The air was still after that first chilling howl. Both staff and students were unsure what that sound was. Everyone in Ageha's class just looked at one another, buzzing with curiosity.
"Settle down, students," the teacher said trying to quiet them. "It's probably nothing to be concerned with."
Just then, there was another howl as something charged through the hallway.
"AWAAAAAA!"
The earsplitting sound reverberated off the walls as glass could be heard shattering. Moments later the intercom beeped.
[Children, we would like to inform you that there is a wild animal loose in the school. Please remain in your classrooms until the problem has been taken care of. Thank you for your cooperation.]
Several students leapt out of there seats and scrambled for the door. Before the teacher could do anything, the door was flung open. The students at the front gasped at the sight. The hallway looked as though a bomb had gone off. Broken glass was everywhere and the wall was torn up. The most unusual thing was the long arching gash along the wall.
"Alright, students! You heard the announcement. Back to your seats until further notice" the teacher said slapping a ruler on the desk. "We'll do some quiet study until then."
The students groaned and shuffled back to their desks but didn't return to their studies. They talked in hushed tones amongst themselves.
"What do you think it is?"
"That sounded like a person, not an animal."
"It's probably just a prank someone's pulling."
"Seems like a lot of effort just for that."
Satou sat in his seat actually studying. He flipped through his textbook and jotted down notes. Next to him Tobi was on his phone feverishly texting with someone. His eyes widened when he saw the image sent to him.
"You can't seriously be studying now?" Tobi said looking over to his friend. "All this commotion and you want to bury your face in a book?"
"Yes," Satou answered flatly. "Just because there's a distraction, doesn't mean I can't further my academic career."
Tobi sighed and shook his head. "You're impossible. You have this prime opportunity put in front of you and you don't take it?"
Satou stopped what he was doing and turned to the bespectacled youth. "Opportunity? What opportunity am I missing out on?" he said with a confused look.
"Ah, hello? The very hot girl you're supposedly dating has some extra free time and you want to waste it with dumb lessons you already know?" Tobi said hooking a thumb over his shoulder.
It was a good opportunity. This was essentially an extra free period they had right now. What reason could he have to not go talk to her? Satou looked in her direction and saw Ageha talking with Tsubame next to her.
"Eh, it looks like she's busy. I wouldn't want to interrupt her."
"Just leave that to me," Tobi said grabbing Satou and pulling him to the Spanish girl.
Tobi pushed Satou next to Ageha and quickly slid next to Tsubame, pulling out his phone. The silver-haired girl turned her attention to Tobi while Satou awkwardly tried to make small talk.
"Ah, er…crazy stuff happening right now," he croaked out. Satou could feel his tongue going dry and his palms felt sweaty.
"Si, it's very crazy," Ageha said turning to him.
Next to her, Tsubame was looking closely at Tobi's phone.
"So, what do you think it is?" Satou asked her.
"Hmm, I haven't a clue," Ageha said half shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe a wolf found its way into the school?"
"More like a weasel," Tsubame said under her breath.
"And you're sure it was her?" Meimei said to the floating animal heads.
Sinawava bobbed in the air, nodding. "Positive. We saw her wrapped up in this black cloud before transforming."
"It pains me to say this, but the dog is right," Lenapizha agreed with the coyote. "That Hashimoto girl is the one rampaging through the school right now."
"Did I hear correctly? The animal is actually Tomoko?" a girl suddenly said.
Meimei, Yoshimitsu, and Matsuri turn to find Fleur standing before them. She had her arms folded and looked down on them with disdain.
"Yes, Midoriya, it would seem she's been changed much like the girl from last week," Meimei said coolly.
"How did this happen? And in our school no less?" she said not trying to hide her displeasure talking to them. "You three knew about this but didn't do anything?" Fleur addressed the familiars.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Meimei said standing up. "What were they supposed to do? Stop this from happening?"
"Well, you have that cat there who can detect these things, but didn't even know she was in danger," Fleur spat. "Seems like its washed up."
Lenapizha sunk down, whimpering. Matsuri reached up and comforted the blue lynx.
"Alright, Fleur, that's enough," Rashida said pressing a hand on the French girl's shoulder. "There's no need for that."
"But, Rashida! This could've been-."
Rashida glared at her and she stopped talking. "Now, we can't change what's happened, but we can fix things," she said to all of them.
