"Oh, look at him." Kurumu said cutely, as if commenting about a baby.
After school had ended for the day, Tsukune and the girls had made their way to the room where they were to meet for their first day in the newspaper club. When they arrived at the room, they found Ethan in one of the desks, sleeping peacefully on the surface.
The girls couldn't help but be heart-warmed by how peaceful he looked, as he would normally be quite… dark, to say the least. Tsukune, however, was a lot more relieved. He heard that Ethan was having nightmares again, and was worried it would take a strong toll on his health. The last time he had nightmares, they went on for weeks, nearly causing him to die from sleep deprivation. It was good to see that he was getting a break.
"He's cute when he's like this." Moka couldn't help but say.
"Yeah…" Yukari said, quickly followed by "Let's wake him up."
Kurumu and Moka both shook their heads in disagreement. "Please don't, he looked like he needed the rest earlier." Moka said, recalling how tired Ethan had looked during the incident with the play. She thought that it was just from the play, since she knew that theater wasn't his thing; but she soon learned what else was going on.
"Well we can't have him asleep on the first day of the newspaper club, can we?" Yukari pointed out.
"Yukari has a point, sorry." Tsukune inputted.
The other two girls looked disappointed. However, they, along with Yukari and Tsukune, all jumped when they heard a blood-curdling scream of terror go through the room. When the screaming faded, they all turned to see Ethan sitting up in his desk, gripping the desk tightly and breathing heavily while his eyes were as wide as plates.
"Ethan! Are you alright!?" Tsukune asked frantically as he ran to Ethan.
Ethan got his breathing back under control and turned to Tsukune. "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine. But, damn it, that was a crazy dream."
"Were they… were they the usual nightmares?" Tsukune asked.
"Usual… nightmares?" Yukari asked with concern.
"Relax, Yukari, nothing to worry about." Ethan said reassuringly. Yukari wasn't convinced, but she let the matter drop. Ethan turned back to Tsukune and proceeded to answer his question. "No. This time, it was a whole different ball game. Not as bad as the other ones, but… fecking hell, I hope that never happens in real life."
"Real life? What was the dream about?" Kurumu asked.
Before Ethan could answer, the classroom door opened up and Miss Nekonome popped in with her usual happy attitude. The rest of the gang took their seats and waited for her to get ready, which took a little longer than expected because she dropped her bag, causing all her reports and stationary to spill onto the ground. She picked them all back up and got to work on introducing the club.
"Okaaaay! Welcome to the Yokai Academy newspaper club! Glad to see you all here." Miss Nekonome said.
Ethan quickly scanned the room, noticing something was a bit unusual. He saw that Tsukune was thinking the same thing when he asked Miss Nekonome a question.
"Uh, excuse me, ma'am. Are we the only ones in the club?" Tsukune asked.
"Oh, no. We actually have one other member on their way. I think he's running a little late." She said.
As soon as she was finished speaking, the door opened again. They all turned. The students, aside from Ethan, were surprised to see a pair of legs underneath the largest collection of flowers they had ever seen.
"Hey, sorry I'm late. I just had to pick up a few things on the way over here." Came a voice from behind the roses.
"Well I'll be damned, a talking flower monster. That's a new one." Ethan commented, to which his friends to chuckle. The person holding the flowers also laughed from behind the flora.
"That was a good one, nice job." said the voice. The person laid down the bunch of flowers, revealing himself to be a student, slightly older than the rest of them, sporting short black hair, a red hairband and dark eyes. He had a calm expression, one that seemed to catch the girls' attention. One of Ethan's eyebrows rose as he saw the new face, sensing something unusual about him. It was even more unusual than what he had seen so far, and that was saying something.
"Nice to meet you all. The name's Ginei Morioka. But you can call me Gin." He said. When he was finished speaking, he gave one bouquet of flowers to Moka, then to Kurumu, and then gave a single rose to Yukari, who seemed quite pleased with the gift.
