The Unwanted Harem of Nathan Adams

by Black Omochao

The nonsense yo-kai had brought to the life of one Nathan Adams was already more than enough for him, waking up one day to find he had a 'harem' was probably one of the last things he needed, too bad for him...

16. Curious Yo-kai Mee 2!

Chapter 16: Curious Yo-kai Mee 2!

---

The sounds of gentle waves and the cool night air filled the atmosphere of the island the three girls had found themselves lost on, only broken up by the crackling and warmth from the small fire they had made in order to keep warm.

"This fire stinks!" Meg hissed, glaring at the flames as she sat in a huddled position.

Amy's brow twitched curiously, before she leaned forward and took a sniff of the campfire, "Hmm… smells like burning wood to me."

"Yeah, that's how fires tend to smell," Isabel gave Amy a deadpan look from her position across from the other girl.

"I meant it stinks at warming me up, I'm freezing!" Meg snapped; her eyes narrowed in frustration.

Isabel and Amy both turned to stare at the complaining girl, who was a good few feet away from them, and the fire.

"… Maybe it would do a better job warming you if you sat… closer…?" Isabel offered plainly.

"No!" Meg immediately denied, turning away with a childish pout, even scooting a few more inches further from the other two girls.

Both Amy and Isabel sighed, before silence settled between the three.

… Though that silence would soon be interrupted by an audible growl.

"I'm hungry!" Meg whined, clutching her stomach.

Isabel blinked, before gesturing to a small pile of fish by the fire, "Why don't you just have some of the fish we caught…?"

Meg stuck her tongue out in disgust, "No!"

Isabel and Amy glanced at each other, their expressions starting to show clear signs of annoyance.

"… Well, what if you– "

"No!" Meg snapped before Amy could even finish her sentence.

"Throw her into the ocean!" Jibanyan shouted from the log he and the other yo-kai were seated on.

Of course, Amy was the only one of the three human girls who could hear the yo-kai's voice, and she did not want to admit how temping that suggestion was starting to sound…

But alas, her morals got the better of her before it could go any further than a thought, "No, no, we can't do that," Amy muttered to herself, shaking her head.

Jibanyan let out a grumble, crossing his arms in annoyance.

"I still have no idea how we even ended up here, or how we're supposed to get home," Isabel sighed as she looked up at the starry sky.

"It's both of your fault!" Meg snapped, but she was ignored by the other girls.

"How about I try climbing one of these trees and see if I can spot which direction land is in?" Amy suggested with a bit of enthusiasm.

"Wouldn't it have made more sense to do that while the sun was still up…?" Isabel pointed out plainly.

Amy stared at the blond for a brief moment, "… I'm gonna climb a tree."

"I don't think that's a great idea, Amy," Isabel warned, but the older girl was already making her way over to a tree.

"This one seems good," Amy smiled as she looked at a large palm tree, grabbing hold of its stomp and beginning to pull herself up.

Once she made it to the top of the tree, the girl began to look around, before calling back down to her companions below; "I can't see anything, it's too dark!"

"It's night!" Isabel called back with a deadpan expression.

"I want pancakes!" Meg's voice called out from by the fire.

Amy gave a slightly annoyed expression, before she started trying to look around again, sighing as she started to accept that she would not be able to spot anything at the moment.

Right before she began to slide back down from the tree however, a bright light suddenly ignited in the distance, the pigtailed girl shielded her eyes before it died down, and she found herself staring blankly in the direction it had come from; the top of a mountain in the distance, from what she could tell.

Quickly sliding back down the tree, Amy looked around, spotting Isabel and Meg arguing by the fire, and sprinted over to them.

"I don't have anything to make pancakes with, so I don't know what you expect from me," Isabel sighed and shook her head as Meg stomped a foot on the sand.

"Nothing, any pancakes from you would probably taste like barf anyway!" Meg stuck her tongue out at the other girl.

Isabel just sighed, massaging her forehead to ease her thinning patience.

"Guys!" Amy called out as she came over. "Did either of you see that!?"

"See what?" Meg turned to Amy with a grumpy expression.

"Sorry Amy, I wasn't exactly paying attention," Isabel scratched her head with an apologetic look.

Amy gave a dumbfounded look, "But… but, the light! It was a big light! How could you not– "

"Stop making stuff up! You're just trying to distract me from getting back to my Natey-kins!" Meg snapped with a hateful glare.

