Mrs. Itou gathered up her notes while she stood behind the podium facing the class. The plump, older teacher wore a navy jacket over a white blouse tucked in a long navy skirt which reached her ankles. Her dingy white bangs hung over her forehead like a curtain though this sheet of hair continued along the sides to hide her ears before tapering off to a point in the back.

"That concludes our lesson for today."

Mrs. Itou pounded her portfolio on the podium to straighten its contents. She regarded the class with her dark, empty eyes.

"It also concludes my services as your math teacher. I will be passing over your summer work to the new instructor taking over Ms. Kagome's homeroom."

"Are you finally retiring?"

Abe Hizume met the teacher's glare with a grin. The young kirin from the baseball team was sitting in the desk on Kurumu's right and had his chestnut hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"Your new teacher will be introduced at the assembly tomorrow morning."

Mrs. Itou was one of the twelve hired for the first expansion in 71 and was currently teaching a culture elective offered only to upperclassmen. The course was a mix of botany and gardening and was held in the greenhouse near the warehouses where the shop, trade and mechanic electives were conducted.

"What's our new teacher like?"

Senyou Nobuyuki sat in the front row nearest the windows. The shaggy haired okami from Ashikantai had joined the cycling club and was one of Yukari's science lab partners. Mr. Hakuru, the science teacher for classes one through four, had assigned their lab partners alphabetically.

"I only met Ms. Shuzen this morning."

Kurumu perked up, resisting the urge to tap Yukari's shoulder. The witch sat in the center desk of the first row in front of Kurumu. The desk on Yukari's right which was in front of Abe was vacant as had been the desk Kurumu had claimed when she had switched homerooms at the end of May.

"Is she hot?"

Mrs. Itou glared to the back of the classroom. The gravelly voice belonged to Yano from the soccer club, Kurumu having no recollection of his first name or where he was from. His grayish bangs were swept to the right and greased up to keep them stiff. The tallest guy in class sat in the center desk of the last row of which they could only fit five comfortably. The aisles between the desks were much more generous. Each class could easily be expanded to thirty five desks instead of the twenty five currently allocated.

"None of the science classes shall be meeting today, so your next hour will be free."

"Awesome!"

The teacher's attention shifted to Abe whom grinned unabashed. The guy sitting on Abe's left in the desk behind Senyou shook his head and looked out the window. Shouhei had blondish blue locks sort of like the color of the sky. His hair was long enough to be pulled into a short tail in the back while his front bangs arched forward like antennae.

"I shall turn the class over to Mr. Ichida. Please keep the noise down. Other homerooms have lectures."

The bell sounded the end of the period. Mrs. Itou nodded at the young man seated on Kurumu's left. Ichida Taka had his rugged, golden brown locks swept up in a faux hawk. The tengu had a slight hook to his nose. The tennis player from Okayama served as their class representative, though he shared the role with Wanibuchi whom was seated in the front row at the desk closest to the door.

As Ichida got up from his desk, Mrs. Itou tucked her portfolio beneath her arm and headed for the door. Seated on Yukari's left in front of Ichida was Deshi Deshiko. Deshi was dressed in the black, sleeveless attire of the PSC. The PSC jacket had five white ties down the center of the front while it continued down in the back in two sections. Black slacks graced her slender legs. Her staff remained balanced on its end in the aisle between her and Yukari.

"I'm glad that is over."

Wanibuchi chuckled after the door closed behind Mrs. Itou. The tanned boy with the bleach blond hair turned in his seat and tapped the desk behind him. Yakihara had his amber locks styled up in his usual pompadour, grinning with a nod.

"I hope the new teacher is a total babe."

"Anything would be an improvement."

Back when Wanibuchi had been the only class rep, the snickering lizard had regarded Yukari's flagrant violations of school dress code and her boisterous attitude as challenges to his authority. When she mocked his performance on the school assessments, Wanibuchi had gathered his friends from his bowling club to teach the girl a lesson. Before things could get out of hand, Kurumu had swept in with Tsukune and rescued Yukari, only to discover the situation had been part of a convoluted ruse Yukari had instigated to win Moka's affections. Shortly after the rescue, Yukari realized Deshi had only been helping her as part of her scheme to steal Moka's rosary. Kurumu had not witnessed how the unsealed Moka handled Deshi, but the jiangshi had returned a couple school days later and Wanibuchi had been replaced as class rep by Ichida with a classroom vote. Ichida had graciously allowed Wanibuchi to share the class rep title, though Wanibuchi no longer participated in those duties.

"Feel free to use the bathroom provided you don't disturb other classrooms."

There was a murmured acknowledgment to Ichida's remark. The back door slid open, allowing Yano and Osakebi to slip out. The curly black haired guy was Yukari's other lab partner and was part of the badminton club with his cousin from class eight. His first name was Urusai and he was from Atsuen.

Nakai was the guy in the back row desk closest to the door with a long braided tail slung over his right shoulder. He was shorter than half the girls in the class. He was about as talkative as the pink haired boy whom sat in front of him, so Kurumu knew almost nothing about the guy.

The boy with the curly pink tresses which were loosely secured in a ponytail was Ichiboku Naoki. He was from Kana's junior high and had enrolled in Yokai Academy to continue admiring the illustrator from afar. He had joined the manga club under the belief that Kana would want to be part of that club. Playfully accused of stalking, Ichiboku had not realized Kana had been abducted until their hanging of the posters of the missing girls back when they had first met Ginei.

"Ms. Kurono. By any chance is this Ms. Shuzen related to Ms. Akashiya?"

Kurumu smiled, returning her attention to the front of the class. Ichida casually leaned on the podium with a mild look of interest in his soft green eyes.

"She is, though I can't say if she's an aunt or a cousin."

"Does she have lots of personality?"

By the gestures Abe made, he clearly had a different definition of personality.

"Her older brother is in his upper eighties. I wouldn't be surprised if she's older than Mrs. Itou."

"But vampires age gracefully like many purebloods."

Abe nodded at Yukari's remark, continuing the crude gestures.

"As long as her personality is perky, I won't fret over a bit of silver in her hair."

"Considering some girls have silvery hair to start with."

Hineri Kumiko grumbled as Senyou and Abe shared a chuckle.

"Boys are so simplistic."

The plum haired jorougumo had chin length locks and auburn eyes. The softball player sat in the desk behind Abe. Like most students, she wore the green blazer over her white blouse with a red ribbon tied into a dainty bow at her collar. Kurumu had noticed many girls had donned the optional red bows today, not recalling many to have consistently bothered with the accessory last term. Less than half the boys bothered to wear their red ties.

"You spent the summer with Akashiya. Did you meet this Ms. Shuzen?"

Unari Satsuki relaxed in her seat on Kumiko's right with her arms and legs crossed. Being a member of the PSC, the niece of Ms. Nekonome was dressed the same as Deshi. The only girl in the school taking shop class had short, fine sienna locks. She regarded Kurumu with marigold eyes.

"She was mentioned at the wedding but she was never pointed out to me. Moka didn't have much to say about her either. It is a big family."

"Didn't Ms. Sendou attend this?"

Morisato Juri was the brunette whom sat behind Kurumu. Kurumu had failed to notice it before but Juri had a slight greenish hue to her brown eyes.

"Of course I was at this important event with my beloved. But I spent most of my time chatting with Lady Chuujitsu and keeping Rubi away from vampires. Kurumu did more mingling than I."

"Too much mingling if Aono dumped her for Akashiya."

"And then ran off to Okinawa with her for a honeymoon."

Kurumu whimpered at the teasing Abe and Senyou continued despite having been told everything.

"It was not a honeymoon. We had teachers with us."

Senyou gasped.

"Faculty consent."

"I swear you were dropped on your head as a child."

Abe chuckled at Satsuki's comment.

"This is all your fault, Yukari."

"How was I to know that Moka would react that way?"

Kurumu pouted over the rumors Yukari had instigated this morning by dealing with some foreign kid wearing a long white jacket with a mandarin collar and side pockets. This young, effeminate, presumably male person had black hair which had been braided into a long tail reaching below his waist. Annoyed with his admiration of Moka and his patronizing remarks about her being Moka's rumored little sister, Yukari had flattened the guy while declaring Moka had a lover. By an act of divine mischief, Tsukune had arrived within seconds of Yukari's proclamation. The vampire had blushed and hurried inside, leaving the audience to fill in the blanks.

"So whom shall be the lucky person to get your third box of sweets? Clearly not a cheating boyfriend."

Kurumu sighed, favoring Juri a pleading look. The brunette giggled, having stowed away her gift before Mrs. Sunao's Japanese lecture.

"I'm more amused that Sendou didn't buy any souvenirs."

"Why would I bother with that when I can save that money for more meaningful things?"

Kurumu smiled at Yukari's forced indignation, aware that the witch had surrendered her free voucher at Okinawa world to Mrs. Nekonome.

"She was worried over people being uncomfortable getting a souvenir from her."

"Has anyone ever refused a souvenir?"

"I didn't see you hand out any souvenirs, Ms. Unari."

"I didn't go anywhere, Ms. Brat."

"I know. I'm so jealous of you guys. I spent my whole summer at home."

Madosuki Yasuko sat in the desk behind Kumiko. This girl with fiery orange eyes was from Aranoiji and had gone to junior high with Kumiko and Hazumi, whom was seated on Madosuki's left. Her glossy black hair was styled up in pigtails shaped like horns. She was in the leisure club Kiki's brother presided over, having joined it with Tawamuru.

"You spent the whole summer with Mr. Tawamuru."

"I did not."

Hazumi Furiko was the only other girl in this class whom was wearing the beige sweater over her blouse. Like Kurumu, many gyokuto girls opted to wear their sweaters due to possessing sizable bosoms which did not agree with generic school blouse sizing. The track girl had pink eyes and short, charcoal tresses.

"You were with him every time I saw you."

"You're so stupid, Fufi. That doesn't mean I was with him all the time."

"We can put that topic on hold until they start dating."

Kumiko snorted at Juri's comment.

"Yasi will be married before something happens there."

