Author Notes: My deep thanks to Mistress Winowyl who not only helped me with the ideas for this chapter but helped me with the editing of it as well. I would not have managed to get this one done without her. Thanks pretty lady.

XXX

Nekonome was unhappy.

She was supposed to be teaching, "Human Interactions and Rituals." However all the seats were empty even though class should have started ten minutes ago.

Her 'ears' twitched with concern. Was there a basilisk running through the halls turning all the students and faculty into statues again? Or maybe there was an enchanted singer who had all of them under her musical spell? Or had an ancient Aztec deity appeared and corralled everyone prior to using them for sacrifices? Or it could be one of any variety of catastrophe that seemed to hit Youkai Academy with disturbing regularity.

Nekonome hoped that was the case. She would have been really hurt if it turned out the students were absent just because they didn't like her teaching methods.

I guess there's no choice, Nekonome thought as she headed out the door. I'll just have to find the students and bring them back to class. I hope I'm not forced to punish anyone. I'll do it if I have to though. In her hands she had her class notebook and was ready to assign demerits if forced to. I wonder if there'll be tuna casserole in the cafeteria today.

She soon found many students from her class and others just sitting out in the corridor or on the stairs eating bowls of curry.

"Eating outside the cafeteria lunch area is against the rules. All of you need to wait until lunch time and get back to class now."

No one even appeared to notice her.

She blinked at their odd appearance. Did everyone always have bright yellow skin like that? Is it some sort of trend? Is this what all the cool kids are doing now?

Nekonome froze and gasped at the obvious implication.

Are all my students avoiding me because I'm not doing it too?

"I'll do it! I want to hip and down with the homies. Nyah."

One of the students looked up from his bowl at her. "Sensei, want to have some tasty curry with me?"

Shaking her head Nekonome wagged a finger at him. "Saizou are you trying to ask me out on a date? While I am flattered you know that isn't allowed by school policy."

Saizou got up to his feet. "Don't you want curry sensei? It's spicy!"

She shook her head. "I don't like spicy food, it makes me gassy."

"Are you saying you don't want curry?"

Other students all along the corridor began standing up and slowly crowded in towards her. A mindless chant rising from their throats. "Curry… curry… curry…"

Nekonome glanced at them as they approached her with bowls and spoons extended.

"No! Didn't you hear me? If I have any I'll have tummy issues all day! Curry messes up my stomach and I'll be...be...Nyah! I can't even say it! It's so indelicate! The air around me will be unbreathable!"

"Curry… curry… curry…"

She found herself surrounded. "Stop! I am warning you! I have detention slips and I am not afraid to use them! Nyah!"

"Out of the way!" Someone shouted.

There was a sudden whirlwind with students being frozen in blocks of ice, hit on the head by iron cauldrons, and simply knocked aside. Nekonome found herself tossed over a young man's shoulder being carried off.

"Meow?"

XXX

Shortly Nekonome found herself in an empty classroom with her rescuers; Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu, Mizore, and Yukari.

"Thank goodness we were able to save you in time sensei." Tsukune said as he carefully set her down.

Blushing slightly Nekonome wagged a finger at him. "Tsukune-kun, I always suspected you had feelings but you can't simply take a woman and sweep her off her feet like that. You are going to have to at least by me dinner first. Oh, and I like sushi, the fresher the better."

"Huh?" Tsukune answered blankly.

"Sensei," an embarrassed Moka interrupted. "Tsukune and the rest of us were rescuing you."

Nekonome's ears perked up. "Rescuing me? From what?"

All the students stared at her in disbelief.

"Nekonome-sensei," Moka cried. "Haven't you noticed the strange behavior with all the students? How they're obsessed with eating curry and how they all have the appearance of ripe bananas?"

Nekonome nodded. "Is it the new thing? I have trouble keeping with the times. I mean I still sleep in 'Hello Kitty' bed sheets."

Kurumu did a face palm as the others felt sympathy with her terminal cluelessness.

"Uh, sensei?" Tsukune spoke. "The school is being overrun with mindless zombies."

"Again?"

They all nodded.

A shudder ran through Nekonome's body. "This doesn't involve Justin Beiber again does it?"

