2. "My Senpai Is the Culprit!"
Rikuo and Tsurara ran as fast as they could to school.
"Say, Tsurara, where's Aotabou?", Rikuo asked the ice maiden.
"He went ahead of us, in case we need his help.", she answered.
' 'Help'? For what?', he asked himself mentally.
When they reached the school gates, they saw that the student council who were in charge of the gate, were about to close them. They speed up a little to reach the school before they wouldn't be able to enter, when they saw a huge boy walking up to the students who closed the gate. He started to talk to them and somehow was able to distrat them enough for Rikuo and Tsurara to slip through without being noticed.
They ran past him and Rikuo gave him a grateful look.
'That's what Tsurara meant by 'help'.', he thought, feeling a bit guilty.
He reached his classroom only seconds before his teacher. Silently he walked up to his seat and laid his head on his table. He sighed before he sat straight up and started to listen to his teacher.
After morning classes ended, his friends came up to him.
"Are you alright Nura-kun? It's unusual for you to be almost late for classes.", Maki said while eyeing the chocolate haired boy who again was resting his head on his table.
"Yeah, I'm alright. I just overslept.", he answered.
His friends knew that he wouldn't just oversleep. There had to be something behind it but since he didn't tell them by himself, htey didn't ask. Well, except one.
"For you to oversleep, is something that never occurs without a reason, Nura-kun. Could you have been looking for yokai last night?", Kiyotsugu, the yokai maniac, asked his friend.
"No, I just couldn't fall asleep last night and I don't know why so I can't tell you guys.", he told them.
With this answer they didn't ask anymore.
"Well then, let's start our meeting. I've recieved a lot of information on yokai..." and like that Kiyotsugu started to talk about their new project.
Rikuo, like most of them, didn't listen to him, instead he thought about last night and the human he encountered with Itaku.
'Shit! Itaku! I completely forgot about him!', he thought shocked, almost standing up in the process.
'Well, I'll explain to him later why I suddenly vanished.'
He looked out of the window.
Outside, he saw several students eating their bentos while talking with others. His eyes fell on a girl who sat on a bench under a tree on her own. He observed her and noticed that every girl who passed her looked at her before hurrying away with a weird expression on their faces. He looked closer and saw into the face he saw last night when he went out to handle some stray yokai.
He looked shoked out of the window, not letting his eyes off of the girl.
"Rikuo-kun, are you alright?", Kana asked him. Seemed like she noticed his distressed mood.
"A~h, Kana-chan, yes, I'm alright.", he said before his eyes moved back to the girl on the bench.
Kana followed his gaze and saw what Rikuo was looking at.
"Nee, Rikuo, do you want something from Moji-senpai*?", she asked him.
"Moji-senpai?"
"Yes, that's the girl you're looking at. The one sitting on the bench.", Kana told him.
"No, I just thought that I've met her before. I think I mistook her for someone else.", he replied to her earlier question.
"I see."
"I heard that she's kind of popular with the senpais. If you want something from her, then you'll have a hard time.", Maki said from behind him.
She had heard the conversation of her two friends and wanted to participate in it, too.
"I don't want anything from her, I just mistook her for someone else.", he repeated himself.
Maki looked like she didn't believe him and gave a knowing grin.
"I didn't knew that you were the shy type, Rikuo-kun.", she said before turning back to Torii and their earlier conversation.
"Like I said, I...", but he couldn't continue since Kiyotsugu cut him short with his newest news he got on his website.
Enthusiastically he placed his laptop in front of his friends and told them about it.
"You see, I've received a lot of messages that tell that they saw a girl fight with some weird beings that could have been yokai. They even described the person very detailed and one of them even tried to draw her. That person uploaded his picture to my website. Here, see. He called her the 'Bloodstained Girl'.", he told them while showing the quite good picture.
"Doesn't she look familiar?", he asked them.
They all looked on the screen and their eyes widened.
"She looks just like Moji-senpai.", Kana said.
"But why did he call her 'Bloodstained Girl'? It's kinda creepy.", Maki asked him.
"That's a good question, Maki-kun. And the answer to this question will be our next project.", Kiyotsugu exclaimed.
