"Thank you for reading our paper."
Kurumu bowed slightly as the young man blushed with simmering desire. He lingered a moment before reluctantly continuing up the short trail to the main entrance. Kurumu could feel other boys pining away at her, but that had been her last paper. With a soft smile, she turned away and wandered back over to the table manned by Ginei and Tsukune.
They had quite the turnout this morning. Ginei must have spoken with Sonoda at some point, or maybe he had recruited her two friends and they had brought her along. It honestly did not matter but it did make handing out papers a lot easier. It was not like the path to school was huge, so four or five girls could easily manage without additional help.
It was obvious that the boys were not as enthusiastic with the new girls. Their desires followed Kurumu as she walked over to join Moka and Yukari. The vampire already had a stack of papers in her hands but it was Honda's turn to head out. The girl nodded meekly at Kurumu as she walked by to distribute her first papers of the morning.
"Has she said anything yet?"
Yukari sighed, crossing her arms about her chest. Ginei had relieved Yukari of paper duty, stating her presence would function as emotional support. Yukari had pretended to be insulted for a whole five minutes before settling on a quiet sulk.
"She won't tell me anything."
"There's nothing more to tell."
Something was off. It had been more than two hours before Ginei had returned to the printing room with news of Tsukune and Moka. He reassured them that everyone was fine, but admitted he had no idea what happened. All he could say was Tsukune had got hurt in a fight but Moka had not used her blood to heal him which resulted in Ginei having to track down a friend to take care of the healing.
Naturally Tora had questioned why he had not come back for her for the healing. Ginei had shrugged it off, stating it would have taken longer since Moka had been closer to the dorms. He also joked about it being a welcome excuse to talk with Okimune.
Kurumu sighed, regarding Tsukune. He still had a distant, dazed look. He was slow to join conversations. He had no recollection of what happened yesterday, admitting he was attacked by someone from behind and lost consciousness. He could only acknowledge Saizou had been involved and that he had woken up this morning in his room to Ginei banging on his door.
"That injury must have taken a lot out of him. Should I try entering his dreams tonight?"
"Kurumu, please don't. He's fine now. With some rest, he will be back to normal in a couple days."
"I wonder if we should bring this up to Ms. Sasayaki."
"You don't need to do anything, Kurumu."
Kurumu frowned.
"I want to confirm that she passed along the message about Tsukune's health to the Headmaster."
"And I want to cast my spell on Moka's rosary."
"I thought you were waiting to have your ears pierced first."
"That was before Moka got in trouble with Saizou."
"You don't need to cast any spells, Yukari."
Yukari huffed.
"Then tell me what happened. Tsukune saw Saizou but it was not Saizou whom attacked him. If Tsukune lost consciousness, how did you fight these two boys?"
Moka shook her head, looking at the girls handing out the papers.
"It doesn't matter. Everyone is fine."
"If Tsukune removed Moka's seal, she wouldn't remember what happened."
"I'm aware of that, but I don't know if her seal was removed. You have to admit it would be pure luck for Tsukune to remove her seal if he was taken out by a surprise attack."
Kurumu smiled, shaking her head.
"Luck or not, Tsukune's hand does have a way of finding Moka's rosary in desperate situations."
Yukari scowled.
"I want to go home, get my glasses and recast the spell. That is the safest and smartest thing to do."
"I don't want you watching over me like that. It would not have changed anything."
"Ginei could have found you faster if he knew where to look. Tsukune could have been helped sooner than he was. These are valuable things, Moka."
"What is going on over here?"
Kurumu smiled as Tora joined them. The sphinx held a notebook, though it seemed like taking a tally over papers distributed was pointless. Nearly all students grabbed one and they probably could keep track by counting out the number of stacks exhausted. Speaking of which, Nerume was coming over with her hands emptied.
The five of them had started the morning with the karaoke juniors and Honda in reserves. As Moka and Kana had stood furthest up the trail, they had both finished quickly. Nerume skipped over to Kurumu's side, giving her a brief hug.
"Moka is being unreasonable. She refuses to have my tracking spell cast on her."
"I should hand out more papers."
"Hold up. We can manage with the four out there."
The vampire clutched the stack of papers against her chest.
"She's not casting that spell on anyone else. Why does it have to be me?"
"I understand that, but Ms. Sendou has good cause for concern. You didn't use the whistle."
Moka glanced away, shaking her head.
"I didn't think about it. I panicked and felt I had to take him to his room."
"Why would you take him there? If he's hurt, you should take him to a nurse or the hospital."
"Considering how useful they've been, it didn't seem like it would help."
Kurumu grimaced, understanding Moka's frustration.
"Maybe it would make more sense for you to place the spell on Tsukune."
"Moka has a convenient fixed object that rarely comes off. The rest of you don't possess such a reliable item for me to use."
Kurumu realized this was true. She did not always remember to tie her lace ribbon on her wrist and Tsukune was not wearing the watch she had given him. Ginei might always wear that silver wolf head pendant, but it was hidden from view most of the time.
"Can't you let her do it for Tsukune's sake? He was with you when this happened. And you won't tell us what happened."
Moka shook her head. She looked into Kurumu's eyes, and Kurumu understood why Yukari doubted the rosary had been removed.
"You have to trust me, Kurumu. If you had been there, you would feel the same."
Glancing aside, Moka took off to join the karaoke girls on the trail. Managing a bright smile, the vampire instantly drew attention from the students walking up the path and handed out her first papers.
Tora sighed.
"Is it possible for you to cast the spell without her noticing?"
"No. I need to be touching the rosary when I do this. Even if I manage to trick this Moka, I doubt I could fool the other one."
"Maybe the other one isn't as resistant to the idea."
"I don't know if I want to gamble on that."
Yukari glanced at Kurumu.
"Why don't you have your crazy girl stalk him? She seems to have a thing for voyeurism."
Kurumu blushed at the memory of the laundry room. Pushing that thought aside, Kurumu had no idea where Mizore was. After Yukari had woken her up early with breakfast and hurried them out the door, Kurumu had dragged the witch over to Mizore's apartment in an attempt to have the girl join them. After a good five or so minutes, she gave up.
It worried Kurumu that Mizore might have not come home last night. While Yukari was right that most students would avoid taking a paper from the snow girl, it would have been nice to have the girl hanging around. It was quite possible that Mizore did not realize they handed out papers this early. Mizore had been late to school that first time when the PSC destroyed their booth, and due to being suspended, Kurumu had hand delivered the second one.
"Nerume, if you see Mizore today, could you ask her to keep an eye on Moka?"
Nerume grinned, leaning against her side.
"I could keep an eye on Moka if you want."
Kurumu smiled, pulling the girl over to press the side of her face against her bosom and rub the back of Nerume's head.
"I'm going to grab you another stack of papers, Kurumu."
Kurumu frowned at Tora, glancing over at Kana whom was seated on the ground with her attention focused on her sketchbook.
"Isn't Kana's turn next?"
Tora waved her hand dismissively as she turned about and headed back to the table.
"I'm sure she won't mind if you go first."
Kurumu chuckled, glancing back at the girls on the trail. Sonoda had given out her last paper and was chatting with her friends. Moka had walked further down the trail with Honda, actively trying to deplete her stack. The two karaoke girls were about halfway through theirs, catching the few students that did get by Moka.
"You know those two girls are Ginei's home ec partners."
"Your senior took home ec?"
"He likes being surrounded by girls."
Nerume giggled.
"I can tell."
"Detach yourself from Ms. Genzouyaki."
Kurumu smiled, releasing Nerume so she could take the stack of papers from Tora.
"Have you talked with those girls?"
