to her own painting.

"Well, I don't see anything. But do keep an eye out for me, Ishigami-sensei."

I don't take orders from you! "Of course, Ganjonasu-san. Are you departing?"

"Yes, I have to report this. Fare-!"

She paused, freezing in place. Her eyes narrowed.

"...That's right, I didn't check the ceiling, did I?"

Keito turned around and started heading back to the storage room.

Ishigami stood up, suddenly concerned. "Now, hold on a second! There's no need to-!"

"Ishigami-sensei, we're still in the lesson," was all Moka said, pausing from her painting to glance at her teacher. "Let her do her thing, okay?"

"I can't allow that!"

"And why would that be?" asked Moka, now standing up.

"Well, it's, uhhh..."

Suddenly, Keito burst forth from the storage room, partially transformed. Before Ishigami could react, the art teacher was ensnared in a cocoon of silk covering everything except her face.

"What!? How did you know!?"

"One of the statues wept, and the tears fell upon my threads," answered a furious Keito, lurching back into the classroom. "You realize you're going to be fired for this, right? Turning our youkai girls into your personal art collection... despicable."

Reverting back to normal, Keito took out her anger by kicking Ishigami square in the face, knocking down her easel in the process and revealing an unfinished portrait that vaguely resembled the other Moka.

"Keito..."

Moka wasn't sure what to say. Thank the girl? Chastise the girl? Understand the girl?

She didn't get to say anything, because Keito spoke first.

"I expect you'll be wanting to report on this right? Well, just make sure to mention how I took care of everything and I'll make sure it goes through. Now help me get these statues down..."

Moka sighed and went along. The time for understanding would have to come later.

Right now, they had a job to do.

As Moka explained what had happened to the rest of the Newspaper Club, each had their own reactions to the news. Yukari glomped onto Moka, ecstatic that the vampire girl had evaded any harm. Gin wasn't surprised that such illicit activity had been going on under the watch of the Public Safety Commission, but was disappointed just the same. Kurumu hoped that all the other youkai girls would be well. Tsukune meanwhile, couldn't help but wonder even more if he could survive here. If the teachers were willing to attack the students, knowing they were youkai, then for him...

He gulped. Secrecy would be even more important than ever.

"...Anyway, we can still report on it, but they want all the credit," finished Moka with her verbal report. "Morioka-sempai, I think this is fine for now, but we're going to run into issues in the future of they stay so emboldened. We really should..."

Gin sighed. "I know. But we don't have the firepower to fight back against them. Kuyou is no joke of a fighter, and that will be his first response to any criticisms of his order."

"We'll need everyone's support," chimed in Kurumu. "Or, at least from most of the students. It might be easier than we think, given how they're handling things."

For in truth, the Public Safety Commission was not taking to the newfound requirements of actually having to do their job very well. Rather than just confronting the bullies, as the masses wanted, they went after both the bullies and the bullied. When someone fought back, they brought the hammer down on that student instead of the aggressor. Dissent was suppressed with force, and no compassion for the weak was levied. All in all, a storm was brewing, but there was not yet any talk of doing anything about the Public Safety Commission as a mass of students. That was still unthinkable.

At least, for now.

"True," agreed Gin. "But we'll need to be careful. And let's not use club time on this. For now, continue investigating rumors. Don't go around feeding any fires. It's not safe."

Everyone agreed, and they went back to preparing the next issue of the newspaper. And during that time, who should appear but...

"Hello everyone! I need a favor, nya~!"

...the club's adviser, Nekonome-sensei, carrying a small stack of papers. True to her first impression, she did not come around very often, trusting blindly in them to keep things running smoothly. No one had the heart to tell her about how Gin nearly ruined everything before it could begin. Whenever she did come around though, it was mostly to provide encouragement and fish. Lots and lots of fish, often raw. They started hiding some cooking supplies for Kurumu to make something tasty of the offerings. But paperwork? That was new.

