Chapter 6

Homework From Hell

"This house, and the various buildings that have stood in its place, have been known as the Resting Place for a very long time indeed. Your headmaster came up with the notion of utilizing this land as a sort of neutral ground for meeting with various representatives of the various tribes of monsters, especially during the turbulent times preceding the foundation of the Yokai Academy. The building itself has been rebuilt several times, after, ah, certain incidents rendered the previous versions uninhabitable. These days, however, this house is often used as a vacation home for those who have aided the Hell-Kings, among other things." Roy Cooper turned around to beam at the four teenagers, spreading his arms wide to proudly display the common room in which they all stood. "It's somewhat simple, I know, but we have found that simple homes are easier to repair… not that we expect anything bad to happen to it, of course." His weak chuckle was transparent enough to make Tsukune shiver a bit at that notion.

As they had entered the Resting Place, they had all noticed the simplicity that Roy was referencing. Immediately before them had been the stairwell leading to the second floor, and to either side was a wide opening, the one to the right leading into what had looked like a dining room, presumably with an attached kitchen since Wendy had went in that direction to finish their meal. The opening to the left had led into the large common room in which they now stood. Tsukune was somewhat surprised by how spacious the room was; despite featuring a small table, a couple of couches, a television, and a computer desk, the room was still largely empty, and it looked large enough to take up nearly half of the house's footprint.

"Directly above us are two of the four bedrooms, with the third located in the center of the upstairs, and the master bedroom takes up the far end. There is one restroom downstairs, next to the stairwell, and two upstairs, one inside the master bedroom and one accessible to the other three rooms through the hallway, as well as a single bathroom, which you will have to share, of course. As for the bedrooms, we'll leave choosing them up to you, but…" Roy cast a nervous glance in the direction of the kitchen. "Please make sure they're all used. For your sake, and mine."

"Don't worry," Moka said confidently, stepping forward. "We'll all be on our best behavior." She cast a smile back in the direction of Kurumu and Mizore, but the veiled threat in her words didn't escape Tsukune.

Neither did Roy's relieved sigh. Pausing for a moment, his brow scrunched in deep thought, he glanced around the room. Finally, he discovered what he had been fighting to remember, exclaiming "Ah yes! The shed! I will need to show that to you, but first, let us finish carrying in the rest of your luggage. I am sure Tsukune and I will be able to get it all inside easily enough, so if any of you would like to help Wendy finish preparing dinner, feel free."

As Tsukune and Roy walked towards the door, they could hear Kurumu urging the other girls to go on without her: "I wanted to look something up real quick, I'll catch up with you later." As Tsukune stepped out of the house, he glanced back to see Kurumu taking a seat at the computer, a look of determination on her face.

Several minutes later, after Roy and Tsukune had deposited each of the boxes and bags in the common room, the two paused to catch their breath. Tsukune glanced in the direction of the computer, but the screen's contents were hidden from him by the succubus' back. Curiousity getting the better of him, he took a step in that direction, but stopped short as Roy called out for his wife. Wendy stepped to the entrance to the dining room, now looking somewhat frazzled but no less intimidating for it. "Just a few minutes more, dear. If you would like, you could show our guests some other part of the house. Or all of them." The frozen object in her hand, which might have originally been some kind of vegetable before it had been utterly incased in ice, hinted at the reasons for her willingness to be rid of her helpers.

"Very well then!" Roy barked, clapping his hands. Kurumu jumped at the sound, hastily closing the browser she had been looking at and standing up from the computer. "Come on, let me show you the shed." He led Tsukune and Kurumu into the dining room and, after a rather sheepish-looking Moka and Mizore joined them, they exited through a door at the far end of the room, stepping out onto the lawn of the Resting Place. A short distance away was the large storage building Tsukune had noticed when they had arrived at the house. As they made their way to it, Tsukune dropped back to where Moka was trailing behind the others, and whispered a nervous question to her: "How's dinner looking?"

Moka gave him a tight smile, and answered only, "I hope you like cucumbers…"

Meanwhile, Roy Cooper was unlocking the padlock at the front of the storage building. Pulling the door open, he stepped inside, flipping a light switch beside the doorframe. The shed's contents were revealed by the naked, dangling light bulb to be nothing extraordinary: lawn equipment, tarps and random tools, complete with an antiquated mower sitting disconsolately in a corner. There was a wall that looked to divide the storage building in half, however, complete with another door with a much more impressive-looking lock. Roy stepped towards that door, fumbling to find the correct key on the large key-ring he held.

"You shouldn't have any need for the stuff in this room, since I take care of all of the lawn care here, but you will need to come in here every day to retrieve the things that the Academy is sending you." He paused as he slid the key into the lock, staring into the air with obvious wonder. "Hunh, I don't know if they would have told you about this. Oh well, better to show than to explain, I always say. Come on in, and I'll show you the Hellmaw."