"Not really. Should I?"
"Sonoda might join us next term and the other two see Ginei all the time."
Tora rolled her eyes.
"I'm not that interested in his affairs."
Chuckling, Kurumu held the stack close to her bosom as she wandered off to join the second years.
Shouzou Majo was the shortest of these harpies. She had sandy blond hair that was drawn up the top in a crest that ended with a tail that stretched out in the back like a spear. Kazashimo Yuuga was the tallest of the three, which made her about Moka's height. She had smoky black hair that was braided on each side with the tail folding back on itself to make a loop. These two had arrived a little late so Kurumu had only heard the introductions before starting up work.
"I'm here to relieve you, Sonoda."
Sonoda Kamoko waved her hand dismissively, her other hand rustling her layered, crow black tresses. Her mint green eyes were the same hue as Shouzou's.
"I'm in no hurry. We're talking music."
"Trying to decide what songs are the best for karaoke?"
The trio of girls giggled.
"I suppose you could say that."
"I think your club president lives in the same building as me."
"Really?"
"Yea. She's from Uonuma, right?"
Sonoda grinned.
"She is. Seinou is such a fun girl to be around. She was actually in the choir her first year, but dropped out because a friend needed members for this club. It was almost disbanded."
Kazashimo chuckled.
"I think our club will always be in that state."
"We got three recruits this year. We should be good even if we don't get any next year."
"Not that this would be our problem anyways. We graduate after that."
Kurumu smiled, noting not many students got by Moka and Honda.
"How many seniors do you have?"
"Seinou is our only one. She still takes the choir elective which is how she roped both of us in last year. It's also how she got two of our first years."
"Yea, but only Fujihara has choir with her. Her friend is just too scared to be in a different club."
"How many first years did you guys get?"
"Three. There's Kaimura, whom is tall and has lovely reddish hair. It's so long."
"She's pretty. She is in the other choir class."
The description caught Kurumu's attention. She vaguely recalled that being a friend of Asakira, the rep from class one.
"What about the other two?"
"Fujihara is a little spaz. She's got weird eyes."
Kazashimo smiled.
"They have different colors."
"Heterochromia?"
Both Kazashimo and Shouzou frowned.
"What is that?"
"It's when your eyes have different colors."
"Yea. Sure. She's a little kitten from Tsunan."
Kurumu frowned, thinking she should know this.
"She's a nekomusume?"
"Her and her friend, Gizamimi. That dark girl sticks to Fujihara like a second shadow."
Kurumu smiled as she remembered these two, though Tsubuyama had clearly used first names. She wondered if Satsuki would be interested in meeting these girls on her birthday.
"Do you know what class they are in? I have a friend that might want to meet them."
The girls shrugged, glancing at each other.
"I know Fujihara is from class five. She's in my gym period, so I see her often. I couldn't tell you about Gizamimi. She might be mute."
"Mute? But you're a club that sings."
"Yuuga is joking. Gizamimi is extremely soft spoken. She does talk but you have to pay close attention."
"Gizamimi is in our gym period."
Shouzou frowned at Sonoda.
"Really?"
"Yea. She hides in the shadows a lot, but I heard Coach Kibashiro scold her for not participating."
Kurumu smiled, aware that these two were in Ginei's gym period. She considered asking the girls to talk with their first years but realized she did not have enough details from Satsuki to trouble them.
"Now what is going on?"
Kurumu followed Sonoda's gaze to a group of boys that had surrounded Moka. A stocky blonde with his hair cut short and a scar that cut through his hair down his forehead. The way he wore his jacket over his shoulders was the same as the young man they had seen yesterday sitting atop the roof.
Several shorter young men stood with him. There was another stocky fellow with black hair and hollow, lifeless eyes and she recognized three of the other boys from that time at the skating rink. There was a charcoal haired kid with a crew cut and a brown, short haired guy with shaggy, coarse locks. The last of the familiar boys had wavy black hair that was greased up to a shine.
Midou grabbed Moka by the collar, prompting Kurumu to shove her stack of papers in Sonoda's hands as she stalked over to the group.
"… going to get away with what you did."
"What is the problem?"
Midou glanced at her and she stared fiercely back, causing him to stagger.
"You will tell me what is going on."
She jerked out of the way as the stocky fellow swung at her. Before she could think to retaliate, Ginei appeared beside her and shoved the off balance boy into the dirt.
"That's no way to respond to a woman."
There was a palpable tension in the air as Midou glared at Ginei while the other boys stood at alert. Midou shoved Moka back and thrust a finger at Ginei.
"You tell that bitch to stay away from my boys."
Ginei smirked, slipping his right hand in his pant pocket. He cocked his head.
"Fine. Then tell me what is going on."
"It's not your concern, Morioka. This is between us and the vampires."
Ginei glanced at Moka and grinned.
"I think having an issue with my club members makes it my concern."
Midou smirked, regarding Ginei with confidence.
"I put you down once, dog. Do you need a reminder?"
Ginei chuckled.
"Do you really want to find out if you can handle me during a full moon?"
For a moment, Kurumu thought Ginei was bluffing. Then she realized he was serious. The last full moon had been around the time of her drinking party, almost an entire month ago. She could tell by the reaction of the other boys that they also knew.
"That could be fun."
"I'm ready when you are."
The stocky guy got up from his feet and gestured angrily at Moka. A bit of spittle dribbled down his mouth as his hollow eyes burned intensely.
"That bitch killed my brother! I won't stop until his death is avenged!"
A deathly silence followed the claim as passing students stopped to witness the exchange. The way Moka hung her head betrayed guilt. Ginei calmly regarded the taller boy.
"Do you have proof?"
Midou scowled.
"I know what happened. Your vampires killed three of my boys."
"That's not proof. That's your claim. Did you turn the bodies over to the faculty?"
"I saw the bitch kill them personally!"
Kurumu glanced at the boy, catching his gaze.
"Did that really happen?"
The boy paused, his anger smothered.
"I was told that's how it happened."
Midou quickly closed the distance to shove Ginei back into Kurumu.
"I told you to keep your bitch away from my boys."
Ginei chuckled, gesturing for Kurumu to back off. Grinning he stepped in closer to Midou.
"Why? Afraid she'll ruin your testimonies?"
Midou pushed Ginei aside, gesturing for the other boys to follow. He thrust his hands in his pockets as he glared over his shoulder at Ginei.
"This isn't over, Morioka. You're no better than the damn PSC."
Ginei smirked.
"Funny. I feel like you're reprising their role. Do you want to smash our table while you're at it? You know what. I'll even let you have the first punch."
Ginei held his hands out wide as he cocked his chin up at the rugby captain.
"You should take it. It might be the only one you land."
"Fuck you, Morioka."
Ginei smirked, tapping his chin. Midou scowled, shaking his head. He started up the trail with the half dozen boys on his heels.
"I suggest filing your wild claims to the student council. Any evidence too, assuming you have any."
Midou made a slight salute, not bother to look back.
There was a long moment of tension as the group of boys walked off, eventually slipping inside the main entrance doors. The students that had lingered to watch the altercation politely smiled and came over to take papers from the girls. Honda handed one over to a small blonde, the poor girl's hands shaking as she drew the paper to her breast.
Ginei clapped his hands and stalked over to Moka.
"Can't say you handled that well, Moka."
Moka peered up at him, biting her lower lip.
"I don't know what I should say."
Ginei chuckled, gesturing for the harpies.
"Could you handle the papers for now? I need a word with our troubled vampire."
Ginei grabbed Moka by the shoulder and steered her away from the trail. Having no interest in taking her papers back from Sonoda, Kurumu followed after them.
