Chapter 8 – Starting Something

He must've been over-reacting. Maybe the memory loss was because of some sort of crazy atmospheric re-entry-esque magic that happened when he was sent to Earth. The night sky was lit up by the city lights, and everything around him seemed to blur past as he just thought to himself what he would do. He tried to reach into his head, grab a hold of even a fragment of what had been left there. He could feel some sort of blockade preventing him from accessing anything that was longer than four months ago. What was it? What did his mind not want him to see, to remember?

'Holy shit,' Cravat thought to himself, as if maybe realizing something. 'Don't tell me I've got some dark past that I'd rather keep forgotten. That's so damn cliché…' Upon reflecting on it a little, he laughed maniacally in his head. 'I crack myself up sometimes.'

'Your past is your past. It's going to bite you in the ass eventually.'

'Oh whatever,' He was sure it wasn't a deep dark past. Come to think of it, if he can't remember six months ago, what about a year ago? Two years ago? He searched his memory for anything that would tell him what he'd done even before he'd gotten to Earth, but nothing came up. One big blank yet again. Okay maybe he was just tired. Get some sleep and maybe the memories would come pouring back. That's it. He couldn't even remember what he was doing in Little Tokyo, so that may be normal. Oh right, his backup weapons. Dammit. Well that seemed to have come back to him fairly easily. Should he talk to Habit about this? Maybe he should. She's got better memory than him by far. Lash-Out slowly went along the highway as traffic got worse and worse. Eventually he finally got fed up with it.

'Screw the rules, I'm an Angel,' he revved Lash-Out and jumped over multiple cars and trucks, skidding across their roofs and in turn their drivers shouting and cursing at him. But their insults were all drowned out by his troubled thoughts. 'Hell, should I even worry about it? Maybe I shouldn't. I've got what I've got, shouldn't try to revisit the past. No way in hell am I going to be like one of those generic amnesiac protagonists who try to find their past and save the world. Fuck no. Oh I know, maybe I'm a Demon!'

'That's just stupid.'

'Fat chance, right?' After a few shortcuts through supermarkets and housetop roof-hopping, Cravat eventually found himself in the underground parking lot beneath the church. Parking Lash-Out next to See-Through, he walked up the flight of stairs, finding the door leading to the dining room. The others were already seated in their usual arrangement, and he took his seat beside Habit, across from Stocking. The sight of the food made him forget a little, if not entirely, about his little dilemma. Various pastas and pastries for desert were lined up on the table, awaiting consumption.

"Pasta, pasta everywhere~" Cravat chanted happily as he filled his plate with Puttanesca. How the heck did a Reverend even end up cooking? Garter must've been bored, Cravat thought to himself. How old was he? Forty, maybe fifty something? Maybe it was a mid-life crisis thing. Learning to cook. Cravat wanted to learn how to cook too actually, besides baking, which he could do… relatively. Cancerous blocks of brown and black have graced their household a few times over the past months.

"By the way Habit, guess who I ran into."

"Hm? Where, back in Little Tokyo?" she asked, stopping herself from stuffing a few muffins down her throat. Cravat nodded, swallowing a ball of pasta he had rolled onto his fork.

"Old man Epik," he said haphazardly, almost choking on his food. Cravat chugged down a glass of water to clear his throat when he saw Habit's got wider and she became fidgety. 'Oh dear god, honestly? This does nothing to help me forgetting what the old man said,' Cravat thought.

"Something wrong Habit?" Cravat asked unsurely.

"Buwah-!" she coughed, gulping down a glass of milk, "Urgh… Muffin got stuck in my throat, sorry," Cravat raised his eyebrows a little. '… well I seem to be a little paranoid,' he thought. Habit took another big gulp before turning to face him. "So how's Mr. Epik doing? Still getting drunk?"

"Yeah, same old same old. His memory's going, too."

"Why would you say that?" Habit asked as she took serving of Carbonara onto her plate.