Everyone stared at her in confusion.

"Nekonome-sensei? Do you need something?" asked Gin.

"Yes! There's a huge problem, nya~! One of the students in my class has stopped showing up and I don't know why. She's not a delinquent like Komiya-kun and she won't talk to me about whatever happened, nya~..."

She turned to look at Tsukune. "Tsukune-san, you're good with girls! You should deliver her homework to her, nya~! Maybe she'll talk to you!"

Only the teacher didn't notice the sudden swelling of menacing intent from Kurumu. Knowing that it was probably on accident, Tsukune squeezed her hand. With his touch, she instantly calmed down, flushing from slight embarrassment over what had just happened.

"Ummm... Nekonome-sensei, if you couldn't get her to talk, what makes you think I could?" asked Tsukune. "I haven't really talked to most of the other students in class. So, you know her better than I do." Not that he had anything against them, of course, but the fewer people he interacted with, the less likely he was to be found out. Even Gin and Yukari were in the dark, and these were two youkai he was starting to trust. The time to be more open hadn't yet come.

He had to wonder if it ever would...

Nekonome, on the other hand, was not convinced by Tsukune's excuses.

"Eh!? But Tsukune-kun! Even if that's true, the other students definitely see you as a reliable and hard-working student thanks to all your work for this club, nya~! So it's fine, nya~! It'll definitely work, nya~! So you'll do it, right, nya~!?"

"Ummm..."

"Nekonome-sensei, I can help too," helpfully pointed out Moka.

"Ah, Moka-san, of course, nya~! So, let me tell you the student's name: Shirayuki Mizore. She's in the same girl dorms as Moka-san, Kurumu-san, and Yukari-san. Great, so I'll leave this for you to take care of then, nya~!"

"Wait, now?" asked Moka and Tsukune.

When Nekonome answered in the affirmative, she was then convinced by the rest of the club to hold off until the meeting time was over. The teacher waited impatiently, tail twitching, occasionally pawing at things, until Gin asked her to leave if she wasn't going to help out. That lit a fire up within her, and they finished much earlier than they otherwise would've due to her assistance, the sun still shining brightly. But, of course, she left without giving Tsukune and Moka any help on what to say or directions to Mizore's dorm room.

"Well, good luck with that," said Gin to them, after closing up the room at the end of club time.

Yukari gave Moka a big hug and departed as well. "See you tomorrow~!"

Kurumu, however, stuck around. Certainly not out of jealousy, of course.

"Shirayuki Mizore... I feel like I've heard that name before... but where?" she wondered aloud. When Tsukune and Moka had no answers but realized that they felt the same, they knew there had to be something going on. Perhaps another scoop, but definitely a youkai in need.

They went to the girl's dorms together, the two girls giving cover for Tsukune. It took a bit of searching, but they eventually were able to find Mizore's dorm room. The air down the entire hallway was chilled and subdued. And the door to her room was iced over, in flagrant violation of the rules not to show off one's youkai powers. Not that the rule-keepers cared at all about this lonesome girl. And besides for their teacher, they had no idea if anyone was even checking up on this shut-in girl.

Even Tsukune could feel the youkai's presence though. She was in there.

The three turned to face each other, and with all proper solemnity, resolved the question of who would knock with a simple game of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Tsukune lost. With resignation, he approached the door.

"Mizore-chan? Are you-"

The ice grew spikes suddenly, and he backed away, falling over, before they could impale him.

"Go away!" was the only reply.

While Moka turned her attention to Tsukune, Kurumu's blood was boiling. "Excuse you!?" she exclaimed. "What the hell do you think you're doing!? We're just here to deliver your homework, and that's how you react!?"

The icy spikes seemed to shiver and retreat under Kurumu's heated glare.

"Please... just go away..."

"Fine!" she spat out. "Your homework's outside, come get it if you dare!"

