Katie looked back to see who those voices came from. Behind her were two girls: A bespectacled one wearing a blue and white hoodie and a blue skirt, and the other who wore a purple dress and cardigan and whose purple hair covered her eyes.

"You seem to be upset, Katie." The bespectacled one inferred.

"And taking out your frustration on some poor spirit. My my." The purple-haired one added.

"Eh!?" Katie let go of Whisper and quickly turned around waving her hands left and right. "No no no that's not what I was doing at all!" She then looked to her top left while trying to think of a lie. "I was, uh, practicing a pantomime for a story I'm going to tell the group tonight!"

"That's the best you could come up with?" Whisper rasped as he rubbed his wisp, trying to ease the pain from her powerful noogie.

"I see. How disappointing." The purple-haired one replied.

Katie then looked at them with a more serious expression. "And anyway, what are you both doing here? You two didn't sign up for the trip."

"Guilty as charged!" The purple-haired girl smiled. "We're here on our own free will."

"Being part of the trip would've meant we'd have to stay in the group and do whatever Mr. Johnson tells us." The bespectacled girl explained. "And who wants that when there's a whole mountain oozing with paranormal activity to investigate?"

The purple-haired girl clasped her hands together out of excitement. "Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Jizo statues that suddenly show up out of nowhere in random locations, sentient trees, mysterious ripples in Catfish Pond that aren't caused by the fish themselves, ahh~. It's so much more exciting than investigating the school, even if it is harder to cover."

"kukkukku… Isn't it though? Nighttime couldn't come any sooner!"

"Katie, who are these two?" Whisper asked while placing a bandage on his wisp.

"The purple-haired one is Lina Maeda and the other one is Zoey Sakai." Katie quietly replied. "They're both unhealthily obsessed with the occult."

"You don't say? Well I like them already then!"

"So Katie darling, I hear the cabin you all are staying at was mysteriously left in shambles on the inside." Lina acknowledged.

"Yet you'd never be able to tell by looking at the outside." Zoey added. "Even the front door was untouched. Strange, no?"

"Yep that sure is strange." Katie nodded with her eyes closed and a half smile, trying to pretend she didn't know anything.

"Clearly it must be the work of some spirit, and it just so happens that Lina and I are on the hunt of a certain urban legend this weekend. Tell me Katie, are you familiar with the legend of Kunekune?"

"I can't say that I am."

"That's not surprising. I can't imagine the class Madonna being an aficionado on the supernatural." Lina commented.

"Class Madonna?" Whisper parroted while placing an ice pack on his wisp.

"Well here's a bit of background," Zoey started. "Kunekune is a mysterious entity that's been sighted as early as the 2000s. It's said to look like a cross between a human and a scarecrow with long wriggly limbs and skin as pale as a white bedsheet. What's really freaky about it though…" Zoey put her hands over her face. "It lacks any facial features."

"I read its appearance and movements are so otherworldly looking that staring at it for more than a second can cause permanent blindness and insanity."

"So, you're thinking that it was the one who trashed the cabin?" Katie asked with her arms folded. "Don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?"

Zoey took her cellphone out of her hoodie pocket and began typing on it. "Normally I would agree especially since Kunekune sightings are more common in rice fields, but according to the occultist forums Lina and I follow there have been sightings of a faceless creature wondering around Mt. Wildwood as of late. Take a look at this post." She held her phone out towards Katie.

"I was taking my nightly jog on the mountain trail when I caught a glimpse of something between the tree groves that looked like a small boy. However, his head was shaved and abnormally large and even though I only saw him from the side, I couldn't make out any distinguishable facial features. When I tried to get a better view of him he suddenly vanished! (O∆O) I ran away as fast as I could after that!"

"Hmm, other than the missing facial features it doesn't really match the description you gave earlier." Katie pointed out. "Still, a boy figure with an unusually large shaved head isn't any less freaky."

"kukkukku... Isn't it though?" Zoey chuckled while swiping up on her phone. "The missing facial features are the key here, so nothing else really matters. That's not even everything. Look at this next post."

