"Attention! Come get the latest issue of the Yōkai Times!" announced Mako outside Yōkai Academy. He and the rest of the Newspaper Club members were handing out newspapers about the recent events in the Witch's Knoll.

"Learn about what happened in the human world during summer break!" announced Kumaru.

"Extra! Extra! Read all about it~desu!" announced Yukinari.

"Man, I can't wait till everyone reads about those wizards from the human world," said Gina.

"I know," said Tsuki. "After what happened with Rupert-san, there were thousands of protesters who came to protect the sunflower fields at Witch's Knoll, prompting construction to be suspended indefinitely."


"WE DID IT!" cheered Yukinari later that day. "All the newspapers have been distributed~desu!"

"Boy, that was some hard work, but I'm glad we're finished," said Kumaru.

"Hey, guys! How about we hold a party after school to celebrate our first human world scoop?" suggested Mako. "And bring some snacks!"

"Hey that's a great idea, Mako-san," said Tsuki happily.

"Hold on a sec! Where's Gina-senpai?"

"Huh?" Tsuki looked around and found that she was the only female present. "She was here a few seconds ago. Where'd she run off to?"

"I don't know, maybe whoring herself out to some boys or something," suggested the incubus boy.


"You like?" asked Gina someplace else. Right now, she was pushing her body up against the back of a boy that was reading the newspaper. "I managed to get that scoop in the human world; nowadays, however, we could use some guys like you to become badass mascots for our club. You interested?"


Kōmura Nazo says:

Wow! He was dead on the money. WHEE!


"Well forget about that bitch. No hoes aloud anyways!" said Kumaru disgustedly.

"Yeah! She's the enemy of all men~desu!" yelled Yukinari.

"So, what should we do about the celebration?"

"I'll get snacks and drinks~desu! Even though I'm eleven, wizards are of legal alcoholic drinking age at ten~desu."

"Absolutely not! Nobody else is of legal alcoholic drinking age," Tsuki protested.

"Alright, Yukinari-kun and I will get some snacks for the party after school," said the incubus boy. "Does anyone wanna play games at the—"

"Ugh, what a total drag..." said a voice from out of nowhere. "The Newspaper Club is SO weird..."

The conversation between the club members was interrupted as they looked around the area for where the voice was coming from.

"...always getting along and shit..." The voice came from behind a nearby tree that Tsuki and the boys noticed. Just then, an arm emerged out from the right side; inside the hand was a lit cigarette, which, with the tapping of a finger, lost a bit of the burnt off top. Across the arm was a tattoo with the words "STEAL YOU AWAY" written in a blizzardy mist.

"Who's there?" asked Tsuki.

In response to the answered question, the arm moved back behind the tree, and then the full body came out with the cigarette in his mouth...it was an oddly dressed teenage boy (even more oddly dressed than Kumaru and Yukinari). Aside from the traditional Yōkai Academy pants, this boy was dressed in gothic clothing: he wore a purple tank top under an opened up Great Gatsby gothic vintage steampunk masquerade vest waistcoat, along with snowy light blue sneakers, gold earrings, a silver necklace, and white fingerless gloves; for his facial appearance, he had blue eyes, black hair, and black lipstick and eyeliner. "I just don't understand how you all get along as well," he finally said; as he spoke, the cigarette bounced up and down to match his lip movement.

"And just what the hell does THAT mean? asked Kumaru furiously.

The gothic boy then held out his hand. "Got any newspapers left?"

"Newspapers? Oh sure." Tsuki took the only remaining newspaper out of her pocket and gave it to the boy. "Hope you don't mind, it's a bit crumpled from staying in my pocket for too long."

But just then, taking his cigarette out of his mouth and blowing out some smoke, the goth stared deeply into her eyes. "So, you're supposed to be that Aono Tsuki chick everyone's been talkin' about," he whispered with a smile. "Man, you look a lot hotter than I thought." He then took the newspaper out of Tsuki's hand and said, "See ya around," before walking away, leaving the brunette human girl stunned and confused.

"Do you know that kid?" Mako asked as he suddenly grabbed Tsuki's arm.

"Me? No," said Tsuki.

"That asshole really freaks me out," groaned Kumaru.

"Me too~desu," said Yukinari.

"Hey, don't worry about him," said Tsuki. "Let's all have a great party after school!"

"YEAH!" the boys cheered.


"Akashiya Mako..." said Mr. Nekonome in homeroom.