"Why don't you just say you didn't do it?"
"I don't know."
"Is there some reason why you can't say it?"
Kurumu smacked his side with the back of her hand.
"Leave her be, Ginei. There's no way Moka could have killed anyone while sealed."
"We can't throw that information around."
"I need to hand out the rest of my papers."
Ginei sighed, leaning back.
"Are those boys dead?"
Moka bit her lip. She shook her head with a slight shrug.
"I won't ask for details but there's no reason for you to confess to murder. I don't know what story Midou plans to sell, but I'm guessing it's not the truth."
Kurumu frowned.
"I don't understand. The other Moka has never killed before, right?"
"That doesn't matter, Kurumu. Right now, I don't want Moka to be alone. Someone needs to be with her at all times. When those boys realize the student council and the faculty won't do anything without real proof, they are going to come after Moka. Having another person around will make them hesitate."
Kurumu grimaced.
"I hope you're right about that."
Ginei chuckled, patting her head.
"And I think this applies to Tsukune too. I'm sure you won't mind an excuse to sleep with him the next couple nights."
Kurumu smirked.
"Actually, I'm not supposed to be sleeping with Tsukune. Doctor's orders."
Ginei cocked his head with a grin.
"You have medical reasons to break up with Tsukune?"
"I didn't say that."
"I'm always available if you need a shoulder to cry on."
Ginei squeezed her breast before she could smack his hand aside. She sighed in disgust.
"Why do you insist on being such a creep?"
He laughed, walking off with a swat upon her rump.
"Go hand out some papers, ladies. And smile."
The bell sounded out the start of the lunch hour as Kurumu packed away her notebook and mechanical pencil in her schoolbag. Ms. Nekonome was heading out the front door, with her portfolio tucked beneath her arm. The teacher nodded at Wanibuchi as the bleach blond boy drew the door open for her. He nodded back, grinning at Yakihara whom came up next to him. The pair stalked off into the hallway shortly after the teacher.
Kurumu got up from her desk and strolled over to Yukari's right as the witch grabbed up her white satchel. Kurumu glanced over her shoulder, noting Satsuki was coming over. She smiled, turning about as she backed out of the aisle.
While working on lab, she had talked quite a bit with Satsuki about her upcoming birthday. Satsuki had little opinion on how they were going to do things over the course of the day. All she knew for certain was that she wanted to end up at Kurumu's suite after dinner and have a little fun drinking. Prior to that, she could care less. Frustrated, Kurumu had settled on having everyone meet around noon in the dining hall and figured they could take things from there.
Kurumu had mentioned inviting the two first years in karaoke, which amused Satsuki. Kurumu had suggested asking Fujihara during lunch, but Satsuki recalled Tokori being from class five and figured it would be easier having Tokori pass along the invitation than chasing down a girl she did not know.
Kurumu stepped out of the way of Senyou, making a slight wave at Abe as he passed. He had asked about scheduling things with the baseball team, but she had passed for now. She had a feeling she should let the week play out before doing any of her articles, since she might become feverish soon.
"You ready?"
Kurumu smiled at Yukari, turning slightly towards the door as Satsuki came up beside her.
"Sure. Are you walking with us again?"
Deshi grinned, falling in step next to Yukari as they made their way out into the hall.
"Heard bad rumor from Ms. Endo in lab. Say Moka murder boys."
Kurumu sighed as Satsuki frowned.
"I didn't hear about that. Why would Endo think that?"
"Not know. Very curious."
Kurumu had no idea what she should say about it. She had noticed Miki Moroha from their back row had been absent today, meaning it was possible he had been one of the boys.
"What do you know, Sendou?"
"I know nothing. Midou Kusabi, captain of the rugby team, claims my Moka murdered someone but Kurumu already discovered one of the boys lied about seeing it."
"Kurumu?"
Kurumu sighed again.
"I did charm one boy to tell the truth and he admitted he had only been told about it."
"Sounds like they're just trying to pick a fight."
They had already reached the back door of class three. They walked through without needing to move aside for anyone. Most of the class had already filtered out. The heavyset Hedoyami was waddling to the front door as Tobuyoku and Hanetsume left a couple steps ahead of him.
Tsukune had already moved aside his desk and was moving Mizore's. He still had a distant, troubled air about him, seeming disconnected from the task. Moka was staring out the window, leaning her chin against her left palm. Tora was talking with Nerume, whom noticed their approach.
"Hey, Tora."
The sphinx turned as Nerume quickly stepped around Tora to grab Kurumu by the sleeve.
"Mizore wasn't in school today."
Kurumu sighed, thinking she needed a break from all this trouble.
"I wanted to ask her to help with Moka like you said, but I don't know where she is."
"Nobody is upset with you, Ms. Genzouyaki."
"But I don't know where she is."
Yukari huffed, slipping around them to rest her white satchel on Tora's seat.
"She's probably dead."
Nerume winced, causing Kurumu to let out another heavy sigh.
"Don't say things like that, Yukari. It's not helpful."
"It's a possibility."
"Should I check her dorm room?"
Kurumu considered it for a moment.
"No. If she's in her room, we can check on her later. Do you know where she would go and meet Kotsubo for her lunch?"
"She told me about a storage room between the lockers near the baseball fields."
"I'm going to check there."
She smiled at Yukari.
"Can you hand my lunch over to Tsukune if I'm not back in a half hour?"
Yukari rolled her eyes.
"At this rate I might as well pack two lunches for him."
Kurumu chuckled, draping an arm about Nerume's shoulders.
"Come on. You guys don't mind inviting Nerume to a lunch with the PSC?"
Satsuki grinned.
"Of course not. Feels like forever since I watched this munchkin shovel food down her gullet."
"I don't eat that much."
They all started for the door, Satsuki chuckling as she walked in front with Deshi whom backpedaled out into the hall with ease.
"I think you would have no problem finishing the large PSC lunch they give us. It's about two servings too much for me."
Tora snorted.
"Three for me."
"No lie. Lot food. So silly."
"It's because they catered the damn meal around guys that weigh twice as much as us. That Koike fellow has no problem packing it all away."
Kurumu smiled as they walked by the first door for class four.
"Did Saizou attend school today?"
Tora sighed, shaking her head. Deshi grinned, closing her eyes as she sashayed backwards.
"Very curious. Moka murder bad boy?"
"It's possible."
"Tora!"
"The other Moka, Kurumu."
"The other Moka has never been lethal before."
Satsuki snorted.
"Other Moka?"
Kurumu frowned, glancing at Tora whom merely shrugged.
"I guess I haven't explained that to you girls, have I?"
"Explained what?"
Tora touched Nerume's shoulder.
"Ms. Akashiya has a different personality when she releases her true form. In that state, she has no recollection of things that happen. It is possible that she might have harmed some boys that attacked Mr. Aono after school yesterday."
Deshi giggled, effortlessly angling for the crosswalk that connected the balconies. She started down the stairs with her eyes closed, hopping backwards on one foot as she descended.
"She very scary when mad."
"I personally suspect Tsukune was taken out early on in the fight which upset Moka to a point of using more force than usual. This is why she panicked and tried taking Tsukune home instead of to a doctor."
"So think she kill?"
"Yes, but I don't think she remembers it and Tsukune has no idea what happened. Neither could confirm what happened even if they wanted to."
Deshi nodded as she hopped down to the landing halfway down the stairs. She paused, letting her eyes slowly open as she cocked her head.
"Poor witnesses they make. We shall see. Very curious if school punish."
Kurumu sighed, wondering if the school would act on Midou's word.
"Is it possible someone else got involved?"
Tora shrugged.