"That's not possible."

"It is if someone else proposes to you."

"I'm not going to cheat on my husband if Hajime makes me wait that long."

"But you are waiting for him."

Madosuki blushed at Juri's smirk.

"I thought we were talking about her stupid souvenirs."

Kurumu smiled, supposing she should take the pressure off the girl.

"I was planning to give the last one to Tokori. You know. Ms. Meirowasa from home economics."

"Of course I know her."

"Not everyone is sleeping with her."

"Shut up, brat."

Satsuki turned and wagged a finger at Abe and Senyou whom snickered at Yukari's comment.

"She's part of the PSC and we're doing a morning walk. It's easier on everyone if I spend the night with her and I was trying to get a job in Mononoke."

"I thought only dogs went out on walks."

"You would know."

"A wolf like me goes out on prowls, not walks."

"Obviously you need more practice."

Kurumu shook her head at the banter tossed over Shouhei's desk.

"How's the job search going?"

Satsuki huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Nobody is hiring after the damn bank got robbed."

"I heard about that. The seniors said some trio of guys knocked over the bank."

Kumiko nodded at Abe's remark.

"Yea. I heard from my sister and Ami that there's also a couple girls from tennis whom went missing."

"One girl from tennis. The other girl was her friend."

Kurumu nodded at Ichida's input.

"Yea. We checked in with the Headmaster on Saturday and heard a few things about this. We were asked to write a generic article to spread awareness of the safety walk the PSC was hosting and to discourage students from traveling alone or in small groups to Mononoke."

"You randomly visited the Headmaster?"

"The Headmaster requested our assistance to solve these mysteries since our club has proven more capable than the faculty or the PSC in resolving these matters."

"Are you trash talking my sister's PSC?"

Kurumu smiled at Yukari's quick response to Ichida's question.

"We were told to talk to Mr. Sabaku for more details. I don't know if anyone from our club has done that yet, since we had to finish our paper. Kumiko probably knows more than I do about the situation."

"As if. My sister hasn't told me anything that I haven't heard from others."

Ichida glanced at Deshi, prompting the girl to raise her hands in surrender.

"Sorry. All news to me. Dropped off at nine last night."

"Don't even bother asking me. My last chat with the upperclassmen was about setting up this safety walk. I'm assuming Deshi will be joining us tonight."

"I can if must."

"You know what I find interesting?"

Attention shifted to Senyou whom was wagging a finger at Kumiko.

"The whole transition of the PSC."

"Oh, I couldn't agree more. It used to be full of these tough guys whom would put the fear into you for even making eye contact. Now it's nothing but a bunch of cute little girls."

Kumiko stood up, crossing her arms.

"Are you mocking my sister?"

"I wouldn't oppose to her stepping on me."

Satsuki smirked as she got to her feet.

"Deshi and I can arrange for that."

"No offense, but I think none of the first years have the experience to properly step on me."

"Or the correct attire."

Satsuki frowned at the grin the two guys shared.

"What are you talking about? Her sister's uniform isn't that much different from ours?"

"Step on man not too hard."

"Oh, there is a right way to go about it."

"May we practice?"

"Only if Ms. Kurono is willing to participate."

Kurumu smirked at the lick of desire Abe favored upon her. While she had no idea what this sudden fetish was about, she lacked any interest of being a part of it.

Endo Eriko remained quiet at her desk behind Satsuki. She had commandeered the window seat after Kinzoku, one of Ishigami's victims and a cousin to Fukai Ishiko, had transferred to Hisoshi High around midterms. Endo had attended the same junior high as Senyou, though she lived in the city of Shibata instead of Ashikantai. Endo with her two junior high friends Sugimoto and Matsuri had joined Mrs. Sunao's poetry club.

"Hey Endo. Did you get to attend the Nagaoka Fireworks Festival?"

"I was able to go with Moe and my family. Yukino couldn't make it."

Satsuki snickered.

"Because she would have made the news."

"As if you would have seen the news. All you did this summer was stay with Ms. Genzouyaki and avoid your parents which was stupid."

"What's with the attitude, brat?"

Yukari huffed, shaking her head. Unlike any other girl, Yukari had neither the sweater vest nor the green blazer covering her school blouse. She had bothered with the red ribbon bow but it felt so different to see Yukari in class without her cape or her witch's hat, the latter incinerated while the former needed a new brooch to hold it in place.

"You're an idiot. It's not financially possible for you to afford tuition, room and board while attending school. You should have arranged something with your family."

"Bah, whatever. There was no point in me chasing emancipation while unemployed. I mentioned the possibility to my father the one time I did see him and he brushed me off as being silly."

"You are being silly. And I was talking about Ms. Nekonome. Not your family."

"I'm not going to impose on my Aunt. Look. The whole becoming independent from my family isn't going to happen this year. Who knows how long the town businesses will be reluctant to hire students? It could be months so there's no point transferring my dependency onto someone else."

"You know she's getting married in December, right?"

"No! When the fuck did that get decided?!"

Kurumu cringed at Satsuki's reaction to her comment.

"I guess over the summer. They picked out a date."

"The seventeenth. That first Saturday after the end of second term."

Satsuki nodded dumbly with wide eyes over Yukari's added detail.

"I should visit with her tonight."

"That is pretty big news."

"Is she going to retire?"

"She implied that this will be her last year."

"Aw, man. We're losing a babe."

Satsuki rolled her eyes at Abe, shaking her head.

"Why would you suggest depending on her if she's going to retire this year?"

"What does her physical presence have to do with helping you? It's not like your parents live here."

"Whatever, brat. I'm not going to ask for her help when she has more important things to worry about."

Kurumu nodded, supposing that made sense.

"Did you get to do anything else this summer? Endo? Like vacation anywhere?"

Endo regarded Kurumu with a moment of confusion.

"Oh? Uh… sort of."

"What's sort of?"

Endo grinned sheepishly.

"It wasn't planned but my family spent two whole weeks in Tokyo shortly after the Fireworks Festival."

"That sounds cool."

"I guess. One of my dad's cousins passed away so the first couple days were… chaotic."

Kurumu nodded, wondering if this was part of that attack on Fairy Tale.

"Yea. Funerals can be like that."

"Oh. I'm sorry for your loss."

Endo held her hands up at the murmured condolences from her classmates.

"Don't worry. I haven't seen my dad's cousin since I was four. I didn't even know half of the people at the funeral. Dad moved out here to avoid the big city life so we don't visit them that much. He's always worried about being discovered."

Satsuki smirked.

"Rightfully so. Were you able to keep your head on straight?"

"Well… I didn't make any headlines."

Kurumu chuckled, aware that Endo sometimes failed to keep her neck a normal length. Beyond that, Endo was essentially no different than a normal human girl.

"So your family lives in Tokyo."

"Well… they're scattered here and there. The funeral was held in Kunitama since that is the closest monster community to where my dad's cousin lived. Most of the family live in Ebina, Ayase and Atsugi."

"Those are all in the Kanagawa prefecture."

Endo nodded at Yukari's remark.

"I guess so. It's close enough that I could catch a train to Tokyo with my older cousin. She attends the Komazawa Women's University in Inagi. I think that's in Tokyo."

"What's she majoring in?"

"I have no idea. But it would be nice to go to college in Tokyo."

"You should focus on your studies first."

Endo pouted at Yukari.

"My grades aren't that bad."

"Yes, yes. I do think you might be getting ahead of yourself."

Abe smirked at Senyou's comment.

"I agree. That goal might be a stretch."

Satsuki smacked the back of Abe's head with the back of her hand.

"I don't want to hear academic shaming from one of the idiots of our homeroom."

"I'm not even close to being at the bottom of this class."

"That would be Mr. Yano and Mr. Nakai."

Kurumu smirked at Yukari's revelation, aware that the witch had memorized the top hundred ranked students whom had been posted on the boards prior to their departure for summer. The school had also posted the bottom thirty as incentive for those students to try harder. The two Yukari had named were the only two from their homeroom that had made the board of shame this time around.

Off to Kurumu's left behind Yakihara was Tandoku. The tall guy with his muddy black locks styled in a bowl cut was in the kendo club with Hisakata. The brute said little but would occasionally laugh at the conversation between Yakihara and Wanibuchi. He had a deep, bellowing laugh.

Between Tandoku and Juri was Hisakata Unkei. The silvery white haired guy lived on the same floor as Tsukune and had attended the same junior high as Kiki and Suzume. He was a serious individual whom rarely talked to anyone. He had his English textbook out and was studying over it, having dropped almost thirty ranks after a poor score on the English part of the exam.

"Hey, Juri. Did you do that little get together thing your junior high hosts over the summer?"

Juri giggled, wagging her hand limply.

"I did. Miho even convinced Miki to do it with us. That whole week was a blast."

"Miki?"

"Niwa Miki. From class seven."

Kurumu frowned, vaguely familiar with the name. Kiba had commented about this girl trying too hard to be like Nemoto Nikki, a top ten student whom had almost been a finalist in the popularity contest.

"She's from your junior high?"

"Yes. She's from Okataiyou. I grew up with her."

"But when we've talked about Kiba and Kana, you only mentioned your cousin."

"It's not like we were good friends our last year of junior high. We haven't even talked since last summer. Miki felt bad about what happened to Miho so they've been talking in gym class for weeks. With how much Miho blabs, I'm amazed she kept that a secret from me."

"That's great."

"She might even join us for lunch if she can pull herself away from those gorgeous girls she hangs out with. I swear that tea ceremony club had way too many girls in that popularity contest, considering it's a club that doesn't do anything as far as I can tell."

Kurumu chuckled, recalling how half a dozen nominees had belonged to the Sadou club with Sawayaka being the only one holding a class rep position. Sawayaka had been one of two nominees to withdraw from the contest, the other being Tora.

"With how much she admires Nemoto, I assumed Niwa was also from Shizukana."

"Nope. She's one of ours. So is Sukihara Akane from class seven. And before you ask, Akane has always been a bookworm. She keeps to herself. She got real good with the violin during junior high. I heard she joined the band with Yamimori."