"Here."

"Aono Tsuki..."

"Here."

"Kurono Kumaru..."

"Here."

"Shirayuki Mizo..." Mr. Nekonome turned to the desk right in front of Tsuki...which had no one sitting there. "Shirayuki Mizo? Hmm...absent again..." he sighed. "Just like last semester..." the teacher thought. "Alright, class, our first agenda: choosing our new class manager for this classroom. During the second semester, our school begins to host school festivals and stuff like that; therefore, we need somebody to either volunteer or nominate other students."

"Nekonome-sensei seems to have a habit of getting straight to the point," thought Tsuki. "Well whatever this 'class manager' stuff is, you can count me—"

*SLIDE*

"I nominate Aono Tsuki."

The entire classroom suddenly noticed a gothic boy with a cigarette standing at the door.

"*GASP* It's him!" Tsuki gasped.

"That boy from this morning!" thought Mako.

The boy took his seat in the empty desk right in front of the female human student.

"And YOU are...?" asked Mr. Nekonome.

"...Shirayuki Mizo," said the goth.

"Ah yes, Shirayuki Mizo! I'm so glad you finally decided to join us for once. Class, this is Shirayuki Mizo. He's been missing throughout the first semester, but I really would like for you all to get along with him for his return. So anyways, you said you had a nomination for class manager, right?"

The goth boy nodded.

"And WHO was that again?"

Once again silent, Mizo pointed his thumb back at the girl right behind her.

"...Aono Tsuki?"

"M-ME!" Tsuki screamed.

"Yes! I think Tsuki will make a GREAT class manager," said Mako.

"MAKO-SAN!"

"Then it's settled! As of today, Aono Tsuki is now our class manager! Oh, and Shirayuki-san, no smoking aloud in the classrooms."


"Congratulations, Tsuki!" said Mako after school.

"MAKO-SAN! I DON'T WANNA BE CLASS MANAGER, GODDAMMIT!"

"But I think you'll be great! Anyways, wanna buy some snacks for the party?"

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING ME SERIOUSLY, MAKO-SAN! Anyways, I'll be staying at this school with my own strength, but I ain't gonna keep depending on YOU or ANYONE ELSE! And I'm sick and tired of you not understanding me!"


*STOMP* *STOMP* *STOMP* *STOMP* *STOMP* *STOMP*

"Just who the hell does he think he is?" Tsuki thought as she stomped down the hallway. "He just doesn't take me seriously!" Frustrated, she turned a corner and walked past Mizo who stared at him from behind a wall.

"Huh?" Looking back, she thought she saw something. "Who's there?"

"...Hi there," Mizo said as he peered his head around the corner.

"Oh, uh...hi, Shirayuki-san," said Tsuki nervously. "What do YOU want?"

Mizo held out the newspaper he received earlier that morning. "I read the newspaper you gave me; as usual, your stories always seem to be the best."

"MY stories?"

The goth boy took out a scrap book. "I gotta be honest: I've been occasionally stealing each issue of these newspapers and cutting out all your articles to paste into my scrap book. Wanna see?"

"Oh-ho-ho, re-he-he-heally?" laughed Tsuki nervously. "Well, that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard." She took the scrap book and opened it—

"WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA..."

"You like? I also scribble in my own comments on each article," said Mizo.

"A-Are you kidding me? What the hell kind of stalker is he?"

Leaning his head to the right, Mizo took his cigarette out of his mouth with his right hand to blow out some smoke, then grabbed his right arm with his left hand from behind and said, "I can actually relate to all your stories—always writing from the POV of a weak person...just like me..." Just then, he grabbed Tsuki's arm after putting his cigarette back into his mouth. "I know exactly what it feels like to be lonely..."


"Shirayuki Mizo?" asked Yukinari on the other side of the line.

"Yeah, that goth weirdo from this morning," said Kuramu on his cellphone; currently, he was in the kitchen working on something. "And now he appears to be makin' the moves on MY Tsuki-chan!"

"She's not 'YOUR Tsuki-chan', you pervert! Anyways, there's something off about him!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well after the first day of school, he disappeared from the entire first semester after a strange incident: apparently, that boy had a crush on a schoolteacher, but after she turned him down, he allegedly incased her in ice in her office! The teacher was found and defrosted in time, but nearly died of hypothermia, and Mizo wasn't seen again for the rest of the semester."

