"How do you know my name?" Logan asked, suspiciously eyeing this clown. He had seen men like this before - certainly not the purple hair and giant top hat, but he had seen similar eyes. Smiling, but infinitely deeper than the shallow grin on his face. These eyes had seen death and horrors, they had seen centuries pass - they were the same eyes Wolverine saw when he looked in the mirror. But somehow darker, as if this dude belonged to another world entirely.
" I must thank you for disposing of that demon for us. That was rather impressive."
"You didn't answer my question. How do you know who I am?" Logan growled.
Mephisto merely grinned and tipped his hat, "I have many connections, my friend. Might I ask what you are doing in my school, however?"
"I'm looking for someone. And if you don't mind, I'll be on my way."
"Oh, no, please. Perhaps we can be of assistance!" Mephisto was interrupted by a catchy anime song blaring out of nowhere. With a sigh he flipped out his cell phone and answered, speaking rapidly in Japanese. After the call he flicked his fingers and the phone disappeared in a puff of lavender smoke.
"We always repay our debts, Mr. Logan. You did us a favor, now we shall do you a favor. Unfortunately, I am needed elsewhere - Mr. Okumura will attend to your needs for now."
"Wait a sec-" Yukio tried to speak up, but Mephisto completely ignored him, instead swooping in close to Logan and whispering in his ear.
"Besides, Wolverine. I think you may be able to help us with an entirely unrelated problem...but we'll discuss that later. Toodle-dooo, then! Ein, zwei, drei!" There was a poof of smoke, and the director had vanished.
Logan cursed under his breath - this circus was full of freaks. But he had to admit, he could use any help he could get his hands on. He was completely lost in this city.
He turned to the kid who had shot him earlier and gave him a quick once over. He was well built, stern looking, and his eyes were hard as nails. But still, he was only a kid - still in his teens. And he was glaring at Logan like he was some sort of abomination.
"What's your problem, kid?"
"As long as you are under my responsibility, you will address me as Okumura-san, thank you," Okumura said, his voice even and terse. The phone clipped to his belt beeped, and he turned away from Logan to answer it.
Logan rolled his eyes and turned to the other kids in the room, "What about you kids? What is this place? Some sort of mutant school?"
"This is an exorcist cram school," Shiemi answered, "We're training to become exorcists."
"Exorcists? Like, priests? With the black robes and white collars and the..." he motioned a cross in front of him, laughing a bit. None of these kids looked cut out to be priests, or nuns, or whatever.
"Idiot. You don't have to be a priest to be an exorcist. You don't even know what a demon is when you see one," Bon muttered, causing Logan to scowl.
"So you're telling me that monster came from hell? Is the devil real too?"
"Wow, do we really have to put up with this guy?" Izumo sighed, sitting back at her desk and flicking through her book.
Before Logan could respond, Yukio finished his call and stepped back into the conversation.
"Who is this person you need to find, Logan-san? We'll do all we can to assist you."
"My friend Yukio - she ran off. I think she's at this address," he showed Okumura the slip of paper, and suddenly the kid went pale.
"What is it?"
"Your friend is deep trouble. It's too dangerous to go here alone."
Rin peered over his brother's shoulder, much to Yukio's annoyance, then snatched the paper.
"Where is this, Yukio? It sounds familiar...Aokigahara?"
"Everyone knows about Aokigahara - the Suicide Forest. It's a popular haunted spot near Mt. Fuji - but I thought those were just rumors. Is it really a dangerous place, Okumura-san?" Konekomaru asked, disturbed by Yukio's reaction. Their sensei was usually calm and collcted, even in the face of extreme danger.
"Oh! That's that big forest where all those people killed themselves! I know where you're talking about!" Rin exclaimed, and Yukio snatched the paper back.
"It's crawling with demons and spirits, but even more so it's home to a powerful evil force that no exorcist has ever been able to conquer. It's that force that draws all sorts of evil spirits into the forest. If your friend went there, she's in deep trouble."
Usually Logan shrugged off tales of hauntings and ghosts, but the frightened reverence with which these kids spoke sent chills down his spine. Still, he tried to put on his brave face.
"Alright, Aokigahara. By Mt. Fuji - that would be pretty hard to miss. Thanks - and sorry about the wall."
He made to leave, but Okumura grabbed his arm, "Wait. I can't let you go alone."
"You're going to come with me?"
"If we're going to rescue her, we need an entire team of exorcists!"
"Well, I'm not going wait around for you and your priest buddies to get it up, not if she's in serious danger. I'm leaving now."
He shrugged the kid's hand off and stalked out, trying to ignore the alarms going off in his head, warning him to listen to Okumura. His instinct was telling him this situation was more dangerous than it seemed, but that only spurred his desire to rush off and find Yukio as soon as possible.
What business did she have in a haunted, demon-infested forest anyway? And what had Mephisto meant when he said Logan could help them? These kids, this school, demons...there were too many questions. He had to focus - find Yukio, and get the hell out of this place.