"Yamimori?"

"Some guy from Kabashita. My cousin knows him better than I do. I think he's in class ten."

Kurumu nodded as she mulled over the new information. While she was intrigued with this stuff relevant to her band article, she was curious about other things.

"Is the name Otonashi familiar to you?"

Juri frowned with a slight shake of her head.

"I don't think so."

"I know about an Otonashi. She was this mute girl from the orphanage in Watasora. She graduated as the valedictorian from our junior high the same year I graduated grade school."

Kurumu smiled at Abe.

"That's the one. She used to be the president of the Newspaper Club."

"There were some nasty rumors about that girl. Like if she talked to someone, they would die a horrible death within a week."

Kumiko huffed, rolling her eyes.

"If she's mute, how could she talk? Rumors are so dumb."

"I'm being serious. Otonashi wasn't actually mute. After accidentally killing her parents, she never spoke again. Her voice is death."

"If there was a girl whom could kill you by talking to you, my sister would have warned me about that."

"Otonashi would have graduated last year so there would be no reason to tell you."

"Don't be dense."

"Not to take a side here, but my brother graduated as a top ten student with Lady Otonashi. He often spoke fondly about her."

Kumiko snorted at Hisakata's surprising interjection.

"Did your brother verify this nonsense of killing people with words?"

"Before my brother became captain of the kendo team, the PSC utilized their services as extra hands for apprehending vagrants. It was during the second term of his first year that he got mixed up in a false accusation of murder leveled upon a monstrel by a PSC senior."

"Covering up their crimes."

"No, Ms. Kurono. Covering up an accident."

Kurumu frowned, glancing at the other girls. Most shrugged indifferently but Kumiko was scowling. Probably over the comment against the PSC.

"We need more details than that."

"The former kendo captain accidentally killed one of the first years. My brother was one of three witnesses to the incident and had encouraged the kendo captain to report the truth. But the former kendo captain turned to the PSC to handle it and they blamed the death on some monstrel whom had been giving them trouble."

"What does any of this have to do with this Otonashi?"

"My brother shared homeroom with Lady Otonashi. As she was a member of the newspaper club, he petitioned for them to print the truth. They refused. My brother decided his only course of action was to free the young man falsely accused. Lady Otonashi accompanied him despite his protests for her safety."

A thin smile touched his lips.

"Up to that point, my brother had thought Lady Otonashi was a silly, mute girl. He humored her request, letting her present her written demands to the PSC members while he hid in the shadows. In the least he thought she could serve as a distraction."

Hisakata regarded Kumiko.

"My brother is not known to exaggerate. When they refused, she spoke one word. She stunned all of the PSC members long enough for my brother to rescue the monstrel."

"See! I told you she was scary!"

"That story is ridiculous. If she killed PSC members, she would have been tried for murder."

"My brother did not mention any casualties. He placed the monstrel under his protection and Lady Otonashi convinced her president to let her run her the article. The other two witnesses confirmed the truth and the kendo captain committed suicide the weekend before second term exams."

Kumiko shook her head.

"If this girl assaulted the PSC, they would have done something about it."

"The president of the Newspaper Club revised Lady Otonashi's article to imply that the PSC had been tricked by the kendo captain and that the monstrel had escaped from PSC custody. Kuyo made an official apology for the misunderstanding."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because admitting the PSC was defeated by one fifteen year old girl would have been humiliating. After winter break, my brother and Lady Otonashi took over their respective clubs."

"Kitajima said nothing about this."

"I can't say what Mr. Kitajima knows about Lady Otonashi or my brother."

"He mentioned she was like a gang leader."

"My brother formed an unofficial group for the intent of sorting out matters on Lady Otonashi's behalf. Most of the young men they confronted ended up members."

"Why are we talking about this girl anyways?"

Kurumu chuckled at Juri's confusion.

"When we went to Okinawa, we stayed at an inn which was part of the Happily Ever After program."

"Happily Ever After?"

Juri grinned, pointing at the perplexed Satsuki.

"I've heard of that. Isn't that like when Fairy Tale pays you to go to college in exchange for working at one of their human ran establishments?"

"My sister mentioned something like that. But it's offered only to top students."

"How top are we talking about here?"

Kumiko shrugged at Satsuki, prompting Kurumu to chuckle.

"Ms. Nekonome told us it was for students averaging over the ninety percentile."

"Dream on, Unari. There's no way you're hitting that."

Instead of replying, Satsuki smacked Abe upside the head.

"Anyways. Lady Otonashi was working at that inn and she mentioned a desire to be friends with Ms. Shiruba and to visit Okataiyou."

"Why would an orphan girl from Watasora have any interest in the prettiest senior of our track team?"

"Hold up. Where did you get the idea that Ms. Shiruba is prettier than Ms. Horie?"

Hazumi frowned at Juri's remark. She nervously glanced aside.

"I think that should be obvious."

"What is obvious?"

Hazumi fidgeted, scratching behind her ear.

"You know. You've all seen pictures of Ms. Horie and Ms. Shiruba."

Kurumu smiled, silently agreeing with Hazumi. Shiruba was gorgeous with long golden hair and curves in all the right places while Horie had dark, short hair and a forgettable figure. Both girls were taller than Moka so it was not like this would be a comparison of cute versus sexy. The main things Horie had going for her was that her reserved and polite nature created an air of mystery about her and that she was most likely going to be valedictorian for the seniors.

"I think Ms. Horie has proven that she is the prettiest senior. She got more votes than Ms. Shiruba."

"That contest wasn't about looks. There's no way Ms. Hirota lost in looks to Lady Hineri."

"What?!"

"You know that's true. Ms. Hirota is far prettier than your sister."

"My sister is the most beautiful senior on campus."

"Why would you do this, Fufi? She'll never back down with her sister complex."

"I don't have a sister complex!"

Abe snickered, sharing a smirk with Senyou. Satsuki strolled over to stand between the two.

"I'm guessing the boys will be siding with the girl with more personality."

"Guilty as charged."

"I can't say I recall either girl from the pamphlets. The only senior whom caught my attention was that volleyball captain."

"She had lots of personality."

Kurumu chuckled as Kumiko turned an angry glare upon the two boys.

"There's more to a woman than her tits."

"I'm saying I would be fine settling down with an average looking girl. As long as she feels good to hold, I'm not going to complain about anything above the shoulders."

"Spoken like a dog."

"Wolf."

"Same thing."

Kurumu grinned, wondering when this banter between Satsuki and Senyou had kicked off. Like Yukari, Satsuki had barely talked with anyone prior to Kurumu's change of homerooms.

"Yukari. What was Otonashi's name before the orphanage?"

"Shinkoku."

"I've never heard of that."

Kurumu sighed at Juri's response.

"I guess not. It was her father's surname. It was her mother's family we are looking for."

"Do you think she was related to Ms. Shiruba?"

"No. She admitted she was of no relation. But I think she hoped to find a clue about her mother in Okataiyou. Her whole extended family was golden haired with white wings."

Juri giggled.

"I guess if we're dropping the pretense of hiding true forms, I should mention that Ms. Shiruba is not the only one of her kind in this school. There's also the current captain of the kendo club, Mr. Kogane."

The mention of the kendo captain's name sparked Kurumu's memory. Kogane was a tall man whom had his golden hair braided in a long tail and a prominent member of the loli appreciation club.

"Did Mr. Kogane ever talk with Lady Otonashi?"

"He has spoken of her."

"I wonder why she didn't mention him if she was on such good terms with the kendo club."

"I can't say that our captain knows her personally."

"Are there other families in Okataiyou whom might be related to Lady Otonashi?"

"I think there's about eight though only six have kids I've gone to school with. There's Miho and Kousei."

"Kousei?"

Juri blushed.

"Mr. Heniki. Sorry. And his cousin, Ms. Amatsu."

Kurumu grinned, recalling how she had argued extensively with some of the girls about Heniki looking too girly to be a popular boy. Despite her arguments, the young man had been one of the five finalists for the first year guys.

"Are there any other communities with families like that in Niigata?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"The kendo club spent a week training in Tonekawa this summer. Our captain has family there."

"Tonekawa? Where's that?"

"That's in the Tone district of the Gunma prefecture. It's not that far from Okataiyou but I've never had a reason to go there. If you're talking about out of prefecture villages with Tennin families, there's also Yamahana in Nagano. Miho has family there."

"Tennin?"

Juri smiled warmly.

"Yea. White wings and golden hair. Angels."

"There's no such thing as angels."

Juri giggled at Yukari's gruff comment.

"If you had any conversations with Miho, I can't blame you for saying that. But Tennin are the closest monster race you will find to angels. Minus the halo. Miho jokes about misplacing hers all the time."

Kurumu suspected Otonashi must have learned about both of those villages in her three years at Yokai. It left her wondering how hard Otonashi had tried to find her mother's family, probably discouraged with the likelihood of being rejected.

"Well… I remember Otonashi was a dark haired girl. I guess that makes her the angel of death."

"Don't be silly."

"Hear me out. In the decade Otonashi spent in that orphanage, several girls committed suicide. He said the former kendo captain committed suicide."

Kurumu glanced at Hisakata but the young man had returned his attention to his English book. She had her suspicions that this particular case had been a PSC assisted suicide but decided there was no need to press for details.

"That could be coincidence."

"I'm positive that one girl died within a month of Otonashi being admitted and another girl died within a month of Otonashi graduating from junior high."

"How old were you when these things happened?"

Abe frowned at Satsuki's dubious tone.

"I'm not saying I witnessed any of this, but one of the girls was a close friend to Otonashi. She even had a suicide note with an apology addressed to Otonashi."

"Gossip is an evil thing, Mr. Abe."

Abe sighed at the reprimand from Ichida.

"You can ask any of the seniors from Watasora about it. Mention Hidzume Haruka."

Kurumu supposed she could ask Kitamori about it when she next crossed paths with him.

"So… did you do anything over the summer?"

"Huh? Me?"

Kurumu chuckled at Abe.

"Yes, you."

