It was becoming increasingly obvious for Moka that in the following week after that incident, that Syn-sensei had a sudden shift in his demeanor, having begun to keep to himself more frequently than usual. Because after the events of that day, where Syn-sensei had almost killed Yukari's Class President and brutally maimed his two friends, Syn-sensei slowly begun to keep to himself more than necessary. No... it was more accurate to say that Syn-sensei became distant to everyone.
Yukari, who had joined the Newspaper Club after the incident after contemplating between her choices between the Literature Club to be with Kyoka, or the Newspaper Club to be with Moka. Yukari herself had told Moka in passing that Syn-sensei would not even glance at her, going as far as to even avert his attention away from her. Even though their interactions had been quite positive until that day, almost as if he held guilt of the unexpected side of him that he had shown to them, despite it having meant that he saved Yukari from Tadashi. It couldn't be denied that had Syn-sensei not intervened, then Yukari would've died instead.
At least there was also good news out of the whole ordeal, Tadashi and his two friends had all been expelled from Youkai Academy, so they can't ever try to kill Yukari again. And the interactions between Yukari and Tsukune had been somewhat less hostile since that day thanks to Moka defusing any potential conflicts and Yukari's acknowledgement of her immaturity at the time.
Although because of the expulsion, the rumours surrounding Syn-sensei had begun to escalate exponentially around Youkai Academy. Moka had been already aware the rumours surrounding Syn-sensei had mostly been untrue, but it seemed to have escalated because of the aforementioned expulsion. Because it was well known among the junior year level that Tadashi and his friends hated Yukari, and that Yukari was close with Syn-sensei, who already had built a reputation of dealing with problem students ever since what happened with Saizou. Moka only wished that there was a way to minimize these rumours, yet there was little options she could think of which could mitigate those rumours without it sounding like hearsay without evidence.
But that wasn't important right now for Moka.
Because Syn-sensei also now looked like he was beginning to show signs of insomnia, yet Moka would notice the rapid glances Syn-sensei would occasionally send out at her classmates, as if he was examining them with a thirst in his eye like a predator eyeing vulnerable prey, including her, yet these glances would immediately subside just as fast. His teaching proficiency was still unmatched regardless, but for the sudden change in demeanor to happen after that day did not go unnoticed by those who had been there.
'Not again...?' Moka thought, these words Syn-sensei that had muttered repeatedly still echoed in Moka's mind while she interpreted for him.
Did something happen to Syn-sensei before he came here to teach to make him react so excessively then?
So Moka could not help but to question what she didn't know. Admittedly, she didn't know much about Syn-sensei, and there wasn't much reason for her to since he was a teacher, and had the impression of preferring to keep to himself (although at the moment he was excessively keeping his distance). Moka still recalling him telling her on the very first day of class that his sudden enlistment as staff was a spontaneous decision by the Headmaster, leaving his history beforehand a total mystery. But what Moka does know on the other hand, is that whatever it was had deeply affected Syn-sensei if it still affected him now.
Moka could still vividly remember how much in a state of panic Syn-sensei had fallen into, of how frantic he appeared when he saved Yukari from being eaten alive by Tadashi. She did not regret her impulsive decision to make Tsukune remove her Rosary the moment he arrived at the scene that day, because it was clear to Moka that Syn-sensei had not been himself, and that had he not stopped, she felt that he would've been in a much more worse state than now.
The bell rang, snapping Moka out of her train of thought, and Syn-sensei had quickly packed up his teaching material to leave immediately, as he had done for the past few classes.
"Mr. Syn!" Moka called out for Syn-sensei's attention, as she stood from her desk to run to his position before he left.
Syn-sensei paused at the call, giving enough time for Moka to arrive next to him, before finally giving her his attention.
"Are you in need of assistance, Miss Akashiya?" Syn-sensei responded, acknowledging her call regardless.
Moka could already tell that Tsukune was sending her a worried look about associating with Syn-sensei even if she didn't turn to check, but she felt it was best to ask Syn-sensei about his... 'condition'. And now that Moka was finally up close to Syn-sensei ever since he begun to keep to himself, she saw his current state of condition more clearly. What happened that day had affected Syn-sensei a lot more than Moka initially believed, as she could see the weariness up close with growing signs of eyebags.
"Miss Akashiya?" Syn-sensei called out again, snapping Moka out of her thoughts.
"U-uh... Yukari's doing well in the Newspaper Club!" Moka shouted the first thing that came into her mind.
"I am glad to hear Miss Sendo has adjusted well." Syn-sensei responded, as he took a glance at the classroom door.
"A-and Yukari and Tsukune made up so everything's good now!"