"Mercifully no, I don't think I could survive a horror like that a second time. Desu."

"Though it was kind of fun seeing Moka beat him up and turn him back into a homunculus." Mizore stated.

"Well since we don't know the source of the problem that won't work." Tsukune said. "What do we do?"

"I think if we can get to the school chemistry lab I should be able to whip up a general antidote. Desu."

"That sounds like a plan Yukari-chan." Moka said.

"Sounds good to me." Tsukune agreed.

"I'm afraid there's a problem Tsukune-kun." Nekonome said.

"What's that sensei?"

"You and the others are supposed to be in class right now. Even though the school is in the process of being overrun by mindless zombies that still doesn't excuse all of you from skipping out."

The students sweat dropped.

Kurumu turned to Mizore. "This is why I said we should let the zombies have her."

XXX

Forming a single line they snuck through the halls as quickly and unobtrusively as they could. There were zombified students everywhere, but fortunately they were so focused on eating curry they spared the group no attention.

"Remember everyone; I am making a special exception since I am here to supervise all of you. However please don't make it a habit of skipping class whenever the school is in danger of being taken over." Nekonome told them. "If you do you'll barely spend any time in class at all."

"Ah, we won't sensei." Tsukune promised.

"If I had a ball of yarn with me right now we could ditch her you know." Kurumu whispered to Mizore who just rolled her eyes.

Sneaking through the corridors they came upon Ageha and Tsurara sitting on the floor arguing with each other.

"No, this is MY plate! It's spicier!" Ageha shouted. "You couldn't handle it, you frost bitten nipple! Only a real woman can handle all that power in her mouth."

"Being able to put ANYTHING in your mouth isn't something to be proud of you tramp." Tsurara returned.

Kurumu and Mizore stood there blinking.

"Was your mom supposed to visit you today?" Kurumu asked.

"No, yours?"

Kurumu shook her head. "Writer must be really desperate and just threw them in for quick comic relief."

"Huh?"

"Hey!" Yukari interrupted. "Where's Moka? She was just here! Desu!"

As they looked around they heard her voice coming from a closed room down the hall.

"Nooooooo! Please stop it! Don't force me like this!"

There was an answer in the unmistakable voice of Gin. "Don't fight it Moka! We both know you want this! Just relax and let it happen, I swear you'll love it."

"No Gin, please I don't want it!"

"Well I'm giving it to you any way! I'm going to stuff it down your throat and make you swallow every last drop! Once you've had some you won't be able to get enough."

"Please not in my mouth!"

"Oh just take it Moka! We both know this is going to happen. Stop fighting it!"

"Gin! Leave Moka alone! I'm the one who's supposed to, er, I mean leave her alone!" Tsukune shouted and ran to the door from which all this was coming. In his panic he kicked it in.

He did it just in time to see Gin shove a spoonful of curry down Moka's throat.

"It's spicy!" Moka howled and then collapsed.

Gin smiled at Tsukune. "I always knew I'd be the one to give Moka what she wanted."

A moment later a now shiny yellow Moka was on her feet clawing desperately and Gin. "More! Please give me more Gin! Please stuff it down my throat until I can't take it!"

He grinned triumphantly. "Slut."

Kurumu blinked at Moka as she licked the spoon Gin offered her clean. "Wow, who knew she had it in her? Now press it against your chin and roll your tongue like so..."

"Amateur." Mizore muttered.

Kurumu glanced at Mizore. "What can you do?"

Mizore grinned wickedly she balanced her lollipop on the tip of her tongue before expertly sliding it back and forth the length of it.

Kurumu gave a low whistle. "Neat trick. Maybe I should start sucking on lollipops, too. What do you think, Tsukune?"

"Moka no!" Tsukune tried to reach her but Kurumu and Mizore both grabbed him.

"She's gone man! She's gone!" Kurumu yelled.

"You can't help her now Tsukune." Mizore said.

The two of them pulled him away and shut the door.

XXX

"I… I can't believe we lost Moka like that." Tsukune spoke sounding lost.

"It's all right Tsukune-kun." Nekonome gently patted his shoulder. "I'm sure Gin will treat her gently now that she belongs to him."