"What? Like fighting that monster?" Yoshimitsu chimed in. "Go all BAM! BAM! POW!" she punched the air in front of her.
"Ooh, yeah. Let's do that" Fleur said grinning. "I bet we can score extra points for taking down that monster."
The five girls fell silent as they thought things over.
"I think we should team up," Rashida said bluntly. "Who knows when a professional squad will even arrive."
Fleur nearly fell over hearing her squad leader say that. "Are you insane, Rashida?" she hissed. "We could push our squad to the top with this, and you want to share the glory?"
"Showing a willingness to cooperate with a rival team is better than trying to tackle this problem ourselves," Rashida said in a stern voice, looking Fleur in the eyes. "Besides, Washiko is still out until tomorrow and the other two are in the other class. Teaming up with them would be our best option."
Meimei, Matsuri, and Yoshimitsu remained silent for a moment and then nodded in agreement.
"Sunakawa-san is right," Meimei said. "It would be foolish for either of our squads to go after that monster. It would draw too much attention for students from two classes to suddenly disappear."
"I agree," Matsuri added.
"Lemme just stomp that big bad monster!" Yoshimitsu said waving her arms around.
"Tch, seriously? You're all okay with this?" Fleur said exasperated. She crossed her arms and wrinkled her nose.
VRRRRT
Meimei's phone buzzed and she checked it. Her eyes narrowed at the text she received.
"What is it?" Rashida said leaning in closer.
"Tsubame just sent me this," she held out her phone and showed the four girls. It was a photo of the monster that was running through the school.
Rashida just frowned, her stern face not revealing much more. Fleur grimaced as if she was disgusted by what she saw. Matsuri passively looked at the image, thinking things over. Yoshimitsu's face was excited, she liked the idea of fighting more monsters.
"So, that's what we're up against?" Fleur finally said breaking the silence. "What even is that?"
"Was that like the one you guys faced last week?" Rashida asked them.
"No, we fought a huge spider monster," Meimei said texting back. "And it was much bigger. This one seems to be human size."
"Yeah! This one looks super cool, too!" Yoshimitsu shouted drawing looks from the other students. "I mean…it sure is scary."
"So, what do you say, Fleur? Shall we team up with our 'arch nemeses'?" Rashida said turning to the French girl.
Fleur clicked her tongue and looked away. "D'accord. We can work together to stop this monster."
"Great," the Egyptian girl said smiling a little. "Now, all we need is a brief distraction."
Matsuri raised her hand and said, "You can leave that to me." She looked up at the floating animal heads and smiled.
As Satou and Ageha chatted with each other, the Spanish girl received a text. It was from Meimei.
[Teaming up with Rashida's squad to stop the monster. Stay there. Brace yourself.]
Ageha turned and looked at Tsubame who gave her a nod. The silver-haired girl stood up and moved across the room.
"So, what was your favorite arc from 'Legend of the Secret Sword'?" Satou asked her.
"What?" Ageha said turning back to Satou.
"What was your favorite arc from 'Legend of the Secret Sword'?" he repeated. "Mine's the second one when the other youkai hunter shows up."
"Oh, um…I'd have to go with four."
"The tournament arc?" he said in an exasperated tone.
"I liked all the fights," she said glancing at the door. "It was fun to see all the new characters."
"I thought it went on for a bit too long."
On the other side of the room Tsubame talked with two girls. One had fair skin with blue hair and purple eyes was Cassandra of Greek descent. The other had skin that was almost black with green dreadlocks and blue eyes was Nafula of African descent.
"So, that's how it is," Tsubame said to them. "We stay here while the members from both our squads handle this…thing."
"Any idea how the Hashimoto girl was turned?" Cassandra asked.
Tsubame shook her head. "Those people are looking into it. Currently, they haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. Right now, we're waiting on our squads to create a distraction so they can slip out."
"Did they say what the signal will be for the distraction?" Nafula asked.
"She just said you'll know it when it happens," Tsubame said looking at her phone. "And that it's going to be soon."
"Hmmm," Nafula gripped her shinobi scroll, feeling tense.
A minute later there was a shriek from outside the school. Everyone turned to the windows confused by the noise. Without warning, the glass in 2-B shattered and smoke momentarily flooded the room. Amidst the confusion, five girls quickly slip out undetected. In class 2-A, Tsubame made a few hand signs and used her wind jutsu to protect the windows in her classroom.