"It is good to hear. But Miss Akashiya, what is it you truly wish to tell me?" Syn-sensei asked after noticing her attempt of small talk to build up to her question. "It would be best to be straightforward."
Moka took a deep breath, and she finally asked. "Are you okay?"
"...? I am fine." Syn-sensei answered after a brief moment of confusion in an attempt to reassure her. "Is there a reason to ask?"
Moka nodded regardless, despite Syn-sensei's initial attempt to reassure her that nothing was wrong even with the noticeably different demeanor. "You seem very tired now, even after a week passed."
"Ah... I only need more days of rest." Syn-sensei once again tried to reassure. "But your concern is much appreciated Miss Akashiya."
Despite the reassurance, it wasn't enough to convince Moka that Syn-sensei was feeling okay.
"... Is there anything else you wish to tell me? Or are you simply worried for my welfare?" Syn-sensei asked after a lack of response from Moka.
Was she really that much of an open book to read?
"It's just that..." Moka fidgeted in place as she tried to formulate her incoming words. "I wanted to say thank you for saving Yukari. I really needed to say it, Yukari wouldn't be here anymore if you didn't do what you did."
Moka did not fail to notice the subtle flinching from Syn-sensei when she told him her thanks.
"... There is no need for thanks." Syn-sensei finally replied after a small wait. "The welfare of a student in a dire situation is a responsibility I must uphold as faculty. But..."
Even though Syn-sensei said saving Yukari was just his responsibility as a teacher, he avoid turning to her direction, as if he was still ashamed. It was like he thought she was wary of him, but it could not be more wrong, Moka was wary for him.
"... Your gratitude is much appreciated Miss Akashiya." Syn-sensei finally let out after a moment of silence, with a slight nod of acknowledgement. "Even if given undeservedly."
Moka could only nod shyly. "I'm just worried for you Mr. Syn. You've been more distant after what happened that day."
"... I see. Then I shall accept your concerns, Miss Akashiya." Syn-sensei replied with another glance at the classroom doors, as he begun to head towards them.
"Yukari's also worried about you too Mr. Syn." Moka spoke aloud, causing Syn-sensei to pause at the door. "I think she would be happy if you could talk to her again."
"... Of course. Have a good rest."
Maybe Moka was worried for nothing, she thought. Maybe Syn-sensei really did only need some time for him to calm down and return to being sociable again. Well... maybe sociable was not the right word to describe Syn-sensei, but 'sociable' by how much more Syn-sensei had spoken before anyways, at the very least not keeping to himself as he was now.
Syn-sensei opened the classroom doors in preparations to leave, before stopping and facing to the side, an expression of guilt noticed by Moka. And so he turned away from whatever it had been to make him feel so guilty.
Moka made her way out of the classroom, upon exit seeing it was Yukari, who had been leaning against the wall the whole time, her presence having been noticed by Syn-sensei earlier. Rotating her attention between Yukari and Syn-sensei, the former still saddened by the latter's reluctance to face her, maybe it would still take a while longer before relationships improve, Moka hoped.
These hopes would soon have to be delayed a while longer, because Syn-sensei could not be found on school grounds on the very next day, and then the following day after, with Nekonome-sensei having told all of Syn-sensei's classes that he would be absent until further notice. Moka could not recall a day where Syn-sensei had been absent for a day, much less two, because of how frequent the situations they found themselves together in. And so, Moka could not help but to be worried for Syn-sensei's well-being, as the first ever person she had met since her enrollment.
Remaining alone within his dormitory, the Hunter could be found seating himself upon the couch, listening to the tune of a lullaby, and concentrating his sights upon a music box. It was the very music box given to him by the young girl in Yharnam, still kept by him as a sinister reminder to not fall into the temptation of the Hunt as her father had. The ambience of its lullaby provided him a small sense of relief until it ended its tune.
Reaching out to rewind the dial of the music box until it could no longer, and releasing it once again, it begun to play its tune for another loop. The lullaby which once consistently brought Gascoigne back his sanity, only now did he understand why it soothed the former Father all so many times. Now the Hunter utilised it to dull his instinctual desires whenever it had become too much to bear.
As the melody progressed, all the Hunter could think of were the harrowing memory of the music box's former owner, of a family torn apart by tragedy, its bloodline now extinguished because of his very existence. Even now he could still feel the cold lifelessness from the elder sister when he took the ribbon from the grasps of her corpse.
But why was the Hunter keeping himself isolated within his room?
'I wanted to say thank you for saving Yukari.'
Moka's gratitude continued to linger within his mind, despite having shown to her and the other observers such a harrowing sight. Many thoughts had went through his head on that day, yet there was only one thing which had stood distinctively throughout his mind.