"Sensei I don't think that's what he needs to hear right now. Desu."

"What? Do you think he would rather hear the truth? That Gin will just use her and then throw her away in a couple weeks? Nyah?"

Tsukune groaned and shuffled along with his shoulders slumped and head down.

"Bet my idea to throw her down the stairs looks pretty good now huh?" Kurumu whispered to Mizore.

Thinking about it for a moment Mizore gave a non-committal shrug of the shoulders.

"Look on the bright side. We're almost to the chem lab." Yukari mentioned. "I'm sure nothing else could go wrong now. Desu."

Kurumu stared at the little girl in horror before bonking her on the head.

"Owie! What was that for you stupid milk cow?"

"You dummy! How could you say that? You never ever say 'nothing could go wrong.' Except for 'I'll be right back' that is the biggest jinx on earth! Now something horrible is guaranteed to happen!"

And sure enough…

Kokoa suddenly popped up in front of them.

"Hey Tsukune. Even though there is zero sexual tension between us and no obvious reason for this I've decided to give you the Kiss of Curry. Curry."

"Huh?" Tsukune responded dully.

"Please suck face with me just like daddy does on my birthday. Curry." Grabbing him about the collar the pint sized vampire forced his face down and gave him an open mouth kiss that reached his back teeth.

"It's spicy!" He cried and collapsed.

"No!" Kurumu shrieked. "They got Tsukune!"

"You can't save him now!" Mizore grabbed Kurumu by the arm. "We have to go!"

XXX

They locked themselves into the school chemistry lab and Yukari got bust mixing up the antidote as Kurumu curled up in the corner and rocked back and forth.

"Kurumu you need to get a hold of yourself." Mizore told her. "We may still be able to save everyone if the antidote works."

"We're doomed. We're doomed." Kurumu kept repeating as she continued to rock herself back and forth.

"I'm sure everything will be fine." Mizore reassured.

"No it won't!" Kurumu shouted. "We're finished! Don't you understand? Tsukune and Moka are the main characters! Why do you think they're always hogging the spotlight? Why do you think Moka always gets in a fight every episode and always gets to use her catch phrase? Every week she says 'know your place' as she saves the day! You think that's a coincidence? Tsukune has a pseudo - harem even though he's a virgin and makes absolutely no effort to seduce any of us! That never happens in real life! If this were anything but a manga or anime he'd be masturbating to porn every night while Gin took turns banging us. I mean lord knows Tsukune is sweet, but have you ever met a guy who had 'place in friend box' practically stamped on his forehead?"

Mizore sent a wide eyed look in Yukari's direction. "You know I never thought about it that way but she does have a point. Just how did Tsukune end up with so many girls chasing him without even trying?"

"I have no idea," Yukari admitted. "I'm still amazed she actually used the word 'pseudo' correctly. Desu."

"The point is if the main characters are gone what chance do we have? It's game over man! Game over!" Kurumu told them.

"Now, now there's no need to be so upset." Nekonome said comfortingly and patted Kurumu on the shoulder. "After all I am still here."

This caused Kurumu to start rocking back and forth again with renewed effort. "We're doomed. We're doomed…"

"We're depending on Nekonome to help us save everyone." Mizore glanced back at Yukari. "You know I'm starting to think she might be right."

"Well what are you going to do? Desu?" Yukari kept working on the potion.

XXX

Once Yukari finished making the potion she poured it into four super-soakers that just happened to be stored in the chem lab.

"Why would a High School Chem lab have four super-soakers in it?" Mizore asked.

"Haven't you learned by now not to question the logic of things?" Yukari stated.

Nekonome's ears twitched violently. "I'm pretty sure using these on school property is against the rules."

"Screw the rules!" Kurumu pumped the action of her massive water gun. "We're all bound for Hell! I just want to take as many of these bastards down with me as I can!" She had tied a bandana around her forehead and smeared black grease all over her cheeks.

"Kurumu has totally lost it." Mizore murmured to Yukari.

"Well duh." Yukari whispered back. "We'll head to the roof. For some odd reason all the surprise villains always hide out up there. Remember that we only have a limited supply of antidote so make every shot count. Desu."

