The night was incredibly peaceful. Everyone was fast asleep, having pleasant dreams. All of them, except for one. In the boys' dorms, Ethan was lying in his bed, tossing and turning as sweat built up on his forehead. He his face was masked with fear and worry.

"No… no, please…" he whispered. Soon, the images he was witnessing became stronger, taking a stronger toll of his mind.

…..

In the school plaza, there was nothing but flames surrounding the area. Ethan was on his knees in the center, holding a lifeless body in his hands. His vision was masked by the smoke, making it difficult to see who it was. He looked around and, much to his horror, one by one his friends appeared resting on the ground in puddles of their own blood. Each one was covered in burns and cuts, their eyes wide as plates as if they had seen their worst nightmares.

"Tsukune… Moka… Kurumu… Yukari… why did… why did this happen?" was all Ethan could say as he saw the bodies of his friends being engulfed by the surrounding flames. He tried to move, but his body felt like he was being weighed down by an unseen force.

Looked around once more, only to come across an unfamiliar figure on the ground as his friends were. He could only tell that the person was female; he wasn't able to see any more as the flames engulfed her as well.

He tensed up his fist, feeling helpless. He tried to get up again, but was instead pushed down by a strong hand. The body he was holding rolled out of his grip, soon getting caught in the flames as they soon started to get close to him.

He turned his head and saw a humanoid figure. There were horns sticking out of his head and there were ember eyes glowing in the shadows that covered him. He raised his free hand and built up a glowing energy in his fist. A terrifying smile emerged on his face.

"You have failed… you always have… and you always will." The creature said. He then brought down his fist, causing Ethan's eyes to see nothing but a sea of flames.

….

Ethan shot up from his bed, seemingly startled and still sweating from his brow. He panted heavily, trying to catch his breath after what he had seen. After he had calmed down, he wiped his face clear of the sweat and got out of his bed, making his way to the window. It was the same dream he had in the club room five weeks ago.

"The same dream again… haven't had it for the past few weeks." He said to himself. He then chuckled slightly. "Won't be long before I go mad from it I guess." He looked back towards his bead stand, more specifically, his clock. He cocked an eyebrow at it and decided to pick it up. He squinted his eyes and brought it up close. "'3pm' on the dot? But-" He looked back at the window. He widened his eyes and saw that, much to his surprise, he saw that the curtains were closed. He opened them to reveal a bright, sunny day.

"Oh for feck sake! I need to get to the plaza!" he yelled. He quickly put on his uniform, stuffing his tie into his pocket and ran out of his room. He had to push his way past some of the other boys on his way out.

"I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed!" Ethan kept repeating to himself, for once fearing the wrath of one person in particular.

…..

"Thank you so much everyone!" Moka said to the crowd of people gathering around her and the rest of the group. She distributed as many of the papers as she could, Kurumu and Yukari giving her a hand. Tsukune was going back and forth between the plaza and the clubroom, re-stocking the newspaper stand with more papers when they were running low.

Each member had a specific role to play for the paper. Kurumu was writing about dating tips for girls to get the man of their dreams (many of which Tsukune was terrified of as she might try them on him, while Ethan got a good laugh out of him), as well as writing out different baking recipes, ranging from cakes to cookies.

Yukari had taken the liberty of including horoscopes and fortune telling sessions into the paper, as well as many study tips that were easy and effective to put into practice.

Moka often wrote about specific events going around the school, or about different people who had distinguished themselves from each other from their academic records, their talents, etc. She would never say a bad word about any of them, which made it easier for the people she would write about to open up more to her. Also, since everyone in the school loved her, they all took it as an opportunity to talk to her.

Tsukune was the paper's journalist, asking people about specific facts about their stories. He wasn't quite as good as Moka when it came to talking to people but he was both serious and determined when it came to his role, so he would assertively, but kindly, get the information required. It also suited him because he and Moka would sometimes talk to the same people, so would do their work together.

Ethan's role was a bit more unusual compared to the rest. After showing his skill with photography, he had become the photographer of the club, taking terrific pictures. He also took the liberty of drawing comic strips toad a bit of entertainment for those who weren't interested. Most were cartoons he copied from the human world media, such as 'Garfield'. He made a few originals based on a few manga Ann showed him out of interest. They were a big hit.

"Honestly, I never imagined Ethan to be a comic drawer." Kurumu commented.

"Hey, he told us that he wanted to become a manga artist, remember?" Yukari pointed out. "That should've been your first clue."

"Well, excuse me." Kurumu said with a pout.

Moka and Tsukune shook their heads at their friends' antics. They soon looked at each other, said looks turning into longing stares.

"Oh Tsukune…" Moka said.

"Oh Moka…" Tsukune replied.

"Oh fecking hell."

Everyone jumped with fright. They turned and saw Ethan resting his hands on his knees while huffing and puffing. He looked like he was just after running a marathon.

"Sorry… I'm late." Ethan managed to say.