Reminding him of the gratitude of Gascoigne's youngest daughter, which still continue to invade his nightly terrors.
'Thank you very much mister Hunter! I love you just as much as mum and dad, and grandad!'
It was the first that he was shown gratitude since her.
But what was there for Moka to thank him for?
He could not even save a single child, and he would be foolish to believe that saving another, whom was unrelated at all to Yharnam, would absolve him of all the atrocities he had committed. And even then, his attempt to 'save' Yukari may have traumatized her young mind.
Such gratitude was one he did not deserve.
He could still recall the instances of that day, his small bout of an anxiety attack would have lead to a more severe aftermath upon the three assailants had he not been stopped by Moka. He had lost himself to madness in his attempt to save Yukari, that was nothing to be worth to express gratitude over.
But most importantly of all, he felt the intoxication of the Hunt had caught up to him instantaneously. The two months prolonged exodus of hunting and then the sudden exposure of the blood of a beast had reinvigorated his instincts as a hunter. A sinister reminder that no matter how complacent he became because his relatively peaceful life in the moment, that in his core, he was a killer who butchered an uncountable amount without remorse, and nothing less.
Even now it still beckons at him, clawing into his mind, demanding him to satiate his desire to hunt the beasts in the guise of students and colleagues who had not done him harm in a new Hunt.
He could feel one side of him salivating at the thought of such intelligent prey, worthy of a fulfilling hunt. While the other desperately tried to retain his sanity, to not lose himself to the Hunt and becoming blood-drunk, a fate which will inevitably come to all hunters.
And so with such conflicting thoughts, he had to take a leave of absence to calm his mind.
The music box finally reached the end of the melody once again, and the Hunter reached out for it to rewind it to once more rewind it, yet when he reached out towards it with his hand atop of it, he felt a cold chill and saw what seemed to be a small ghostly hand laid atop his own. Understandably wondering of the new entity which appeared as if out of thin air, the Hunter lifted his head to the owner of the hand, with the following sight he saw had spooked him.
It was the young girl he could still recall so clearly, who had once conveyed so much hope in him through her eyes, appearing as a ghostly apparition before his sights, now all bloodied as she stared at him with hollowed eyes.
Her golden hair, inherited from her mother, now dripped with crimson, and no longer possessing its distinctive ribbon as it flowed behind her. The room was also now dyed in a blood red with strange flesh-like properties within his vision, setting an ominous tone to the situation he finds himself in.
"It hurts mister Hunter..." The young ghostly girl begun to cry.
The Hunter was unsure whether he was observing only mere hallucinations, yet the apparition of then young girl had appeared so vividly before him that he felt he could reach out for her.
"Where's my mum and dad...?" The young ghostly girl continued to plead. "It's so dark... It's so cramped... I can't see anything... mister Hunter... I'm scared... Where did you go...?"
His breathing became unsteady as the apparition continued to cry out desperate pleas. Her very presence wearing at his resolve, because despite all her words and pleas, the apparition of the young girl did not blame him for her demise just as every adversary he had encountered during the Hunt had done in malice, instead she reached out to him in an act which begged for comfort, as if still trusting in him even after her demise.
Before the ghostly young girl could finally reach him, a knocking on his dormitory door snapped the Hunter out of this hallucinatory trance, and the young girl's apparition disappeared just as fast, and the room reverted to its plain normalcy, as the Hunter begun to face the door.
"Syn-sensei?" Shizuka (Miss Nekonome) called out from behind the door. "Are you okay in there? You've been absent for the last two days meow."
"... I am alright, my fever is waning." The Hunter lied, so as to not worry his colleague of his potentially deteriorating mental state.
"It really was unexpected meow!" Shizuka stated with surprise in her tone. "You've always seemed so healthy Syn-sensei! So it was a surprise when you asked me to inform your classes you were sick meow!"
"Even those blessed with great vigor may suffer illnesses."
"Now I know not to make assumptions meow! I was getting worried that you were becoming a shut-in! It would be bad if there was another Mizore situation meow!"
"I suppose it would be troublesome, is there a reason for your visit asides from a welfare check?"
"Mhm! Headmaster Mikogami asked me to call you to him."
"The Headmaster requested of my presence?"
"Yep meow! I think it's something important meow!" Shizuka answered. "But since you're still sick, maybe it'll be better if you stay in bed to rest? I'll tell the Headmaster if you need to rest some more."
"No, I shall head off to meet him soon."
"Be sure to get plenty of rest afterwards!"
"... Of course, have a good afternoon."
After being given the summon from the Headmaster by Shizuka, the Hunter had since made his way to the Headmaster's office, and now he stood before the Headmaster's desk, awaiting for the latter to commence a dialogue.
"How's your 'fever' been?" The Headmaster begun.