Everyone was surprised. Normally he would go after some random information about any yokai but instead he wanted to discover something human related? Is the world doomed?
"It seems that this 'Bloodstained Girl' somehow attracts yokai or else I wouldn't have received over 50 messages about one yokai fighting girl. That's why if we find the real 'Bloodstained Girl' we might be able to meet a yokai.", he said.
Ah, that was the reason. The world still has some time before its final day.
That was just like Kiyotsugu, whatever he did, firstly he thought about yokai.
"Well, since we have a picture of how she looks, we can start to find girl who look like her and aske them about joining our club. That way we'll be able to meet several yokai.", he said.
"Don't you think that it's going a little to far to ask that girl to join us? I mean, she might have a reason to fight those beings, yokai or not.", Maki told her 'leader'.
"Well, it doesn't matter. She can still go on with her buisness with them while we finally met them for real.", he replied.
"You really are an egoist.", Maki said in a low voice so that he couldn't hear her.
"Well, in our school there is a girl who looks like the girl in the picture. Moji Seika, she's a third year student. Who wants to ask her about the 'Bloodstained Girl'?", he asked, willing to ask her herself if nobody wanted to.
"I'll ask her.", Rikuo exclaimed while raising his hand.
"Nura-kun, I see that you are eager as ever. We'll leave her to you then. She's in class A.", he said before he turned back to the others.
Rikuo left the classroom to go and speak to his senpai. There were things that he wanted to confirm and if she really was the girl from last night, he'll tell her what his grandfather had told him.
He stood in front of the classroom of the 3-A. He waited, unsure if he should just enter and ask for his senpai. That was when some girls from the class went past him.
"Ano, I need to talk to Moji-senpai, is she here?", he asked them.
The two girls turned towards him before facing each other again.
"I'm sorry kohai**, but she always eats her bento outside. Either she's on the roof or in the yard.", one of them told him.
"Thank you very much.", he said while bowing.
He went off. Since he saw her in the yard, he went outside adn searched fro her. Soon he reached the bench he had seen her sitting on. Luckily, she was still sitting there, looking up at the sky.
"Moji-senpai?", he adressed her in order to get her attention.
Her head turned towards him. Now he could see that she indeed looked like the girl last night. It was dark but he had seen her purple eyes, a very weird eye colour for a human. Her black heir reached her shoulders just like in the picture and in his memory.
"Yes, what do you want from me?", she asked with a soft voice.
"Well, you see, my friends and I are in a club that investigated paranormal activities, especialy those involving yokais, and we found some information about a girl that is called the 'Bloodstained Girl'. One of the people who saw her, tried to draw her and the result looks a lot like you. That's why we are curious. Could it be that you...", he was cut short when she suddenly stood up.
"I'm sorry but I think you have the wrong person. Besides what is that 'Bloodstained Girl'? It's the first time I heard of it.", she said, a little offended by his imputation that she was someone who's called by that terrifying name.
"I...I'm sorry. It's just,... well...", he stuttered.
"Don't worry. I'm not mad at you. You're just curious, aren't you? That's why you ask something like that.", she said with a gentle smile attached to her face.
"I need to go now, classes are going to start soon.", she said before walking off, leaving him alone.
When Rikuo returned to his class, he was greeted by Kiyotsugu who wanted to hear every detail he had attained from their senpai.
"She said that it was the first time she heard of the 'Bloodstained Girl'.", he answered him.
"I see. That means that Moji-senpai wasn't her.", he said with his right hand on his chin.
"Well, at least we have one person less to ask. Let's do our best to find her everyone.", he exclaimed towards his 'fellow yokai hunters'.
"Yeah!", Shima replied.
The others just lifted their arms to show Kiyotsugu that they had listened this time.
After school finished, Rikuo went home together with Tsurara and Kurata. They were almost at home when the eldest of the Sanban Garasu flew towards them.
"Rikuo-sama.", Kuroumaru exclaimed.
"Kuroumaru, what's wrong?", Rikuo asked him.
"Rikuo-sama, we saw some weird yokai following a human girl. We don't know their intentions yet. I told Tosakamaru and Sasami to keep watch while I report.", he said serious as ever.