"Ethan!" Moka said with a stern face, causing the source of her anger to jump as well. "You promised that you wouldn't be late again. We had a lot of papers to distribute, and we need as many people here as possible to help. What happened?"

Ethan was wide-eyed with surprise at the vampiress' yelling. It looked like she was finally starting to overcome her shyness… at last.

"I'm sorry, Moka. Rough night sleeping. I had…" he leaned in a bit closer to her. "That same nightmare."

Moka's look immediately softened. After Ethan revealed the new nightmare that he had a while back, she became even more worried about him. First the phoenix, now a flaming apocalypse. It sounded like a lot to take in.

"Okay, you're off the hook this time, but please try to get yourself properly organised." She said.

"Thanks. Now, how'd the papers sell today?" he asked.

"Today was another big success, we gave out all the copies. By the way, people love that 'Garfield' cartoon you drew up. How'd you come up with that?" Kurumu asked.

"I didn't, it's a cartoon that was pretty popular a good few years ago in the human world. Since no one seemed to have heard of it here, I thought I'd introduce it to them. Luckily, no one's going to hit me up for copyright violation here." He said.

"Oooooh, we got a bad boy." Kurumu said playfully.

The rest of the group laughed while Ethan shook his head with a smile. "So, what now?"

Moka took the opportunity to mention an idea she had for a while. "Say, we've all been working so hard lately, how about we throw ourselves a celebratory party for our success?" she suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea! We can get snacks from the school store, and we can have it in the clubroom." Yukari said.

"All in favour?" Tsukune asked. With that, the whole group put their hands up. He chuckled "Then it's settled. Oh, wait, where's Gin?"

After the events concerning Gin's peeping, he was suspended for a week. After it had finished, he returned to the club where all the girls looked close to tearing off his limbs and beating him with them. He made a sincere apology, promising not to do anything like that again. Most of the group were sceptical about this, thinking it could be a trick. Moka and Tsukune, however, decided to take pity on him. Since then, he was hard at work with his duties in the club, proving to be pretty good at the job.

However, he would still go out of line every now and then, snapping a few pictures of girls at different times or trying to hit on them shamelessly. One time, Ethan caught him in the act, resulting in him doing something that had left Gin shaking with fear. None of the group dared asked what it was he did.

"He's probably gone off to hit on some helpless girl again." Kurumu commented.

"That'd be my guess." Yukari followed.

"So, anything else we should do for the party?" Moka asked.

Ethan was about to say something when he felt a sudden chill in the air. The rest of the group were quick to pick up on the feeling, causing them to turn around instinctively towards the source. Their eyes came upon a girl, around their age, with long purple hair and eyes as well as pale skin. She wore a white hoodie with black sleeves, a yellow skirt, purple and white stockings and tennis shoes.

"It's strange." The girls said. "Seeing you all hang out like that, talking, laughing… I could never understand that."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Kurumu yelled. She was about to move forward when Ethan, who was standing in front of her, shot out his arm to the side, telling her to stop. Reluctantly, she did. Ethan lowered his arm and put on a friendly face, still unsure of what to make of the woman.

"Can we help you with anything?" he said.

The girl ignored him and focused her attention on Tsukune. "Do you happen to have any copies of the newspaper left?" she asked.

Tsukune immediately looked into his jacket pocket and pulled out a copy he had been saving for later. "Here, you can have this one. Sorry it's a little crumpled up." He said while handing her the paper. She took it and nodded in gratitude.

"Thank you… goodbye now." She said before turning around and leaving the group.

"What was that about?" Kurumu asked, clearly still annoyed with the girl.

"You really know how to hold a grudge, don't you?" Ethan asked Kurumu.

"Let's forget it. We've got a party to go to, right?"

"YEAH!" the girls responded.

"Sound's good." Ethan said.

…..

The next day, everyone was in their classrooms. Their respective classes had just started and Miss Nekonome was taking the role for Tsukune's class. She was going through the list quickly enough, stopping at one name when she didn't hear anyone respond to that name.

"Shirayuki?" She asked again, wondering where said student was. She sighed sadly. "Oh dear. IT doesn't look like Shirayuki isn't going to join us today." She said sadly.

However, the classroom door was opened, snapping her out of her sadness. Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu and Ethan all turned towards the door. The first three were wide-eyed with shock when they saw that it was the girl from the other day.

"Oh, Miss Shirayuki! Thank goodness you were able to join us today!" the feline teacher said cheerfully.

The girl ignored her and took a seat right next to the class window. She then went on to stare out through the window passively, paying no attention to the world around her.

"Everyone, this is Mizore Shirayuki. For, uh, personal reasons, she hasn't been able to attend school for a while. Everyone please be nice to her and make her feel welcome, okay?" the teacher continued.

Ethan made a small smirk towards the girl, now named Mizore, then looked back down at his desk and continued to work on a drawing he had been working on. The rest of the group, however, were less than satisfied, the girls looked at her awkwardly and Tsukune was screaming and shivering. Ethan shook his head at their antics.