"I suppose that is also possible."
"Maybe they falsely provoke for fun."
Kurumu smirked, thinking Midou was far too serious for this to be a jest. She regarded the impish girl, turning her attention on Tora.
"Have you found anything out on our foreign friend and how she's connected to Moka?"
Tora sighed as they all reached the landing together.
"I haven't thought about asking her."
Deshi grinned, resuming her blind hops down the second flight of steps.
"Why be any connection? Just girl from China."
"You might be connected to a girl named Akua."
Deshi missed a step, stumbling forward. She swung her staff from her shoulders to strike the stair and regain her balance in an instant. Twirling about, the girl slung her staff back behind her head and she resumed her descent facing forward. She giggled, shaking her head.
"Why think that?"
"Because you claimed you were working for Moka's sister."
Deshi slowed her descent.
"All in China know Akua. Famous assassin. High skilled. Heard was dead."
"Akua is Moka's sister."
Deshi giggled, shaking her head as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Why Moka be related to Chinese assassin? She Japanese."
"Moka's eldest sister is from China."
Deshi shrugged.
"Maybe so. Not know why think I have ties to Chinese assassin."
Kurumu sighed.
"Tora just said it was because you claimed to be working for her sister. There's no reason for the other Moka to randomly lie about this."
Deshi sighed, twirling her staff about to place the end on the floor as she turned about. She grinned.
"Know about Moka, daughter of Shuzen household. Told make her friend. Aware she had older sister not in school, so said I work for sister."
"Who told you to make friends with her?"
"Touhou Fuhai. Great man. Much respect. We eat now."
Kurumu sighed as the girl started off at a brisk pace, forcing them all to walk faster. Sadly she could only do so much while Nerume held her arm, though it would not take going much faster before she would need to hold things in place.
"That girl is frustrating."
"We got something out of her this time."
Tora snorted.
"Assuming she didn't give us a fake name."
Satsuki slowed to match Kurumu's stride, shaking her head.
"Are you seriously going to run off to this meeting spot Nerume told you about?"
"It's possible Mizore is sulking there. May as well rule out some of the campus spots while we're here before running off to bang on her door."
"Are there any other locations Ms. Shirayuki frequented?"
Kurumu shrugged at Tora. She knew about the tulip field and the pond, but she doubted Mizore would linger in either of those locations for long. Those were places filled with bad memories of painful confrontations. Mizore was more likely to hang out at the library than either of those spots.
"I don't think she will be in any other places. Nothing too terrible happened in that lunch spot."
Satsuki smirked as they reached the start of the serving line. Deshi had already ducked in the kitchen and they were not that many paces behind.
"Yea, if you don't count all the embarrassing and awkward moments of flirting with him."
"The worst thing was her confessing after he choked on her tea. Everything else was tame."
"If you say so."
Tora came to the door and held it open. Nerume hugged Kurumu's side before letting go.
"You'll remember talking to Sakamori about my birthday this weekend, right?"
Kurumu nodded, actually having forgotten that in her current line of thoughts.
"Yea, of course. Feel free to remind me after fifth period."
Tora frowned.
"Are you plotting another drinking outing?"
Kurumu shrugged.
"Yea, but this time at my suite. Small party. Interested?"
Tora rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she walked in the kitchen with Nerume on her heels. Satsuki flashed her a grin.
"I'll remind you."
Kurumu waved at the girl as she hurried by the closing door. There was a mix of emotions directed at her as she crossed the serving line. She could tell some were worried she was cutting and many boys were perfectly fine with the view. It always amused her that she could generate such interest simply by crossing a room. Heavens forbid she ever owned anything attractive to wear.
She slipped through the door into the large gym which had a few students seated on the floor and stage. She kicked up to a slight jog as she crossed the room quickly, angling for the small passage between the stage and the storage room where the PSC lunched. At the end of that passage was the door to the girls' locker room. She figured with the location being all the way on the other side of the track field, she should stop at her locker and retrieve her gym shoes.
Entering the locker room, she hurried by the lockers on her left to the last row where her locker was situated. She mildly wondered what she could say to Mizore. While she wanted to be consoling, she felt it would be irresponsible not to mention the latest developments with Moka and Tsukune.
Spinning the last number on her lock, she tugged it off and fetched her shoes out of her locker. The catching up should happen last. There was a good chance Mizore would be upset and it would be difficult to get close to her while harboring negative emotions. She really had no experience with getting dumped or abandoned. The whole being better off would be a difficult thing to convince anybody of. She knew she would not want to hear such nonsense if Tsukune had to break up with her.
Stuffing her slippers back in her locker and securing it with the lock, Kurumu trotted over to the door and stepped out into the afternoon sun. The weather so seldom changed. Even the speed of the wind felt similar at times. Thinking the master of this weather needed to consider mixing things up a bit, Kurumu took off at a slow jog towards the bleachers that watched over the track field.
She was fairly certain she knew which building Nerume had meant. There was a squat building centered behind the baseball fields in line with the bleachers. She knew it had a locker room with bathrooms as she had used it once during gym. The center of that building had a metal curtain drawn down over a concession window. On the other side of that building was a small storage room, which was probably for the care of the athletic fields. At least she hoped so. Like Nerume, she had never been inside the back room of this building.
It took a couple minutes to cross the track field and push through the small gate before heading to the small center building. There was nobody this far out, so it did make quite the convenient spot for secret meetings with a lover. Nobody would notice Kotsubo slipping away with him having fourth period gym and Mizore simply had an odd way of not being noticed.
The building side facing the track had the concession window. Kurumu walked around the building, aware that even the students having lunch in the bleachers would lose sight of her. Sticking to the shade cast by the structure, she dipped around the corner and made her way to the center door. She turned the knob, realizing it was unlocked and pushing in.
The room beyond was dim as there were no windows. Kurumu crossed her arms about her torso as she wandered into the room, glancing about the shelves. She saw the weed poison, smiling slightly at the thought of one of Mizore's journal entries. Shaking her head, she started down a small hall that opened up in the back of the room. It was not a very long hall and it ended with an open door frame on the right which she promptly ducked through.
"I didn't expect this."
Kurumu squeaked, hopping back against the shelf behind her. Seated in a chair across the room was Kotsubo. He had a burgundy dress shirt drawn over his torso with the top two buttons undone. He had rolled back his sleeves to his elbows. He rubbed the back of his head as his other hand gripped the side of his loose black corduroys that flared out at the calves. Dingy white skate shoes were pulled over his feet, the laces tied neatly in a bow.
"What are you doing here?"
He smirked gesturing at a black, plastic egg crate box pushed beside the open door frame.
"You're more than welcome to have a seat. Nobody comes here when it's not baseball season."
Kurumu regarded the room littered with tools and papers. There was a fine layer of dust on everything.
"I think I'll stand."
"Suit yourself."
"Where's Mizore?"
Kotsubo chuckled, shaking his head. He leaned his elbow on the nearby desk, plopping the side of his face against his large palm. His gaze was distant and he betrayed no desire.
"She told you about this place?"
"She told Nerume and I came to see if she was here."
Kotsubo smiled, drawing back in his seat and letting his hands return to his lap.
"I told her near the start that this is the place where I made love to Kora."
Kurumu grimaced.
"You molest girls in this room frequently?"
"I wanted her to think that. I figured it would scare her off, but then she got me talking about Kora and I realized how stupid I was for not taking that offer."
Kurumu rolled her eyes.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about letting a girl go because you think it's for the best."
Kurumu pressed back against the shelf, glancing at the open doorway.
"I just want to know where Mizore is."
Kotsubo sighed heavily.