"He thinks I've been here for half a year."

"That's silly. He's just being a drunkard. Are you going to finish that?" Habit asked when she spied a stray rolled cookie in the shape of a flower on Cravat's plate. He motioned for her to take it, and she squeaked in delight. After dinner they all went up to their rooms, saying their goodnights to each other and parting ways in the hallway. It was Stocking and Cravat's turn to use the upstairs bathroom. Cravat let stocking go first to freshen up and change or whatever, and went back to their room for the moment. He lied back down on his bed and looked at the ceiling, trying to forget the ramblings of that drunken master chef. At the corner of his eye he spied Stocking's engagement ring. It wasn't one of the prettiest looking trinkets, but it held value that greatly exceeded anything else for her. He had to admit, that Ghost had the guts he would never posses, and he had to respect it for it. Not all Ghosts are to be hated, he guessed.

"I see she's kept it till now…" he said to himself quietly. "How do you top an engagement ring…? Answer, you don't," Cravat laughed. He rolled around on his bed then proceeded to turn his attention to the television he transferred from the living room to Stocking's, with her permission. He was too lazy to walk down a flight of stairs just to use it, so he had to beg her to let him relocate it to her room. He flipped through channel upon channel, skimming through Animal World's mating lions to that guy who fishes marine life twice his size out of the water for fun, then he ended up on some channel playing a rerun of last year's spring break at some beach, people streaking everywhere, a woman literally waltzing up to the camera man and flashing.

"… I swear if someone did that to me I'd die of blood loss," after about ten seconds of flipping through more channels, he decided to hook his console up and see if he could beat the last level of Kalamity 2 on Bat-Shit Insane. As he began hooking his equipment up, he heard the door to their room open behind him. Probably Stocking. He didn't look up from the cables he was holding when he heard her approach, trying to find the right cable to plug into the right socket. The footsteps stopped just behind him, then he could barely make out her shadow behind him as he tried to find the other set of cables he needed.

"I always forget my towel on the bed…" sounded Stocking's voice. A few droplets of water hit his head before her shadow moved away and he heard the sound of the door opening and closing again. He finally connected the cables to the television and sat down on his bed, readying for the title screen to come up. The droplets of water slowly dripped down his forehead, which he only noticed now. It smelled kind of like that soap Stocking forbade him to use.

"Huh, she must've taken a bath," Cravat thought, skimming through his save files. "Smells nice…. Kind of careless for her to leave her towel then just come waltzing in here naked with me in the room though…" there was a slight pause in his thought process.

"… Wait what?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

January came and went as fast as a virgin did when they were on Panty… or below her… or all around her. Everything's applicable actually. February came, and Panty stifled a laugh at the innuendo. It was still snowing and cold, but not as much as it was during the earlier month. Eventually Cravat stopped thinking about that little conspiracy theory eventually, with much coaxing from Habit, who promises he got here when he did. The memories also slowly came back, interestingly a little fuzzy but there nonetheless. He'd been watching the Earth from way up high for as long as he could remember, since time shifted differently up there and down here. Eventually he was sent down to exterminate some stray Ghosts who Panty and Stocking couldn't get to as they were too busy with Daten City's own spectral inhabitants. Then he met Habit, found out he wasn't that up to snuff to fighting Ghosts, and the rest was history… At least he'd like to believe that. For some reason, those memories don't seem like they were his.

'They are. Get over it. Your life's been pretty dull until you got to Earth. No use bitching about it now.'

'I guess…' Cravat thought. Now there was something a little more confusing than having your memories disappear then come back to you. They were already into the third week of February with nothing much happening, no Ghosts, no emergencies, no Panty waking up in the middle of the night because she got horny again and demanding her exhausted partners to wake up, no Stocking trying to go on a midnight snack run. It was all relatively quiet at home, but at school, everyone seemed to be bustling over something, and it was only a Monday. Hearts, hearts everywhere!