The girls stepped towards the door, but Tsukune immediately froze in place. "H-Hellmaw? What is that?"

"Nothing to worry about, I'm sure," Kurumu dismissed his fears with a wave of her hand.

"I'll protect you," Mizore offered, stepping into the next room.

As the last of the girls left him alone, Tsukune mustered the courage to follow, his mind still reeling. His friends were used to the monster world, so they had faith in their abilities to handle anything that they might find in a place the Headmaster had called 'safe,' but he had allowed himself to be tricked by how normal everything had seemed so far. Normal houses did not have a Hellmaw in the back yard, that was for certain.

As Tsukune entered the other room, the first thing that struck him was a wave of heat. The next thing he noticed was that this chamber had been lined with blackened stones, even though the outer walls of the shed had looked to be wood. The heat in the air made everything in the room shimmer slightly, like illusions over the pavement in summer.

And the Tsukune noticed the Hellmaw. True to its description, it took the form of a giant demonic visage, stretching from floor to ceiling, with stone mouth held wide open and tongue extended along the floor a short distance, almost like a ramp leading to the inert face's jaws. The maw itself was easily tall enough for Tsukune to enter, but the dancing flames he could see beyond convinced him that such would not be a good idea. Those flames were the obvious source for the heat inside the room, and the sound of their crackling forced Roy Cooper to raise his voice as he turned to face the teens.

"The Hellmaw is a sort of portal that connects Yokai Academy and the Resting Place. We use it to exchange letters, packages, anything of importance. Since transit is instantaneous, it makes communication with the, ah, with your headmaster very easy. Since this will allow you to receive assignments from your teachers while you're staying here, we believed that it would be a good way for you to stay on top of your studies. Every night, please make sure to check the Hellmaw to see if you've received anything, and feel free to use it to stay in contact with your friends and teachers back at school." As the four looked anxiously between Roy and the flames inside the portal, he chuckled loudly. "Allow me to demonstrate." He pulled a note out of one of his pockets, holding it aloft. "I prepared this note to let the headmaster know that you had arrived safely. To use the Hellmaw, step somewhat close to it, and-" He lightly tossed the note towards the flames, and as the letter passed the giant teeth it disappeared with a flash. "See? Instant teleportation between here and there."

"But if that thing allows something to travel between the school and here instantly, why did we take the bus?" Mizore pointed out, wiping her brow to remove the beads of sweat that had collected there.

"Ah, heh heh, yes," Roy mumbled, paling slightly. "That would be, well, a bad idea. Yes, a very bad idea. You see…" He glanced towards the Hellmaw, and Tsukune couldn't help but noticed that the older man took a nervous step back, as if he had just seen it for the first time. "I remember that someone tried that once. Not with an actual person, but I believe it was with a pet… We buried it in the garden outside. It seems that anything living that gets sent through the portal tends to arrive looking somewhat… chewed on."

He turned to face the four teens, regaining his composure despite the horror-stricken expressions they were offering him. "Which is why we just use it for simple things, like letters and the such. As long as you don't fall in, then…" He paused, and quickly shook his head. "Please don't fall in."

'We have to use this thing every night?' Tsukune thought, incredulous. 'And this is supposed to be safer than being at the Academy?'

Before any of them had the chance to protest, the crackling of the flames died down somewhat. Roy turned towards the Hellmaw, grateful for the distraction. "Ah, here it comes!" A moment later, with a sound reminiscent of a belching flame, a thick folder secured with rubber bands launched itself from the portal, landing on the tip of the Hellmaw's tongue. After a moment, Moka moved to reach for the folder, but Roy stuck his arm out to stop her. A second later, the flames belched again, and this time a thick, leather-bound book hurtled out of the maw, landing atop the folder. Immediately afterward, the flames within the Hellmaw roared back to life.

Roy Cooper bent over to pick up the book and folder, but his hand hesitated as he scanned the note that had been attached to the cover of the tome. Instead, he picked up only the folder, straightening and turning to offer it to Moka. "Just like that, every day they will be sending your work to you, and you can send your completed assignments for grading by throwing it into the Hellmaw. I know you're all tired from your trip, but you will have all day tomorrow to get used to the house and begin working on these-"

"Hey, what is this?" Roy froze as he heard the voice behind him, and turned to find Kurumu bending over to pick up the book that he had left laying on the Hellmaw's stone tongue. Before he could complete a warning, the succubus lifted the tome from the ground, glancing at the seal that kept it closed and reading the note that had been taped to the front. "'For Tsukune Aono's eyes only'. Why would they-" She shrieked in startled pain as a blue-white electrical arc burst from the book and danced over her arm, and the book flew across the room as she shook her wounded hand. The others rushed to her side, but it quickly became obvious that she was not seriously hurt as she glared dangerously at the book lying limply on the floor.