"Nothing worth talking about."

Satsuki snorted.

"That's not a surprise. What about you?"

Senyou smirked at Satsuki.

"Our club got together for a weekend. We did some cycling in the mountains. Can't say I did much else this summer."

"You have to have done something interesting."

Senyou chuckled, leaning back in his seat.

"What are you expecting to hear? I hung out with my friends in town most of the break."

"Not everyone spent their summers touring the country, Ms. Kurono. Half of the girls stayed home with family like most people do. Mr. Hisakata had his week of training, Mr. Senyou had his weekend outing, Ms. Endo had her two weeks in Tokyo and Ms. Morisato had her summer camp. Nobody is going to be able to compete with the summer you told us about which was much more important than what Mrs. Sunao had to say first period."

Kurumu grinned at Ichida's summary. She owed Mrs. Sunao an apology but she had to address all the buzz about Tsukune before the rumors got too out of hand.

"So what did you do?"

"Nothing. Hongu has nothing to do and is a long ways from any place worth visiting. I hung out with friends and came back a week early for tennis."

Kurumu smiled with a nod. She glanced at Shouhei whom remained quietly watching the conversation.

"Shouhei. I don't know anything at all about you."

Abe and Senyou chuckled as Shouhei blushed, glancing away.

"I didn't do anything this summer."

"But I haven't gotten to that question yet."

Juri giggled, stretching over her desk to tap Kurumu's shoulder.

"I don't know where he's from, but Shouhei's in the billiards club with my cousin."

"We have a club for that?"

"I guess so. My cousin says they go out like every other weekend to play pool at Corner Pockets."

They had visited Corner Pockets for Hatoko's birthday party. While the place had a bar, students could use the large backroom with all the pool tables.

"Who's the club advisor for that?"

Juri shrugged and the boys did the same when she looked to them.

"Shouhei?"

"What?"

"Who's your club advisor?"

"Oh. Mr. Tenkawa."

Kurumu had no clue whom that was, surmising it must be a third year teacher.

"Where are you from?"

Shouhei smiled sheepishly.

"Hateshinai."

Kurumu grinned, guessing by his hair color that he was not a tengu.

"I know a couple girls from there. Antai Hotaru and Arashimideru."

"Yea."

Kurumu nodded, supposing she had nowhere to go with that. If he was a sylph like she suspected, he would probably not regard the girls from his village as dating material. She had her doubts he would be friends with Hayate, the tennis guy whom shared representative duties with Asakira for class one.

"Do you have friends in your club?"

"Mizukaze from class eleven."

Kurumu nodded again, thinking she would have to ask Moka about this guy.

"Okay. Thanks for the chat."

Senyou chuckled, gesturing at her.

"Scouting for new clubs to report on?"

"Oh no, no, no. I'm booked with band and gymnastics for now and I think I have to do the volleyball and basketball clubs next. I was only curious since he sort of is here all the time."

Satsuki chuckled along with the boys at her hasty denial and explanation.

"This might be too late of an update, but nobody made it to nationals from our archery team."

Kurumu grimaced.

"Yea… I don't think I could add that to tomorrow's paper and don't think I'd want to. I didn't write an article about how our soccer team got crushed in regionals."

"I doubt anybody cares about a bunch of chicks shooting arrows anyways."

Juri pouted at Satsuki.

"I hope they do. It's a competitive sport."

"How so?"

"Imoshinai and Shimote both had two teams qualify. If it didn't matter, they wouldn't bother pushing other schools entirely out of regionals."

"Maybe those other schools suck."

Kurumu chuckled at Juri's pout.

"Don't worry over that. I guess that means your senior got to attend that Kyoto trip with Kumiko."

Juri nodded with a slight smile. The brunette regarded Kumiko.

"How did that go?"

Kumiko's eyes wandered off.

"Fine."

"You can't summarize a two week vacation to Kyoto in one word."

"There's nothing to tell."

"I understood it was an educational experience designed to help them identify and isolate mates."

Kumiko regarded Hazumi with a look which could only be described as traumatized.

"I don't know why Ami told you anything about that, but we don't need to regurgitate details here."

Satsuki snickered, shaking her head, unaware of Kumiko's expression.

"I don't know why our teachers would blow two weeks in Kyoto, teaching underage girls how to hook up with total strangers. It can't be that hard to find a guy wanting sex."

"Look no further."

Satsuki swatted Abe in the head as Kumiko blushed a deep shade of crimson. The jorougumo glanced aside as she pushed her index fingers together sheepishly.

"It's not that easy. The process takes time."

"I'm guessing five minutes."

Senyou snorted at Abe.

"More like a two pumper. It's in and oh damn."

Satsuki blushed hard as she shook her head with poorly restrained giggles.

"You're so dumb."

"If this virgin can last five minutes, I'll buy you dinner."

"Were you girls having sex on this trip?"

"No!"

Abe regarded Kumiko's outraged expression with a dazed look in his eyes. He shook his head slightly.

"I'm lost. I don't get it."

"She said identifying and isolating. Not intercourse."

"Thank you, Ms. Sendou."

"How is that difficult though? It doesn't sound like it would take long to identify a potential mate."

The blush on Kumiko's cheeks remained as the girl nervously fidgeted.

"Well… you can't just pull a guy off the street you know nothing about. You have to do some homework. Like… is he single? Does he have a family?"

Kumiko paused with a distant look in her eye.

"Would anyone notice if he went missing?"

An uneasy silence settled over the group as that sentiment sank in.

"We had a lecture about how jorougumo could have a normal relationship with a human."

Kumiko wet her lips as she turned her gaze upon Yukari.

"It's different if you only want to have a baby."

"Are you saying Coach Yaisoku and Ms. Yumeito killed humans on this trip?"

Kumiko glanced down at the floor.

"Ms. Yumeito was so drunk that she passed out. The big guy she had picked out for this… process… we escorted back home. Carried. He wasn't in much condition to walk and we needed him to get out. Before he saw the other room."

"Are you okay?"

Kumiko glanced up at Kurumu, offering a quick nod.

"We're predators, right? We prey on men. It was natural."

"I guess that explains why Coach Yaisoku looks like she put on fifty kilos over the summer."

Abe snickered at Ichida's offhand remark.

"Puts a whole new meaning to being eaten out."

"I believe that is a term reserved for oral sex performed on girls, Mr. Abe."

"I can't believe you're trying to crack a joke about this."

Abe shrugged at Satsuki.

"We don't know this guy."

"That doesn't make it better."

"It's different for us, Unari. You and I don't have lethal mating rituals. That's why you're not going to see a whole lot of coexistence material geared towards our races. Other than suppressing our forms."

"Still unsettling to think Coach Yaisoku ate a guy over summer break."

Kurumu nodded in agreement with Senyou's remark.

"Did she have you watch that?"

"Yea… it was a couple nights before we left. The sex was… arousing. I've known Michi for years and have never thought of her sexually before. But when she finished…"

Kumiko shivered with a slight shake of her head.

"Guess that guy didn't have a happy ending."

"Really?"

Abe shrugged with a smirk at Satsuki's reaction.

"Other than watching the gory demise of a man whom weighed twice as much as Michi, the trip was fun. Kyoto has lots of tourists whom were eager to spoil a bunch of cute girls willing to chat with them."

Abe snickered.

"Did you call yourself cute?"

"I am cute."

Senyou smirked at Kumiko's defiance.

"How fat was this dude?"

"Must have been selected for his nutritional content."

"Could the two of you stop?"

Senyou grinned at Satsuki as he cupped his chest.

"How big must my man boobs be before Hineri starts salivating over me?"

Kurumu had to cover her chuckles as Kumiko started to chase the ornery okami about the room.


The bell announced the start of lunch. Ms. Nekonome looked up from her desk with an apologetic smile. Their teacher was wearing a cream cardigan over a periwinkle blouse tucked in a long denim skirt. As the lesson had wrapped up fifteen minutes ago, most of the students had put away their course materials.

"Again, I am sorry I couldn't release you earlier for lunch. Thank you for your patience."

The back door slid open as the back row boys quickly hurried out. Kurumu sprung out of her seat and bounded over to Yukari's side. She tousled the witch's hair as the girl bent over to grab the white satchel containing the different bentos.

"Are you sure you don't want to eat lunch with us?"

Yukari slipped out of her seat to evade the continued affection. She looped the strap for the satchel over her head before putting her hands up to ineffectively bat away Kurumu's hands as she stood upright. The witch pouted at Kurumu's amusement.

"You should eat lunch with us."

"Nope. I have to eat lunch with Tsukune."

"Can't we all eat lunch together? Even if it is with Ms. Shirayuki."

"Maybe tomorrow. Kokoa is expecting Moka to join her and I don't know what Tsukune has planned."

"He has nothing planned. I'm not making the two of you bentos if you're not eating with me."

"Sounds like you should hurry along."

Kurumu grinned at Satsuki whom had stopped at Deshi's desk. Members of the PSC could bypass the lunch line for their meals so neither girl was in a hurry.

"I'm sure we're eating with Uchikawa. She'll hold a spot for us in the line."

With a huff, Yukari stalked over to the open front door, prompting Kurumu and the other two to follow. While most of the students had left the room, Ms. Nekonome remained at her desk.

"Are you going to talk with your aunt?"

"I'll swing by her place tonight."

Kurumu nodded as they exited the classroom. There was indistinguishable chatter and laughter carrying throughout the main hall. A few students meandered along the balconies, some heading down the stairs to the large throng of students forming the lunch line.

Kurumu spied Asuka and Taijin heading out the front door of class three with Suzume and Hatoko. Shindou Asuka and Taijin Yuu were both from Yuusei of the Iwate prefecture and had joined the track team. Asuka was a short haired blond about the same height as Suzume while Taijin was a brunette whom towered over the other girls. These two ate their lunch with Kiki and Michiko in the shade of the track field bleachers near the storage shed closest to the boys' locker room. Knowing she would see them both later today in home economics, she opted against calling out to them.

"See you."