"Eejits." He said under his breath as he continued on with his art.

…

"Don't you think it's a bit weird that she's in the class now?" Kurumu asked her friends.

"I don't see what the big deal is." Ethan said.

Kurumu looked at him like he had two heads (which wasn't uncommon in the Yokai world, to be fair). "Seriously? How can you be so calm about this? Aren't you always the one who's suspicious of everyone he meets?"

Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose briefly. After the class had ended, the group went for a walk through the hallways, where Kurumu immediately brought up her discomfort with the girl. Ethan released his grip on his nose before speaking again.

"To be fair, Kurumu, you only spoke to her once. How's that an indicator that she should be considered weird. Secondly, you're right, I can be suspicious of people. That's why I like to get my facts straight before I make any comments on people." Ethan replied, his tone becoming darker as he spoke, causing Kurumu to wince.

"Plus, Moka said I should try to be… what's the word… nicer to people" he continued, saying the word 'nicer' as if it was the first time saying it. "It wouldn't be a bad start."

"Nice job, Ethan." Tsukune said, clearly happy to hear that Ethan would try to make a better impression on people. About half the school were already scared of him, so he might actually make more friends than enemies this way.

Moka was happy as well, thinking it would benefit him a great deal. She gasped as she suddenly remembered something. "Oh no! The party!" she said.

"Don't worry, I got all the supplies set up in the club room already. You're welcome." Yukari said.

"Damn, you're fast." Ethan said to her, which caused her to give a haughty smile to her friends.

"Well, in that case, let's meet up there soon. There are a couple of things I need to take care of, so we'll see each other later, okay?" Moka said.

Kurumu rushed up to Tsukune and began her usual routine of rubbing her chest up against his, causing him to blush. "I'll be waiting for you, Tsukune." She said seductively, only causing him to blush more.

"KURUMU, GET AWAY FORM HIM!" Moka yelled as she dragged her away. Yukari wasn't long to follow suit.

Tsukune returned to his usual form at last. "Hey, Ethan you want to-" as he turned towards Ethan's direction, he saw that he had already gone. He slumped his shoulders in defeat. "And I'm alone." He said.

A few seconds later, he felt a familiar chill go up his spine. He looked behind him and saw someone quickly move behind a pillar.

"Hey, is someone there?" he asked.

To answer his question, the person hiding behind the pillar stepped out into the open, revealing that it was Mizore. She seemed a little embarrassed for some reason.

"Oh, hi there, uh, Mizore, was it?" Tsukune asked, now a little bit more relaxed.

Mizore nodded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a familiar newspaper. She handed it back to Tsukune. "Thank you. I thought this issue was pretty good." She said.

Tsukune raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I asked Miss Nekonome to send me copies of the paper so I could keep up to date on what was going on. It's really well written. I especially like your articles, Tsukune." Mizore explained.

Tsukune couldn't help but blush. "Oh, thank you."

Mizore then pulled out a book and handed it over to Tsukune. "I hope you don't mind, but I made a scrapbook of all my favorite articles from the paper. Would you like to have a look?" she asked.

"Sure, I'd love to." Tsukune answered. He took the scrapbook and opened up the first page. However, his smile was quickly replaced with a look of fear when he saw that, not only was it filled with everything he had ever written, but there were notes beside them all, mainly about how Mizore and Tsukune being together in a romantic way. He was sweating like a waterfall soon enough.

"What the heck!? Has this girl been stalking me!?" Tsukune thought, suddenly fearing for his life.

"Do you like it?" Mizore asked.

"… it's… well organised." Tsukune managed to say.

Mizore blushed at Tsukune's comment. "Thank you." She said. A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Come with me."

….

Ethan flopped onto his bed, seemingly tired. He was tempted to go back to sleep, as he was still a bit drained after his nightmare. However, he didn't want t turn up late for the party. He sighed and sat back up, his eyes looking over at the table of his room. On it laid the guitar case that held the staff he got from the chairman. After Ethan had gained the ability to use fire, he didn't have much use of it. So he kept it in the case and left the case in the room, making sure that it wouldn't be taken.

Ethan went over to the case, brushing off a small lair of dust and unzipping the case. He saw that the staff was still there. He wrapped his hand around it, causing the staff to suddenly cover itself in a yellow aura. Ethan wasn't fazed by this, remembering how it glowed like this any time he used it.

While it had proved to be an effective melee weapon, both strong and durable, his flames had proven to be more effective and efficient. However, he couldn't help but wonder what the staff was truly capable of. The seal was still on the staff, keeping whatever power it held trapped within.

"Just how powerful are you?" he said. His eyes then widened briefly and he shook his head briskly. "For goodness sake, I'm talking to a piece of wood."

He put the staff back into the case. After a moment of contemplating what to do, he decided to fling the case onto his back again and went out the door, hoping to make it to the party in time.