"Thank you." Yukari said.
"What, nothing for us?" Ethan said casually and sarcastically, catching Gin's attention.
"Oh, uh, sorry, I forgot. Ethan Drake, right? Great to meet you at last, heard a lot about you."
"Funny, I heard nothing about you." Ethan said honestly.
Hidden behind cheerful smiles, they both stared at each other, neither planning on backing down any time soon. Tsukune and the girls noticed this, but stayed silent. Knowing Ethan, getting in his way of anything could lead to very painful results.
Miss Nekonome was oblivious to this however, still being wrapped up in her excitement over the club finally commencing. It came to a quick end, however, when she remembered something, causing her ears to perk up. She turned to the students and gave them a quick smile.
"Sorry, I just remembered that I have a meeting to get to. Gin, I'll let you do the rest." With that, she rushed out the door saying "HAVE FUN!"
Gin walked over to the teacher's table and stood assertively as he prepared to speak. The rest of the group took their seats, all sitting beside each other. Most of the group seemed happy, but Ethan remained passive, seemingly, but he was still keeping a sharp eye on the club leader. There was still something off about him.
"Alright, everyone. Here's what this club is all about. Our job is to report what is going around the school, whether it be big or small. It is our DUTY to make sure every student is aware of what is going on, even if it means going through heaven or hell to get the truth!" Gin said passionately.
Ethan slightly raised an eyebrow, partly because he was surprised by the club leader's passion for the club, but mostly because he thought that all the effort he said was needed was unnecessary.
"Really? To be fair, there hasn't been that much happening to fill a whole newspaper. Granted, stuff like the swimming club incident and the play are newsworthy, but still, is there usually anything else like it?" Ethan asked.
To this, Gin chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. I was just kidding about the dangerous part. But there' still a lot going on here in the academy. You just need to know where to look."
Ethan was silent for a moment before he shrugged. "Alright, then." He then rested his head on his right fist before speaking again. "So, what now?"
Gin scratched the back of his head. "Well, now we need to find stuff to report. Anyone here of anything going on recently so we can make a good start?" he asked, looking at the whole group.
Kurumu and Yukari shot up from their seats.
"We should investigate that peeping tom that's been going around the school!" Yukari said.
"Peeping tom?" Ethan and Tsukune asked simultaneously.
Kurumu decided to explain. "Someone's been going around the girls' dorms, changing rooms and showers trying to get a peek of the girls without their clothes on. It's been going on for a couple of weeks now."
"Yeah, stupid pervert!" Yukari followed up.
Ethan's hand started to heat up, causing it to glow read. he didn't like that someone was invading the girls' privacy like that. He lowered it so that Gin didn't see it and suspect anything. "You guys are only saying this now?"
"We wanted the guy to be punished, not torn to shreds. It'd be too messy." Kurumu said.
Moka had remained silent through the whole conversation, unnoticed by Ethan. He turned to Gin and asked his opinion on the matter.
"Sounds good to me. Okay, I got some gear that you'll need to interview any witnesses or anyone who might know someone. Ethan, Yukari, Tsukune, you guys head off. I need Kurumu and Moka's help with something."
"Sounds good to me." Tsukune said.
"Oh yeah, lets do this!" Yukari said, holding up her fists in a fighting stance. Clearly, she was keen on bringing this person down.
Ethan remained silent, but nodded towards Yukari before quickly glancing back at Moka. He then spoke.
"I think I know someone who can help us. You guys head off to the Sherlock Holmes club and find a girl call Ann. Moka, can I talk to you for a second, please?"
Moka came out of her silent spell and turned to Ethan. She lightly shook her head and nodded to him. Yukari and Tsukune went off while Ethan and Moka went just outside then room. Ethan rested on the wall while Moka stood still and fidgeted with her hands.
"What's go you down, Moka?" Ethan asked. Moka was about to speak, but Ethan quickly raised his hand and said "And don't try to deny it, I saw you spacing out the same way I would do it, now spill the beans."