And with that Kurumu stomped away, leaving Tsukune and Moka to actually leave the homework behind and catch up to their enraged friend. They did not stay to see that girl, sullen and frail, emerge from her room, collect the papers, and return to her isolation.

"Are you okay, Tsukune-kun? Sorry for stomping off like that... I just got so angry... I..."

"It's okay," he replied to keep the peace. Kurumu was clinging to him while the three of them were sitting around in the library. It had become one of their usual hangout spots. "But that girl... what could've happened to her? She didn't seem that bad back when she was in class."

"Shirayuki-san? Yes, she kept mostly to herself," added Moka, who interacted more with the other students. "She seemed... afraid, perhaps, of the male students. She had no female friends either. I didn't talk with her that much either... now I wish I had."

"Oh, is something the matter with Shirayuki-san~?" asked Gakutorou, who happened to be passing by. They explained the situation with the icy girl, and he grew sad. "How unfortunate~! She was a welcome guest here, much like you three~. Though she never opened up to us, she was always respectful of everyone in the Library Club~."

The ghost then paused for a second, in thought. The trio looked at him curiously.

"One day, she came into Library Club distressed~. We tried to talk to her, but she ran away instead of answering our questions~. All she said was that it was 'all over' and that she 'can't take it back'~. I told the rest of the club not to worry about it, but I wasn't satisfied with leaving things like that~. So, I did some investigating and ran across a certain set of rumors~..."

As he explained the rumor, Kurumu realized something and Gakutorou confirmed her suspicions. As it turned out, one of the gym teachers – Kotsubo Okuto – was recently found frozen solid and half-dead. Only the quick intervention of the medical staff saved his life. He never publicly said who did it, but Mizore had already vanished from sight at that point and rumors spread fast at Youkai Academy. Some were saying 'all yuki-onna are like that, luring men into danger', others were blaming the teacher and saying he led her on, a few think she was framed by another youkai, and so on from there. With no unifying truth, the collective imagination rang wild... but this hadn't boiled over just yet due to other ongoing issues.

As for Mizore herself, she repelled any attempts at contact. Nobody could prove she had left her room since then. Though she had to have, right? She still needed to eat, right?

Kurumu put her head in her hands. "Oh no... I think I just made things worse..."

When the ghost asked what she meant by that, Kurumu's face turned bright red and she shoved her face in Tsukune's chest rather than answer. Unfortunately for her, Tsukune was more than willing to tell the librarian about her little fiasco. Gakutorou puffed himself up, annoyed. "Kurono-saaaaan, you must set things riiiiiiiight~," he proclaimed ominously.

"I know, I know..."

She picked herself up, and breathed deeply. She turned to her friends.

"What should we do now?"

It took some time (and, annoyingly, the approval of the Public Safety Commission) but the gym teacher in question eventually agreed to be interviewed. Tsukune and Kotsubo met in an empty classroom, with Kurumu, Moka, and two Enforcers waiting outside in case of a struggle. Not that it re-assured Tsukune much – depending on what kind of youkai the teacher was, he could be dead long before they could intervene. But appearances had to be kept, after all.

He couldn't help but feel those 'appearances' were going to get him killed.

But for now, he had to focus on the matter at hand. The tape recorder was on and he was ready.

"Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Kotsubo-sensei. You look very healthy nowadays."

The teacher smirked. "Yeah, I think I've finally fully recovered, no thanks to... well, I guess that's the subject of the interview, right? Or rather, she is."

Tsukune nodded. "Then you already know what my first question will be. As for Shirayuki-san, was she the one who left you encased in ice?"

"Yes."

Tsukune blinked. Admitting it so plainly? "Eh? Really?"

"Yes, it was her. I remember it like it was yesterday. We were in a classroom together – "

"This one, right?"

"Yes, exactly. In this very room, in my classroom! I can't believe I let my guard down..."

"Uh, excuse me, sensei? But what were the two of you doing alone?"