"We're all stuck here, what would that accomplish?" Isabel gave a strange look.

Meg's eye twitched, "SHUT UP!"

Amy let out a sigh as Isabel and Meg began arguing again, walking over to the log where the yo-kai were seated and taking a seat herself, "Rudy, did you see the light?"

"Nya?" the nekomata's ear twitched as he glanced up at his human, letting out a yawn indicating that he probably was not paying much attention.

Amy released another sigh, "Forget it, it was probably nothing…"

---

The sounds of crickets chirping in the night filled Mt. Wildwood, among the trees and resting on the grass lay a small yo-kai, resembling a pink ghost, with a ponytail in the shape of a three on her head.

"Uh… what happened…?" the pink spirit muttered dizzily as she opened her eyes, before she glanced around, and then down at her hands with an unsure expression.

The sound of a wolf howl in the distance startled the yo-kai, causing her to jump up and began floating, her body shaking as her eyes darted around her dark surroundings, "Where am I…?" the pink yo-kai spun around, fear and confusion evident in her tone and expression.

"This is… Mt. Wildwood–Wait, how did I know that…?" the pink yo-kai shook as her head started to throb slightly, looking around some more, "And… how did I get here…?"

The sounds of rustling in the foliage startled her again, the pink spirit let out a yelp as she floated up into a tree and huddled up into a shaking ball.

"I wanna go home…" the yo-kai looked up at the sky with a whimper, "But… where is home…?"

---

A glimmer of sunlight shining in from the window fell onto the face of a sleeping Nathan Adams, with a groan he opened his eyes to groggily stare up at the familiar ceiling of his bedroom, the faint sounds of Sailornyan snoring could be heard from the foot of his bed.

"Ugh, what happened last…" the boy paused mid-sentence, sitting up a bit and rubbing his eyes and blinking a few times as his grogginess faded and the events of the previous day played over in his mind, and he let out a sad sigh, "Oh right, all of that happened…"

Suddenly the boy was alerted by the sound of his closet door opening and shutting, looking over he spotted his demonic fiancée floating away from said door, brushing a few wrinkles out of her kimono, before she turned her gaze towards him, and her eyes widened a bit.

"Oh! Glad to see you up, Honey, but unfortunately I can't stay long," Damona gave an uncharacteristically gentle smile as she patted her fiancé on the head.

Nate felt his face heating up slightly from the affectionate contact, but he quickly shook that off as he gave the demonic girl a confused expression, "Wait, what do you mean you 'can't stay long?' Where are you going?"

Damona let out a sigh as she did a quick stretch, "Oh, you know how it is; gotta head back home for a bit to deal with some royal business, boring stuff, nothing you need to worry about now, you'll learn all about it after we get married."

Nate's face became even redder at the reminder of how he would supposedly be marrying the princess one day, "Uh… Damona, can we please… talk about that…?"

Damona gave a slightly worried frown, before quickly shaking her head, "Later, Honey, I really need to go."

"I…" Nate looked unsure, but gave a defeated sigh, "Fine, we'll talk later, I guess."

"You should probably go and let everyone know you're up now, talk to your parents and stuff, everyone is, you know… a bit worried," Damona made an unpleasant face for a second, "You know, gross feelings and stuff, sympathy… nothing I myself ever experience of course, you should know by now that I'm an emotionless being– "

"That's blatantly untrue," Nate interrupted bluntly.

Damona went silent at the interruption, giving the boy a cold glare for a moment, before shaking her head and giving a few fake coughs, "Anyway, as I was saying; my presence has been requested back home, so I must be going now, I should be back later tonight."

Without another word the oni princess flew through the bedroom window and quickly disappeared from view, Nate giving a halfhearted wave as he watched her go.

"Bye…"

Left on his own again, Nate remained in his bed, thinking to himself…

"… Kirene…" the human boy muttered under his breath as he stared at the ceiling, before flinching as the events of the previous day flashed through his mind once again.

After a few moments of silence, the sound of the closet opening again caught the boy's attention, this time him turning to find Hidabat peeking out.

"Nate… are you okay?" the bat-like yo-kai sounded concerned, it seemed he had been informed of the previous nights events, at least to some extent.