Moka was silent for a few seconds before answering. "I… Ethan, those nightmares of yours have been getting worse, haven't they? That last one you had there had you screaming like you were dying. I… I just want to help. But I don't know what to do."
Ethan stayed silent for a moment before taking in a deep breath and exhaling. "Alright… Moka, I appreciate the concern, but there's no need. Besides, this one had nothing to do with the others." Ethan saw that Moka was still unconvinced. He sighed, realizing that Moka wasn't buying it. When he said it wasn't as bad as the other dreams, it was... misleading. To him, it was far worse. "Okay… I'll tell you what it was about. But don't you dare tell anyone."
Moka didn't like the idea of keeping secrets, but if it meant getting Ethan to talk, then she had no choice.
"Okay." She agreed.
…
Yukari and Tsukune made it to the club room that Ethan was talking about. They saw that there was a club right next door, so Tsukune volunteered to see if anyone in there knew of anything. So Yukari took the liberty of knocking on the door. The person who answered it was a girl with short, blond hair, brown eyes and glasses. The girl at the door gave Yukari a friendly smile.
"Hi, how can I help you?" she asked.
"Hello, my name is Yukari Sendo. I'm here to inquire if you have any information on the serial peeping tom that's been terrorizing us ladies these past couple of weeks." Yukari said professionally and confidently.
"Really?" the girl asked with a mischievous tone of voice. "By any chance did a silver-haired looker recommend for you to come here?"
"IF you're referring to Mr. Drake… yeah, he's so cute." Yukari answered, suddenly sounding like a teenage girl. They both started to giggle to themselves and with each other for a minute before getting back on topic. "I'm guessing your Ann, then."
"Yep. And to answer your question, Ms. Sendo, I do happen to know something thanks to an encounter I had last week. I nearly had the damn pervert!" the girl answered, slamming her fists together.
"Any chance was this person in a monster form at the time?" came a familiar voice to both girls.
They both looked to the direction of the voice and saw Ethan casually resting on the corridor wall. He gave Ann a two-fingered salute, to which she responded in kind with a similar salute.
"Hello, Ethan. Haven't seen you since the club openings. I'm guessing you joined the newspaper club, then." Ann said.
Ethan gave her a small smile before saying "Yep. Was that... Elementary?"
At this, Ann rolled her eyes. "Okay, before I say anything else, that word was only used once within all of the books, and it wasn't even followed by a 'my dear Watson' in it. I've got no disrespect for the movies, but by god the over use nearly drove me nuts." She said strongly.
As soon as she finished speaking, a scream erupted from the room next door. Tsukune burst out of it, screaming like a man possessed as he saw Ethan and crashed into him, soon clamping on to him for dear life. This bewildered Ethan.
"MUMMY! MUMMY!" Tsukune screamed.
"I'M NOT YOUR FECKING MUMMY!" Ethan roared back as he tried to peel Tsukune off, but to no avail. He kept trying as he turned his attention to Ann again. "Please tell me what you know before THIS eejit drives ME nuts."
Ann was a little surprised to see what was going on, but answered Ethan's question. "Uh… right. The guy was peeping on me when I was changing into my swim gear for gym. It became dark in the room, so I looked over towards the window and saw a beast with glowing, yellow eyes and… I think a dog's head."
"Dog head?" Yukari asked.
"Yep, I roared at the punk and threatened to tear him to pieces… but before I could he just, I don't know, vanished… like… 'zip'!" she continued.
At last, Ethan managed to pull Tsukune off of him and threw him onto the ground. He looked back at Ann. "A fast moving dog, huh? Yukari, you know anything like that?"
Yukari didn't answer. Instead, she looked worried and her legs were starting to shake. Ethan was about to ask what was wrong when Yukari pointed behind Ethan and screamed "MUMMY!"
Ethan was about to give out, being annoyed that she was acting like Tsukune now, until he heard a low moan behind them. He turned and saw a student walking up to them, he was covered in bandages.