"Ah, yes that..." The teacher leaned back in his chair. "She had asked me to come see her alone. Said she had something she had to tell me in private. And then, what do you know... she confessed to me!"

"Eh!? A confession?"

That certainly isn't where he thought this was going to go. He had expected a fight of some kind...

"That's right, a confession! I'm sure you don't care about this kind of thing, but I am quite a catch... or so I've been told."

Tsukune managed to keep a straight face.

"Ah, yes... there's rumors about you and several students..."

"Entirely unfounded. I would never! I'm very strict about this kind of thing."

Tsukune had to resist the urge to challenge him on that, staying on track instead.

"So, then, when Shirayuki-san confessed to you...?"

"I turned her down. And what was my reward? Being frozen solid and left to die! That girl is a menace... Aono-kun, don't you think it would be better of troublesome girls like that were expelled? This time it was me, but maybe it will be you or one of your friends next time."

"I'm the one interviewing you, sensei..." was all he said in response. That was bait, better to ignore it.

"Ah, yes, yes... sorry, go on."

"Can you give me some more details? Why do you think she confessed to you? And why do you think she reacted like that?"

"Hmmm... I think it's a simple matter. You know that girl is a yuki-onna, right? Her type of youkai is protected, because they're at risk of dying out. So, she has to find a man to... well, you know."

"So, you say she chose you for... that."

"Well, I have to admit, I didn't exactly make it hard for her. As a teacher, I think I was one of the few men she actually interacted with. Is it so surprising she might have a crush on me, then? But that kind of crush shouldn't be allowed to get out of hand. She must have felt so heartbroken and overreacted." The teacher sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. "I should've acted earlier. Then none of this would've happened... but now, it can't be helped. The damage has been done. She's a dangerous girl who should at least be suspended."

"I see... well, thank you for sharing your perspective. Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

"Yes, my thanks to the students who found me and the medical staff who helped me out. I wouldn't have made it if it weren't for them. And thank you for hearing me out!"

The teacher offered him a high-five, and Tsukune hesitantly took it, wanting to show goodwill. With his work done, he departed, and joined up with the rest of the Newspaper Club and the two Enforcers in their clubroom.

After playing back the interview, Tsukune made a bold declaration. "Something isn't quite right. I don't think Kotsubo-sensei was being completely honest."

"Ha! Of courrrrrrrse he wasn't! He was trying to get you to see hiiiiis side only," proclaimed one of the Enforcers, a girl with long red hair and a bo staff by her side named Deshi Deshiko. The lot of them were seated, but she was the only one casually leaning back in the chair as if this were her classroom. She grinned wickedly. "You know what we ought to do to men like that, Kibato-kun?"

Kerubos Kibato, the guy in question, adjusted his glasses. He was a giant of a man, with short black hair and piercing yellow eyes that he didn't bother to conceal. "Deshiko-san, we can't go breaking a teacher's kneecaps just because we want to. We need evidence first. Kuyo will reprimand us if we act rashly. Remember what happened last time."

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh, is that right~? That's too bad..."

She turned to Tsukune. "You're going to get evidence for us, riiiiiiight~?"

Tsukune gulped. Thankfully, Gin decided to actually act as a leader and spoke up.

"Now, now, you don't have to worry. All we need to do is get the truth out of that yuki-onna and it'll be an open and shut case. You'll be able to exact as much justice you want afterwards."

"You can leave that to me!" exclaimed Kurumu, eager to make up for her mistake.

"Ah... you're sure this plan will work, Kurumu-chan?" asked Tsukune.

She nodded. "Of course! You can leave matters of the heart to a succubus!"

"Good, good... you can leave the girl to us once you're done. She still has to be puuuuunishhhhhhhed after all," commented Deshiko, eager to do her job. Beating fools up was the best part of any day as far as she was concerned!

"Ah... ummm..."