"February… 14th… Valen-whatnow?" he squinted as he tried to read a banner. Valentines! Right, that tradition thing every year that humans have. Sort of like this proclamation of infatuation to another person. Cravat thought a little as he walked down the hall, stuffing his gloved hands in his coat pockets. "Is it mandatory to do something like this?"

"It's a rule to have an event on the fourteenth of February. School policy," Called out a voice. Ah, that stern yet gentle voice of which words that nothing but something associated with rules and regulations came out of. Her light-blue hair and pony-tail swishing from side to side as she walked to stop in front of him, dressed in her fuzzy coat.

"Good morning Kays."

"You seem complacent to call me by that pet name," she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Well you let me," he started. About a week ago Cravat was rambling to himself about kill-stealers on some MMO he played. Then he abbreviated it, becoming K.S., and noticed it could also stand for Kneesocks. Lo and behold, he started calling her Kays, much to her, quote unquote, 'displeasure'. Quote unquote because she seemed annoyed by it, but never really stopped him from continuing to call her by that name. "Would you want me to stop?"

"As I've said before, it matters not how you address me, just as long as you still respect my authority," Kneesocks said sternly. Cravat paused for a moment. He'd heard that before somewhere.

"Do you watch South Park?" he asked, rather cautiously. She raised one eyebrow at him when she answered.

"Yes, so what?"

"Er, nothing…" he said, shaking his head. 'Subconsciously repeating a line from a show… never thought she'd be the type,' Cravat thought. They both started to walk down the corridors of the school which had been decorated by pink banners and little hearts everywhere. He swore one of the banners had phallic imagery on it, but pitied the one who would be 'punished' by Kneesocks, or her sister. Left and right people were giving each other chocolates and going googly eyes on each other, to which Kneesocks scattered them with a megaphone and they all went to their classes for the day.

Eventually it was lunch time, and of course Panty and Stocking wouldn't know because they were never here, but hey. Cravat caught up with Brief in the hallway. He and Cravat became friends fast over the months, and along with Habit, the three of them became known as the Geek, the Nun, and the Otaku. Of course anyone who tried to mess with them met a knee to the gut by Cravat swift kick to the balls by Habit or, if it was a woman, a quick slap and an insult of how fat they were. It suddenly came up in Cravat's mind if the two Anarchy sisters had ever actually gone to single class.

"Have Panty and Stocking ever gone to school, like, ever?" he asked as they walked to the cafeteria.

"Well, they're here every morning, but never during school itself… Well the first time I remember was when the Cheerleader Ghost was here… It was the first time I met Panty…" Brief trailed off, looking like he was daydreaming. Cravat flicked his arm.

"Focus, lover boy."

"Right right, sorry…" Brief regained his composure. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, that cheerleader ghost, yeah first day they were here… There was also that marathon run the entire school did in their underwear," Brief said nonchalantly. Cravat game him a look that said 'Do I want to know or…?' "Although that wasn't during school hours either… Don't ask," Brief explained. Cravat merely nodded as they got their food and sat down at a table. Habit was probably off doing some extra reading in the library, so they just went on eating without her. "I think that's it… a shame too, they were named Queens of the school, and I think the title's going to someone else soon. Oh by the way, did you know when you and Habit came along with them here that was the second time they punched a hole in the corridor?"

"Huh, that makes more sense than me thinking that other hole in the hallway was a skylight or something…" Cravat paused and looked around. He saw all those students with those chocolates again. There was a stall near the main food-stands, selling chocolate hearts, chocolate truffles, chocolate geckos, chocolate crickets, anything, really. All the other students were buying a whole bunch, giving it to each other, feeding it to each other, licking it off… oh dear god, in public? He averted his gaze from that little mind scarring patch in his line of sight and saw Kneesocks sitting with her sister in the corner, then, scanning around more, was Panty coming out of the men's bathroom looking rather smug. Well now he knows another place to never walk in to. Then he remembered Stocking. 'She likes sweets… I wonder if the chocolate they're selling are any good…' he thought to himself. "I'll be right back Brief," Brief motioned for him to go ahead, going back to eating his mystery Monday meat.