"Good luck, you guys," she muttered once the chaos had died down.
Five girls transformed and dashed through the school. They followed the path of destruction through the hallways.
Rashida wore something resembling a pharaoh. Bandages were wrapped up her arms and legs and she had ornate gold arm bands that were shaped like cobras. Red markings covered her body and she carried a blue and gold scepter. Fleur had donned a musketeer's outfit, complete with a blue wide-brimmed hat and billowing half cape. She had a rapier strapped to her waist.
"Smart thinking with the familiars, Havasupai-san," Rashida said to Matsuri. "Normal people won't realize what happened and blame it on the creature."
"They are quite handy, I'll admit that," Fleur grunted.
Earlier, Matsuri had commanded her familiars to cause a small distraction. Matonibaw and Lenapizha let out a scream together that shattered the glass. After that, Sinawava blew smoke into the room. It had been done to cause confusion with little damage.
"Let's pat ourselves on the back later!" Meimei said. "We have a monster to stop!"
"Yeah, but where is it? It's not gonna come out and tell us!" Yoshimitsu said.
"Not like we need it to!" Rashida said. "Just follow the rubble. It should lead us to it!"
"Plus, we have Lena if we ever lose it," Matsuri added.
All throughout the school large gashes were torn into the walls. Windows were broken and doors were smashed. There was a stiff breeze throughout the hallways, an unnatural and wicked wind.
"Geez! This thing is worse than my little cousins!" Yoshimitsu said.
The five girls continued through the school. They heard someone crying for help and rushed towards them. As they rounded a corner, they saw the monster. It was a twisted version of a human, with limbs that were too long and white fur covering portions of its body. Its hands ended in sharp nails and a long tail flicked back and forth. However, the surprising thing were the long, curved blades that extended from its wrists, like two sickles.
"That's Tomoko?" Fleur said flinching.
The creature turned its head and growled at them. Sharp teeth lined its mouth. It held a boy up by the throat.
"Help…me…" he choked.
The creature snapped its head back and let out a hiss.
"Right now, that thing isn't Tomoko," Rashida said. "We need to stop it to save her. First, we have to save that boy." She swung her scepter vertically and sent a wave of sand at the monster.
The sand pelted the creature and it dropped the boy. He sat on the floor, too stunned to move. The monster turned towards them and let out a sharp howl. The hallway shook and wind whipped around. Without warning, the creature shot forward, one arm held in front.
Fleur reacted quickly and parried the attack. Her rapier stopped the blade but she was having a difficult time keeping it back. "A little help? This thing is strong!"
"On it!" Yoshimitsu yelled as she sprinted forward. She leapt in the air, spun around and delivered a kick to its head. The creature barely flinched and swiped at her with its free hand. "WAH! Careful! You're gonna hurt someone!" Yoshimitsu said cartwheeling out of the way.
Meimei snapped her fingers and produced a small bun-bomb. She ran to the side and peppered the monster with several explosions. It shrieked and turned its attention to her.
"Zut alors! Careful where you throw those!" Fleur shouted readying her weapon. "You almost singed my hair!"
"What a shame that would be," Meimei said.
In a whirl, the creature sung its arm-blades several times in Meimei's direction. Pressurized air shot off them and cut through the hallway. Meimei jumped out of the way as the blades of wind crashed into the wall. She produced another bomb and tossed it at the monster. It sliced the bomb but was still hit by the explosion. Enraged, it charged her.
Matsuri threw her tomahawk which was glowing red. It struck the monster's side in a blaze then boomeranged back to her. Sinawava shot out of the tomahawk and returned next to the other spirits. The monstrous girl stopped and turned around. She hissed angrily and raised an arm. The blade started to glow and she swung it towards the kunoichi. A large blade of wind shot through the air at high speeds. Rashida reacted quickly and slammed her scepter into the floor. A wall of sand materialized and solidified in front of them. The wind blade collided with the sand wall and nearly cut through it before dissipating. Rashida lowered the wall and everyone readied themselves.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Fleur said gripping her rapier. "We may need that again."
"We have to stop that creature," Rashida said sternly. "Hiding won't be of any help to us."
"Tch," the French girl scoffed and tightened her grip.