Deshiko stared at the succubus. "Ohhhhhhhhh? Do you want to interfere with juuustiiiiice?"

"No, no, I, umm... was hoping you could be a bit lenient with her?"

"Hmmmm... should we be, Kibato-kun? She did a baaaaad thing, after all..."

"Please don't put all the pressure on me to decide things..." Kibato sighed. "I suppose we'll see how she reacts to your... technique. And if she submits willingly. Though that's less fun for us, it's better for her. Then we can get on with breaking that teacher's kneecaps."

Deshiko laughed heartily, unnerving everyone else except Gin and Kibato. But with that decided, the group departed for the girl's dorms. Tsukune, Kurumu, and Moka could only hope things went smoothly so the poor girl could finally leave her room and live freely.

Kurumu gritted her teeth in determination. It was all up to her now.

Kurumu stood alone in front of Mizore's dorm room, door still covered in ice. The rest of the team was down the hall, keeping watch but also keeping away. This part was all her.

Kurumu cleared her throat. The ice shimmered.

"Shirayuki-san, are you there? My name is Kurono Kurumu."

Icy spikes formed again, stopping just short of the succubus. But she didn't retreat.

Instead, she walked up to the hazardous door, placing her hands on the spikes, flinching but not reversing course, getting as close as she dared, making sure she had as much skin contact with the ice as possible without hurting herself. With no hope of direct eye contact, she had to try and charm Mizore through her icicles, a projection of the yuki-onna's power. Rather than seduction, she sent vibes of relaxation and 'letting down your guard'. She had no idea if this was possible, of course, but luckily her plan didn't solely rely on her powers. It also relied on the truth.

"Shirayuki-san, I want to talk to you. I'm... sorry about the other day. I didn't mean to blow up on you. You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

The spikes became rounded and retreated, and a weak voice limped out from the door.

"...no need to apologize..."

Kurumu advanced.

"I insist! With everything that's happened to you, you didn't deserve it. No one's come to listen to you, have they? To hear your side of the story?"

At this point, she was almost at the door, and placed her forehead upon the ice. She shivered, but continued on. "I'd like to talk to you, to listen to you. Is that okay, Shirayuki-san?"

The girl inside mumbled something.

"Eh? What was that?"

"...Mizore..."

Kurumu giggled and backed away from the door.

"Okay, Mizore-chan!"

All the ice retreated, and the door cracked open. A thin girl with long lavender hair pooling behind and wary ice-blue eyes peeked one eye out, looking at her guest for the first time. Kurumu had to wonder what the girl thought when she saw her.

"...can we... talk outside...?" the yuki-onna asked.

Kurumu offered the girl her hand.

"Of course! Follow me!"

Shirayuki Mizore, despite being taller and lankier than the girl who came to talk to her, hid herself behind Kurumu's frame, minimizing her presence. The girl introduced her to several other students with a whirlwind of names. When she saw that some of them were men, she was tempted to flee, but then Kurumu squeezed her hand and reassured her that these men were okay. Well... at least her precious Tsukune was okay.

All she could do was take the girl's word for it. Her experiences with men so far had all been negative, culminating in...

She shivered.

"Mizore-chan?" asked Tsukune.

She flinched, putting Kurumu between herself and the man.

"Let me handle this... Mizore-chan, it's okay. He's not here. He can't hurt you anymore."

She flinched again at Kurumu's word choice.

The group of them – herself, Kurumu, Tsukune, Moka, Yukari, Gin, Deshiko, and Kibato – were in a clearing not far from the girl's dorms, with a cliff off in the distance. Most of them were seated, but the two Enforcers were standing around, keeping watch. She had no idea why. The only one who could be after her was... he was... because of her, he was...

"Mizore-chan, can you hear me?"

She looked into Kurumu's warm eyes.

"...sorry..."

"It's okay. There's no rush."