"I imagine she's either in my apartment or wandering about aimlessly looking for me."
"Why would she be in your apartment?"
He shrugged.
"Because she spent the night there."
Kurumu's jaw quivered.
"Why would you do that to her? You don't love her."
Kotsubo chuckled, shaking his head.
"You must think I've had sex with her. Don't worry. I've never been that attracted to her."
Kurumu felt she did not need to charm him to hear a different story. This despondent tone seemed too genuine to spin lies.
"You didn't hurt her?"
He snorted.
"Unless you're a monster that can eat your victims, killing a girl in your apartment is a poor way of going about things. The cliff was far more convenient."
"You tried to kill her. I knew she was lying about it all being an accident."
He sighed.
"I gave you everything. You had a diary full of attempted suicide. If you kids had left things alone, I could have given her what she wanted."
"She doesn't want to die."
He stared through her.
"What would a succubus know about the depths of despair? How many times have you tried to kill yourself? Once? Never? I think you don't know Ms. Shirayuki at all."
Kurumu glanced away, not wanting to charm him. She had a feeling he would give her answers that she did not want to hear.
"You are her teacher. You are supposed to help her."
"Yea… don't know if I'm good at this job. That's why I resigned."
"So that's it? You just leave and go to another school?"
"Nope. I'm done. No more teaching. I only did this because I liked soccer. It's not as fun as it used to be. I need to find something else."
Kurumu sighed, feeling this was irresponsible.
"You need to apologize to Mizore."
"No. I've done enough apologizing. She doesn't want that. She wants me to take her with."
He sighed, shaking his head.
"So that's why I'm in here. Hiding. Waiting. I changed my departure after she went to sleep last night. Mr. Nurari will stop by the school in a couple hours, and I will leave."
Kurumu frowned.
"Where are your things?"
"Mr. Hirata has the keys to my apartment. He'll ship all that stuff when I have secured a new residence. No point lugging all that shit around when I have no idea where I'll be sleeping tonight."
"You're crazy. You can't just leave like that."
"It's not like I'm broke. I'm a bachelor, Ms. Kurono. I've worked here for years. What exactly do you think I've spent all my money on?"
Kurumu wrung her hands. This felt exactly like the situation Goto had described where she had left her boyfriend of years with no warning. He was going to abandon Mizore.
"You have to tell her what you're doing."
"No. I've told her enough and she won't listen. This is the only move left on the board for me."
"You're a coward."
"I can't fix her. And don't look at me as if I'm the one that broke her. You read that diary. You know I'm not responsible for the way she is."
Kurumu grimaced. She hated how this was playing out but it was not like she wanted him to stay.
"You're going to hurt her again."
"I can't help that. I told her to make friends and I hope she has. I hope that will make the difference that I could not, because she never wanted me as a friend. You know this."
Kurumu sighed, shaking her head.
"I hate you. You hurt Tsukune and Mizore. I hope you end up alone and homeless without any money."
"Who knows? It might turn out that way."
Angry at his dismissive attitude, Kurumu stalked out of the room and down the narrow hall. She had heard enough. She would find Mizore and give her the comfort and hope she needed.
The contents of the skillet sizzled as Asuka moved things about with her wooden spoon. Having little else to do, Ms. Hitori had instructed the class to cut up some vegetables and sauté them. It was a fairly quick project that was more about taking turns than working together. Having gone first, Kurumu had already chopped up and grilled her assignment. She had thought about doing the dishes but had settled on holding this troublesome shojo, whom was unlikely to participate.
Her stomach growled in protest of her poor lunch hour decisions. Thinking she could get back on time, she had hurried all the way back to the class to discover that Tsukune had helped himself to her bento exactly as she had promised. Mulling over the time left in the hour, she had opted to abstain while chatting about her failure to find Mizore and that Deshi was here because of Touhou Fuhai. Neither Moka nor Yukari betrayed any recognition of the name.
Running her fingers through Hinoko's strawberry curls, Kurumu held the taller shojo against her breast while regarding station sixteen. Tokori and Taijin were managing fine without Mizore. The pepper haired girl in her sleeveless PSC jacket and black shorts had already finished and was reading a book. Kurumu wondered if Satsuki had asked about inviting Fujihara. The girl had forgotten to remind her about asking Hinoko last hour.
"Is Shirayuki coming back to school?"
Kurumu glanced at Asuka whom was also regarding station sixteen.
"Mizore heard about Coach Kotsubo resigning during lunch yesterday. I haven't seen her since."
"Nozomi told me about that. She also said that Shirayuki is engaged to Umizake from class nine."
Kurumu sighed, as the other girls took interest in the conversation. Shinayaka paused her stirring efforts to glance over her shoulder at them while Meisai grinned, leaning up against the island counter between the stations. The poofy, black haired gyokuto was waiting for Shinayaka to finish before cutting up the vegetables set out for her.
"I saw that Umizake kid on the board. He's a top ten student."
"Have you met this guy, Ms. Kurono?"
Kurumu smiled at Shinayaka.
"I have. He joined the PSC with Tokori and Tora and I've had lunch with him a couple times. He admitted he is engaged to Mizore, but that it's an arranged marriage between their parents."
Hazumi set her notebook aside on the counter behind her.
"I'm curious if her species is endangered. The kitsune also arrange their marriages due to their lack of numbers."
"Is Hiboshi still engaged to Kuyo?"
Hazumi shrugged.
"I haven't asked."
Kurumu was still doing her gym stretches with Yaisoku from class four, implying things had yet to patch up between Hiboshi's former friends.
"How are things going with Hiboshi and Irewata?"
Meisai smirked, wagging the cutting knife at her.
"I think Haruhi needs to stop pushing for affection. That's hard for Ms. Hiboshi to reconcile."
"Haruhi wants Ms. Hiboshi to feel loved and reassure her that nothing has changed between them."
"Hard to pretend that when you're back to being a preadolescent."
"Haruhi eats with Ms. Hiboshi and her new friends."
Kurumu nodded, aware that Hiboshi was friends with Dakuhime and that other girl Dakuhime hung around with whose name escaped Kurumu. She was that girl with the eerie stare and long black hair whom was also in choir. Kurumu wondered where Yaisoku fit in this mess. The girl had seemed on good terms and had changed her shower time to match Hiboshi's. But the jorougumo had an older sister in the tennis club, so she might not be eating lunch with Hiboshi. She felt she should ask during stretches.
"I imagine things must not be going well with the engagement if Ms. Shirayuki is chasing after a teacher. I feel sorry for Mr. Umizake."
Kurumu laughed softly, petting Hinoko whom was drooling on her blouse.
"I wouldn't worry about that. He's not thrilled about the engagement."
"He isn't?"
"She did say it was arranged. It was no secret that Kuyo held no interest in Ms. Hiboshi."
Asuka frowned at Hazumi.
"Then why doesn't he break it off?"
Kurumu smiled at the blonde.
"Because Mizore would be engaged to someone else. He didn't see a point in calling off the engagement if it did not improve her situation."
Shinayaka sighed, shaking her head which caused her whitish curls to dance along her ample bosom.
"I am thankful my family doesn't do such things. I couldn't stand having such an important decision taken away from me."
Meisai smirked, pulling a root onto the cutting board and starting to chop away at it.
"No kidding. Makes marriage sound like a job."
"It is unreasonable for our race to do such things. There's no shortage of males and humans are an acceptable alternative."
"You would marry a human?"
Shinayaka chuckled.
"Of course. It's harder to have kids with them, but I wouldn't mind a smaller family. No reason to have half a dozen kids."
Kurumu smiled.
"Do any of you have human parents?"