"Whoa! That's freaky! Even I would never go THAT far! Anyways, it's ready! Gotta head to the party! Later, loser!"

"Hey! Wait! Don't—"

*BEEP*


Meanwhile, Mizo was dragging Tsuki by the arms through the woods nearby the pond.

"S-So where are we going, Shirayuki-san?" asked Tsuki nervously.

"To my humble abode," explained the black-haired goth boy. "I've been hiding out since all of last semester. I think you're really gonna like it."

They finally arrived at their destination, which turned out to be...

"A mansion!" the human brunette exclaimed.

"Not just ANY mansion...wait till you see inside..." As soon as he released her arm, Mizo ran up to the front door on the porch and opened it. "Come on!"

"*SIGH* Alright," Tsuki sighed as she stepped onto the first step of the porch, "but I gotta—"

*SLIP*

"WAH!" Tsuki suddenly slipped on the first step and fell onto her back; laying on her back, she watched as Mizo knelt down beside his head and asked, "What are you clumsy?"

"Ow!" Getting up, Tsuki looked at the step, and taking her foot, she slid it across the first step and saw that it was made of...

"ICE!" she exclaimed. "Y-Your steps are made of ice?"

"*BLOW* Not just the steps," Mizo explained as he blew out another puff of smoke from his mouth. "My entire mansion. Cool, huh?"

"Say what?! Who constructs a mansion full of ice!"

"I do! You see, I bought a lot of unique stuff with an envelope of money I stole from this art teacher, then turned it all into ice." The goth quickly ran up the steps to hold the front door open. "Come on! You'll love it." He stood there with a seemingly friendly smile on his face.

Struggling to get up, Tsuki grabbed onto the icy railing, cautiously trying to walk up the steps and finally enter the mansion. After entering, she finally got a good look at the inside.

"So, what do you think?" Mizo asked as he stepped inside...without slipping on the ice at all.

"Wait a second! How the hell is HE standing on the ice so easily? He hasn't even fallen ONCE!" Tsuki thought in confusion. "And...art teacher? Could he mean...Ishigami-sensei?" The image of Ishigami Hotaru, the corrupt Yōkai Academy art teacher who turned students into rock statues, then sold out Tsuki's human secret, flashed through her mind. "Look, Shirayuki-san, I-I think your house is...unique, but I gotta get going. Bye." She turned around to—

"NO!" Mizo hugged her from behind. "DON'T GO! Tsuki, you haven't even seen all of the rooms."

A waterfall of tears ran down her eyes as her open mouth turned into a square. "I'm sorry, but I gotta get to—"

"—get to WHAT?" asked the goth boy in a now sinister voice. "To that shitty party? To that Akashiya Mako?" At that moment, Mizo's cigarette dropped out of his mouth.

"Well yes I—"

"To someone who doesn't take you seriously?" Mizo asked in an even colder voice. "To someone who doesn't understand your feelings?"

All of a sudden, Tsuki started shivering. "W-W-What's going on? Is it getting c-c-c-c-cold? Or is it m-m-me?"


Kōmura Nazo says:

Hey! T-T-That's MY line. W-WHEE!


"Well don't bother," whispered Mizo. "He won't be there waiting for you."

"RRR...RRR...RRR...GET OFF ME!"

*BUMP*

Tsuki bumped the goth's forehead with the back of her head, allowing her to break free and flee the icy mansion.

Mizo fell onto his back. Holding his head for a few seconds, he got up and walked after Tsuki...with a blizzardly mist following him; his first step crushed the cigarette; every step he took, snow emersed and slowly consumed the area. "Don't go, Tsuki..." he whispered.


In the Newspaper Clubroom, Mako sat all alone with the snacks and games, waiting for Tsuki to arrive. "*SIGH* Tsuki's late," he thought. "Maybe he's still upset with me about what happened during class."


"YOU'RE NOT TAKING ME SERIOUSLY, MAKO-SAN! Anyways, I'll be staying at this school with my own strength, but I ain't gonna keep depending on YOU or ANYONE ELSE! And I'm sick and tired of you not understanding me!"


*SLIDE*

"*GASP* Tsuki!" Standing up, Mako turned in excitement to see Tsuki...but it wasn't him at the door.

"Don't bother waiting. She isn't coming," whispered the intruder.

"S-Shirayuki-san!"

Just then, Mizo grabbed the pink-haired boy by the neck and pinned him to the ground; Mako accidentally knocked some supplies off the desk.