"That's Arai, a new member of the Egyptology club next door to us." Ann explained.
"Ah, a mummy." Ethan said in understanding, at last. He then looked down at Tsukune and slammed his fist into the top of Tsukune's head. "WHY DIDN'T YOU FECKING SAY SO!?" he asked.
Tsukune was about to answer when Yukari latched onto him, hugging so hard she might end up breaking his ribs.
"HELP ME, TSUKUNE!" she cried, only to receive short gasps of air in response.
Ethan sighed and turned to Ann, who seemed like she was holding back a fit of laughter from what she was seeing.
"Any chance are all the other clubs like this?" Ethan asked.
"Nah, they're a lot more boring." Ann answered. She then perked up and asked "Will I tell Rebecca you guys said hi?"
"Sure, tell her we should meet up again as well." Ethan answered back. He then looked at his two companions. "Come on you two, let's head back." He said.
Tsukune managed to get up, allowing Yukari to jump onto him and dangle off of him like a cape from his neck, and they all waved Ann goodbye, who also waved back. When they were gone, Ann peered back inside the room and said "You can come out now, you wimp."
Rebecca slowly peered out from the inside, looking from side to side. Her face was bright red. "Did he really say… we should… meet up?" she asked Ann.
"Damn, you've got it bad, girl." Ann said. She shook her head and motioned for them to go back inside. "You know you're never going to get anywhere unless you build up more confidence, right?"
"I know… but I don't know how?" Rebecca answered.
"Well… I guess it will come in time. Now come on, time to get back to 'the crawling man'"."
…..
"So you two DID watch that mummy film without me. I've never been so ofended." Ethan said sarcastically. Tsukune and Yukari picked up on it, but apologized all the same.
"We're sorry, we just really wanted to see it." Tsukune said.
"Yeah, and I didn't think a black and white horror movie would scare me so much." Yukari said.
"Well, next time think before you do." Ethan answered. They were not too far away from the club room, deciding to head back and record what they learned. Ethan was on edge after hearing Ann's story. "Glowing eyes, dog head, that kind of speed. Don't tell me this guy's a-"
"Guys, we're back, and we got some…" Yukari started, but stopped abruptly for some reason.
"Huh? Yukari, are you okay?" came Moka's voice.
Ethan snapped out of his daze and looked at Yukari, who's face was a mask of shock and anger. Ethan turned to wear she was looking, only to see Moka and Kurumu on chairs putting up posters high up on the wall, standing on chairs and their undergarments in plain view. Gin was kneeling on the ground, oblivious to Yukari, Tsukune or Ethan as he was looking up the girls' skirts.
"WHAT… THE… BLEEDING…" Ethan wasn't able to finish, instead letting his body temperature raise. Tsukune and Yukari expected Ethan to explode into a ball of flame, up instead were surprised to see… steam, of all things, come out of his ears.
"Steam? That's a new one." Tsukune said to himself, turning his attention away from the girls.
"What's going on you guys?" Kurumu asked.
"THAT PERVERT UNDERNEATH YOU IS LOOKING UP YOUR SKIRTS WHILE GETTING YOU TO PUT UP THOSE POSTERS!" Yukari screamed.
This caused Moka and Kurumu to jump, and Gin to snap out of his gaze and quickly back away. The girls jumped down from the chairs and pull their skirts down in hopes it would cover themselves more.
"Wh-what are you guys talking about?" Gin asked innocently.
"Don't play dumb, we all saw you!" Tsukune said confidently.
"Hey, if I'm guilty, that makes you guys just as guilty for seeing them, how would I know that their panties would show?" Gin said, clearly making the worst defense in the history of the planet.
"Caught red-handed so you try to pass the blame onto someone else?" Ethan asked, managing to cool off enough to speak. "Just like the average criminal." He said.