Meisai shrugged as she pushed the fragments of her root into a bowl.
"I know none of my community do. The kitsune would make so much fuss if we started letting humans breed with us."
Kurumu frowned.
"But don't you guys have jorougumo in your community? I thought they required humans."
"They live on the outskirts, charged with security. They only mingle with us for school purposes."
Hazumi nodded at Meisai's comment. She gestured at Kurumu.
"We did have an issue when Kuyo attempted to expand our territory, which caused quite the stir with the humans. It was for this reason that he was sent away to Yokai."
Kurumu smiled. Lady Hineri with the PSC had shared this information roughly a month ago.
"What about you, Shinayaka?"
"My parents are both gyokuto but my father had a surgery to sterilize him. I'm the youngest of four."
"You can have surgery for that?"
Meisai chuckled.
"Yea, though it's not as easy as humans. With our silly regeneration, surgeries have to be pretty drastic to prevent regrowth. My mother had her ovaries removed."
"My father still uses protection just in case."
"I know Hazumi is the oldest of a large family. What about you, Meisai?"
"I'm the third of five with two little sisters and two older brothers. One of my older brothers is a second year in this school."
"Same here. My brother Rini is in the Ping Pong club with my cousin Ashiharu."
Meisai giggled, shaking her head as she cut up some mushrooms.
"I still can't believe your parents named him Rini. That's a girl's name."
"Mother had picked it, hoping she would not have a third boy. He was a lot smaller than my older brothers, so she was so certain he would be a girl."
Meisai wagged the knife at Kurumu.
"That boy is shorter than I am. Throw him in a blouse and skirt and he could seriously pass as Momiji's older sister."
Asuka had pulled the skillet off the burner and was dumping her vegetables into a bowl already filled with Kurumu's project. As hungry as Kurumu was, she had no interest to eat this. Asuka walked around them to set the skillet in the sink, turning on the faucet and squirting soap into the steel basin.
"What club is your brother in?"
"Hekima is in the Literature club. He was never interested in competing with big brother over athletics, so he spent all his time reading and studying."
Kurumu grinned.
"So you have a smart brother and an athletic one."
"Naw, Hekima is dumb. He tries, but he's not that smart."
Hazumi snorted.
"As if you are one to judge, Nyanya."
"Not judging. Stating a fact."
Shinayaka pulled her skillet off the stove and emptied it into a bowl.
"Coming your way, Ms. Shindou."
Asuka nodded as the other girl joined her at the sink, setting her skillet down.
"Dummy. I still need that for mine."
Shinayaka frowned a moment before laughing. She handed the skillet out to Meisai.
"Sorry."
"I can't hold that. Put it back on the stove."
Hazumi shook her head as Shinayaka made her way back to the stove.
"Bless her heart."
Kurumu had been with these girls long enough to know Shinayaka was an idiot. She was kind and cute but she did weird things like this all the time. With a score of three fifty five, Shinayaka had narrowly avoided being listed on the shame board.
"I'm going to head over to station seven."
Hazumi and Asuka both frowned at her.
"What do you need over there?"
Kurumu grinned, having a couple reasons to head over there.
"I want to ask Tsubuyama what she thought about the cheer article. I don't have any regular contact with any of the cheer girls."
Hazumi gestured at Hinoko.
"Do you need us to take her off your hands?"
Kurumu chuckled, lowering her cheek to nuzzle against Hinoko's curls. She smelled of strawberries.
"You want to walk over to station seven with me?"
Hinoko sighed, relaxing her hold to step back. Under Kurumu's direction, the girl had refrained from drinking the entire hour and looked quite depressed over it. The girl smiled softly, her faint blue eye having more life than her rich green one.
"I'll keep her out of trouble. You take care."
Meisai chuckle.
"Say hi to Ms. Uta for us."
Kurumu frowned.
"Second year volleyball player at station six. The one with the silvery blue hair."
Kurumu smiled as she tugged the lethargic Hinoko along. She still did not know all the girls in her home ec class, though it was a class of forty eight girls and she barely spoke with any of them outside of this hour. She felt she knew most of the first years. The gorgon girls were with Juri at station two while Fujinuma and the Unabara twins were at station three. Like there was maybe one or two… nope. She knew them all. Yotsumure Shoka with the black hair was from class four and so was Kagami Kaede and Umigame Okarina. The only girls she did not know were the second years.
She only knew two of the second years from stations ten and eleven. Fujino at station eleven was from archery. Zoushiki Koufuku at station ten was the scarlet haired beauty with wavy hair that hung down to her ankles. She held it up in a tail to keep it off the floor, joking about how she would never cut it. She was one of the girls that had fussed over Kurumu when her hair had been shortened by Hiboshi.
"I trust there is a reason for wandering about, Ms. Kurono."
Kurumu paused and made a slight wave at Ms. Hitori, whom was seated at her desk across from stations eight and nine at the center of the classroom. The crimson haired woman had a ponytail while the sides of her head were shaved short. She was turning the pages of a magazine without looking up to confirm Kurumu's gesture.
"I finished for the day and wanted to talk with Ms. Tsubuyama."
Her declaration caught the attention of the amber haired second year at station seven.
"If Ms. Tsubuyama has also finished, you may converse. Anyone whom is finished with their dishes and assignment are free to leave but do keep your voices down out of respect for your peers and other classes that are in session."
Tsubuyama giggled as Kurumu pulled the shojo along whom was dragging her feet. The girl shook her head, grabbing the shojo by her shoulder and helping Kurumu into their station space. It looked like the tall Watanabe was the only one unfinished at Tsubuyama's station.
Kurumu had not really noticed the girls at station six before. She knew two of them were from the second year class four. The tiny one was super slender and had short, bluish hair with pink tips. The other one with the shoulder length, silvery blue hair must be the Uta she had been told about. The last girl had indigo locks that seemed constantly in motion. She paid them no attention as she concentrated on moving things about in the skillet.
"Meisai says hi."
The silvery haired girl grinned, glancing down at the vegetables she had finished cutting up.
"Are you causing my first years trouble, Ms. Kurono?"
Kurumu grinned, allowing Tsubuyama to take Hinoko off her hands.
"They are fun to work with. Kurono Kurumu, presently from class two but the year is early."
Uta and the short girl laughed along with all the girls from station seven.
"Uta Kuriko, from class four."
The slender girl pressed a hand to her flat bosom.
"Mizudake Yuri, class four's representative, top ten student and star tennis player."
Uta smirked, shaking her head.
"You were tenth."
"Tenth is still top ten."
"You barely made it."
"Which is much harder than being first. First only has to be better than everyone else. Tenth has to be the precise amount of intelligence to have a few brighter students to look up to while still establishing dominance over the majority."
Uta giggled.
"You whined about scoring lower than Ms. Genzaimuta all week."
"And why shouldn't I? That silly sylph should know her place."
Kurumu realized this was the sassy girl Ginei had mentioned with Yuniko. These two had been the only decent players from the second year class four during their short volleyball season. Kurumu figured they had won at least one game, quite aware that Ms. Sunao's homeroom had not won any.
"So how did you feel about the article on your cheerleader squad?"
Tsubuyama shrugged as Hinoko leaned against her.
"Okay, I guess. I'm more interested in seeing that video done by your film club. We should have a pep rally next week. I don't know why the school puts all that in the second term."
"Can you schedule a pep rally?"
Mizudake nodded with a huff.
"Course you can, silly. Put in a request with the student council to use the stage. Get permission to hand out fliers. Easy stuff if you put your mind to it."
Kurumu paused as a few thoughts crossed her mind.
"You could probably host a popularity contest like that."