"… I'm not sure, Hida," Nate let out a heavy sigh as he pulled himself up, reaching towards the foot of his bed where a pink nekomata was curled up, he shook her gently, "Sailornyan, we should get up."

"Nya…" the cat yo-kai grumbled a bit as she pulled herself up onto all fours and did a stretch, before she glanced at the human and her sleepy eyes suddenly widened, "Captain Nyate!"

"Whoa?!" Nate barely had time to react before the pink feline flung herself at him.

"CAPTAIN! I'M SORRY!" the nekomata sobbed as she clung to the boy's shirt.

Nate was dumbfounded as he looked at the crying cat, "S-Sorry…? What are you talking about? What do you have to apologize for, Sailornyan?" the boy's voice took on a gentle tone at the end of his sentence as took hold of the feline and held her up to look her in the eyes.

Sailornyan sniffled and wiped her nose, her eyes still wobbly with tears, "I-I couldn't protect you, Captain! I-I wasn't good enyough! I'm nyever good enyough!"

Nate looked confused at the pink nekomata's words, quickly hugging her close to him, "Hey, hey, what are you talking about? It's not your job to protect me Sailornyan, you're just a little girl, and you did a great job yesterday with helping me out!"

Sailornyan sniffled a few more times as she looked back at the human boy, "I… I did…?"

"Of course you did, I mean where would any team be without a healer?" Nate smiled as pet the cat's head.

Sailornyan gave a happy purr as she snuggled into her 'captain's' embrace, Nate continued to smile as he looked down on her, though after a moment he could not help but look up with an unsure expression, the recollection of the previous day's events flashing in his mind once more…

---

Making their way down the steps, Nate and Sailornyan immediately took notice of the sounds of commotion coming from the kitchen.

"I'm still not sure what to think about all of this," the worried voice of Nate's mother became audible as the boy and cat snuck through the living room and towards the kitchen.

"I assure you; Master's safety is my number 1 priority! I would gladly face down a thousand electromancer cat-girls for him!" the ever-devote, and over-the-top Venoct proclaimed with absolute certainty in his tone.

"Oddly specific scenario," Toiletta's dull tone entered the air, though a hint of concern laced her otherwise stoic voice.

"Hopefully it won't come to that, but I like the enthusiasm," despite the words of encouragement, the voice of Nate's dad sounded unsure.

As Nate finally got close enough to the kitchen, he spotted his parents, Toiletta, Venoct and Whisper all gathered around the table, and clearly in the middle of a serious discussion, one that came to a halt as they all noticed the young boy's appearance.

"Uh… hi," Nate waved unsurely, flinching a bit as odd auras of color seemed to swerve around his parents from his point of view, though quickly fading as he shook his head.

"Oh, Sweetie, you're up!" Lily quickly stood up from her seat and smiled at her son, though a tinge of worry could be discerned in her expression. "Um, what would you like for breakfast? We can have anything you want; how does that sound?"

"Yeah, just say the word!" Aaron chimed in, standing up as well and holding up a finger. "I can make a quick run to the store if you're feeling like something we don't have, or we could just order pizza if you want."

Lily's eye twitched slightly at that last suggestion from her husband, an obviously forced smile remaining static on her face.

"Mom, Dad…" Nate sighed, shaking his head, "You don't have to– "

"Master!" Venoct suddenly sprung to the boy's side, startling him and his feline companion.

"Don't do that!" Sailornyan snapped as she dropped to the ground and pointed an angry paw at the ninja yo-kai.

"Oh, my apologies," Venoct gave a respectful bow to the pink nekomata, before his focus turned back towards the human boy. "Master, I'm so happy to see that you've recovered! I await your orders!"

Nate blinked, "Er… 'orders?'"

"Yes! Just say the word, and I shall seek out and bring retribution onto those responsible for the injustice caused onto you the other day!" Venoct exclaimed seriously.

Nate blinked again, "… Retribution…?"

"Of course! I'll track down those vile fiends that imprisoned you and bring down the swift fury of justice for what they have done, whenever you so command!"

Nate flinched at the volume of the ninja yo-kai's words, backing up a bit and trying to avoid looking at the wide, nearly bloodshot eyes that stared back at him, "T-That's really not necessary, I… I'm sure Kirene and her family learned their lesson…" internally the boy was a little unsure on the validity of that, but he also knew sending a ravenous Venoct after the Bundory family would be unlikely to solve anything.