Kurumu murmured a response to Yukari's parting comment before drifting over to the open back door to class three. Deshi lingered at the door as Kurumu entered with Satsuki. She noted most of the students had vacated the room as they crossed over to the trio of girls hovering about Tsukune, whom remained seated at his desk by the window. The desk behind him had once belonged to Moka. The girl presently standing by it noted Kurumu and favored her a snaggletooth grin.

"There she is."

Bikiyama Nozomi was another track girl from class one whom had peppered black curls which hung past her shoulders. The okami was from Morihochou, a small village which sent their kids to Watasora for school. She used to be Mizore's neighbor in the dorms and had sort of befriended Mizore even before things got bad with Coach Kotsubo. Unlike Mizore or Tora, Bikiyama wore a proper school uniform and even had her red ribbon bow.

Mizore and Tora turned slightly at Bikiyama's comment. Tora had relocated to Kurumu's former desk after resigning her class rep position to Tsukune around midterms. Mizore had also claimed Saizou's former desk about the same time in a futile attempt to keep Saizou out of trouble with Tsukune. For a short while, Nerume had the desk in front of Tsukune which had effectively made him surrounded by girls. He still was since Goto Tama had taken Moka's desk after switching homerooms with her. Goto was Kakeru's friend, both being from some small village in the Mogami district of the Yamagata prefecture.

"You ready to go?"

Tora nodded, dressed in the same PSC attire as Satsuki and Deshi.

"Sure. I'll see you guys later."

Kurumu nodded as Tora headed out with Satsuki. She grinned at Bikiyama.

"What are you doing here?"

"We have science class fourth period. Hayate let us leave early."

"I'm surprised you aren't downstairs with your friends."

"I was. Akari sent me up here to confirm if these two were joining us for lunch."

Kurumu grinned as she regarded Tsukune and Mizore. He looked so proper with his tie.

"That's so sweet that you waited for me."

Tsukune chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I knew someone would come along eventually."

"He was hoping for Moka."

He blushed at Mizore's statement.

"I didn't say that!"

"What's up with that anyways? There's a rumor in class that you two broke up over the summer."

Kurumu sighed heavily.

"No. We have not broken up. Yukari only said that nonsense about Moka being Tsukune's lover because some new kid was annoying us this morning."

"Is that what happened?"

Kurumu frowned at Tsukune.

"What did you think happened?"

"I have no idea. Several classmates bombarded me with questions about breaking up with you and dating Moka. I had no idea how to respond to it."

"You could have tried the truth. Right, Mizore."

Mizore nodded, placing her hands on her center pocket.

"We're expecting a child soon."

Bikiyama snickered as Kurumu rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for nothing. As for lunch, it's up to you. Yukari made bentos for us and is headed to class eight with Moka. Have you ever eaten with Kokoa and her friends?"

Tsukune smiled sheepishly.

"We were avoiding having me around Moka because of Kokoa."

"Oh yea. I guess that settles it. Shall we?"

Kurumu gestured at the door. Bikiyama giggled, starting off as Tsukune got out of his seat. Kurumu held out her hand for him but ended up with Mizore's chilly palm.

"You'll charm him."

"Yea, yea."

Squeezing Mizore's hand, they followed a couple steps behind Bikiyama.

"So how were things with the guys last night?"

"They were drinking."

"No, we weren't."

"I woke up in his room this morning covered in fluids."

"That had nothing to do with me if that's true."

Bikiyama grinned, twirling about as she backpedaled down the hall ahead of them.

"What was she doing in your room?"

"She's teasing him."

"He locked me up so he could have me all to himself."

"I locked you up so none of the other boys would get any funny ideas."

Kurumu released Mizore's hand to turn a pout on him.

"You told me to go home so you could be alone with your friends."

"Aku let her in. And she wouldn't go home."

"So… you slept with her?"

"Of course not!"

Bikiyama snickered as she wandered over to the crossover between classes five and eight. She started down the stairs facing the cafeteria.

"You're crazy, Shirayuki. There's no way I'd spend the night in the boys' dorm."

"I spent the night with Kamitsuku after she passed out."

"They put something in my drink."

Tsukune sighed heavily, shaking his head as he walked down the stairs behind them.

"I don't know if that happened, but it was two in the morning when I carried her to my room. We woke up so late we had to skip breakfast."

Kurumu nodded, supposing this morning's encounter had been such a huge coincidence.

"You shouldn't be so reckless, Mizore. While those boys are Tsukune's friends, they are jealous about him having a girlfriend."

"Only two of them talk at me."

Kurumu imagined that would be Yamabato Kamitsuku and Tanboshi Aku. Kamitsuku was from class three and had taken pictures for their paper several times as he was a member of the film club. Aku was from class seven and was part of the Judo team. He was also Tsukune's only neighbor since Tsukune's room was adjacent to the bathroom.

"So… what did you guys do?"

"Nothing much. We all hung out in Takoshine's room and played video games."

Takoshine was a kappa in the arcade club whom had a horrible sense of style and obsessed over Moka. Also from class seven, he had been overjoyed about Moka switching homerooms as it meant he would share seventh period art with her.

"I assume Kinusawa was with you guys."

Kinusawa Ren was another kappa in the arcade club from the same community as Takoshine. Being from class ten, he was also in seventh period art and had the room between Aku and Kamitsuku.

"We actually had a full house. Machida invited Mr. Sawagashi, Mr. Asahina and Mr. Yokokara over."

Kurumu nodded, familiar with two of those names. Machida and Yokokara were both kappas from Kokoa's class nine. Machida was in the arcade club while Yokokara was the class rep and in band.

Arriving at the ground floor, Mizore promptly turned about and started off in the other direction.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"The school store. I'll meet you out there."

"Come on. She'll probably get to the table first."

Kurumu pouted at Mizore's retreat. She sighed, shaking her head as she allowed Bikiyama to steer her towards the cafeteria. With it being this late, the lunch line stretched beyond both doors to the home ec room on her right. Even if she was not a succubus, it was best not to make eye contact with the poor kids whom might have to wait another twenty minutes before getting their meals.

"I don't think I've ever met Asahina or Sawagashi."

"They're both from class twelve and are in the fishing club, living in 409 and 410. Mr. Asahina is in art class with Moka while Mr. Sawagashi is in Kokoa's computer class."

Kurumu smiled, remembering Sawagashi now. He was that kappa whom shared a computer station with Kokoa and Umizake. She also vaguely recalled Machida and Yokokara were in 407 and 408, knowing 401 through 406 were all vacant because Gomitsuro, an akaname boy in 401, had killed the five kappa boys around him before Umizake had executed him.

"Did Umizake join you?"

"I didn't see him yesterday."

Kurumu wondered why but doubted Tsukune had the answer. As she pondered over what she could talk about regarding Umizake, she became aware of all the male attention directed upon her. She smiled as they passed Ms. Yumeito's lab near the end of the hall. While she was closer to Bikiyama than Tsukune at the moment, everyone seeing her in his company should help put a stop to all those pesky rumors of him dumping her to be with Moka.

As this hallway did not perfectly align with the cafeteria serving line, students had lined up diagonally to the right across this intersecting hall which passed by the cafeteria and library, connecting the two wings. A shorter line with only seniors merged in from the other direction at the wall which divided the seating area from the serving line.

"What took you so long?"

Kiba Enoko stood halfway down the diagonal line with her arms crossed. The inugami from Ashikantai had long black tresses which reached down to the small of her back. Like Bikiyama, she had hazel eyes. She was the only girl of this small group whom was not in track, having joined her cousin's badminton club. While she wore the jacket and skirt like the other girls, she had not bothered with the red bow.

"Hello, Ms. Kurono."

Matsudera Nikki waved at them as they joined the trio. The okami from class eight was also from Ashikantai. She was about the same height as Tsukune, making her the tallest of this group. Her dark gray locks were short and shaggy, somewhat similar to Senyou. She had soft brown eyes.

"These three are with us, if you don't mind."

"No trouble at all."

"Thank you for asking."

Uchikawa Akari bowed politely to the trio of boys behind her small group. Uchikawa was another okami girl from Morihochou and the representative for class eight. She was also Ms. Uchikawa's niece and one of the finalists for the first year girls. Uchikawa had short, mahogany locks which tapered in the back to the nape of her neck. Her eyes were captivating due to her iris being a series of dark rings which became darker until they reached the pitch black center.

"You are too kind."

Kurumu nodded to the boys as she took her place in line next to Uchikawa. Bikiyama waved for Tsukune to get in line ahead of them.

"Thank you for letting us cut."

"You're both so sweet."

"And pretty."

Kurumu giggled, shaking her head as she gently pushed Uchikawa's side.

"I have to catch up with my friend. Again. It was nice of you."

It amazed Kurumu how Uchikawa could get boys to do this for her without any natural ability. It was not like Uchikawa had an impressive bosom, unlikely to be more than a B cup. Her friends were about the same, though classifying Bikiyama as a B cup might be a stretch. Kurumu did not consider any of the okami girls she had met as well endowed, thinking Hajihachi was the most blessed in this aspect.

"How was your summer?"

"It was pleasant."

"Her family threw a big birthday party for her. Half the village was invited."

Uchikawa pouted at Bikiyama.

"My parents fuss too much."

"I totally forgot you had a birthday over the summer. When was it?"

Uchikawa smiled as they merged in with the other line, nodding graciously to the seniors whom let them go first. She turned that smile upon Kurumu.

"The tenth."

Kiba wagged a finger back at them.

"Nikki has her birthday coming up on the fourth. I'm going to be the only fifteen year old here."

"Shirayuki's birthday is a week after yours."

Kiba frowned at Bikiyama before her hazel eyes brightened up.

"I forgot about that."

Kurumu chuckled as they methodically progressed down the line. Off to the left was the door which opened into the kitchen break room. She had gone through that door a couple times with the PSC girls since the staff allowed her a complimentary PSC meal if she was with a PSC member. Not far after that door was the stack of trays preceding the tiered counters laden with an assortment of entrees stored in styrofoam containers. At the end of the counters where this dividing wall stopped were four registers. Workers steadily rang up meals and swiped lunch cards, averaging two students a minute. Kurumu still had no idea how this school handled this volume of students in a meager one hour lunch.