….

"Did you see that, Tsukune? I got nine skips!" Mizore said gleefully.

After their conversation in the halls, Mizore brought them out to the lake where she wasted no time in skipping stones. Every time she did so, she asked Tsukune how it was, like a child seeking approval from their parent.

Tsukune didn't really mind, in fact it helped to make him feel a little more comfortable around the girl, seeing this side of her. However, he was becoming a little impatient, as he was running late for the newspaper club's party.

"Um, Mizore?" Tsukune said. The girl tilted her head at him. "I, uh… I had a great time hanging out with you, but I need to get going."

"Huh… why?" Mizore asked.

"Well, I have to meet up with the rest of the newspaper club. We're throwing a little party and I'm running late." Tsukune explained.

Before Tsukune made a single step, Mizore rushed up to him and wrapped her arms around one of Tsukune's. This caught him off guard slightly. He was about to ask what was wrong when Mizore started to speak again.

"It's because of her, isn't it? You just want to be closer to Moka Akashiya." She said, her tone becoming a bit darker.

Before Tsukune could say anything else, he was lifted off his feet and thrown at the lake. As he flew, the surface of the lake froze solid. Tsukune landed on the cold surface, feeling sore from the impact. He managed to get back up, when his lags were suddenly encased in ice. He tried to break free, but it was like he was cemented to the ground. He looked back at Mizore.

Much to his surprise, her hair had suddenly turned into ice, and her hands had turned into large claws, also made of ice.

"What… are you, Mizore?" Tsukune asked.

Mizore walked across the ice, walls of ice building up around her as she walked on. "I am a snow woman, a being who has the ability to bend ice to our will." The closer she got, the more the ice trapping Tsukune built up, starting to encase his body completely.

"Do you know why I have an interest in you, Tsukune? It's because we are both lonely souls. By the way you write, I can tell that you have been alone for all your life. I can relate. I, too, have been alone all my life." When she was right up to Tsukune, she placed a clawed hand on the ice Tsukune was trapped in. "Don't you see? We were made for each other. Stay with me, Tsukune. Let us warm each other's cold hearts together."

The ice was close to trapping him completely. At this point, he knew that only a miracle would save him.

"TSUKUNE!"

Both Tsukune and Mizore looked up and saw Moka being flown in from above by Kurumu, who didn't look happy.

"Here we go again."

They looked down and saw that Ethan was joining them, this time with his old staff in hand. He slid onto the ice, allowing the slippery surface to bring himself closer to the prisoner. Kurumu dropped Moka right in front of Mizore and Tsukune. Ethan plunged the staff into the ice to slow his momentum, stopping right next to Moka.

"What are you doing here? I thought you would be dead by now."

"You mean that moving ice clone you made? Got to her just in time before I smashed its head off with this." Ethan explained, swinging his staff around as he spoke. "Just in time too, it was just inches away from-"

"Please don't remind me of it." Moka asked, the memory still too much for her.

"You also knocked the cake I made for Tsukune out of my hands and into the ground when I came into the floor!" Kurumu said, her anger now revealed to be at him.

"I was tense, plus I haven't used this thing in a while, it's good to get the practice in. Besides, didn't you add a love potion into that cake?" Ethan defended.

"Enough of this!" Mizore said before aiming her claws at the girls and Ethan. A cold wind blew Moka and Kurumu away, while Ethan embedded his staff into the ground. While the wind blew, Ethan shot out his free hand and launched orbs of fire. Mizore saw them come close, only having a split-second to create a shield of ice. When the ice hit, it demolished the shield. Fortunately, the residual heat was enough to weaken the ice trapping Tsukune. He managed to break free. Mizore saw this and was about to go after him, but another fireball was coming her way. After she dodged, she glared daggers at Ethan. She readied her claws and rushed towards Ethan, ready to slice him into two.

Ethan grinned at her confidence. He was about to coat the staff with fire and strike her into oblivion. Considering that she tried to kidnap Tsukune and kill Moka (realizing that this was the second time now), he felt no guilt in the idea of going all out.

However, Tsukune got in between them just in the nick of time.

Ethan registered the action quickly enough, so he extinguished the flame and lowered his staff. Mizore also saw Tsukune and stopped. She was quite surprised by this.

"Tsukune… what are you doing?" Mizore asked in disbelief.

"You're wrong, Mizore. I'm not lonely. And I'm sorry, but I won't let you hurt my friends. Understand?" Tsukune said confidently.

"You tell her, mate!" Ethan said to him.

Mizore seemed to be taking the news less than well. She was shaking and her eyes were welling up with tears. "You… are you rejecting me?" around her, the air became much colder. "WHYYYYYYY!?" she cried as the wind picked back up. Ethan held up his hands in front of his face, Tsukune fell to his knees and held his right arm to cover his face.