Gin tried to say something else, but was quickly interrupted when Moka went up to him and smacked him hard across the face. Ethan was surprised like this, never seeing her lash out like that unless it was in defense of others.
"What you did was… so gross. But I'm willing to give you another chance. Please don't do anything like this again." She said.
With that, The girls left the room, with Tsukune following behind. Ethan stayed behind and continued to glare at the second year, which caused Gin to shake with fear.
"Moka may be a pretty forgiving person, but I'm not. So give me one reason why I shouldn't cave your skull in." Ethan said with a slight growl in his voice.
"Look, I know what I did was wrong, but I couldn't help it. Please, I know how to make it up to you. I think I know where the peeper is going to strike again." Gin said.
Ethan was glaring for a few seconds longer before he calmed himself down and decided to hear him out. However, he knew, from the way that Gin was acting, that he was planning something else entirely.
"If you think you can cod me out, you're in for a big surprise, pal." Ethan thought, formulating a plan of his own.
…
The next day, all seemed quite normal. Moka was in her positive mood again, which Tsukune was happy to see. Kurumu was still a little annoyed, as well as Yukari, but both stayed silent about it, not wanting to cause any more trouble than what had happened yesterday.
However, what had irked the whole group was that Ethan was missing. He hadn't turned up for a single class. While Yukari wasn't in the same homeroom as the rest of the group, she was with him for chemistry and art, as was surprised that he would miss the latter. He was doing pretty well in art.
There was fifteen minutes before the last class of the day came to an end. As Miss Nekonome was teaching history, the door slid open, revealing a confident-looking Ethan. Tsukune, Moka and Kurumu looked at him with surprise and relief, glad to see he was okay.
"Oh, Mr. Drake!" Miss Nekonome started. "I'm glad to see that you're alright, but I'm afraid that we're nearly out of time, I'm sorry." She continued.
Ethan raised an eyebrow, slightly amazed that she was apologizing for him being late. He shook it off before speaking. "No need to worry… I guess… but I've been collecting interesting information that many of the students present would like to know." He said, a malevolent smile appearing on his face.
Oh, what is it?" Miss Nekonome asked, her tail waving around excitedly.
Ethan pulled out his phone and connected it to the room's projector. After a couple of taps on his phone, the projector was brought to life. The first image it showed was of Gin hiding behind a wall, camera in hand, taking pictures of some girls in their gym gear.
"Exhibit 'A', as I like to call it. Now, Exhibit 'B'." Ethan said.
The next picture showed Gin peaking in through a window. The angle at which the picture was taken showed that it was the girls' changing room. This caused many of the girls in the class to shake with anger, while Miss Nekonome was afraid of what the outcome will be from all this.
"And finally, Exhibit 'C'." Ethan pulled up the final photo, which showed Gin accidentally pulling out a number of photographs from his jacket pocket. A number of students gasped when they recognized that they were pictures of victims of the peeping tom.
Ethan turned off his phone, causing the projector to go blank. He faced the class with a small smile. "Sooo… thoughts?"
The girls in the class, except Moka, all stood up with anger in their eyes.
"WHERE IS THAT PERVERT!" one of them said.
"I'LL KILL HIM AND USE HIS SKULL AS MY CAT'S LITTER-BOX!" came the voice of another.
Ethan chuckled slightly. "Well, if you really want a piece of him, I'd recommend you hurry, there's a mob already ahead of you."
As soon as he said that, there was the sound of angry screams outside. Everyone went to the windows and saw Gin being chased down by a horde of furious women, all wanting to tear him to pieces.
"PLEASE, HAVE MERCY ON MEEEE!" Gin cried out in vain.
Back in the classroom, another girl spoke up. "C'mon, girls, let's get him!" and with that, all the girls sped out of the classroom, nearly crashing into Ethan as they did so. When they had all left, all who remained were a little bewildered. Ethan couldn't blame them. He scanned the classroom and saw that Kurumu and Moka were still seated.
"What? You girls don't want a piece of the action?" he asked.