"Tsukune, if you would." Roy gestured towards the book, unwilling to pick it up himself. "It seems the Headmaster has decided to give you some extra work during your time here at the Resting Place. I would take this assignment particularly seriously, if I were you." Without waiting for Tsukune to move towards the fallen book, he walked towards the door that led back into the normal half of the shed, glancing back as he passed through. "Please make sure to lock the door as you come out. I'm going to help Wendy set the table. Come soon; dinner should be ready by now."

For several long moments after he had left, the four friends stared in the direction of the door, their confusion overwhelming their other emotions. Finally, Tsukune broke the trance by stepping across the room and, gingerly, picking up the fallen tome. When no more electricity lanced out to strike him, he carefully removed the note bearing his name from the book's aged leather cover.

"What does it say?" Moka inquired, as Mizore walked past her towards the door, her need to escape the oppressive heat of the room overcoming her desire to hear what the Headmaster wanted of Tsukune.

"It's an assignment sheet… a list of chapters, one every other night. Apparently he wants me to read this book while we're here."

"And only you," Kurumu mused, scowling distrustfully at the book.

Deciding against breaking its seal just yet, Tsukune turned the tome to its front, scanning its cover. It was obviously ancient, and any decoration that its cover may have once bore had long since faded. Still, the leather seemed thinner in certain places, as if the title had been pressed into the cover long ago. He allowed his fingers to roam over it, trying to deduce what it may have said.

I? No, L-I… Perhaps L-I-C-H…

"We'd better go back inside. They'll be waiting for us," Moka prompted, and Tsukune nodded, placing the book under his arm. Together, they turned away from the Hellmaw and stepped out of its chamber, carefully securing the door back and double-checking the lock. That done, the trio stepped out into the night air, where Mizore was waiting, looking decidedly better after escaping the heat of the shed's back room.

"Homework… ugh. They should be rewarding us for getting rid of Mori Retsu, and not bombarding us with work!" Kurumu complained, but her eyes darted back to the book Tsukune held close to him.

"I'm sure we'll have plenty of free time, especially since we can help each other study," Moka reasoned, pointedly staring directly in front of her, at the door back into the house they were walking towards.

"Maybe they just want to keep us extra busy," Mizore suggested, walking just behind Tsukune and carefully studying him.

Tsukune, however, wasn't listening. He was too busy thinking about the book he held, the tome that had been intended only for him. For some reason, the Headmaster wanted him to study this, to learn its secrets. Whatever the Headmaster was thinking, it probably meant things were going to get much more dangerous sometime in the future, and knowing his luck it would be soon.

But this time, he would be ready.

Author's Note: Well, good news and bad news. Good news is that, with any luck at all, my writing should pick up considerably in the coming days/weeks, perhaps even, dare I say it, allowing me to return to the level of productivity I had with the previous story. I shall raise a Pepsi Float in the dream of seeing a chapter a day, like I did then (although, to be completely honest, most of this chapter was finished in a day anyways).

The bad news is that the reason for my boost in productivity is that I was forced to resign from my job today. D'oh. Happens when you work seasonal commission retail and have to ask off on one of the busiest days of the year in order to attend your own graduation.

But, transcending that bittersweet topic, back to the thing you came for: the story. Before the events of today, I was somewhat torn: I have decided to do a very short prequel story, a teaser really, to step up some of the mythology I'll be using in this tale, centering around my primary villain. Then, there's the first chapter of the Lova Hina lemon I occasionally work on as a side project, when this story drags a bit. I also get to do my favorite chapter in this story next time; I've been waiting for this chapter ever since I started working on Out of Nightmares, and with any luck I can get it all wrapped up neatly, even if it turns out to be far too long…

However, perhaps it is optimism born out of today's colossal calamity, but now I even dare to imagine that I can work on all of those things simultaneously, and still meet the deadline for the next chapter. Wish me luck on that end. As for myself, I have the perfect setup for a brief writing frenzy: a bottle of coconut rum, a cube of Pepsi, a box of ice cream, and a self-destructive gleam of eagerness in my eyes… and the ephemeral halcyon moment between being employed and hunting for a job. I fully intend to make the most of all of those.

But, maddened cackling aside, and not at all a call for sympathy (as I said, you have come for the story, so please, think of nothing else); I'd love to hear some feedback this time around. Let me know what you think, where you want to see things going, what you would like to see emphasized more or less. I'm gonna need a bit of grounding in the coming days, and would greatly appreciate any input at all.

And now, to sleep, for tomorrow is another day. One that will see much writing; this, I promise you.

~Wynn Pendragon