"My friend went fishing at Catfish Pond last weekend and hasn't returned since. I know I should report this to the police but I'm certain they won't do anything about it. I'm worried he might have had an encounter with this faceless creature I keep reading about and it did something terrible to him! (/;◇;)/"

"People are going missing too?" Katie asked. "I'll admit that raises some suspicions, but unless Kunekune carries around sweets or Next HarMEOWny magazines I say you're out of luck because that's all that was left behind in the cabin."

"Sweets and Next HarMEOWny magazines?" asked Lina. "Oh dear. That sounds rather uncharacteristic for an urban legend."

"Not quite. In fact, this is great information!" Zoey smirked. "After all, Kunekune is considered a "modern Youkai" after all, so it liking sweets and being into Next HarMEOWny doesn't sound too farfetched."

"I don't think "modern" means what you think it does in that sense." Katie doubted with her eyes closed.

"Well either way this information is more than enough for Lina and me to come up with a plan to lure it out tonight."

"Look, you two can do whatever you want, but you both know if Mr. Johnson catches you he's going to call your parents, right?"

"Oh don't worry. Kunekune's bound to have moved on from here by now so we'll be as far away from your campfire songs and marshmallow roasts as possible." Zoey pushed the bridge of her glasses with her index finger. "Anyway, don't mind us. We've got a mountain to investigate and you've got a group to get back to. The last thing you want to be is alone when something like Kunekune is on the move because who knows? Just because it moved on now doesn't mean it won't come back later." She then giggled eerily.

Katie sighed. "If you say so. Just don't do anything too crazy, okay?" She then began to walk away.

"Ciao!" waved Lina. "Good luck with your story!"

As Katie continued to walk, Whisper floated by her and broke the silence with: "Well looks like Baddinyan's been pretty busy during his time in Mt. Wildwood, whis~."

"Oh get real!" Katie sneered. "I'm not even going to acknowledge why that doesn't make any sense."

"'Twas just a joke my dear. Though I will admit I'm curious as to who or what this Kunekune could be. I've never heard of such a Yo-kai."

Katie gave Whisper an annoyed look and replied with: "There's a familiar line."

Whisper flailed his arms up and down and exclaimed: "No! I really mean it this time!" He then put his finger on his chin. "Though if I recall there does exist a faceless Yo-kai by the name of… Of… Hang on!" Whisper reached behind his back to try to grab his Yo-kai Pad but then remembered he didn't have it and why. "Oh. I forgot."

"Well Kunekune or not, if there is a faceless Youkai out here causing trouble, we have to find and stop it."

Whisper held both of his fists up in a confident manner and nodded. "Whis~! I recommend we strike at night when everyone is asleep. With my knowledge and the power of your other Yo-kai friends we'll put this ne'er-do-well in his place!"

Katie nodded with an indifferent expression. "I just hope nobody gets hurt beforehand. Especially not those two back there."

"Now that you mention it, I believe I remember seeing them back in my own dimensiverse but Nate never interacted with them much. It's a shame because they seem like nice girls, whis~!"

"Well they are. They're just really… Peculiar." Katie held her watch in the palm of her hand, looking at her reflection in the lens while smiling. "Then again, I guess I kinda am too."

Whisper's face suddenly obstructed her view. "Then why not get to know them more?"

"Gah!" Having Whisper so close to her caused Katie to jump back.

"As fans of the occult they could help you gain a closer relationship to the supernatural." He continued. "Birds of a feather flock together."

Katie gave him a look of doubt while pointing at her watch and saying: "I honestly don't think I need a closer relationship to the supernatural than I already have."

Whisper chuckled. "By the way, what's this about you being the class Madonna?"

Katie blushed while smiling with her eyes closed and moving her hand up and down. "Oh, that's just a silly title they give me. It doesn't mean anything really."

"But I thought saying that a girl is a 'Madonna' meant that she's an ideal female in appearance and standards. Can't say I disagree in this case, whis~!"

Katie slapped Whisper on the back which sent him flying smackdab into the ground, unknowingly to her. "Oh stop! You're too much Whisper! Teehee!"

Whisper groaned with his face buried in the dirt as his body twitched from the pain. A red handprint also marked the spot where Katie slapped him. "This girl doesn't know her own strength."

Unbeknownst to them, a shadowy figure was watching them from the inside of a nearby tree grove. It balled its fist up and angrily grumbled: "Darn them all…"