She looked away, back at the ground. How was she supposed to get a husband and fulfill her duty to her clan if she couldn't even talk to another girl? She was pathetic. She had to change.

She sighed, trying to relax.

"...you wanted to know... about that day...?"

"That's right. We'd like to hear your story."

"...okay..."

Mizore withdrew into herself, but never let go of Kurumu's outstretched hand. She spoke, despite herself. "He... called me to a classroom alone. He said he had something he wanted to tell me... I... I think he could tell that I had crush on him... so he... he..."

Mizore grew silent. Kurum put her other hand on Mizore's back. "I'm here. We're here. For you."

"...he... he told me he saw how I looked at him... he said it was alright to... for us to... and then he tried to... I panicked and froze him and ran away and he's dead now isn't he it's all my fault I'm so so sorry I didn't want to I–!"

Kurumu drew Mizore into a hug, shoving the yuki-onna's face into her chest and shutting her up. "It's okay. He isn't dead." When she noticed the yuki-onna freeze up, she continued. "It's true. Someone found him and the medical staff thawed him out. He's alive."

"That's right, giiiirlie," piped up Deshiko. "And this is an open and shut case. Kibato, I think we've hearrrrrrrd enough. Let's..." She paused, something having caught her attention, and then grinned menacingly. "Ohhhhhh? The fool dares to stalllllllk us?"

Kibato sniffing around, nodded. "Yes. He's nearby." He turned towards the cliff in the distance. "There!"

His cover blown, the partially transformed Kotsubo-sensei revealed himself and approached them, tentacles waving about wildly but not yet on the attack. "Tch! I was hoping you'd have moved closer to the cliff so I could grab you from there," he muttered to himself. "But no matter... I can't let this news get out." He returned back to a human form, and spoke to the students, staying within his attacking range but out of theirs. "Don't mind me, I was just curious what story the girl was going to make up. I told you she's a danger to us all, right? Lying so casually and almost killing me... it's despicable. She needs to be taken care of. You two, you understand, don't you?"

That last question was addressed to the Enforcers. It was pretty clear what he wanted to happen.

They looked at each other and smiled, because they did understand. It was sad that this foolish teacher did not. Ah, oh well... exacting justice the hard way was more fun for them!

As they got into fighting stances, he out his hands up in a disarming gesture. "Hey, now. Not sure why your weapons are pointed at me; I'm the innocent party here."

"Ohhhhhh?" asked Deshiko, playfully.

"You know why," said Kibato, seriously.

Moka, while still seated, had a hand on her rosary, preparing for the worst.

The breeze picked up, rustling the few leaves scattered across the ground.

Then – motion.

The two Enforcers lunged at Kotsubo, staying in human form. The teacher responded by partially transforming, unfurling his massive tentacles at...

"Look out!"

...the seated Newspaper Club, who were saved by the quick action of Moka and Gin. Moka grabbed Yukari while Gin shoved Tsukune out of the way and evaded one of the tentacles' attacks. Meanwhile, Kurumu was barely able to dodge another tentacle due to Mizore freezing up again and becoming panic-stricken, and had to swat away another one with her claws.

"He's after her!" exclaimed Kurumu to everyone else, still holding onto the still Mizore. "We need to get her out of here now!"

"...that seems to be easier said than done... what a nuisance this man is," commented the other Moka, kicking away one tentacle only for it to be replaced with another one.

Gin howled out loud, also having transformed. "Hey now, don't complain too much! We haven't had a good fight in a while! Come on, let's make an opening for her!"

The other Moka grumbled a bit about how she didn't have to take orders from Gin... but ended up complying anyway. The two of them focused on repelling the tentacles while Deshiko and Kibato were occupied fighting Kotsubo himself.

Meanwhile, Kurumu, Tsukune, and Yukari were tending to Mizore, slowly walking her away from the field of battle. She was deathly silent, but still responsive to Kurumu's touch.

"Will she be alright?" asked Tsukune, keeping his eyes on their surroundings.