"Ah, those other girls will do the job for us." Kurumu said.
"Well… I don't really like violence anyway." Moka answered truthfully.
Ethan turned to Miss Nekonome, who was still trying to figure out what to say after all this. After a moment, she said "Well… class is over anyway, so… bye everyone." And with that, she ran out the door more quickly than the girls, thinking it would be best to do for the moment.
Ethan turned back to the crowd, mainly Tsukune, Moka and Kurumu. "C'mon, let's go."
…
A couple of hours after the whole event, Ethan went up to the rooftop where he allowed himself to be lost in thought. At this particular time, he was trying to figure out what the creature he saw in his usual dreams was. As he did so, he shivered.
"What is wrong with me? I've gone up against stuff that would scare other people to death. Why am I scared of this thing?"
"Ethan?"
Ethan was snapped out of him dream when he heard his name being called, turning to see a worried looking Moka. Ethan calmed down a bit.
"Hey, you alright?" he asked.
"That's what I wanted to ask you." She said. She walked up to Ethan's side, suddenly grabbing hold of his hand. This startled Ethan.
"Moka, what the he-" before he could finish, Moka wrapped her arms around him, causing Ethan to stiffen up like a statue. After a few seconds, Ethan spoke.
"Moka, I'm sure you're trying to be nice, but you have exactly three seconds to let go before I burst into flames."
Immediately, Moka released her hold on him and back-stepped, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to help. After you told me about the creature in your dreams. How it… it terrified you like that… I just want to help."
"And I appreciate that, Moka, really, but the only thing that will help is finding that thing and knocking seven shades of shhh… crap out of it." Ethan said, deciding to hold off on the cursing for now. He turned towards the distance.
Moka stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "What did you say the creature looked like?" she asked.
"… Some kind of bird, I think. Wings with yellow, no, gold feathers, but they were covered in blood at the time. It had glowing eyes, had this, I don't know… aura surrounding it at the time. When it saw me, its cry was so strong I'm surprised I'm not deaf after it. Does that help? Moka?"
Ethan turned back to Moka, who wore a face of fear and disbelief. A face he hadn't seen since Tsukune told her he was human.
"Are you alright?" Ethan asked.
"Golden feathers… aura…" Moka muttered to herself. She then looked back at Ethan with a look of realization. "Ethan, that creature you saw was-"
"WHERE IS HE!?"
Moka stopped when she heard someone shouting. The door to the roof burst open, revealing a severely bruised Gin. He was not happy.
"HOW DARE YOU! BECAUSE I YOU I'M GETTING SUSPENDED. DON'T YOU REALIZE HOW YOU'VE GARNISHED MY REPUTATION!?" gin roared.
"Weeeell… next time, maybe you shouldn't go around peeping on women and upsetting them. What do you think, good idea?" Ethan said in a sarcastic tone.
Moka, who was clearly more worried about this than he was, stepped back behind him. "Can't we just talk about this?" she asked, hoping to find a peaceful solution to all this.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL!" Gin roared. As he did so, his form began to change. He grew fur all over his body, claws growing out of his fingertips, a tail growing from his backside, his legs turning into hind legs and his face taking on the form of a wolf.
"A werewolf!" Moka gasped.
"Ah-HAH! I knew it!" Ethan said, having suspected a werewolf was responsible after his talk with Ann. He looked back at Moka. "Sorry, but I think anything peaceful went out the window ages ago."
When Gin's transformation was complete, he stared angrily at the two. "Which one of you want's to die first?" he asked.
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought you liked Moka. Isn't that why you gave her the flowers?"
"I think he's too far gone at the moment." Moka answered.
Ethan slowly nodded. Then, he walked forward, igniting his flames on his arms. Moka tried to pull him back, but his flames were too intense for her to get anywhere near. Ethan cracked his knuckles as he continued on his way. "Well, if you're up for it, I wouldn't mind going a round or two." Ethan said.
"Exactly what I hoped for." Gin said before vanishing from sight.