The two girls frowned at each other. Uta favored Kurumu with a soft smile.
"Maybe. That seems like it would take more time than one hour on a stage."
Mizudake nodded, glancing up at the ceiling.
"Yea… something that grand would take connections. Maybe if you dragged Ms. Herikuda into it, she could get things going."
"You'd have to get Voice in on it too."
"Voice?"
Mizudake grinned.
"Tashikana Ichigo, president of the Broadcasting club. That Kuyo bastard shut him down after he said a few things about the newspaper club."
"If the Student Council gives Voice back his access to the PA system, he could get word around real fast about something like that."
"Of course I would win any contest about beauty."
Uta smirked, patting Mizudake's head.
"Sure you would. Let's dismiss the fact that our class has girls like Ms. Udetama, Ms. Okimune and Ms. Genzaimuta."
Mizudake rolled her eyes.
"Oh please. While Hitsumi is a sweetheart, Ms. Udetama is an uncivilized beast and there's no way I would lose to that blowhard Kumori. I would argue that you would fare better than those two."
Kurumu turned as she was poked in the side. Tsubuyama grinned at Kurumu, returning her hand to pat Hinoko's head.
"Was there any other reasons to visit before these two got hung up on beauty pageants?"
Kurumu smiled, stepping in closer to squeeze Hinoko's shoulder.
"I was thinking of inviting the two of you to a birthday party this weekend."
"Thought you said you're birthday was over summer break."
"It's for Satsuki, Ms. Nekonome's niece. She wanted to invite a bunch of girls like her, since she kind of grew up in a community without any others of her kind."
Tsubuyama grinned.
"I remember her from when you did the article. Sure, I can come."
"I'm going to ask Hidarimeki and Hiyoshi tonight. We are thinking of having it at my suite and bringing this little darling along."
Hinoko frowned, leaning her head on Tsubuyama's shoulder.
"Me?"
"Yea. You were with us at Tokori's place and the two girls with me will be there."
Hinoko's different colored eyes lit up.
"Are we drinking?!"
Kurumu flinched, gesturing for Hinoko to keep her voice down. The other conversation stopped as the two girls regarded her inquisitively.
"She's a shojo. Always thinking about getting drunk."
Mizudake shook her head.
"Poor thing. Truly. I can't imagine needing to be in a permanent state of dehydration."
"As if we could do that."
The two giggled as Kurumu turned her attention back to Tsubuyama.
"But yea. We will meet in the dining hall around noon and take things from there. That includes you, Hinoko, and yes, we will probably be drinking."
"I love to drink. Can I drink right now?"
"Wait for gym. I wanted you sober for the invitation, so you would remember it better."
The girl grinned, nuzzling her head against Tsubuyama. The amber haired girl glanced about.
"So… we're drinking?"
"Yes. I'm checking with Tokori here about if Fujihara has been invited, since they share homeroom."
Tsubuyama smirked.
"The thought of getting that cute thing plastered is enough for me to go. Count me in."
Kurumu chuckled, gesturing at Hinoko as she glanced over at station sixteen. Taijin was picking up her things as Asuka conversed at the girls. In seconds, Taijin dragged her reluctant friend out the open door while Tokori continued to read her book.
"Can you hold onto Hinoko for me? I'm going to confirm things with Tokori."
"Sure thing."
Patting Hinoko one last time, Kurumu walked off towards station sixteen. She noticed Hazumi's gaze and made a slight wave. Meisai was attending the stove while Shinayaka was washing the cutting board and knife in the sink. Hazumi nodded, turning her attention back to her notebook.
Kurumu glanced at her wrist, noting they still had a whole ten minutes before the bell sounded the end of the hour. That was plenty of time for Meisai to finish. Grinning she crossed the remaining distance to Tokori's station, leaning over the island counter once she arrived.
"Hey, Tokori."
The girl looked up from her book. She glanced about the room with a nervous flicker in her eye.
"I see you detached yourself from Sakamori."
"How have you been?"
"Fine, I guess. I hear things have been crazy with the newspaper club again."
Kurumu sighed.
"I guess you could say that. Did Satsuki ask about inviting Fujihara over for the weekend?"
"Who is Fujihara?"
Kurumu laughed softly.
"She's a girl in your class. She has different colored eyes, like Sakamori."
"I honestly don't know what color of eyes most of my classmates have."
"She's small and I think she has the choir elective. She's in the karaoke club."
Tokori sighed, her shoulders relaxing.
"There are three girls shorter than me in my class, Kurumu, and I don't ask about clubs and electives."
"Can you just ask around for Fujihara? Tell her to meet up with me in the dining hall, noon on Saturday."
Tokori managed a smile.
"Sure. And here I was worried you would start grilling me about the Outcasts."
Kurumu sighed.
"Have you seen Miki today? He wasn't in our homeroom."
"Miki hasn't spoken to me since I told him about joining the PSC. I know everyone thinks I'm going to be a wealth of information because I'm a local monstrel, but I was only close to Ichiro and the other girls. Some of the boys I haven't talked to in over three years."
"I'm just worried that things will get out of control like they did with Kuyo."
Tokori reached over to pull her schoolbag up onto the counter. She opened it up and stuffed the book inside, not bothering to close it as she slung the bag up on her shoulder.
"The PSC is going to let the student council handle this matter. I assume Midou will present his case, if he hasn't done so already. We can only wait and see where things go from there."
"I'm sorry, Tokori. I realize this must be an awkward position for you to be in."
Tokori shrugged as the bell rang. She did not appear upset, though it did feel like she was deliberately putting up an air of detachment.
"Look, Kurumu. I really don't want to talk much more about this. While I'm not going to pretend I was close to Miki, his mother is a good person. Ms. Akashiya may be your friend, but she can't just go around killing people because she's a vampire. This is a school meant to teach coexistence."
Kurumu sighed.
"We don't know what happened, Tokori."
"Yea. Well… it sounds bad. The Outsiders have never killed anyone before. Everyone knows this. Even if Ms. Akashiya goes unpunished for this, nobody is going to trust her again."
Kurumu could not think of anything to say as Tokori took off, promptly slipping out into the hall. Sighing, she supposed there was nothing she could have said.
"Wake up."
Kurumu groaned, pushing away the foot that was pawing at her shoulder. It was late but the full moon hanging overhead shone with such brightness that it seemed barely dusk. Kurumu rubbed her eye with the back of her wrist as she glanced up at Mizore, whom had thrust both hands in her center pocket.
"What time is it?"
"Time for you to go home."
Kurumu lifted her wrist up and confirmed it was after eleven. She had only gotten here about an hour ago but had not meant to fall asleep. She stretched her arms up over her head as Mizore walked up to the door, pushing her key in the lock and drawing back the deadbolt.
Kurumu absently reached over and drew up Mizore's skirt enough to confirm what she had suspected. She sighed, shaking her head as she rolled over onto her knees and got up on her feet while Mizore pushed open her door. The girl was not desperate enough to shut the door before Kurumu could impose herself and step through the doorway.
"You know it's not normal to walk around without panties."
"It's not normal to sleep in front of someone's door."
Mizore slipped out of her shoes and stepped around the half wall. She reached up, opening a cabinet to pull down a black ceramic bowl. She snapped her thumb across a lighter twice to spark a flame, which she dipped down inside the bowl. A sickly sweet smell wafted up with a thin tendril of smoke as Mizore withdrew the lighter, leaving it on the counter next to the bowl.