Aside from that, Nathan Adams had other immediate concerns "Also, uh… Venoct, did you… sleep last night…?"

Venoct let out a scoff at that notion, "Of course I did not sleep, I must always be alert to make sure no others attempt to kidnap you, Master!"

"You do realize that you need to sleep in order to be alert, right?" Whisper interjected with a tired sigh, though from the looks of him he had not done too much sleeping the night before either.

The ninja yo-kai stiffly turned his bloodshot gaze in Whisper's direction, the butler flinched and backed away nervously.

"… I had not considered that," Venoct commented plainly, before falling over and onto the kitchen floor with an audible 'thud,' shortly followed by snoring…

"Uh…" Whisper floated back over to the other yo-kai, looking at his sleeping form with an unsure expression, "At least he took my advice…"

"… Mildly concerning," Nate muttered as he glanced down at Venoct, before turning his focus back to the others in the room.

"Uh, so…" Toiletta spoke up next, but began shuffling a bit as she seemed at a loss on what to say.

Nate sighed, "Really, I'm fine, and you didn't even do anything wrong, Hanako."

The ghost girl still looked nervous as she averted her eyes from her crush, "I know but… are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm sure," the brunet boy insisted.

Toiletta nodded, despite her unsure expression, before she took notice of something, "Wait a minute, someone's missing here…" the humanoid yo-kai's narrowed her eyes as she glanced around the room, "Where'd the Princess Witch go!?"

Nate raised a brow at the ghost girl, "You mean Damona…?"

"At this point you should well know the answer to that," Toiletta huffed, hovering over the boy's shoulder and flicking his hair. "And not the point either, where is she? If she's gonna be your 'fiancée,' she should at least be here to comfort you when you need it!"

"I don't need to be comforted!" Nate snapped a bit defensively, before shaking his head and taking a calming breath, "I mean… Damona is busy right now, okay?"

Toiletta looked suspicious at that response, floating around Nate and narrowing her eyes, "Busy with what?"

Nate sighed again, "She said she needed to go back to the Oni Kingdom to take care of some 'political issues,' or something like that."

That explanation did little to alleviate Toiletta's suspicion, "Political issue? What does that even mean?"

Nate shrugged, "Don't ask me, she didn't explain any more than that, I'm sure it's nothing."

---

"Glad to see you could make it," Damona smirked at the yo-kai seated across from her.

"Well ignoring an invitation from the princess of the Oni Kingdom probably wouldn't have been the smartest move, especially right now," Kirene sent back an unfriendly expression as she seemed to be sizing up the one seated across from.

"That it would not have, I suppose," Damona cackled as her smirk stretched ever so slightly. "Especially not after all the trouble you caused the other day."

Kirene flinched but said nothing.

The two yo-kai girls were seated on cushions and across from each other from both ends of a short-legged table, clearly set within the palace of the Oni King Plundros.

The spiked clubs of previous oni kings lined the walls besides their portraits, there was an air of fiery intensity that seemed to permeate through the entire palace, and the thunderous footsteps of oni guards could be heard echoing through the halls.

"So… what exactly did you want to talk to me about?" the cat girl gave a slight sneer as she looked to the demonic princess.

"Isn't it obvious?" one of the princess's eyebrows rose as she looked directly at the cat girl. "Your feelings regarding my fiancé, of course…"

Kirene twitched as a snarl escaped from between her clenched teeth, "You…"

"'You' what?" Damona gave the faintest of smirks as she watched the other girl force back to urge and attack her.

"You…" one of Kirene's eyes gleamed from between her bangs as electric sparks started to visibly dance across her fur, but after a moment the tension in the cat-girl's form died down and she let out a calming breath.

The half-oni princess raised a brow but said nothing as she waited for the other girl to speak again.

"I…" Kirene's first word came slow, almost nervously, but after a moment of her fists clenched and she spoke the next words with full confidence; "I will not allow it."

"Excuse me, you what?" Damona looked taken aback, but also somewhat amused, giving a subtle hand motion for the Bundory to continue.

For a brief moment it seemed as if the confidence Kirene had built up faded away, but she quickly forced it back as she spoke again, determination clear in her tone, "You being Nate's fiancée, I will not allow it!"

Damona kept staring at Kirene with the same half-surprised, half-amused expression, before she suddenly began laughing.