"Where have you seen them?", Rikuo asked.
"It was on the 5th street near the mall.", he answered.
Rikuo turned towards Tsurara and Aotabou. His face wore a serious look.
"Tsurara, Aotabou, I'm going to the 5th street and handle those yokai.", he said firmly before handing over his bag to Tsurara and heading off.
"Aaah! Rikuo-sama!", Tsurara exclaimed before handing his and her bag over to Aotabou.
"Ao, I'll follow Rikuo-sama.", she said before dashing off, too.
Aotabou who was left behind with their bags, sighed before scratching the back of his head. He returned to the main house where he met a ve~ry grumpy weasel yokai waiting for his 'student'.
"Yo, Itaku. Rikuo-sama won't be returning for a while. He took off to handle some yokai on the 5th street. Best thing to do is to wait for him to..."
A dust of wind pass him before he could finish his sentence.
"...return. Hmpf. You could have at least waited until I finished.", he mumbeled to himself before entering.
Itaku had taken off to 5th street to give Rikuo a good lecture about leaving training without permission. He reached his destination after a few minutes of running. He stopped on top of a building that the humans call 'mall'. He looked around to find some hints of youki that might lead him to either Rikuo or the yokai Rikuo was looking for. Soon, he found what he was looking for. Faint traces of youki hung in the air and he followed these traces out of the crowded place into a more empty one. Looking around he tried to find those yokai he felt, but all he saw was a teenage girl who was probably on her way home.
Suddenly, he felt the air change. It got colder and the intent to kill was all over the place.
'They're here.', he thought while turning his head to his right and to his left, searching for the source of this killing intent.
When his eyes fell on the human again his eyes widened. He could see how three yokai were approaching her without her notice. If he didn't interfere that human would be dead meat that's what he thought.
He started into a sprint and was just in time to block the attack one of those figures, clad in dark robes, unleashed.
"Who are you?", the one whose attack was blocked, asked him.
"That's my line.", Itaku replied coldly.
"You're in our way, get lost.", the other two said at the same time before bringing down their fists.
Itaku jumped away so that they hit the ground which gave in to their strength.
The girl, Itaku had protected, turned around due to the noise and stared wide eyed at the scene she saw.
"What... happened here?", she asked in a faint voice.
Itaku who was near enough to hear her, turned around and looked into the same face he saw last night. Surprised that he would see this face this soon again.
"You are..." As he spoke, he lowered his defense even though he always told Rikuo to not do such a foolish thing.
The three yokai used this chance to strike at him. Not able to dodge or block their attack in time, Itaku was thrown back towards some trees. He crashed with his back to the trunk of one of those. This trunk broke and he flew further backwards onto the next tree where he hit the ground after hitting the trunk as well. He spit out some blood that had assembeled inside of his mouth.
"Not bad.", he commented while standing up.
The girl who had watched the whole scene stood still, not even moving an inch. Her black bangs covering her eyes from everyones sight. She stood there like she was waiting for something.
'Something's off. Normally a human would start to scream when they see such a thing.', Itaku thought while approaching the three figures who seemed to be focused on their original prey.
"Hey big brother, do you see that? She's so scared that she can't even scream.", one said to starting to laugh.
"Don't underestimate her, lil' brother. She's not the most precious toy of our master without reason.", the one replied.
"What can a human actually do to a yokai? I don't understand what our master sees in her.", the third said.
'Master? Toy? What the heck are they talking about?' Itaku who had heard their conversation didn't understand what they were talking about.
"Well, our job is to make sure that she'll get more interesting for our master. Get ready, brothers.", one, probably the oldest, said.
They changed into fighting stances. Itaku did the same, waiting for their next attack. He was kind of enjoying it since he had to do something about his anger he got from waiting for a not returning Sandaime.
They lunged forward, but strangely, the one they attacked wasn't him but the girl standing a few meters to his left.
'Shit!', he thought, preparing himself for another sprint.
But what he saw next was something that disturbed him. The girl, the human girl, easily dodged the attacks of all three with a jump in the air a normal human wouldn't have accomplished. She landed on the fist of the one standing in the middle and used it as a way to climb his huge body. As soon as she reached his shoulder, she jumped again and hit the head with her feet. Hard. The yokai fell to the ground and whinced in pain.