Cravat went up to the stand and bought five miniature -sized boxes of chocolate, two for the Anarchy sisters, two for Kneesocks and her sister, and one for of course, Habit. 'It's a good thing I get a stipend from helping Garter with household work… although I get this odd feeling he's watching me a little too closely…' Cravat cringed at the thought. "This is going to be a liiiittle awkward," he whispered to himself. He went up to Kneesocks and her sister, Scanty, if he remembered correctly, and nonchalantly tossed them the chocolate, which they caught without a second thought. Kneesocks looked at him a little puzzled. "Might as well right? It's a rrruuurrru." He laughed, but somehow he could feel the entire cafeteria staring at him. Kneesocks gulped down a bit of milk she'd bought for lunch and turned to him.

"Thank you, I guess," she said, indifference plastered on her face.

'Well that went well,' Cravat thought to himself.

"I also must thank you, Cravat was it?" Kneesocks' sister spoke. He merely nodded. "My name is Scanty. I don't think we've met properly yet." She smiled, a little fang protruding upward showing itself, making her look slightly mischievous.

'Somehow she reminds me a little of Panty…' "Don't mention it, um, Ms. Scanty."

"Drop the Ms., you all my sister by her name don't you?" Scanty said, raising an eyebrow, her mouth in a half-way smirk. Yep, awkwaaaaard.

"Er, alright, 'Scanty'," Cravat said, still a little unsure. Scanty just gave him another smile before going back to eating her food. He said his goodbyes to Kneesocks, who stopped him before he left.

"You're going to have to wear the entire uniform set I gave you last December, new policy starts tomorrow," she told him. Oh right, they gave a letter on that during the morning sessions. Well basically the only thing he'd change were his pants, since she gave him everything already… there's an innuendo in there somewhere, he just knew it. Lunch break eventually ended, and after that, the entire school-day.

Along with the Anarchy Sisters, and Habit, they all headed back to the church. When they got home Cravat was about to give them their chocolates, but he noticed Stocking go to See-Through's trunk, struggling to open it. Another heave, and amusingly, another bounce of her ample chest later, the trunk popped open and the garage was flooded with a multitude of different boxes of chocolates, candies, cookies, hearts, crickets, cards, what have you. Cravat struggled with a box of foreign chocolate that weighed as much as him as he heaved it off himself. He dusted himself off, seeing the girls already hauling as much as they could carry up the stairs. "Were these all gifts?" Cravat asked. Stocking peeked around the towering boxes in her arms.

"Well yeah, most of them. Came from the guys who wanted to get into Panty's… well, panties."

"I… I see…" Cravat sighed, and helped them haul the entire load upstairs, jamming it into every nook and cranny of the fridge. The ones that didn't fit, Stocking carved a make-shift Icebox out of a tree she found a little ways off from the church, and she crammed the snow on their front porch inside it, along with the leftover chocolates and candies.

"Can't let good sweets go to waste now can we?" Stocking said triumphantly. She'd carved one tree into three fridge-sized boxes, laying them beside one another on the porch outside, where it was still cold. "Is that all of them?" she asked. Panty and Habit nodded, creaking their backs and stretching their arms. Cravat however let out an indistinct sound.

"Well, erm…" he started, obviously now reluctant to give them something so meager in comparison to what they all just received. Three small, red boxes, a gold ribbon on each, same as the one he gave to Kneesocks and Scanty, were in his hands, him reaching them out to the three girls. "Sorry, it was all I could afford… looks like you don't need it anyway," Cravat laughed a bit. The girls blinked, before Habit came up to him first.

"Aw Ravvy, thanks," Habit said, taking one box and heading for the dining room. Panty went up to him, a little cautious about taking one.