Kirene could only stare back with frustration as the princesses' laugh took on a more and more mocking connotation as the seconds ticked by, until she had finally had enough, "Hey, what's so funny?!"

A few more seconds went by before Damona's laughter finally died down, an evil smirk stretching across her face as she began to speak, "It's funny that you still think you have any sort of say over my fiancé's life, and that you seem to think that we're on equal ground here."

Kirene stood up with a dumbfounded expression as the princess began laughing at her once more, her stunned face quickly shifting back to one of anger, "What's that supposed to mean?! We made a pro– "

"Your promise means nothing!" Damona's sudden shift from mocking laughter to cold fury was almost as jarring as a punch to the gut for the other girl. "At least not after the stunt you tried to pull! You should count yourself lucky that I'm even entertaining the idea of you being one of my fiancé's future wives!"

The cat girl flinched and fell back a bit at the mention of the 'stunt' from the previous day, shame became evident on her face as she replayed the events in her mind, "It… it wasn't supposed to go like that…"

"How it was 'supposed to go' means nothing, all that matters is how it did go," the Oni Princess' tone was one of indifference, while her eyes were directed into a frigid glare towards the other girl, "You're lucky we're not having this meeting in the dungeon, I have plenty of justification to lock your entire family up."

"Wait, leave my family out of this!" Kirene snapped frantically, her tail going stiff and her fur frizzing.

"Oh, like you left Nate's family 'out of' your little kidnapping attempt?" Damona sneered, floating from her position and moving to loom over Kirene's shoulder. "Oh right, you kidnapped them too, didn't you?"

"I-I just, that was…" Kirene shivered in response to the cold air emanating from the demon princess, struggling to find the words to justify herself, "I wasn't… thinking. I just…"

"You only have two options here, my friend," Damona's eyes gleamed as she placed an icy grip onto Kirene's shoulder, "Pledge your loyalty to me."

The feline girl remained still as she felt chills creeping from the spot where the princess held her, "Or…?"

The smirk on Damona's face widened into a sadistic grin, "Or get out of my fiancé's life, and hope that you and I never cross paths again."

Kirene's body shook as the princess' aura seemed to grow more intimidating, the feline girl clenching her teeth to keep from flinching in fear.

Damona released her grip from the other girl's shoulder and hovered back around the table, looking her eye-to-eye once more, the same smirk still on her face, "So… what will it be?"

---

"… Did anyone else just feel a chill run down their spine?" Nate looked around the room, feeling a strange sense of dread as everyone else looked back at him strangely.

"… No, but if that doesn't tell you that little miss Princess Witch is up to no good, I don't know what else to say,' Toiletta could not help commenting as she hovered by Nate's side.

"Okay, enough of that, please," the boy sighed and shook his head, turning his attention back towards the current situation. "Look, I appreciate the concern, I really do, yesterday was… a bit overwhelming, but I'm fine!"

"Are you sure…?" Lily spoke with concern as she looked over her son.

"Yes, I'm sure," Nate sighed again, a hand to his forehead and a slight grunt escaping his mouth, "Just… got kind of a headache, but it's nothing."

"Excuse me…"

At the sudden interjection, the kitchen's occupants turned their attention back to the entrance of the kitchen, where an uncharacteristically nervous Little Charrmer stood, poking her index fingers together as she surveyed the room, flinching as her gaze landed on Nate.

"Uh… is this a bad time…?" the red-clad hero asked with an uncertain tone as she took a careful step forward.

Nate glanced around for a second to see if anyone else would speak, before deciding to himself, "Er, no, I guess not…"

Little Charrmer was nervously shuffling as she looked at her crush, "Uh, Nate, I, uh…"

"Yes?" Nate spoke calmly, holding back a sigh as he could see where this was probably going, 'She's probably gonna ask me out on a date or something like that, even after all that– "

"I'm sorry."

Nate found himself pausing, giving a look of surprise directed at the yo-kai heroine, "What…?"

"I'm sorry," Little Charrmer repeated, her body slightly trembling as her eyes focused on the ground, "About yesterday, about kidnapping you, and failing to protect you, putting you in danger, not listening to you or my team, everything!"

"I, uh…" Nate blinked, his mind seemingly unable to process the direction this had gone in. "Uh… apology accepted. It's okay– "

"No, it's not okay!" the red clad heroine suddenly snapped, before she let out a gasp and covered her mouth. "Sorry, again!"