The monster howled at the girls and started charging both its arm blades. Right before it could attack, there was an explosion at its back. It turned to see Meimei lobbing bombs at it in rapid succession. They were small and not much stronger than a firecracker, but they got its attention. With the beast distracted, Rashida swung her scepter several times, sending wave after wave of sand at it. Explosions on one side and buffeting sand on the other, the beast let out another howl.
"Maybe a little help?!" Meimei hollered. "It's difficult to keep this up!"
"Oh, right! sorry!" Yoshimitsu said. She ran alongside the surging sand and started backflipping toward the monster. She spun through the air and punched the beast in the face with an electrified pompom. Rashida stopped what she was doing as the blond girl pummeled the beast. Showers of electricity and stars rained off her pompoms with every blow. "YEAH! WOO! COME ON, BADDIE! LET'S SEE WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!" Yoshimitsu cried out as she continued hitting it.
The beast shrieked and spun its body around. It kicked up a whirlwind and sent Yoshimitsu flying back. The American quickly recovered in air and landed on her feet. She stanced up, ready to fight. The beast stopped and jumped out one of the windows. It ran down the side of the building and headed for the sports field.
"Phew, that thing can really move," Yoshimitsu said staring out the window.
"And so, can we," Rashida said leaping out the opening. "Let's go!" she shouted over her shoulder.
"Can't we take the stairs at least?" Fleur said climbing over the window sill.
"Let's take down this kamaitachi!" Yoshimitsu shouted.
The other girls followed and chased after the transformed girl.
"What on earth was that?" Satou said hearing the sounds of the fight.
Other students were also talking amongst themselves and walking around the room. They were getting agitated with the 'animal' loose in the school and that there were no further updates about it. However, about a quarter of the class remained calm as they waited for the threat to be dealt with.
"Probably animal control," Ageha said without missing a beat. "They're probably trying to subdue the animal without hurting it or causing any more damage."
"Why would it take them this long? Can't they just tranquilize it and be done?" Satou asked.
Ageha shrugged and looked up at him. "Who knows? I'm no animal expert. If it's a wolf or bear, it could be more difficult than that," she said.
Just then, a student stood and held his phone up. "Hey, guys! There's footage of what's happening right now! The animal's moved outside and is fighting five people! It's on the school bulletin!" he said.
Everyone looked at their phones and pulled up the school's web page. Sure enough, there was a live feed of the fight.
"That's at the sports field! Why did they go all the way out there?"
"What is that thing? It looks like a person."
"Are they the ones trying to stop it? What are they wearing? They look like cosplayers!"
"Is that woman holding a sword?!"
The class was abuzz with the students gossiping about the current situation. Some thought it may be a performance art project that was going too far, others believed it to be some crazy government team. Needless to say, the class, as well as the rest of the school, was enraptured by the events unfolding.
Tsubame turned in her seat to glare at Tobi, who busied himself with his camera and tried to ignore her. The silver-haired girl stared at Tobi for a few more seconds before turning to Cassandra and Nafula, giving them knowing nods.
Satou was engrossed with the fight. "This is insane. What kind of creature is that? And who are those women trying to apprehend it? They're dressed in such outrageous clothes. Wait! Did that one just shoot fire from her hands?!"
"Yeah, it sure is crazy what people are doing these days…" Ageha said nervously. She peered at Satou's phone with a worried expression. 'Come you guys. I know you can do it,' she thought biting her lip.
Five kunoichi with torn clothes stood around the hissing kamaitachi. The creature whipped its arms around in wide arcs, sending mini-tornadoes at them. The girls jumped out the way and launched their own attacks at it. The kamaitachi was either too fast for them to hit or simply sturdier than they anticipated. Nothing seemed to faze it.
"This is getting us nowhere!" Fleur yelled as she flicked her wrist, rapier deflecting a wind blade. "Everything we throw at it doesn't do anything!"
"Yeah! My sand isn't having much effect anymore!" Rashida said. With the strong winds given off by the kamaitachi, her sand was simply being blown away. "How did you guys beat that spider from before?" she asked the girls from the other squad.
"I dunno!" Yoshimitsu said cartwheeling. "We just sorta beat it up until it was dead! Or, well…you know what I mean!"