"Have you made any birthday plans?"

"No. We can't do anything with Mononoke locked down."

"That simply won't do."

Kurumu flinched at Ginei's sudden appearance between Matsudera and Bikiyama. The werewolf grinned as both girls tensed up.

"Where the hell did you come from?"

Ginei wagged a finger at Bikiyama as he stepped in close to Matsudera. She shrank back a step, bumping against Kurumu as Ginei tapped Matsudera's nose.

"It would be a crime to do nothing for such a special day."

"I'm curious how he heard anything over this racket."

Kurumu smirked at Uchikawa's remark. She gestured behind her with her thumb.

"If you want a lunch, you have to get in the back of the line."

"The company of young, beautiful girls is more than enough sustenance for me."

"Yea, yea, back off of her."

Bikiyama grabbed Ginei by the jacket, tugging him with her as she advanced with the line. Tsukune had an amused look as he kept up with Kiba in the front.

"Weren't you seeing the student council for getting our paper approved?"

"That's after school, Tsukune. The student council is having their lunch with the Headmaster today."

"Aren't you going to eat lunch? And don't say that cheesy nonsense again. Straight answer."

Ginei smirked at Kurumu as he allowed Bikiyama to pull him along.

"I picked up something from the school store. My fourth period is with Ms. Yumeito and I guess nobody is doing science today."

"Don't you have other things to do?"

"What could be more important than plotting a girl's sixteenth birthday party?"

"Maybe eating with Hajihachi?"

"You know she had fourth period gym and I had nothing better to do."

Uchikawa sighed at Ginei's grin, shaking her head.

"He was so bad. Coach Yaisoku was furious with him."

"Hey. Girls don't appreciate it when you fail to notice changes in their appearance."

"They do if it's about their weight."

"I can't believe you said those things."

Ginei chuckled, straining in Bikiyama's grasp to pat Matsudera's head.

"It was all in good fun."

Matsudera batted his hand away.

"Leave me alone."

"I can't do that. You hang out with Mika's friends. I have to do something for a lovely, young pup."

Matsudera blushed, shaking her head. She gestured ahead of them as Kiba grabbed up a tray.

"We're getting our meals now. If you want to plan something with Akari and Nozomi, I don't mind."

"It would be my pleasure."

Bikiyama guided Ginei over to the stack of trays, finally letting him go so she could pick up a tray.

"I don't recall you doing anything for our birthdays."

"I overheard Akari had quite the celebration for hers over summer break. My services weren't required."

"Yea, but mine was May twenty sixth."

"My deepest apologies. But I couldn't throw a birthday party for anyone at that time when I had yet to make amends with Mika."

Kurumu grinned as she grabbed her tray and followed after Matsudera.

"You didn't have a problem planning Tsukune's party at that time."

"I certainly hope Mika would not take offense to a gesture towards another guy."

Kurumu made no comment as she selected a box marked tempura and rice. Matsudera continued to browse her options as Tsukune and Kiba lined up for the registers. Bikiyama pulled a can of juice out of a refrigerated cart at the end of the display counters. Beyond those refrigerated carts was the main door to the kitchen. Behind the registers on the adjacent wall was one of the entrances to the auditorium.

"What sort of things do you have in mind?"

"Mostly questions."

Bikiyama frowned at Ginei as she drifted over to the line for the nearest register.

"About what?"

"Like what color of thong did she wear today."

Kurumu rolled her eyes as Uchikawa smirked with a slight blush. Shaking her head, she added a sweet bread to her tray as Matsudera decided on a bowl of chicken fried rice and a cup of udon.

"I meant for Nikki's birthday party."

"Perhaps I should take her out to a quiet, romantic dinner."

"You're not taking me out on a date."

"Then a catered dinner for a select few friends."

Kurumu smirked as she wandered over to the juice cart with Matsudera.

"How do you plan to afford that?"

"I'll find a way even if I must resort to selling my body."

Kurumu snorted, fetching a can of yuzu juice from the cart.

"Who would pay for that?"

"I am the most popular second year on campus. I must have admirers."

Kurumu shook her head as she lined up behind Bikiyama since it was closest and all the lines seemed to move about the same. Matsudera favored the next line over while Kiba was in the one closest to the seating area. Tsukune advanced slowly towards the other register.

"Do you have any preferences for a party?"

"Not really. Even if we can go to Mononoke, I don't feel like doing anything like bowling or skating."

"Or pool."

"I thought you handled your stick like a natural."

Bikiyama smirked at Ginei.

"You squeezed my boobs. Nobody has ever done that to me before."

"I'm happy to have been your first. You could consider that a belated birthday gift."

"Hopefully you have no plans to give me a similar gift."

Ginei grinned with a gesture.

"Would sixteen spankings interest you?"

"Who would want that?"

"I could think of one young lady whom would appreciate such a thing from Tsukune."

"What are you guys talking about?"

Kurumu shook her head at Tsukune's confused contribution.

"Ignore him."

"Are you into that?"

If Kurumu had a free hand, she would have poked Bikiyama for that.

"No. He's talking about someone else."

"Akashiya?"

Kurumu laughed at Bikiyama's guess.

"No. You haven't met this girl. She's not a student."

"That's kind of messed up to want spankings."

"This girl is different. She's living with Yukari."

There was one guy in front of Tsukune as Kiba handed over her tray and card to the person behind the register. Uchikawa waited behind Kiba and would probably be rung up before Kurumu. She sighed as they waited for the worker to finish with this guy ahead of Bikiyama.

"I think if the girl is aroused, a spanking isn't going to turn her off."

Kurumu smirked at Ginei's remark, drifting forward as Bikiyama handed over her things.

"That's probably true, but I doubt it makes things feel any better."

"Why would you spank a girl that's turned on?"

Kurumu shrugged at Matsudera, having no idea what Ginei found fascinating about it. Maybe he thought it was like having sex, though that sort of pounding had nothing to do with her butt cheeks.

Deciding not to let her mind dwell on that, Kurumu noted Kiba was wandering off into the seating area. There was an entrance which opened into the center of the auditorium further down this back wall near the far corner of the cafeteria. The far wall also had an entrance to the smaller practice gym. About halfway down that wall from the auditorium was the other entrance to the practice gym. The library was on the other side of the rest of that wall.

"What about karaoke?"

"Anything but karaoke."

Uchikawa shook her head at Tsukune as she walked over to join him. Bikiyama pouted as she recovered her items and headed over to the waiting trio.

"My voice isn't that bad."

Kurumu chuckled as she finally stepped up to the register at the same time as Matsudera did for hers. She placed her tray on the counter beside the register and handed over her blue bordered lunch card. The worker quickly totaled up her meal before swiping her card through the black machine mounted to the side of the register.

"What about having the music club play for her? Like you did for Kiki."

"I could ask Kaiketsu but I can't promise anything."

"I suppose a catered dinner isn't bad, but we have to do something else. A club where we could dance would be nice, but I don't think Mononoke has anything like that."

Kurumu took back her lunch and card. She smiled at Matsudera whom was gathering up her things. They walked over to the rest of the group.

"Have you ever been to a club?"

"No. But dancing is fun."

Ginei sidled up next to Bikiyama, stroking his chin.

"I have some ideas if I can't get Kaiketsu on board. There's paintball if you want to shoot each other."

"No. We're not doing that. At least not for my birthday."

"There's also Swings. They have batting cages and a driving range for golf. It's next to a couple venues we could rent out for a catered dinner and dancing."

The girls shared a glance, both Kiba and Bikiyama notably intrigued with the suggestion.

"How expensive would this be?"

Ginei chuckled, gesturing for them to head out.

"Don't worry about the money. I'll work something out."

Kurumu favored him a dubious look before walking with Bikiyama behind Kiba and Tsukune. While the seating side of the cafeteria was full of tables for many different clubs, there were wide enough aisles to navigate the room without any hassle. More than half of the students here were athletes since most of the smaller clubs preferred the quieter environment classrooms offered.

Across the hall from the seating area was a line of glass doors which opened into the courtyard. Far off in the distance was the large tree this school had been built around. A few students ate out there despite the lack of chairs and tables. Their group drifted off to the right towards the hall they had come from.

"I don't know what you're plotting but as long as you're not asking me to do anything, I'm fine with it."

"I won't. Though I won't go too overboard with the guest list unless the young pup wants me to."

Kurumu favored him a curious glance before they slipped through the diagonal line of students still lingering in the hall. At the far end of this hall was a stair up. An exterior door facing the athletic fields was in the small pathway beside the stairs.

"Dare I ask whom is on this guest list?"

Ginei grinned at Uchikawa as they veered to the left into the intersecting hallway. The first doors on the right opened into Ms. Uchikawa's science lab.

"I was thinking the young lady might not object if we invited all of your friends from Morihochou. I heard she had a good time at the study session."

Matsudera whimpered.

"That was embarrassing."

"Are you trying to distress our friend?"

"I know a few guys from Ashikantai. We can invite them too if that would make things easier on her."

Uchikawa perked up, glancing at Matsudera.

"Do you have any male friends?"

Matsudera shrugged as they drifted over to the path flanking the right side classrooms. They passed by the first stair leading up to the first year science labs before reaching the first door to Ms. Rin's class.

"What about Senyou from my class?"

"I know about him, but I wouldn't say he's a friend."

"Hitomure?"

Kiba laughed, slowing her pace to allow them to catch up to her and Tsukune.

"That could be fun. Maybe we should invite the Ashikantai boys from my badminton club. My cousin and Boruto wouldn't mind meeting a few okami girls."

"As long as you don't invite Toga."

"Toga?"

"Rinken Toga. He's a senior."

"I thought he was a nice guy."

Kiba chuckled at Tsukune's remark.

"He's a pervert. He was fooling around with his cousin two years younger than us back in junior high."

"We shouldn't talk about private stuff like that."

"It's not like you wanted him there. I explained why. Her little sister is close friends with this girl."