Kurumu kicked open the door absolutely consumed with rage and murderous fury. "WHO WANTS SOME? YAAAAAAHHH!"

She began blasting everyone in sight as she made a straight run to the stairwell. Mizore and Yukari followed after her also taking out curry zombies as they went.

Nekonome followed timidly holding her giant neon green and yellow water gun uncertainly in both hands. "I just hope the Headmaster doesn't find out about this. Nyah."

XXX

Up on the roof top was a small horde of curry zombies. Kurumu, Mizore, and Yukari took out a wide swath of them until…

"I'm out!" Kurumu shouted. She was desperately pumping her water gun but nothing more than a few drops came out of the nozzle.

Mizore and Yukari got off more shots but eventually they too ran out of antidote and were completely surrounded.

"Mwahahahaha!" A diabolical laugh filled the air. "Cooking is art! Art is explosive! Explosive means spiciness!" A blonde woman appeared above her standing on the academy water tower.

"Aspara-sensei?" Yukari gasped. "You were behind all this? Desu?"

There was a massive puff of smoke and Aspara landed behind the girls near the roof doorway dressed much as a genie might be… except for a large plate of curry as a hat.

A bat wearing a cloth turban appeared and helpfully filled in the necessary details before flying off again. "Aspara-sensei's true identity is that of a water spirit from Indian mythology, an Aspara. Curry!"

"Mwahahahaha! I couldn't appear until you heroes were trapped. For too long I have been forced to watch helpless people endure the blandness of fake curry. Now I will see that everyone gets to enjoy the flavor and spiciness of real genuine curry! In this world fake curry is rampant. It's so tragic! I can see you are the only ones left in this school who have yet to taste my delicious curry. Now you too will taste the wonder which is true curry goodness."

"Wait! You mean you turned everyone into curry zombies just to make people try curry?" Kurumu exclaimed.

"That's right!" Aspara gloated. "This school is but the first step! Soon I will send out my devoted legions to spread the wonder that is curry to the rest of the world and Gary, Indiana! Curry will be the one food! All will eat it's spicy goodness and never want anything else!"

Mizore noted some motion in the doorway directly behind Aspara.

"So curry will be the only thing anyone will ever eat?" Mizore asked.

"That's right!"

"What about fish?"

Aspara's mouth twisted in vile distaste. "Fish curry? Disgusting! Once I'm done no one will ever want to taste fish again."

"No fish?" Cried a voice in outrage. "NYAH!"

Too late Aspara realized she had not trapped all the remaining heroes. She turned around to find herself face to face with a scowling Nekonome-sensei.

"Normally I would try and see if we could talk about this issue, but some things you can't forgive." Nekonome shoved the nozzle of her super soaker right into Aspara's mouth. "Die bitch! Nyah!"

Squeezing the trigger and working the pump at blinding speed she poured the antidote down Aspara's throat making her expand like a water balloon.

"She's going to blow!" Kurumu shouted.

She, Mizore, Yukari, and the zombies all ran.

There was a gigantic 'POP' and bits and pieces began to rain down.

XXX

Next Day

"Thank goodness everyone returned to normal." Tsukune said.

Moka nodded. "And it's good that you were nearby to remove my rosario before Gin could do more than feed me curry. That reminds me; let's go visit him in the hospital after class."

"Well I actually feel guilty about what I said about sensei. When the chips were down she really did save us." Kurumu said.

Tsukune frowned "Why isn't she here though?" They were all in homeroom but Nekonome was nowhere to be seen. "Are you sure she was all right?"

Kurumu, Mizore, and Yukari all nodded.

"Maybe she's just taking the day off. She certainly earned it." Kurumu said.

"Anyway," Yukari added. "I'm sure nothing could go wrong now. Desu."

The others looked at her in horror as Kurumu bonked her on the head. "You dummy! Why'd you say that? Now something terrible has to happen!"

Yukari rubbed the top of her head. "Come on, you're being silly. Desu."

XXX

Elsewhere on the School Grounds…

"Tuna… tuna… tuna…"

Nekonome sighed happily as her fish zombies began to show everyone the wonder of fresh seafood as she munched on some raw salmon.

"Life is good. Nyah."