They lowered their arms when the wind faded to see that she disappeared. Ethan cursed while Tsukune looked at where she was standing previously, his expression becoming softer.

"Mizore…" Tsukune whispered.

"Tsukune!" Moka screamed from behind them.

The two boys looked behind and saw that the girls were running up to them. Ethan smirked. "Well, deciding to join us now, are we?"

"Sorry, we had a few problems." Moka said.

Ethan turned back and looked to where Mizore was. "Damn, she left before I got a good hit in. Next time we meet, we're going to have a proper fight."

"Really? That's what concerns you?" Tsukune asked his friend.

Moka noticed that the air was getting warmer. He looked around her, only to see heatwaves coming off of Ethan. She then saw steam coming off of the ice, quickly coming to a realisation.

"Uh… Ethan?" Moka said.

"What?" Ethan asked harshly, still annoyed at having lost his opportunity for a good fight. However, before anyone else could say anything else, the heat coming off of him weakened the ice enough that the area they were standing on shattered, causing them all to fall in.

….

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Ethan asked the group.

After they all fell in, Tsukune, Moka and Kurumu caught colds from the water. Ethan's pyrokinesis, fortunately for him, made him more resistant to the cold, which earned him hateful glances from Kurumu. They retreated back to the club room, where they all sat and were trying to fix the colds.

"It'll never be enough." Kurumu said.

Ethan sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere. He heard a knock at the door and, eager to get away from her, zoomed towards the door. Kurumu turned back to Tsukune and Moka, who both were in the same state as Kurumu.

"Man, I can't believe we're in this mess because of that snow skank." She said.

"Don't be so mean, Kurumu." Moka said.

They were silent for a moment, expecting Tsukune to come into the conversation. However, he was silent, as if he was lost in thought about something. Moka was concerned; she was about to ask something when she heard Yukari's voice at the door.

"Never fear, I have someone here who can help" she said.

Yukari walked into the room, followed by Ann and Rebecca. They each were carrying bags of herbs, making Rebecca sneeze constantly.

"Please be careful not to get your sneezes on the herbs, they need to be in the best condition for them to work." Yukari said.

"Remind me why we agreed to help you?" Ann asked, seemingly irritated by something.

Yukari was about to say something when she saw Rebecca moving behind Ann, shaking her head quickly. Instead, Yukari shrugged and said "Need all the help we can get."

Ethan raised an eyebrow while looking at Rebecca, wondering what was up with her. He then shook his head, trying to focus on the topic at hand. "Let's get back on topic. What are we going to do about Mizore?"

"What do you mean? Why should we bother with her after what she did?" Kurumu asked.

Ethan linked his hands together and sat forward, making a small grin. "In case you didn't notice, there are some individuals who have their fair share of sins, and yet have proven to be… redeemable. Does that sound familiar at all, Kurumu?"

Kurumu suddenly blushed, remembering her hostile, and seductive, takeover of Yokai academy during the start of the school year, as well as her attempt at Moka's life and Tsukune's love. She was thinking about what to say in return, but wasn't able to think of anything. She lowered her shoulders and head in defeat.

"I rest my case." Ethan said. He saw Rebecca carrying over a tray of tea. He offered to help her, but she said that she was okay. So, instead, he turned over to Tsukune. "Hey, Tsukune, y'alright there." He asked.

Tsukune snapped out of the daze he was in and looked over to Ethan. "Uh, yeah, why do you ask?"

"Because you looked like you were away with the fairies, that's why." He said.

"WHAT!? FAIRIES!? WHY THOSE NO GOOD, STUPID-"

"Not what I meant, Kurumu." Ethan said, ceasing Kurumu's ravings.

"Sorry… it's just, the way that Mizore was acting. There was something there. Not just loneliness, but there was some kind of… pain." Tsukune said.

"So I'm not the only one that noticed." Ethan said.

Before anyone else could say anything, there was suddenly the sound of a large commotion. Ethan rushed over to the door, opening it to see Miss Nekonome standing outside the door, breathing heavily as if she had just ran a marathon.

"Oh, thank god you're here." She said.

"What's going on?" Ethan asked, concern and worry building up on his face.

…..

"SHE DID WHAT!?"

Miss Nekonome brought them all into the staff room, where they were told that Mr. Kotsubo, the gym teacher, was frozen by Mizore. Had he not been discovered as soon as it had happened, he would've died from shock from the cold.

Personally, Ethan was disappointed that he was just saved. He noticed that he would always be staring shamelessly at the girl students. Once he was close to throwing a few flame grenades at his feet just to watch him explode, only to be stopped by Tsukune.

"I can't believe this is happening. If Mizore is caught, she'll be expelled. I don't know why she would do this." She said.

"… What did Mr Kotsubo say happen?" Rebecca asked.

"He said that Mizore came onto him, and froze him when he rejected her." Miss Nekonome said.

"Wait… really?" Ethan asked.

"What do you mean 'really'? That's exactly what she tried to do with Tsukune, remember?" Yukari pointed out.