Ethan was surprised by this, but not nearly as surprised as when he felt a strong impact on his stomach that sent him skidding backwards. Ethan didn't go too far, but he held his hand up to his mouth, feeling the contents rising. He gulped it back down and faced Gin with a smile.
"Wow, you're fast. Guess what they say about your kind is true then." Ethan commented.
"Correct. We werewolves are also 'S-class' monsters, being feared all across the world. However…" before he could finish, he vanished again and reappeared behind Ethan, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him high up. "While vampires are famous for their strength, we werewolves rely on speed. Our power comes from the almighty moon, granting us her incredible power. And with the moon as she is now, I am at my full power." He said, making reference as to how the moon was full this evening.
Moka watched in horror as her friend was being dangled in the air like that. She was about to move when she heard a small laugh coming from Ethan. His flames went out and, as soon as he did so, hoisted up his legs, bringing his arms behind him to grab gin's arm, and then threw him over his head and down directly onto the floor, causing him to release his grip on Ethan. When he was free, he dashed back.
Gin got back up onto his feet, unsure of what just happened. Before he could say anything, he heard the door open behind him. He turned and saw Tsukune, Kurumu and Yukari, all now surprised to see the beast in front of them.
Ethan smiled. He readied himself and rushed at Gin, going low and then shooting his fist up into Gin's jaw as he turned back towards Ethan. The impact was enough to send him flying up high into the sky. Ethan looked back at his friends with a smile, who all just looked at him with bewilderment.
"Uh… did something happen?" Tsukune asked.
"Long story short, gin's a werewolf, he's pissed, wants to kill me, but I've got the edge." Ethan answered. He looked back up and saw that Gin was coming back down. Formulating a new plan, Ethan stood still for a moment. The temperature around him began to grow. As it did, Ethan's skin became so red that it looked like he was sun burnt, shocking his allies.
"Oh MY GOSH! Ethan, are you okay!?" a worried Yukari asked.
Ethan didn't answer. Instead, he looked up and saw that Gin was preparing to strike Ethan. When he was within reach, Gin threw a punch at Ethan, who casually held up his forearm in defense. Gin struck the arm, but quickly pulled it away as a sizzling sound came off his fist after touching Ethan. He pulled back and jumped high into the air, speeding towards him as he aimed his foot for Ethan's heart. As he did so, Ethan held up his arms in a cross, acting as a makeshift shield as Gin kicked him hard. Ethan was sent skidding back, while Gin dropped to the ground and held his now, heavily, blistered foot.
Kurumu looked at the fight with confusion. "What's going on?"
Yukari caught on to what was going on. "No way! Ethan rose his own body temperature to the point that touching him can cause severe burns!"
"AAAAGH!" Gin roared in pain as his hand and foot were still being cooked. He looked back at Ethan, only now he was worried.
"Well, well, well. You're speed won't be of much use to you if you can't even move, will it?" Ethan asked. He walked over to Gin, who cloud feel the heat coming off of him. He quickly stood up and readied himself for one last attack.
"I won't lose to you, you FREAK!" Gin yelled as he launched off of his good foot and was zooming towards Ethan. Seeing as he had nothing left to lose, he thought that he could finish Ethan off with one last attack.
However, it proved in vain. Ethan built up a flame grenade in his hand and threw it up close to his face. As Gin was just centimeters away from the grenade, it went off, creating a blinding light that startled everyone. When it faded, Gin was lying on the ground, semi-conscious, while Ethan was standing up, alive and well, with his skin returning to its usual color. Everyone went up to him and congratulated him. Tsukune made the mistake of slapping him on the back, as there was still some residual heat coming off of his friend.
"That was amazing! Where did do learn to do those things?" Yukari asked as she was healing Tsukune's hand.
"I teach myself. Thought it would be good to try out different ways of using the power so that I could prepare for any situation." Ethan answered as he looked on at Gin.