Rashida turned to Matsuri who just nodded in agreement. Meimei threw another bomb at the beast, hitting it in the back. The kamaitachi spun around to face her and howled. It swung its arms, sending wind blades at her. Rashida saw the monster's behavior and a thought struck her.
"Hey! Halaway-san!" she shouted to Yoshimitsu. "Think you can hit that thing in the back?"
Yoshimitsu looked at the kamaitachi and cracked her neck. "No problem!" she said.
The blond girl charged at the monster as it was preoccupied with Meimei. She charged a pompom with electricity. Yoshimitsu punched the beast square in the back, sending a surge of electricity through its body. It stumbled forward a bit then quickly rounded on her, swiping an its arm. Yoshimitsu backflipped out of the way, delivering an electrified kick.
"Okay, I punched it! Now, what?" she said landing next to Rashida.
The Egyptian girl smiled as she watched the beast. "I know how we can beat it," she said. "Everyone! The beast is vulnerable from behind! Follow my lead and we can stop it"
"Seriously? We can do that?" Fleur said.
"Hey, if it means putting this thing down, I'll do it!" Meimei said lobbing another bomb.
"You have our support, Sunakawa-san," Matsuri said indicating her familiars.
Rashida looked at all of them and nodded. "Alright, here we go!" she shouted. Rashida stabbed her scepter into the ground and the dirt the kamaitachi was standing on turned into quicksand. It sank down to its waist and struggled against the soupy terrain. "Now, Havasupai-san! Solidify the ground before it can escape!" she said to Matsuri.
"Got it!" she said and Matonibaw merged with her tomahawk. She slammed it into the ground and green energy rippled out from it.
As the kamaitachi slapped the sand in an attempt to escape, it turned back into regular dirt. It pressed its hands into the sand trying to free itself, but it only sank down further. The sand became dirt once more and the beast was trapped.
"Can you keep it there? Make sure the ground doesn't break!"
"I'll see what I can do!"
Rashida stood and surveyed the creature. It thrashed about but otherwise couldn't move. She nodded and turned to Meimei. "Ishikawa-san! Halaway-san! Weaken it a bit more!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Meimei said rubbing her hands together.
"ALRIGHT! LET'S BEAT UP THE BADDIE!" Yoshimitsu shouted jumping up and down.
Meimei charged the beast first. She leapt high over it and dropped several bombs on its head. The creature wailed in pain. Yoshimitsu followed up by simply running up to it and punching it in the face numerous times. Sparks and stars flew everywhere with each of her punches. The American girl cheered as she finished her combo with an uppercut.
"WOO-HOO!"
Satisfied with their work, Rashida then turned to Fleur. "Ready to wrap things up?" she said.
Fleur looked at her and smiled. The French girl rounded the monster and stood poised behind it. She held her rapier in front of her. "Ninja Art! Danse de l'Épée! Premier pas-Athos!" she shouted. The blade of her rapier glowed blue and she lunged forward at incredible speeds. Fleur made a series of quick strikes to the kamaitachi's unprotected back before finishing with a powerful thrust right through it. The blade pierced the beast and it howled in agony.
"Fleur! Get back!" Rashida cried out, and the girl quickly retreated.
The kamaitachi flailed around as black smoke seeped out of its body. There was a flash and the girl returned to normal. She slumped onto the ground, moaning. The five girls rushed to her and helped her out of the dirt.
"She's okay. She doesn't seem to be seriously injured," Rashida said inspecting Tomoko. Save for a few scrapes and bruises, the girl was alright.
Tomoko stirred and opened her eyes. "Mmm…what happened…?" she murmured. Tomoko looked around to see five women she didn't recognize dressed in colorful outfits. "Who are you? Why does my head hurt? And why am I outside covered in dirt?"
"Don't worry. You're safe now," Meimei said trying to comfort her.
"Do you know what happened to you?" Rashida quickly asked. "What do you remember?"
"Eh…well…I remember feeling really sick…" Tomoko started. "And I went to the nurse's office. But it's mostly a blur." The five girls shoulders slumped hearing this. "Wait! I was in the bathroom. There was someone in there."
"Who was it?"
"What did they look like?"
"What did they say?"
Rashida, Meimei, and Fleur all quickly ask her at once.
"I don't know. They were wearing a mask," Tomoko said. "An oni mask. They didn't say anything."