"And yet she's automatically going after a person more than twice Tsukune's age just like that, especially since she was so fixated on Tsukune. Seems a little strange, don't you think?" Ethan replied.

"Oh… this is too much to handle. I wonder what will happen when the faculty find her." Miss Nekonome asked herself.

"I'll find her first." Tsukune stated, causing everyone to look startled.

"You sure? She might not be up for discussion with you after what happened." Yukari pointed out.

"But that's the thing. It's my fault that she's in this mess. If I hadn't rejected her like that, maybe this wouldn't have happened."

"Don't blame yourself." Moka said, trying to comfort him.

All were silent for a moment. Then Ethan broke the silence. "Alright. Let's divide and conquer. Moka and Kurumu, stay here with Miss Nekonome in case Mizore comes back. Yukari, Ann, you two go to the girls' dorms and see if there are any clues as to where she might be in her room. Rebecca, Tsukune, we'll leave you two to find her." Ethan pulled out a burner phone from his back pocket and threw it over to Tsukune. "Call me on that if you find her."

"Where'd you get a burner phone?" Tsukune asked worryingly.

"… Not important. I'm going to find Gin, he and I are going to talk to Kotsubo about this. Alright, let's move." With that, he zoomed out of the office and went to find Gin.

"Not bad. Is he always like this?" Ann asked Tsukune.

"No, he's usually one for brawn, not brains." Tsukune answered.

"I HEARD THAT!"

Tsukune immediately started shivering. "Okay, let's go, uh, Rebecca, come on." Tsukune said quickly, hoping to move in case Ethan came back.

Rebecca nodded and followed Tsukune out the door.

They past a room where Ethan was currently in, who was briefly checking to see where Gin was. Ethan left the room and saw Tsukune and Rebecca make their way down the hall. Ethan was about to head down the same direction when he heard someone call his name. He went back into the room and looked out an open window and saw that it was Gin calling. Ethan jumped out of the window and landed with a roll.

"Gin? I was looking for you, what's wrong?" Ethan asked, seeing that Gin had a look of shock on his face, as if he witnessed something dreadful.

"Ethan… you will not believe what I found out." Gin said with an eager smile.

…..

Tsukune and Rebecca looked in the swamp, then in the gym and then in the groundskeeper's shed (the latter involving Tsukune stepping on a rake which flipped up and slammed him in the face). They were no closer to discovering where she might be. Then an idea came to Tsukune.

"Rebecca, I think I know where she is." Tsukune said.

Before Rebecca could ask what his idea was, he darted off in a random direction. Deciding that it could lead to something, she followed him. A few minutes later, they were at the edge of the cliff at the red ocean. There, they found Mizore standing right at the edge of the cliff.

"Hey, Mizore!" Tsukune called out."

Mizore turned around, seemingly surprised to see Tsukune. She paid no attention to Rebecca, though. "Tsukune… what do you want?"

"I came to talk. I'm sorry I hurt you, I never meant to hurt you. I just wanted you to understand that everyone is important to me. Also… I heard about what happened with Mr. Kotsubo." Tsukune paused, remembering how Ethan said that Kotsubo's story sounded odd. "Tell us, what really happened? Maybe we can help."

Two seconds after Tsukune spoke, Mizore started to cry again. Tsukune was about to say something when Rebecca walked in front of him and went up to Mizore. Rebecca took Mizore's hands and held them tightly.

"You don't need to be afraid. Whatever happens, we'll be here to protect you. We won't let anything bad happen to you." She said calmly and caringly.

Tsukune couldn't help but blink in surprise at how well she did that, even more so that it worked, seeing Mizore move closer To Rebecca and rest her head on her shoulders, letting all her emotion out. Rebecca released Mizore's hands, allowing Mizore to wrap her arms around Rebecca as she continued to cry.

After a few minutes, she had finished crying. She pulled back and nodded to Rebecca in gratitude. She then stood up and walked to Tsukune. She looked worried.

"Are you… still angry at me?" she asked him.

"I was never mad at you, Mizore. I was just concerned for my friends… that included you." He said.

This caught Mizore's attention. "What do you mean?"

"You were right about one thing. I was lonely. But that all changed when I came here. I have friends now, and they helped me fit in. That includes you. I mean… we're friends, right?"

Mizore was truly amazed by this. She looked like she was close to tears again, she was that grateful. However, it was short-lived when they heard screaming in the distance. They all turned and saw that it was everyone, except for Ethan, running as quickly as they could towards them.

"Oh, Mizore, thank goodness you're okay." The feline teacher said.

"Wha… what's going on?" Tsukune asked, now a little bit baffled.

"Mr. Kotsubo lied. He forced himself onto Mizore and she froze him in self-defense. Mizore was the victim. Gin got the pictures to prove it."

"Then Ethan was right." Tsukune said. A thought then occurred to him. "Where's Kotsubo now?"