"Well, how come you weren't affected by the ball of flame blowing up?" Kurumu asked.
"The grenade only released a blast of flame that would've been too much for anyone else to handle if they got to close. One thing I love about using fire, it doesn't affect me." He said to Kurumu. He then turned to Moka, or more accurately, her rosary. "Sorry I stole your fun." He said quietly
The rosary gleamed in response for a brief second before going back to normal, which no one except for Ethan noticed. He put it back of his mind as he looked back at Gin, with an idea forming in his mind.
"Guys… I've an idea I think we all might like." Ethan said.
…
"EXTRA, EXTRA! PEEPING TOM BROUGHT INTO THE LIGHT" Yukari yelled out to the oncoming crowd.
The group were now selling their first issue of this year's newspaper club to the entire school in the school plaza. They chose to make Gin the front page story, ensuring that everyone in the school knew what he had done and that he would get the proper punishment for it.
The whole group were proud at what they had managed to accomplish together as a team, which was heightened when they heard many people giving them praise for the quality of the work.
"Hooray! This is the best day EVER!" Kurumu yelled, clearly overjoyed at what they had managed to do.
"I'll be honest. I had a few doubts of us managing to do well. But I'm glad to see everything worked out for us." Ethan said.
"Oh, Ethan. You really need to learn how to be more optimistic." Moka said as she was putting up posters on the notice board."
Tsukune chuckled slightly. "Seriously, Moka? You expected him to be more optimisti- AAAGH!" Tsukune said, his screams from Tsukune accidentally getting a clear view of Moka's panties and blood spritzing out of his nose like a water fountain. He collapsed to the ground.
"Oh, Tsukune, I'm so sorry!" Moka said, feeling both embarrassed and guilty at what happened.
Ethan turned to Yukari. "Yukari, help me out. Is Tsukune incredibly 'lucky' or 'unlucky'?" he asked her.
"Are you KIDDING? I'd love to get a sneak pe-"
"OKAY, you are clearly the wrong person to ask, just forget it." Ethan said quickly.
A thought suddenly occurred to Kurumu as she handed more posters to Moka. "Hey, Ethan. How did you manage to get those pictures of Gin that you showed us?" she asked.
"Gin planned to have me peak through that window to the changing room to try and incriminate me, a kind of revenge for us catching him out in the clubroom. I only caught on after we arrived. I convinced him to look first, then…" he pulled out a metal paper clip. "I poked him in the ass with the sharp end with this, his… uniquely… girly scream alerted the girls, and I shot myself onto the roof to get out of the way. Took pictures of the whole thing."
They all looked at him with impressed look. Moka was the first to speak. "Morale of the story, never mess with you." She said with a smile.
"Ooooh yes." Ethan said.
"… Hey, I'll be pack in a second, just need to get something." Moka said.
They all nodded in understanding. Moka made her way back into the school, making her way towards the club-room. However, she stopped when she reached a window that showed a clear view of the plaza. Her expression immediately changed into a feint look of sorrow.
"Golden feathers… aura…" her hand unconsciously wrapped itself around the rosary.
"The phoenix…"
Unknown to her, the hooded figure that had been plaguing Ethan for so long was hiding behind a corner, a small smile forming on his face.
"'Bout time figured it out." He said. His form began to ripple, slowly fading away. "Now the fun begins."
[Alright, that's another chapter down, a fair number to go. Hope you all enjoyed it. For anyone who may be disappointed for Ura's lack of appearance in this chapter, my apologies. I decided that it would be best to give her another break. Still, she'll be back in action soon enough. Also, while Ethan has proven to be moooo-(2hrs later)-ooore than capable of taking himself, it won't last. Despite appearances, he's not invulnerable, which will be presented in later chapters. Anyway, that's all from me for now. If anyone had anything to ask, or anything to comment, feel free to leave a review or a PM if you like.
See you all later]
Mitch- Thank you for pointing that out, hope the chapter was alright aside from the grammar and spelling.