Matsudera pouted but offered no response as they passed by the restrooms and the second stairway up.

"What about the cycling club Mr. Senyou is part of?"

Kurumu smiled at Tsukune's nervous inquiry, recalling some of his short article.

"Yea. Isn't the club president from Ashikantai?"

"Mr. Jiseki Kowa."

"Mr. Jiseki is dating Ms. Komida."

Kurumu grinned at Uchikawa's contribution. She glanced at Matsudera.

"But he would be welcome to join this party, right?"

"I guess. I barely know him."

"And I know Senyou's friend is in Kiba's homeroom."

"You mean Sasaki? He's okay."

"Yea. I guess you could invite the cycling club guys. You two might like Mr. Horiguchi."

"What about Kanausuku?"

"He's as rowdy as the others. Mr. Horiguchi is more mature, like Mr. Jiseki."

"Now I feel like we're the ones being matched up."

Uchikawa giggled at Bikiyama's comment, nodding as they passed by the stairs facing opposite directions which flanked classes five and four. Juri ate lunch with her friends in Mr. Sekiguchi's class five.

"I'm curious whom Mr. Morioka was thinking to invite from Ashikantai."

"I know a couple boys from the rugby team whom were in class one last year."

Matsudera grimaced.

"Please don't. Taiga is the only decent one of those three and I'd rather not deal with them."

"Three? I only know about Takeda and Yajima."

"Yajima is Taiga. The other one is Muzai Shouri."

"Really? But he's a member of the outcasts."

Kiba laughed, shaking her head.

"Muzai has always been a troublemaker."

"Okay. Scratch those three. What about the Kinugomi twins?"

"There's no way they would come."

Ginei chuckled at the tone of Matsudera's voice.

"I'm sure I could persuade those two into coming if we're already inviting Tsuiseki and Shuryou."

"They're so cool. I don't know why neither of them got nominated."

"I take it that these two are on the basketball team."

Ginei nodded at Uchikawa's interest as they passed by the last stair which flanked Mr. Fujita's class two.

"They're both seniors. One is in Ms. Okumura's homeroom. I could talk with the Voice if the twins are reluctant to grace us with their presence on my words alone."

The Voice of Yokai was Tashikana Ichigo and president of the broadcasting club. He had narrowly beaten Kaneshiro Hokuto, the student council president, by two votes in the popularity contest. If Ginei had not helped reinstate Tashikana's club weeks before the contest, Kaneshiro would have undoubtedly won.

"We'll have to invite the Yabuhame twins too. They also joined the basketball team."

"Is this really okay? It sounds like there will be a lot of people here."

"They'll let us host this in Mononoke if we get some teachers as escorts. The cycling club advisor, Mr. Daijou, is also Katsukara's uncle."

Kurumu smirked at his casual mention of one of the tennis girls.

"Why not ask Ms. Uchikawa and Ms. Kibashiro?"

"I'm not opposed to that either. And I believe Mr. Fujita is also from Ashikantai."

"That's right. He mentioned knowing Ms. Kiba's father."

Kiba snorted at Tsukune as they reached the end of the hall.

"He knows my father better than I do."

Off to the left of this intersecting hall was the main foyer with the teachers' lounge and school store. They turned to the right which had a stairway up and a small passage with an exterior door facing the woods to the south.

"The main thing is solidifying the guest list and making reservations. If one of you young ladies would like to work closely with me on that, I would much appreciate it."

"I think you should recruit Mika for that."

Ginei grinned at Uchikawa.

"I planned to. I meant if one of you wanted to tag along so Mika won't immediately refuse."

"I suppose I could play along if Nozomi agrees to it."

Bikiyama frowned as Kiba reached the exterior door first, pushing it open and holding it for them.

"Why me?"

"Because it would be wrong to ask Nikki. If Mika refuses to do this, I would feel more comfortable with you while around Mr. Morioka than Ms. Kiba."

Bikiyama grumbled incoherently as she followed Tsukune outside. Kurumu favored Kiba a smile before she slipped out into the afternoon sun.

"They haven't set the tables up."

Kurumu chuckled at Bikiyama's protest. After midterms someone had cleared out this area and had set up about a dozen cafe tables with chairs. Presently there was nothing here but a patch of grass. Tsukune glanced about sheepishly as he gestured at the ground.

"Should we sit?"

"We might as well. Mizore plans to meet us here."

Bikiyama frowned as Kurumu knelt down in the grass.

"What if she already stopped by?"

"I think she would have stopped us in the hall. There's no reason for her to take any other route."

Bikiyama nodded, settling down beside Kurumu as Tsukune knelt in the grass across from her.

"I will have to mention this at our first rep meeting this coming Saturday."

Kurumu smiled as Uchikawa knelt down beside Bikiyama while Matsudera and Kiba took spots around Tsukune. Ginei drifted over to join them, absently putting a hand on Bikiyama's head.

"Don't you have a track meet this Saturday?"

"It doesn't start that early in the morning. I will be able to attend the meeting."

"What are you doing?"

Ginei chuckled at Bikiyama's protest. He moved his fingers about her curls, forcing the girl to abandon arranging her meal on the grass to swat at his hands.

"You have very soft hair. I like the texture."

"Don't mess up my hair."

"I imagine if you let this grow out, it would be very pretty"

"Go bother Kiba then. She has prettier hair."

Kiba wagged her chopsticks.

"Don't drag me into this."

Ginei chuckled as he placed both his hands in Bikiyama's hair. The girl groaned as he massaged her head.

"Why me?"

"I have to make up for missing your birthday."

Bikiyama groaned as she relaxed her shoulders.

"I can't eat while you're doing that."

"After school then."

"You have a meeting with the student council and then we do our paper after that."

Ginei chuckled at Kurumu's prompt reminder.

"Of course. I'm reluctant to stop when it feels so good."

"Stop being a pest."

Ginei laughed again, retreating back a step and stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I'm in room 108 of the East dorm. You two can stop by and we can discuss the guest list first."

Uchikawa smirked at him as Bikiyama fussed with her hair.

"If Mika agrees to that, we shall see you tonight."

Kurumu looked up at the sound of the door. Mizore stepped out with her arms laden with clothes. She grinned as the snow girl neared, shifting her burden in her arms while one hand was occupied with a half liter of ice cream.

"I see that your school uniforms are ready."

"Is that what that is? Why did they give them all to her in the middle of the school day?"

Kurumu shrugged at Bikiyama as Mizore arrived. The snow girl glanced about.

"Chairs?"

"Looks like we will be roughing it for a week."

"I see that you've been forced to comply with the school dress code."

Mizore regarded Ginei. She cocked her head.

"Everyone wanted me to."

"You're in the suites. Which one?"

"402."

"Give me your key. I'll run those over for you."

The white stick in Mizore's mouth swung from one corner to the other. Tucking the half liter in her center pocket, she started handing over the green jackets and white blouses to Ginei.

"You should keep one of your uniforms. I'm curious how you look in it."

Mizore hesitated at Tsukune's comment. After handing over the last uniform, Mizore pulled her black sleeved top off without missing a beat.


"And we are done."

Kana tugged her black device from the USB port of Kurumu's laptop. The blond was dressed down in a white tee and black sleep pants while sitting cross-legged on the floor next to Rubi's bed. She popped out the little chip from the converter, handing it up over her shoulder to Kurumu.

"You'll need to buy thumb drives the next time you go to town to move these files wherever you please."

Kurumu nodded, setting aside her CD player to take the chip from Kana. Lying on Rubi's bed, Kurumu was listening to the first CD of Moka's Glay album while dressed in her powder blue chemise. She picked up her phone and pushed the chip back in its slot, noting it was almost nine.

Kurumu continued to bob her head to this song. Glorious. It was the fifth song on this CD and the second one she recognized. She had definitely remembered Kuchibiru. She wondered what other songs on this album she would know, since this compilation had been released in 2000.

It had been a long day. After Mizore's random decision to strip down to her black sports bra and change into one of her new blouses for Tsukune's appraisal, Kurumu had chatted with the other girls about their summers. None of them had anything special to share, though Uchikawa had heard from her aunt that the first years would be getting a new science teacher. Kurumu had later confirmed this with Ms. Hitori, whom had returned to her role as instructor for home economics.

Kiba had also added that Ms. Idatsu had announced during her second period that today was her last day pretending she knew enough to teach them Japanese. The local alum whom had taken a teaching position for an elective course about construction trades had mentioned that another graduate with more years of experience at teaching would be taking her place. Matsudera and Uchikawa confirmed Kiba's story, having heard the same thing from Ms. Idatsu during their third period.

Nothing noteworthy had transpired during Kurumu's fifth period with Mr. Nagamushi. He was still the worst teacher for English in her opinion.

Sixth period had been home economics. Ms. Hitori had given them a fifteen minute summary of the next term which sounded like they would be learning how to use a sewing machine, how to knit and how to hand stitch. The rest of the hour they had been free to chat among the girls, though Kurumu had been scolded for her brief visit with Tokori to give up her last souvenir box. The teacher curtly clarified to socialize among the girls at their stations instead of roaming about the classroom.

Banished to the corner of the room with the girls from stations fourteen and fifteen, Kurumu had spent a good chunk of time dismissing the rumors about Tsukune and Moka while recounting the events of her summer. Hazumi was one of the girls from station fourteen and had chimed in when prompted to confirm the consistency of Kurumu's story.

The other two girls at station fourteen were Meisai Nadako and Shinayaka Momiji. Both were gyokuto girls from class six and had joined the volleyball team. Meisai was from Aranoiji while Shinayaka was from Aserutani. Neither had anything interesting to say about their summers, Meisai commenting on the fox festival somehow succeeding in being more boring than last year. Hazumi had been dismissive about that, stating things were different since Hiboshi and Irewata had not attended the event due to Hiboshi being too embarrassed to needlessly walk around town in her diminutive body. Adding their absence along with Hineri and Yaisoku being away on that Kyoto trip resulted in an empty experience.