As if to answer the question, the ground began to shake, as if there was an earthquake. Tsukune looked around wide-eyed and afraid, wondering what was going on. Soon after, a pillar shot up from the ocean. When the crimson water fell back into the sea, it revealed Mr Kotsubo, short, blond hair, thin eyes, wearing a tracksuit jacket. His lower half looked like it belonged to a giant squid.

"You meddling brats." Kotsubo said.

"How DARE you do that to her. You're supposed to be a TEACHER! You're supposed to help students!" Moka yelled. Her hands were balled up into fists.

"What I do is none of your business. You should know better than to mess with affairs that don't concern you."

"Yeah, well, those 'affairs' of yours are over. We're going to kick your but!" Yukari said confidently.

"Will you now? Do you mean… like he did?" Kotsubo lifted another tentacle out of the water. Everyone was surprised to see Ethan trapped in one of the tentacles. He was bruised, beaten and unconscious. "Don't worry, he's still alive. However, if you wish for him to stay alive, I propose a trade. This nuisance for the girl."

They were all in complete shock. Never once had Ethan lost a fight to anyone. Yet, here and now, his life was on the line, held by the one responsible for his defeat. Tsukune tried to think of something, anything, to try and help him. His eyes then came upon Moka and her rosary. Without thinking, he dashed towards her. The gym teacher saw this.

"Nice try!" he said as he shot another tentacle towards Tsukune.

"Oh no you don't!" Ann said. With that, she screamed at the top of her lungs. As she did, it created a powerful shockwave that was both visible and destroyed part of the cliff, as well as obliterating the tentacle that was aimed for Tsukune. Kotsubo was in so much pain that he lost his grip on Ethan.

Kurumu saw Ethan falling and brought out her wings, dashing towards Ethan and caught him just as he was about to hit the water.

"Oh yeah, Banshee one, giant squid zero!" Ann yelled victoriously.

"Banshee!?" Tsukune asked in disbelief.

"Don't tell anyone." Ann replied.

Tsukune nodded in agreement. he looked back at the teacher, reailzing that their odds were a lot slimmer. Then, luckily, an idea came to him. He turned his attention to Moka, who was also looking at Tsukune at the same time. "Moka, we need her help!" Tsukune said.

Moka turned to Tsukune and nodded in agreement. With that, Tsukune yanked off the rosary. As he did, the sky became crimson once more, bats flew down from the sky and covered her form and Moka proceeded to transform into her true form. When the bats dispersed, she was fully transformed, she glared at Kotsubo, a faint smile appearing on her face as she planned to strike.

"You are a truly disgusting creature. A Kraken, correct? You fit the profile. For your actions and you injuring one of my comrades, you will know true pain."

With that, Kotsubo laughed his head off, apparently unfazed by the vampiress. "Do you truly believe that I would submit to the likes of you? You are truly a-"

"Know your place." She interrupted. With that, she launched towards Kotsubo, jumping up into the air and landing a perfect kick onto his face. He force was enough to shatter every part of his face and send him flying back a few hundred feet. He soon reverted back into his human form, now left unconscious as he was floating in the crimson ocean.

"Hmph, not worth my time." The inner Moka said.

She then widened her eyes when she heard a familiar voice laughing. She turned back and saw that it was Ethan. Despite his broken form, he was laughing as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Oh no, he's becoming delirious! What do we do!?" Kurumu asked.

Tsukune's face formed a smile, laughing slightly when he realized what was going on. "He's not delirious. He planned it like this."

"…what?" everyone except for the inner Moka asked.

With that, Ethan quickly got back onto his feet, as if he hadn't been injured at all. They all looked at him with complete disbelief.

"Are you KIDDING ME!?" Gin asked.

"I'm lost." Kurumu admitted.

Ethan smirked at her. "It's actually quite simple. You see, I lost to the giant squid on purpose. While we were fighting, I set a recorder app on my phone to record what he was saying. Luckily, he admitted the whole thing, and I got it all on tape." He said happily.

"That was dangerous!" Moka said.

"True, but I've taken worse beatings. Luckily he was in his human form at the time, only transformed when he went to look for Mizore." Ethan replied.

"Well, now we can focus on clearing up everything at the school. Come on, let's go." Miss Nekonome said.

Ethan sighed. "I didn't get to fight the Kraken."

The inner Moka went up to him and smiled. "Sorry to steal all the fun."

Ethan raised an eyebrow, remembering that he had said something similar after his fight with Gin.

"How the hell would she even know that?"

…

The next few days were quite busy. It turned out that Mizore hadn't been in school because Kotsubo had accused her of coming on to him a while ago. As such, she was considered a troublemaker by the rest of the staff (except both Miss Nekonome and the chairman, both of whom suspected something different form the beginning but couldn't prove it). After the truth came to light, they all gave her a sincere apology for their attitudes towards her, as well as the wrongful punishment implemented onto her.