"Hey! W-What are you doing?" Mako choked.

"You're nothin' but a pain in the ass," whispered the goth. "Without you, Tsuki will be mine and mine alone."

Mako's body began shivering. "What's going on? Why the hell are his hands so cold." Reaching for something to help him, Mako grabbed a glass cup and...

"GET OFF OF ME!"

*SMASH*

...smashed it against the goth boy's head, causing icicles to fall off. But did that stop Mizo? No, he simply glared back at the vampire boy, though part of his head was broken off; his hair had turned into icicles.

"Now THAT wasn't very nice," whispered the goth. "Too bad for you, I'm just an ice clone; the real me is taking care of your girlfriend." Just then, his right arm morphed into an ice mallet and was raised high into the air, frightening his shivering prey. "And now, Akashiya Mako, it's time to get rid of you once...and...for...all!"

*SMASH*


Being athletic, Tsuki was excellent at running as she ran through the woods as fast as possible; unfortunately, the grass and trees were starting to be covered in ice and snow. "What's going on here?" Just then, she stopped by the pond...which had now become frozen solid. "Where the hell did all this snow and ice come from?"

*PLOP* *PLOP* *PLOP* *PLOP* *PLOP* *PLOP*

Tsuki could hear footsteps in the snow slowly growing louder; not wanting to look back, the human girl desperately ran out onto the ice. "Whoa! W-W-W-W-W-W..." She began struggling to try and maintain her balance as she continued desperately trying to move along the ice.

*SLIP* *THUD*

Tsuki finally lost her balance and fell face first onto the ice, in the middle of the rink.

"You can't run from me..."

Turning around, Tsuki saw Mizo standing at the edge of the rink, but this time, Mizo looked relatively different: his hair had turned into icicles, and his arms became ice claws.

"I won't let you..." Mizo slowly stepped onto the rink...and with each step, large icicles burst out from the ice.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Tsuki screamed.

"I'm a Yuki-Otoko," explained the goth boy, "and I can control ice."


Bite-Size Monster Dictionary:

Yuki-Otoko
These monsters of snow only appear during a large snowstorm or a blizzard. They have a habit of freezing the lone travelers and abduct females that they are in love with. These cold and monstrous habits make them well known to the numerous Japanese locations. They have the power to manipulate ice and snow.


Tsuki tried to get up...

*STOMP*

...but with a single stomp from the snow goth, she became trapped in ice up to her waist. "GAH! WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

"Don't bother trying to escape, Tsuki. As long as you're frozen, you can't escape," explained Mizo. "Tsuki, it must be destiny that brought us together. We were fated to meet because of our loneliness." He approached the trapped human girl. "Now that we are finally together, we can understand each other...unlike your boyfriend."

Tsuki's eyes widened as he remembered something...


"YOU'RE NOT TAKING ME SERIOUSLY, MAKO-SAN! Anyways, I'll be staying at this school with my own strength, but I ain't gonna keep depending on YOU or ANYONE ELSE! And I'm sick and tired of you not understanding me!"


"Oh no...how could I have said those things to him?" Tsuki thought as her attacker got closer and closer. "Mako-san, I am so sorry. I am the one who didn't understand YOU; the only reason I managed to survive this long was because I had you...and everybody else to protect me...I...I only wish I could've said goodbye..."

"TSUKI..."

"Huh?" Tsuki eyes widened at what she heard.

"What?!" Mizo looked up into the air as well; from the sky came Mako, who was being carried by Kumaru. "You're still alive?!" the Yuki-Otoko growled. "My clone should've killed you by now."

"Aw, sorry to ruin you're fun, FrostASS!" yelled Kumaru.


(Flashback)

"Whoa! That's freaky! Even I would never go THAT far! Anyways, it's ready! Gotta head to the party! Later, loser!"

"Hey! Wait! Don't—"

*BEEP*

But it was too late as Kumaru hung up his cell phone. "And now all that's left is to apply her name..." He painted Tsuki's name in frosting on his handmade cake. "...and LAST—but not LEAST—a little bit of sprinkles..." He then applied some sprinkles onto the cake. "And VOILA! It's complete!"

Putting the cake on a tray, the teenage incubus rushed with it to the Newspaper Club. "Tsuki is going to LOVE this cake...but not as much as she's going to love ME! I've added my own personal love potion into the cake, and with one bite, she'll be going ga ga over me and then—"

"GET OFF OF ME!"