"It seems meaningless for dishonesty to get pass you Headmaster."
"Kukuk, of course. It would be hard to believe for you of all people would get sick." The Headmaster emphasised.
"First Miss Nekonome, and now it is you who have stated it. Is it truly difficult to believe I am capable of contracting illnesses?" The Hunter asked. Even if his extensive usage of the healing blood had after all meant illnesses could no longer affected him, this waking world did not possess such blood and therefore his immune system should have been assumed similar to the inhabitants.
The silence from the Headmaster acted as the answer.
"Now onto serious business." The Headmaster begun. Pulling out a sealed folder with an uncharacteristically serious expression for the enigmatic Headmaster. "I'm sure you know some of our students have gone missing in the past month."
The Hunter nodded at the statement. "I have indeed noticed a few female students had vanished after the 'Clubs Day' festival, some of whom who have been gone for as long as an entire month and missing the midterm examinations."
"And I'm sure you've been doing your own little search since then."
"I have. However, I have little access to information to form a concrete conclusion."
The Headmaster placed the file unto his desk, pushing it slightly towards the Hunter. "And here's the information you were talking about, filled with the activities of the missing students before they have gone missing. See if you can find anything noticeable."
"A correlation..." The Hunter spoke aloud while reading through the files of the missing female students and the accompanying investigations report.
There was no commonalities shared amongst the missing students, all of whom varied from classes with the majority being junior students. The only common factors shared amongst the students were that they were female students with significant beauty, while the other common factor was...
"I see. One prime suspect comes to mind for their disappearances."
Hitomi Ishigami, the teacher in charge of Arts.
"I must ask Headmaster, why disclose this information to me?" The Hunter asked. After all, he was still a stranger to these lands, and was still a recent hire to the Academy. Surely there would have been a more trustworthy teacher to pass on this information to.
"Because," The Headmaster begun. "I want you to solve this case."
A sudden request from the enigmatic Headmaster, although not as sudden as his spontaneous hire as an educator.
"... No, I do not believe I am suitable for such a heavy task." The Hunter confessed. "I believe it is best to assign the role to a more suitable candidate."
"Oh?" The Headmaster . "And what makes you say that?"
"As I have emphasised in our initial encounter, I hunt beasts." The Hunter emphasised. "Although Miss Ishigami is the prime suspect, the possibility I am the culprit behind the disappearances is not nil."
"Kukuk, if I had believed that, then you wouldn't have been summoned at this moment."
The Hunter raised an eyebrow, waiting for the Headmaster to continue.
"And despite your words, I know you care about the well-being of the students."
"Out of obligation for my role, Headmaster."
"Kukuk, if you say so. I've already heard about what happened last week, going so far as to act as you did."
"... How were you informed of that event?"
"It's hard to not notice a student who had their face deformed, another who lost their vision, and another who had their jaw dislocated."
"Then my argument should be easier, the aftermath should be more than enough reason to not assigned me to this role." The Hunter replied. "I should be released instead."
"I'm still intent on giving you this responsibility regardless." The Headmaster stated. "Moka Akashiya has already testified you were only aiming to protect Yukari Sendo."
"... Miss Akashiya had?"
When did Moka come in contact with the Headmaster?
And she even defended him?
"As a matter of fact, many other witnesses came to your defense. Even Yukari Sendo herself. Kukuk, quite a well-respected teacher you are." The Headmaster teased.
"... As much as I appreciate their support, it does not disregard the fact I still almost killed a student by my own hands, while inflicting near permanent injuries upon two others."
"Three who had no issues killing one of their peers, and one who was far younger than them out of discrimination of her race." The Headmaster stated. "Such students have no place in my academy." [A.N. Lmao]
"... As am I. A Hunter whose prey are those who attend this very Academy."
"And despite that, I doubt any other teachers would do as you did for the sake of your supposed 'prey', and that is why I consider you the most trustworthy for this case. Investigate Hitomi Ishigami to see if she's really the culprit for the missing students, so that no other innocent students may go missing."
The Hunter kept his silence, in order to formulate a decision on his next course of action. Despite his conflicting thoughts and perspective, the words of the Headmaster did indeed hold merit. The students who have gone missing were innocent young women with a full life still ahead of them, taken away unjustly from potentially his colleague. Yet on the other hand, they were still beasts who adorned human masquerade to eventually integrate into human society.
His instincts both wanted him to hunt these students to fulfill his role as a hunter, so that future generations of beasts will not spawn and potentially cause harm to humanity, yet also to not harm those who has yet to cause him harm. And so the Hunter finally decided.
"... Then I shall take up the role as enforcer."
"Kukuk... Excellent."
But first, there was something he should first do.