Also, when Kotsubo was brought into questioning about his actions, he was immediately fired. This was a relief to many of the students, who were never fond of him in the first place.

After the busy days ended, things started to go back to normal. However, none of them saw Mizore around the school for a while, which worried them greatly.

…

Ethan sat in the club room, reading the most recent copy of the school paper. He smirked when he read the headline.

"Kraken brought to a smashing end by local heroes." He read out. He then looked over to the rest of the group. "Seriously? That's the name you came up with?"

"Hey, everyone loved it. Plus, we remembered to leave your being defeated in a fight out of the paper, so be thankful."

Ethan immediately looked offended. "You left it out? Now no one will be coming up and looking for a fight. Aw man." He said.

The girls looked at him with disbelief, while Tsukune just chuckled. "Good to see you didn't have your usual attitude beaten out of you."

"You got that right." Ethan said. He then turned to Gin, who was nursing a cup of coffee while reading his own copy of the paper. "I have to say, those were some pretty nice shots you took. I'm a little jealous."

"Oh, don't be. You're pretty good yourself. Besides, it was only by pure luck that I managed to find him." Gin said, trying to be humble.

Before Ethan could respond, a sudden cold chill entered the room. Tsukune and the rest of the group were shaking from the chill. Tsukune went up to the door, wondering what was going on. He opened it to find Mizore standing outside the door, with Miss Nekonome standing beside her. The later was overjoyed for some reason.

Mizore, on the other hand, was the same as usual. However, there was something different about her this time. Tsukune couldn't figure out what it was.

"Did you get your hair done, Mizore?" Ethan asked. He wasn't even looking at her and he was able to notice, much to Tsukune's embarrassment. The girls all looked towards Mizore's direction. They were all amazed by Mizore's new look.

"Wow. You're hair looks amazing!" Moka said.

Mizore blushed slightly. "Really? You all like it?"

"It looks awesome! Here, let me get a picture." Gin said while pulling out his camera. Unfortunately for him, a number of pictures fell out of his pocket at the same time. Everyone saw the pictures, which in fact showed a number of girls in various states on undress.

Ethan eyed Gin which suspicion for a moment. Then, Ethan created a flame gauntlet, balling his hand into a fist. "Gin… do we need to have another… discussion?" he asked.

Gin immediately zoomed out of the room screaming "DON'T HURT MEEEEE!"

"Get back her you perverted coward!" Ethan yelled as he chased after the club leader.

When the two left the room, Tsukune turned back to Mizore. "So, what's up with the new look?"

"Well, after what had happened, I decided that it would be best to… I don't know, re-make myself. I thought I'd start off with a new look."

"And it's amazing! It suits you down to the ground." Miss Nekonome said.

Mizore soon started to fidget with her hands. "I… I also wondered if I could join the newspaper club."

At this, all the girls looked at her with pure shock and disbelief. Tsukune, however, didn't notice. He simply smiled. "That sounds great. You okay with that Miss Nekonome?"

"Of course. That's why I'm here, to let you know that she will be joining you all today." She answered.

"I hope I can get along with everyone." The snow woman said.

"No problem there. We're all happy to have you here." Tsukune said. He then turned towards the girls. "Right everyone?"

The girls all put on smiley faces, however, it proved difficult as they all were holding in their discomfort towards the situation.

"Yeah… great." Kurumu said.

"Lovely." Moka managed to say.

"Looking forward to it." Yukari said while holding back a twitch of the eye.

Tsukune smiled even more when he heard that the girls were in board (sort of). However, he soon realised something.

"Hey, Ethan isn't back yet. Where could he be?"

…..

"Wow… he wasn't joking when he said he was fast." Ethan said to himself.

After Ethan gave chase to Gin, he had to literally go all over the place just to try and keep up. In the end, he was forced to give up and was now resting underneath a dead tree. As he got his breath back, he thought back to Mizore.

His hands balled up into fists and cursed himself. "I thought that girl looked familiar." He said regretfully.

That new dream he had the other day was something he was still shaking over. Seeing his friends so… lifeless. It was too much to handle. He also remembered the two unfamiliar people from the dream. After his meeting with Mizore, he was in a small state of shock.

The figure that was closest to the fire was, in fact, Mizore Shirayuki.

The fact that she was in the dream before Ethan even met her… it didn't make any sense. At least, not at first.

"That dream… was it the future?" he asked himself, afraid of what the answer might be.

[Aaaaand that's that for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. If anyone has anything to say, feel free to leave a review, it's always good to express your opinion.

However, I hope your opinion on what I'm about to say won't be too harsh when I say that I'm going to be putting this story on hiatus for a bit. My reason being that I have been neglecting my other story, Fairy Tail: Dark Void for too long, and if I don't get back to it soon, I don't know when I will. I hope everyone is okay with that

Well, that's all from me for now. See you all later]

[Also, in case anyone asks, I added Garfield to the mix just to try it out. Hope no one minds]