The human boy remained silent as he looked at the yo-kai girl, waiting for her to speak again.

"I…" Little Charrmer took a deep breath, her nervousness fading as she gained a serious expression, her eyes narrowing as she looked Nate straight in the eyes, "I am a hero… I'm supposed to be a hero."

"Uh… yeah?" Nate looked a little confused, while the rest of the room's occupants watched the exchange with silent worry.

"Heroes don't kidnap people," the red-clad girl stated firmly, clenching her fists. "Heroes don't put innocent people in danger…"

"Well that much is obvious," Toiletta commented snidely.

Little Charrmer briefly glared at the other ghost girl, before continuing to speak to Nate, "Yeah… my point is; what happened was my fault, you never would have gotten kidnapped if I hadn't taken you out on that mission."

Nate let out a cough, glancing away from the girl, "I mean, I'm not so sure about– "

"Please, don't deny it," the yo-kai hero interrupted, raising a hand as she closed her eyes in a pained expression, "Don't try to absolve me of blame, I never should have…" Little Charrmer's face turned slightly red as she glanced away from the boy, "I never should have let a silly crush override my common sense…"

"I mean, yeah…" Nate nodded slowly, glancing away with a bit of awkwardness.

Little Charrmer's face reddened more as her expression turned bashful, "And, uh… I actually said it out loud, I uh… Nate, I like you!"

At the sudden exclamation, the boy blinked with a bit of surprise, "Huh?"

"What is she doing?" Toiletta growled, but Lily held her back from lunging forward.

The yo-kai hero's face was now practically the same shade of red as her costume, looking like she might go into a panic in moment, but calming herself down as she spoke firmly, "Y-You heard me, I admit it; I like you! I like you as more than a friend, Nathan Adams!"

Nate stared at the yo-kai girl for a few brief seconds, before speaking; "… Uh, yeah, I knew that…"

Little Charrmer nearly fell over in shock from that response, her blush fading as her eyes went wide, "W-What?! Y-You did?! HOW?!"

"… Is she serious?" Toiletta grunted, still being held back by Lily, but no longer trying to jump the other girl out of jealousy. "No, seriously… is she serious?!"

Lily looked down at the ghost girl and sighed, shaking her head, "Kids…"

Nate glanced back at the observers with a sigh, shaking his head as he looked back at the flabbergasted yo-kai hero, "I mean… was I not supposed to be able to tell? You… weren't exactly subtle about it…"

Little Charrmer kept staring at Nate, a red glow slowly overtaking her face and her breathing starting to become erratic.

"Uh… Little Charrmer?" Nate looked concerned as the yo-kai girl seemed to be in a stupor.

"I think she's gonnya blow," Sailornyan giggled to herself.

"KYAAAAAHHH!" Little Charrmer suddenly unleashed a loud, mortified scream, before turning and flying out of the room.

"… Well, that didn't go like I was expecting," Nate admitted with a disappointed sigh. "I mean, I think I got the idea of what she was trying to do, but really? Did she think I wouldn't have realized…?"

Lily let out a little chuckle, finally releasing Toiletta from her grip, "It seems you were her first crush, I'm not sure she fully understood how to handle her emotions there."

Toiletta grumbled in annoyance, crossing her arms and looking away with a childish pout.

Nate scratched his head in befuddlement over the idea that he was apparently a yo-kai hero's first crush, though he did not have much time to dwell on this before his mother spoke again.

"Nate, we really do need to have a talk about this whole… yo-kai… thing," Lily's tone was one of uncertainty, while she gave her son a serious look.

"Do we really, right now?" Nate muttered in a tired tone, looking like he very much wanted to leave at this moment.

"Yes, right now, I can't believe you would keep you being involved with something so dangerous from us!" the adult woman insisted, the look in her eyes, and the aura emitting from her, telling her child that he wouldn't be going anywhere...

"I mean, it's not like I'm the only one who's been hiding things, Hanako's a yo-kai after all," Nate pointed out.

Toiletta blinked in surprise, though her cover had already been blown, she did not expect it to be brought up again so suddenly, or the way Nate's parents turned their focus towards her...

"Hanako, we do also need to have a talk about that," Lily gave a stern look towards the ghost girl.