While Shinayaka's comments about getting a new homeroom teacher to replace Ms. Idatsu had been nothing new, her mention of class six acquiring a new transfer student caught Kurumu's attention. By the description, this Huang Fang was the young man whom Yukari had flattened this morning. Shinayaka was unable to comment much about him as they sat on the other side of the classroom. He had taken one of the vacant seats in the front row next to Makiba Minori, another volleyball girl whom was Burumoto's cousin from Atsuen and at station thirteen. Makiba had no opinion on the guy.

Kurumu perked up at the next song. Zutto Wasurenai. She remembered this song. She hummed along as she continued mulling over the events of the day.

As anticipated, Shindou Asuka, whom shared station fifteen with Kurumu, had a lot of questions about everything. The raiji had heard from the other girls at lunch about Kurumu's wedding encounter with her uncle and had pestered Kurumu for her opinions on the guy. She had been the girl most interested in the rumors about Tsukune and what Kurumu had done over the summer. She was unreasonably excited about Kurumu meeting Ms. Kiyoshi and was now plotting to acquire a phone since Kurumu had one.

Asuka also had the most to chat about her summer. After a week of begging and pleading, her mother had taken Asuka and Taijin to Morioka for a weekend. As Morioka was the capital of Iwate, it apparently had a few attractions similar to Yamagata. Asuka had spent half a day at Iwayama Park Land which had sounded like an amusement park similar to Lina World. The other half had been at a zoo while the other day she had spent shopping for clothes with her mother.

The other girl for station fifteen was Sakamori Hinoko. Within two minutes, the shojo girl had latched onto Kurumu's side and snuggled the whole hour. The redhead had her curly locks done up in a mess of ribbons and bows and occasionally murmured comments irrelevant to the current conversation. The heterochromia girl was from Chirasu in Gosen, which was the same community Fukai was from. In her random slurs, Kurumu had picked up that Sakamori had spent a good portion of her summer with her best friend, Kinzoku. She had also mentioned hanging out with Inishie and Ketsuyama whom apparently were two seniors from her drama club whom also lived in Chirasu.

When the period ended, Kurumu had required Taijin's assistance to drag Sakamori to their gym class. As Sakamori and Taijin were both in Nagamushi's class four, they were part of Kurumu's gym class with Coach Kibashiro. The coaches had directed all the girls outside while the boys remained indoors. It was her understanding that the boys would spend the next two months with basketball and volleyball while the girls got to endure track and soccer.

Surprising everyone, Yukari had graced the class with her presence. When asked, Yukari had declared it only being proper for her to participate if she aspired to become their class representative. Amused with the development, Coach Kibashiro had suggested one of the trio of Ami, Kumiko and Madosuki to pair up with Yukari for stretches. Sensing the reluctance, Kurumu had suggested Hazumi partnering up with Madosuki again. Yukari had mildly protested about having Kurumu's big boobs pushed all over her, but none of the other girls betrayed any interest in being Yukari's partner. While Deshi, Satsuki and Juri were all short, Kurumu was the closest in height to Yukari. The only unpaired girl Yukari could have asked to stretch with her was Sakamori whom had already wandered off at that point.

Kurumu grinned as the next song started. Ikiteku Tsuyosa. Four out of seven.

Kurumu glanced over at Yukari whom was dressed in a pink camisole which was not long enough to hide her bare bottom. The witch was kneeling in front of a pot resting on a cutting board upon the floor. Rubi sat across from her, wearing only a white apron. The older witch had actually answered the door in that flimsy attire. At least there had been a warm dinner waiting for them, since Yukari had called Rubi from the school while they were folding papers to get started on their meal.

Kurumu was reluctant to ask what Yukari was up to. After changing into her camisole which almost matched the pink one Moka had on, Yukari had declared a need to make something. Having nothing else to do, Kana had started transferring files from their phones to their laptops while Kurumu and Moka broke out their CD players and listened to music on different beds. The vampire was sprawled out on Yukari's bed, though she at least had a silky black thong with a pink bow to hide her silvery curls.

"Moka. Are you still awake?"

The vampire made a slight noise.

"I didn't think to ask, but are you planning to wear those thongs to school tomorrow?"

"I wore these today."

Kurumu frowned, sitting up as the next song started to play. It was a catchy tune but she was confused over this revelation.

"You wore thongs today?"

"Well… Ms. Uchikawa said I would only get used to them if I wore them all the time."

"You weren't wearing them over the summer."

"I was thinking I should start since we will be getting those nice bras soon."

Kurumu nodded, supposing that made some sense. She glanced down at the CD case, confirming the name of this song was Happy Swing. She might not have heard it before but it was good regardless.

"I'm thinking I'd rather buy more boyshorts than more thongs to go with the bras I got."

"I want to go lingerie shopping with you."

Kurumu smirked, deciding to pause the CD. She set the CD player aside as she grinned at Yukari.

"We might be going to Mononoke next weekend."

Yukari rolled her eyes.

"I am not attending Ms. Matsudera's birthday party."

"Ginei made an open invitation to our entire club."

"I'm not going either."

Kurumu smirked at Kana's flippant remark. The blond had hooked up her drawing tablet to Kurumu's laptop and was doodling in some program which must have come with her laptop.

"Why don't you throw some panties on?"

"I know you aren't wearing any."

"My ass isn't bared."

Yukari shrugged as she continued to fiddle with the contents of the pot.

"I'm curious, but is Ms. Toujou wearing that apron to bed?"

"She sleeps naked most of the time."

Kana chuckled at Yukari's casual remark.

"Should we get something for her to wear?"

Kurumu sighed heavily, flopping back on the bed.

"I already moved most of my pajamas and school things to Moka's suite. I guess we could throw some shorts and a tank top on her if it bothers you."

"I don't mind. It's not like I plan to sleep with her."

Yukari groaned. The young witch twisted, gesturing at the bathroom.

"Go take a bath or something. I don't need you messing up my work."

Rubi pouted, getting up on her feet. She reached behind her to tug the bows of the apron, loosening the tie behind her neck and then the one about her waist. Nude, the older witch folded up her apron.

"I see your pubic hairs haven't grown back."

Rubi smiled at Kurumu, hanging the garment over her forearm as she reached down to caress her navel.

"It's still smooth. Will they grow back?"

"Eventually. Quite playing with yourself."

Rubi pouted at Yukari. Glancing away, the older witch retreated to the bathroom. Her perky bosom barely jiggled with each step to the door. Tugging it open, Rubi slipped out of sight.

"You're too hard on her."

"You're more than welcome to sleep with her if you want."

Kurumu smirked.

"I think I'll join Kana on the futon."

"I have no objections if you keep your sexy dreams to yourself."

Kurumu grinned, grabbing up her phone and CD player. She slipped out of bed to press against the blond. She sighed, placing her head on Kana's shoulder and draping an arm around Kana's back.

"I can't promise that. Dreams are dreams."

"What are the chances that I wake up in love with Aono or you?"

"Low. What I did with Yukari was deliberate."

"I need to make more age gummies."

"Is that what you are doing?"

Yukari nodded, scooting in closer to her pot.

"I know that dream was with my present body, but it still bothers me. Even if I could convince Tsukune to have sex with me as I am, I'd rather it be with an older me."

"Yukari."

The witch glanced up at Moka's admonishing tone.

"I also worked on that fragrance yesterday. Being airborne, it was too risky to allow the spell to initiate without a catalyst."

"What is she talking about?"

"I made a fragrance with the purpose of focusing a person on something they wanted. But with it being airborne, it impacted anyone whom entered the room with me. Whenever Rubi got a whiff of this, she would not stop pestering me for a spanking."

Kana laughed, shaking her head.

"Why would she want a spanking?"

"She has this odd concept that being punished makes you feel better. The way she squirms at times… I know she'll deny it but it's something she enjoys."

Kana smirked as she started moving her pen against the pad.

"I think I have a new comic idea."

"Anyways, the point is that this fragrance needed a catalyst to trigger it. So I removed the initiator from the fragrance and put that into a candy."

"And that will do what?"

"It will prevent the spell from affecting random bystanders."

"Couldn't you put the entire spell into the candy?"

Yukari paused. After a long moment, she nodded.

"I could have. Well… what's done is done. The spell now works with both a candy and a fragrance. Once it kicks in, it lasts exactly one hundred minutes."

Kurumu chuckled, glancing over at Moka. The vampire was sitting up and had her CD player in her lap.

"Are you sure this will work?"

"It has to. If I spray this fragrance on a computer, it doesn't do anything. This spell can only bring out the desires of something with a will or spirit. It will prove once and for all if you are a magical program or if you are a spirit."

"What exactly does this fragrance do?"

Yukari grinned at Kana.

"It brings out your innermost desire. Most people have flexible desires so if I want to study and then I breathe in this fragrance, it will help me study. But if I expose myself to this fragrance without any clear thing in mind, it makes me want something deeper. Often primal."

"And you plan to use this on Moka?"

"I'm worried about this."

"It should be fine. We can do it tomorrow after school. It's not like we have ever had a club meeting after handing out a paper before."

"Okay. I'm not entirely following this, but we all know Moka has a crush on Tsukune. Won't giving her this spell make her want him more?"

"Not necessarily. If this Moka is a magical creation, she won't be impacted at all. This fragrance might even cause the other Moka to surface and take control."

Kana chuckled.

"I wonder what her innermost desires might be."

"I would guess she only wants to protect this Moka. So this fragrance will probably do nothing at all if our Moka here doesn't have her own soul."

Kana shrugged, turning her attention back to her doodle.

"Sounds too convoluted for me. Let me know the results."

"We're doing this tomorrow. You can watch."

Kana shrugged again, causing Kurumu to chuckle. Shaking her head, she got up.

"Where do you keep the spare futon?"

"It's in the closet."

Kurumu nodded, padding over to the closet nearest the kitchen.

"I don't know if this is a good idea."

"We need this answer Moka. Don't worry. We'll be there for you."

"Thanks, Yukari."

"Can I join in if something does happen?"

Kurumu laughed, shaking her head at Yukari's audacity.