The other two stared at her in disbelieve. Itaku did the same. How can a normal human do such damage to a yokai?
"So, who's next?" They heard a cold voice asking for her next prey.
"What did you do to our brother?", the one on her right asked.
"Nothing much. I just hit his head at his temple.", she stated like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"You're going to pay for this.", the two groaled before attaking her again.
She waited for them in a lazy stance and did the same with them like before. She hit one at the neck so that he lost his concious and the other was thrown over by her.
Itaku stared at the fight with wide eyes. He couldn't understand how a human girl could handle full fledged yokai.
Soon the fight was over and the girl turned towars Itaku. She looked coldly at him before approaching him.
He took a defensive stance. She just walked past him and bend down to get her bag of which she had led go. She turned back to him.
"You're alright?", she asked him with disinterest clearly evident in her voice.
"If my wellbeing doesn't interest you, don't ask.", he replied.
She somehow looked surprised by his reaction before a smirk made its way on her face.
"You're a honest yokai, aren't you.", she said.
They stared at each other for a while until two other yokai joined them.
"Hey, Itaku, what happened here?", Rikuo in his night form asked.
"Nothing much. Those three tried to do something to her but...", Itaku started.
"Oh, I see, so you defeated them.", Rikuo finished his sentence in an easy going tone.
"No."
"What?"
"I didn't defeated them. She did it on her own, I was just a bystander.", Itaku corrected.
Unable to believe what he just said, Rikuo and Tsurara turned towards the girl who was still standing at the same spot before they arrived.
Rikuo's eyes widened when he not only saw the uniform of his school but also the face of his senpai.
"Moji. What are you doing here?", he asked her surprised.
"You know me?", she asked him slightly surprised.
"You somehow seem different than before.", Rikuo said.
"What do you mean, Rikuo-sama?", Tsurara who finally had a chance to say something, asked him.
"This is Moji Seika. She goes to our school, Tsurara. But she seems different than during break.", he told her before turning back to her.
"What is going on here?", he asked seriously.
"So we go to the same school, huh? No wonder that you know who I am, or rather who she is.", Seika replied.
" 'She'?", this time Itaku asked.
"Yeah, 'she'."
"What do you mean by that?", again Rikuo.
"Don't know either. All I know is that I am her and a whole different person."
This was the last thing she said before leaving them alone.
"Where are you going?", Rikuo asked her.
"Home."
And with that she turned into a corner and disappeared from their sight. The three yokai looked into the direction she disappeared into.
"So it was her after all.", Rikuo stated.
"Who was who?", Tsurara asked since she wasn't present earlier this day.
"Have you heard about the 'Bloodstained Girl'?", he asked her.
"Yes, some humans in class spoke about someone called by that name.", she answered.
"It seems that this 'Bloodstained Girl' is Moji after all. But why didn't she say so earlier?", he asked no one in particular.
"Maybe because of the same reason as you don't tell anyone that you're quarter yokai.", Itaku said.
Rikuo looked at him.
"Maybe."
Silence fell upon them before...
"Well then, Rikuo. I haven't talked to you about 'that'.", Itaku said in a dangerous voice.
" 'That'?"
"HOW DARE YOU JUST DISAPPEAR IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAINING WITHOUT SAYING A WORD!", Itaku shouted.
Rikuo sweatdropped. He tried to calm the furious yokai down.
"Now, now, I'll explain to you..."
"DON'T COME LIKE THAT NOW, RIKUO. I'm going to make you walk through hell during training in order to catch up with the things you missed while you were in school.", he said in a low voice.
They returned to the main house where the two male yokai continued with their training in the dojo underneath. One could hear the rough treatment Itaku gave Rikuo. The inhabitants sweatdropped with every shake the mansion made, pitying their Sandaime.
In another room, Nurarihyon was drinking his tea which was served by his daughter-in-law.
"My, it seems that they're going all out.", Wakana said.
"Seems like it.", Nurarihyon agreed before putting his cup back on his lips.
* senpai is a term used by younger students to adress the older students
** kohai is a term used by older students refering to their juniors