It had been a long afternoon. Nothing exciting had happened in gym and Ginei had canceled club for the evening. He had insisted on everyone leaving with a partner, so Kurumu had headed out with Nerume and Satsuki with the purpose of meeting up with Hiyoshi and Hidarimeki after dinner. She honestly had no idea what the others had done as she had been the first group to leave. She trusted Moka, Tora and Yukari to have enough sense between them to not create an unfavorable situation.
Being among the first to arrive at the dining hall, it had been a small matter to keep watch on the door for the arrival of the two second years. They had chatted with the two and accompanied them back to their place where they had goofed off until almost nine. Kurumu had walked with Satsuki and Nerume about halfway to their dorms before coming back here with the hope that Mizore would be in her room. After banging on the door a good five or so minutes, Kurumu had taken a seat and promptly passed out.
"Satsuki is having a birthday party on Saturday. Would you like to come?"
Mizore fetched a kettle from the cabinet over the sink and filled it with water. She shrugged.
"Not really."
Kurumu sighed, closing the door and drawing the deadbolt.
"This is Satsuki, Mizore. You could be friends with her."
Mizore placed the kettle on the stove, turning on the electric burner.
"I want you to go home."
Kurumu shrugged, looking about the empty room. It was not any different than hers. Mizore must have stuffed all her boxes of things in her closet. That was possible, since she only had about a dozen of them and they could be folded up once emptied.
"I'm glad you came home."
Mizore ducked down to open the cabinet beside the stove. She pulled out a basket, setting it beside the ceramic bowl. Throwing open the lid, she fished out a couple black berries and dropped them in the tea kettle. She sighed as she put the basket back beneath the counter.
"I'm not."
"I'm sorry, Mizore. I saw Kotsubo on campus today."
Mizore nodded, leaning with her palms on the edge of the counter.
"I realized this around dinner, when Mr. Hirata came to boot me from the apartment."
"He said he didn't do anything to you."
Mizore smirked.
"He didn't. Said we could do all that after we left. I slept naked for him. He was gone when I woke up."
Kurumu shivered as she felt the slight drop in temperature.
"He wasn't worth it, Mizore."
"I'm just not good enough for him."
"Don't say that."
Mizore took a deep breath, a small crystal forming at the corner of her eye.
"Please don't. You know what this is like. To be turned away after giving it all."
Kurumu did know how painful that was. The first time had hurt so much that it had felt like they would inevitably break up. She had turned to steamy encounters in dreams to nurse her hope until she could not bear that any longer. The second time had been less painful, though mostly due to the reassurance that it would happen soon. If there had been no hope on the horizon, she felt it would have been even worse than the first time.
"It's better this way."
"You don't understand. I don't get another chance. There is nothing for me."
Kurumu felt if she walked over to touch Mizore that the girl would only draw away and her emotions might cause something worse to happen.
"Mizore. I'm sorry. All you can do is focus on what you can control and what needs to be done now."
Mizore huffed, shaking her head.
"Control? When was I ever given that?"
Stepping out of her shoes, Kurumu walked around the half wall to lean back against it beside the stove. She could feel the chill in the air so close to the sulking Mizore.
"You can help watch over Tsukune like we discussed. Right now… we might have an issue with a group of bullies called the Outsiders. They believe Moka killed a few of their members and want to take it out on our club."
"Sounds like a problem she caused. Let her deal with it."
"Komiya Saizou was one of the boys. This was an issue with Tsukune."
Mizore sighed, hanging her head.
"What do you want me to do? I struggle to control my powers all the time. I can't fight anyone for you."
"I guess it's enough if you keep an eye on him and get help when he needs it."
Mizore frowned.
"You want me to abandon him if something happens?"
"These Outcasts travel in groups. You might have to."
"Okay."
Mizore nodded.
"Okay."
Kurumu smiled as the girl repeated the word a couple more times. She could tell Mizore disagreed with the idea, but she admitted a lack of control. Fighting a group of boys might put Tsukune in danger even if Mizore was trying to protect him.
"Uh… one other thing, Mizore. Yukari outed the name of your fiancé so most of the track team knows and they have spread it around the school."
Mizore's shoulders drooped.
"Kurumu."
Mizore looked up with weary eyes.
"Could you kill me?"
Kurumu smiled, thinking the incense and the steam from the kettle was helping her body adjust to the temperature drop Mizore was causing at the moment. She could sense it, but it was like her body was numb to the severity of the change. Hoping it was safe, Kurumu reached over to brush the back of her fingers across Mizore's cheek.
"I don't think I could live with myself."
Kurumu smirked at a thought, wondering if the berries would impact how her body was reacting to Tsukune's presence in her system.
"I'm more likely to impregnate you."
Mizore drew back with a frown.
"Impregnate? With your tail?"
Kurumu nodded, causing Mizore to touch the end of her stick as she glanced at the wall.
"Can we?"
"Huh?"
Mizore's cheeks flushed for a moment.
"Can we make a baby?"
All Kurumu could think at first was how lucky this girl had not been around on Sunday. In her feverish state, she might not have been able to resist a willing partner. Yukari had mentioned the possibility that Mizore might not be harmed by her opiate.
"That's a drastic swing of requests."
"My village won't make me a priestess if I dirty my reputation by having another man's child outside of marriage. They might exile me."
Kurumu pouted at the reasoning.
"I can't just put a baby in you without talking to Tsukune and making sure this won't harm you."
"So we tell Tsukune that we will do this."
"What if he doesn't want a child right now?"
Mizore looked upon Kurumu with anguish.
"I need this now. You don't understand. I don't have much time."
Kurumu bit her lower lip.
"But what if it's not safe."
"I'm willing to risk it, Kurumu. I'm not afraid of dying."
Kurumu felt a tightness in her throat as she touched her chest.
"I can't, Mizore. I have to know it will be safe. I don't want you to die."
"But I want to do this."
"And I want you to live and be happy. Can't you do that?"
Mizore drew back, letting out a long breath. Another crystal stuck upon her cheek.
"Would you want to spend the night?"
Kurumu paused a moment, thinking about the orders to not isolate herself with any girls and how Yukari had dismissed it thoroughly out of worry for Kurumu's heart. She was sure that she was of sound mind at the moment. That might not be the case by morning.
"I would like to."
"I should light a couple more incense bowls and place them near the futon. I think they will stay lit all night. It should be safe, even if I have a nightmare."
Kurumu certainly hoped spending the night was not some dangerous suggestion. As Mizore stalked off to the closet, presumably to fetch her futon, Kurumu wandered over to the ceramic bowl and breathed deeply in the scent. Things should be fine.
Mizore came back out of the closet carrying a futon and nothing else. The girl had stripped bare. She tossed the futon on the ground, lowering on her hands and knees to unravel the futon.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm getting the bed ready. I'll light some more incense bowls in a second."
Kurumu hugged herself as she watched Mizore's lithe body move with her task.
"Why are you naked?"
Mizore paused. She pulled the lollipop out of her mouth as she stood up and managed a smile.
"Well… I told you before that I sleep naked."
She covered one hand about her breasts as she walked over to the sink. She opened the cabinet below, tossing the lollipop into a wastebasket beneath.
"Do you have any pajamas?"
"No. Why?"
Kurumu wondered if she should sleep as she was. She had a feeling if she left to get pajamas, Mizore would retract her offer of spending the night. That might be a good thing, but Kurumu was reluctant to spend another night alone.
Mizore took down a second and third bowl. She flicked the lighter and dipped it in the second bowl.
"You won't mind if I have to take off a few things to be comfortable?"
"I asked to have your baby. I'm not going to be squeamish if you want to sleep naked beside me."
Mizore smiled softly as she lit the last bowl.
"If something happens, it happens."
Kurumu fiddled with the buttons of her blouse. She sensed this would be a long night.