The kunoichi exchange looks. Rashida was about to say something when they heard sirens blaring. They turned to see the authorities had arrived and were making their way to the field. Not wanting to deal with them. The five girls quickly leave the area in different directions.
Later that day the two squads stood in the director's office of the Maisen University shinobi building. The five girls who participated in stopping the monster stood closest to the large desk while the other four stood behind them. Shimatami sensei sat behind the desk pulling up pictures of the fight. The girls shifted nervously, waiting for their instructor to inevitably reprimand them.
"So, after carefully reviewing all the details, we won't be taking disciplinary action," the orange-haired woman said finally looking up.
The girls all breathe a sigh of relief from the news but quickly change their attitude.
"You won't be punishing us?" Rashida said raising an eyebrow. "I thought we'd at least have to clean the halls for disobeying orders like that."
"Yeah, that's very unlike you," Fleur said. "Why are you letting us off so easily?"
Shimatami adjusted her glasses and said, "Given the circumstances, it was for the best that you responded the way you did. You likely minimized damage to the school and any injury to the students and faculty. Especially the ones who aren't shinobi. I also want to commend the five who were able to put aside their differences and work together. You behaved like true shinobi today."
The two squads cheered at the praise they received from Shimatami. It was practically unheard of for her to give out compliments like that.
"What was that thing though?" Tsubame suddenly asked. She stepped forward to be in line with the others. "That's the second time we've encountered something like that. Plus, we had to help the shinobi in Tokyo capturing some animal. Which we never even saw. Are these things linked?"
The room went quiet as everyone thought things over. They looked at Shimatami sensei, waiting for an answer from her. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. After a moment, the shinobi instructor clicked the mouse and the monitor behind her lit up. It showed several pictures of monsters like the ones the Maisen shinobi had recently faced.
"Well, I suppose it's only appropriate I inform you," she said. The woman turned around and faced the monitor. "We call them Youma. Creatures from another plane of existence that infiltrate ours. The Youma have been around for centuries and plague us all over the world. They bring chaos and destruction wherever they go, and don't hesitate to attack people. Normally, we wait until you graduate as fully-fledged shinobi before we even tell you about them. But given our current situation, it's best you know about them."
"Wait, you don't tell us about these…things until we graduate?" Meimei said. "Why withhold information like this?"
"That…I can't say," Shimatami said hesitantly. "I never questioned why wait so long. But it does seem short sighted. Anyway, part of your duty as shinobi is to hunt down and eliminate Youma. We need to prevent them from spreading too much into our world."
"Okay, but that doesn't explain the past two incidents," Ageha said. "If the Youma are monsters from another dimension, why were two people transformed like that? Is that something the Youma can do?"
Shimatami shook her head. "Right now, we don't know," she said. She clicked the mouse again to enlarge images showing a Youma that was attacking alongside a picture of a person. She scrolled through them showing several instances. "These are all the reported cases from other shinobi schools were a person was transformed. In each case, the victim doesn't recall what happened before. The same can be said for both Hashimoto-san and the girl from last week."
The two squads buzzed as they talked with each other. They were in disbelief that this was happening outside their city and that nobody seems to know who or what is behind it.
"If the Youma are making themselves more publicly known, does that mean someone is controlling them?" Cassandra asked. "I've heard from message boards that students have been seeing Youma more and more."
"We don't know the answer to that," she said. "The Youma are hardly animals of great intelligence. They act erratically. But the governing body of the schools have agreed that with the increase of Youma activity and this new threat we're dealing with, shinobi students are granted permission to handle them should any appear."
"We get to transform outside of normal missions now?" Fleur said. "Très magnifique."
"It sure is surprising to hear that," Tsubame said. "I wonder what we'll have to fight next?"
"So long as I get to beat up baddies! That's all I care about!" Yoshimitsu said loudly.
WHAM!
Shimatami slammed a hand down on the desk, making all the girls jump. "This doesn't mean you can show off your power whenever you want. So, don't just transform at any time. There will be consequences if you do."
The girls straightened up and said in unison, "Yes, Shimatami sensei!"
The orange-haired woman looked at them with stern eyes. She knew they were excellent shinobi, but like any youth, they had a tendency to bend the rules. "Alright, dismissed. No patrolling today."
They bowed and left the office. Shimatami turned back to the monitor and focused on the image of Tomoko and the Youma she changed into. "What is happening right now?"