"These things might make me gain weight," she said, her tone a little annoyed. Cravat handed her a box.

"I got you a Dark Chocolate one. Less fat, or so I've heard," he said, looking rather smug about it. "By the way, just so you know I'm never using the cafeteria bathroom ever again because of you."

"Aw, you don't want to smell my essence mixed with the musk of boys you probably know-"

"No thank you," Cravat cut her off, having a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Suit yourself, Otaku boy," she said playfully. Panty took the box of chocolate and opened it. Sure enough, a few pieces of differently designed but noticeably dark chocolate were inside. "Thanks," Panty said, making her way to get some dinner to eat. Stocking went up to him last and took the box right out of his hands.

"Why didn't you give us these a while ago?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Well… I don't know exactly. I was sure that they weren't as good as the ones you guys got, maybe?" he said, scratching the back of his head. "It looked like you would be sick of all the chocolate."

"You can never have too much sweets. Plus, it does my body good," Stocking joked, crossing her arms over her chest for emphasis.

"So I see, Ms. Chesticles," he teased. Stocking raised an eyebrow.

"Always a dork, aren't you?"

"Yep, never gonna change," Cravat laughed. The two of them headed for dinner, but were cut off by Panty and Habit, who looked like they had some news. "What's up?" he asked.

"Garter says he got a report on some ghosts having some sort of mass-invasion, and it's starting from inside Daten High," Habit started, looking a little worried. "So he wants you all to go and take a look tonight. The appearances only happen when the students aren't around."

"But I'm hungry…" Cravat whined. Habit shoved a doggy-bag in his face.

"Eat on your way there, Garter told me to stay and help clean the dishes."

"Oh you get to stay here and eat in peace and quiet while we get to risk our lives?" Cravat sarcastically asked. Then it hit him. He liked that idea. He hadn't seen action in a while, and this was the time to get a few of those gears rolling again. "On second thought, I'm fine with that idea. I don't want to be babied by you all the time."

"That's a good Ravvy. Now go on, go and kill some Ghosts," she said like a mother coaxing her child. As the three Angels walked down the stairs, Panty let out a loud swear that echoed in the quiet Garage space.

"Fucking Afro-Priest, could've told us sooner before we got here," she said, her face in her usual scowl.

"Look on the bright side, more heavens to be had," Cravat said, trying to play to Panty's want to get back to Heaven again. She smiled a little, looking at him. Cravat had no trouble admitting Panty was pretty gorgeous, but when she genuinely smiles, she looked like a girl who could melt your heart. Of course, given the fact that he knew what she did whenever no one was looking… actually it didn't even matter if someone was looking, she'd still do it anyway, he's immune to her… would you call it 'innocent' side? Nothing about her was, but hey, if it had to be given a name, that would be it. Brief though, wow was that guy in love. He could sympathize a little though, he admitted that much.

"I know you're just trying to cheer me up. Thanks," she said, nudging him on the arm. "I've been rearing to go and blow some steam off. The guys at school have no idea what they're doing it's frustrating," she laughed. Well, there goes the innocent side of her, Cravat mused. When they got to the parking, Stocking tapped him on the shoulder.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Can I try riding with you on the bike? Looks like fun," she replied, having a big grin on her face. Cravat blinked once.

"I don't see why not, hop on," he told her. Stocking gave Panty a signal, and the blonde understood. Stocking hopped on behind Cravat, who had already started to rev Lash-Out, and she clasped her arms around his body, her chest pressing into his back.

"Feeling awkward?" She asked in a sly tone. Cravat just laughed.

"Oh please, now I have cushions. It's like an upgrade, if anything," he said, dismissing the thought. 'Huh, there's that smell again,' he thought remembering what happened a few weeks ago. 'I have to admit… this is nice.'