"She turned so pale..." commented Yukari. "I know a healing spell, will that help?"

Kurumu shook her head. "No, it's not her body that's in pain."

As for Mizore, she was trying – and failing – to calm herself down and do or say anything. Kurumu was stroking her hand and leading her along, away from him... that man... she needed to get away from him... so why couldn't she move on her own!? What was wrong with her!? It wasn't until Kurumu touched her face that she realized she was crying. She shut her eyes.

The succubus started to speak. "Hey. Mizore-chan. Look at me. We won't let anything..."

"Look out!"

Tsukune interrupted the moment, shoving the two of them away from a stray tentacle that had escaped everyone else's notice. Blind, it grabbed him by the neck instead and dragged him away.

"Tsukune-kun!" screamed Kurumu.

"...!" w-why... why did he...

All she could do was watch. All she could do was nothing. All she could do was...

...

No.

There was something she could do.

"Mizore-chan?"

Focusing intently, she condensed water out of the air into an icicle and had it impale the tentacle in place. It jerked violently in pain, dropping Tsukune back to the ground. He was then able to evade the writhing appendage until it stopped moving.

At the same time, Kotsubo violently screamed in pain, giving the two Enforcers the opening they needed to take him down – Kibato with a heavy kick to the stomach, and Deshiko following up by smacking him across the head with her staff. He fell over, unconscious and now missing several teeth.

"Mizore-chan! That... that was... amazing!"

Kurumu practically tackled her, giving her another great big hug. She mumbled out something, not really knowing what to say, trying hard not to focus on how warm and soft Kurumu was and the rather unhelpful feelings she was having right now about this girl. Eventually Kurumu let her go... and then she realized everyone was staring at her.

"..."

She was silent, again.

Deshiko broke the silence with her laughter. "Hahaha, not bad giiiiirlie! You can relaaaaax; we just wanted him, you know. ...welllllllll, I guess you didn't know, but you do now! Hahaha!"

Kibato nodded. "Yes, we'll take him away. Kuyo was looking for an excuse to take this man down anyway. His sister will be enrolling next year and he'll have graduated, so you've done us a huge favor. We won't forget this, Mizore-chan, trust me."

"Ehhhhh? He's fiiiiiiinally calling her his sisteeeeer? When did that happen?"

"A few weeks ago. Please pay attention to things like that... anyway, we'll be off now. I think we'll discuss how to report this later?"

He asked that, but it wasn't really a question. The Newspaper Club knew the two would be at one of their meetings in the next few days.

Both Gin and Moka transformed back to their usual forms. Tsukune returned to the group, heavily bruised but otherwise fine. They all decided to take him down to the Infirmary just in case...

...but not before thanking Mizore profusely for saving him.

Mizore, not know what to do with all this positive attention, blushed and stammered out something about how really she should be thanking them and she wasn't a big deal, so why the fuss and other excuses, but she was stopped in this effort by Tsukune, taking her hand in his.

Her blush deepened... but that was all. Hear fear was gone.

"Seriously. Thank you, Mizore-chan. If you ever need help from us, don't hesitate to reach out."

Kurumu pouted. "Tsukune-kun~! I was supposed to say that!"

Then the succubus took her other hand. "But he's right! We're here for you, Mizore-chan!"

The rest of the group agreed, and escorted her back to her dorm room.

...

Left alone again, she found herself missing them almost immediately.

She looked at her hands, and thought about the warmth the two of them – especially Kurumu – had given her. She did eventually return to her companions in the Library Club, much to their pleasure, but continued thinking about those two, wondering about them and how they were doing. But – in her heart – she didn't really see herself as worthy of being their friend, settling for obsessively reading each of the Newspaper Club issues, focusing on the articles Kurumu and Tsukune wrote. Maybe one day, she would be bold enough to approach them, be with them.

She could only dream of that day coming soon.