*SMASH*

Just then, as soon as Kumaru reached the Newspaper Club room door, he overheard something from inside. "Huh? What's going on in there?" Confused, he put his ear to the door.

"Now THAT wasn't very nice. Too bad for you, I'm just an ice clone; the real me is taking care of your girlfriend. And now, Akashiya Mako, it's time to get rid of you once...and...for...all!"

*SLIDE*

Kumaru slid the door open and saw the Mizo ice clone preparing to smash Mako's head with the ice mallet. "MAKO-SAN!"

*SMASH*

Rushing in, Kumaru slammed the cake trey against the goth clone, crushing the head to pieces; this also destroyed the cake. The headless Mizo clone fell over and off of the pink-haired vampire boy.

(End of Flashback)


"Thanks to you, my special cake for Tsuki-chan is ruined!" yelled Kumaru.

"TSUKI!" cried Mako

"STAY OUTTA MY WAY!" With Mizo raising his hands, giant icicles arose to block the path of the oncoming boys.

*CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE*

"WAH! LOOK OUT!" Kumaru desperately tried to avoid the spikes.

*BUMP* *CHING*

Mako and Kumaru bumped into Tsuki, knocking her out of Mizo's trap; however, Mako and Kumaru soon fell unconscious and laid motionless on the ice. "You...You bastard!" the snow goth growled at the motionless vampire. "You will NEVER get in the way of my love for Tsuki; I'll kill you myself, Akashiya Mako, and then the one who destroyed my clone."

"STOP!" Just then, Tsuki got up and held out her hands to protect her saviors. "That's enough, Shirayuki-san!"

"Tsuki! You! You're stopping me? I...I thought you understood what it was like to be alone like—"

"I'm NOT! I was NEVER alone! Mako-san and Kumaru-kun are my friends!"

"Are...Are...Are...Are you rejecting my feelings?" The snow goth could only shed and tear down her right eye. "...No, you and I will NEVER be separated as long as—"

All of a sudden, the daylight sky turned blood-red.

"Huh?" Confused, Tsuki looked at her left hand and saw that it was holding Mako's Rosario Cross. "Oh, I must've accidentally yanked this off of him when he bumped into me."

Just then, several bats encircled the glowing vampire, and after several loud screeches, they disbanded.

"W...What IS this?!" gasped Mizo.

Slowly, Mako arose onto his feet, glaring at the snow goth as he twirled a strand of his front hair.

"Holy shit! His eyes are blood red, and his hair is silver! He's a...a Shinso Vampire! My father told me all about them, but I always believed they were never real!" This revelation was so shocking that even the snow goth felt a hellish chill down his spine. "No matter! I'll kill ALL of you, then take Tsuki for myself!" Mizo thrusted his claws at—

"Tsuki will NEVER be yours as long as I have anything to say about it, you ice bastard!" yelled Mako in retaliation. "KNOW YOUR PLACE, BITCH!"

*BAM*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mizo was knocked across the ice by Mako's kick to the chest. As he got up. he looked at the fearful Tsuki and began to shed tears down his frozen face. "Tsuki..." he whispered. "Tsuki!" he whispered a little louder. "TSUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" With one final scream, Mizo disappeared into a blizzardy mist, leaving Tsuki and his boyfriends alone on the ice.


Kōmura Nazo says:

This chapter's climactic battle took 183 words! WHEE!


"Mako-san...I-I'm sorry," Tsuki whispered. "I...I should've known better than to—"

"It's good to know that you're going to be strong and try to do everything by yourself, Tsuki," said Mako surprisingly. "Before he met you, that pussy had always been lonely, but now, he's finally managed go fine the friends he never had, and that has made him...happy..." Unbeknownst to the human brunette, the demonic Shinso Vampire gave a happy smile.

"Unh..." Moaning, Kumaru slowly opened his eyes as he regained consciousness. Just then, he noticed a small piece of paper in front of him. "What's this?" He took the paper and looked at it, only to be baffled by what he read...


Kōmura Nazo says:

And so, the next day after the incident, Shirayuki Mizo stopped coming to school once again; his current whereabouts are unknown; in fact, his ice mansion even disappeared. Little did anybody know that things were going to get worse...MUCH worse. WHEE!

End


Cast:

Mizo Shirayuki: Isshin Chiba (Japanese); Keith Silverstein (English)