The three of them stormed out of the church's underground, zipping through the highway breakneck speeds. Traffic was already dispersing as the night continued on. They reached Daten High faster than they normally would, and they parked their vehicles outside. They got off, and went for the front doors immediately. It was pretty dark, and Cravat had to squint to keep track of the big blue bow on the back of Stocking's head so he wouldn't get lost. Once they got to the entrance, he already felt a chill in the air.

"You guys feel that?" he asked. The two girls nodded, and he went for the door. "Be ready for anything," Immediately after opening the door, the total black darkness of the corridor lay before them. They walked inside, their footsteps echoing in the empty halls, giving the atmosphere an even more ominous feeling than there already was to it. Then he saw something. At the corner of his eye, it looked like fireflies, lighting up the hallway in the distance. "This way, I see something," he said, starting to pick up the pace, reaching for his weapons. When they stopped, there were about two, maybe three glowing orbs right in front of them. Cravat tried reaching out for one, when its light grew in intensity. Not only the one he reached out for, but the two others, and soon, more of the lights were lighting up from down the corridor to all around them. The light they gave off gave off showed them enough of their silhouettes to make out what they were. Humanoid shapes, blood red veins running all throughout, sinister orange eyes staring at them. They were Ghosts, by the hundreds, and they were slowly pouring through the corridors, making their way to them. Each Ghost carried a weapon or two, a sword, a hatchet, a shield, whatever, the point was there were hundreds of them. Cravat ripped his whips from his neck, materializing in his hands as he thrust both his whips to either side, penetrating ten Ghosts with each one as they extended outwards. Panty let out an amused whistle.

"Getting better, Otaku boy," she called out. The Ghosts disintegrated, but left nothing behind. No remnants, no Heavens, nothing. "What the fuck?" Panty said in frustration. "No Heavens?"

"Guys, I think that's the least of our concerns for now," Cravat said, noticing the Ghosts surrounding them even more as each moment passed. Panty looked at Stocking, who was a little annoyed by the fact there was a chance they wouldn't get paid for this. The two reluctantly readied themselves, and flashing lights came blazing out of nowhere.

"This again…" Cravat whispered to himself in amusement. You know how on T.V. the enemies never attack during a transformation sequence? Well yeah, that's bullshit. Cravat was holding them off while the two sisters did their thing. "Do you two honestly have to pole-dance right now? You can summon Backlace and Stripes instantaneously can't you?" he said over the loud music. Fly away now~ Fly Away now~ Fly awaaay~. Great, this tune is going to get stuck in his head again. The two finally stopped their little performance.

"It's more fun to do it that way. Plus, you got to see us pole-dance again, without needing to pay," Stocking said, skewering a few Ghosts on her sword. Panty repeatedly took down one after the other with precise headshots, but the crowd around them didn't seem to be dissipating.

"They're tenacious, I'll give em that, kind of like that guy in the bathroom this morning, would keep on trying to-" a Ghost almost nicked her in the head, swiping at her with an axe it was holding. "Oh never mind, I think it's a little too graphic."

After a few minutes of the assault, it seemed like the mob wouldn't dissipate. Once they cut one down two more took its place. Cliché, yes, but it was happening. They weren't that tough to beat, but the sheer numbers were making it tedious and tiring.

"This is going to take a while isn't it?" Stocking said, kicking a Ghost in the face and letting it fall into its comrades, after which she unleashed a barrage of slashes, turning them all into dust.

"I would think so," Cravat said, latching around a group of six of them and pulling hard on his whips, instantly decapitating them all. The three of them regrouped, back to back with each other, in the middle of a circle of Ghosts wanting to rip their throats out. The silence that ensued was deafening. But they all looked at each other and smirked, and Panty let out one loud battle cry.

"Let's give em a night they'll regret!" she shouted, a bullet ripping through the silence like hot knife through butter.

It was going to be a long night.

Author's Notes: You know I find it odd how I procrastinate so much, and yet can finish a chapter in less than one afternoon. I really wish I had more direction in life _ . Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all again, hopefully sometime sooner XD