"Er, uh… about that…" Toiletta shrunk back, nervously poking her index fingers together and avoiding making eye contact with the adult woman. "The thing is…"

"Yes?" Lily tapped her foot as she awaited the yo-kai's explanation.

Nate looked at Toiletta with sympathy but forced those feelings down as he decided to take his chance, "Okay, I'm going bug hunting, bye!"

"Okay, but–wait, what?" Lily paused as she processed what her son had said, just in time to hear the front door click shut.

---

After shutting the door behind him and shaking his head, Nate looked up at the sky, breathing a bit heavily and clutching his chest.

"Nate, why did you do that?" Whisper asked with an expression that seemed to be a mixture of concern and disappointment.

Nate released a heavy sigh, kneeling a bit to pet Sailornyan as she hugged his leg affectionately, "Look, I just don't want to think about all… that stuff that happened yesterday, not right now at least…" the boy shook his head as he stood up straight. "I'll… I'll talk to Mom and Dad later, but right now… I kind of just want to have a… relatively normal day…"

Whisper gave the young man a slightly disapproving look, which Nate did his best to ignore.

Moving from the front porch of his home and beginning to walk down the street, Nate reached into his shirt and pulled up a whistle that hung around his neck, considering if he wanted to use it...

'No, I'm not ready to figure out… whatever is going on with that,' the boy internally sighed, tucking the whistle back into his shirt.

Whisper took note of the action, giving a questioning look towards his master, "Nate, why are you wearing a whistle?"

Nate twitched slightly at the question, before giving an annoyed look towards the butler, "I've had it for days, did you really only notice it now?"

"Nate, I'm really not in the mood to act like a know-it-all today…" the djinn sighed.

"Well I'm kind of not in the mood to put up with it either, so I guess we can leave it at that," Nate muttered, scratching his head.

With nothing else to discuss, the trio headed for the park.

---

Nate held his bug net firmly as he slowly approached a tree, the cicada perching on the bark oblivious to the incoming hunter…

With a swift movement, the net fell upon the unsuspecting insect.

"Got it!" Nate cheered as he pulled his net back and took a look at the still chirping cicada that now sat inside.

"Yeah! You go Captain!" Sailornyan cheered, jumping a few times in excitement.

"It's just a common cicada…" Whisper muttered as he glanced down at the excited feline.

Sailornyan frowned at Whisper's comment, "… A shiny common cicada."

"… Sure, why not," Whisper sighed, before turning his attention towards Nate, who was joyfully inspecting the insect. "Well, at least Nate seems to be feeling better now..."

Letting his latest catch go free, the boy gave a carefree smile as he stared up to the sky, "Now this is exactly what I needed."

"Nate?"

The sudden voice had the boy flinching, before he turned to see the approaching form of Maya, a bright smile and light blush on her face.

"Oh… right," Nate released a sigh, 'Can never escape the harem...'

"Hey Nate!" Maya greeted happily as she ran over to the boy.

"Oh, uh… hi, Maya," Nate greeted back, an unsure expression on his face as he looked at the approaching girl.

Sailornyan hissed at the girl, but this of course went unnoticed by her.

"I'm real happy to see you, Nate! I didn't catch you much the other day!" the stylish girl said with a bit of a giggle.

"Yeah, things were… odd yesterday…" Nate muttered, flinching as he noticed an odd swerve of colors emitted from Maya, which vanished as he took a deep breath and shook his head, 'What is with that…?'

After a moment Maya's smile turned to a concerned frown, "By the way, uh… have you seen Meg today?"

Nate blinked in surprise at the question, "Meg? The last time I saw her was at the beach party yesterday."

Maya nodded, her frown deepening, "I was afraid of that, that was the last time I saw her too! We had plans to meet here today, and it's not like her to be late…"

A few potential yo-kai culprits for Megan's possibly forgetting or being held up from her scheduled meeting with her friend crossed Nate's mind, before he shook his head, "Have you checked her house, maybe she overslept or something?"

Maya sighed, her worry subsiding a little as she considered the possibility, "Maybe you're right, I should at least go over to her house and check…"

After Maya left, Nate released a small sigh of relief, but his expression was one of concern, "Even if Meg is kind of crazy, that is kind of weird of her… I hope nothing's wrong."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Nate," Whisper floated over the boy's shoulder and shrugged. "You've overslept plenty of times, haven't you?"

"I guess so…" Nate still looked unsure, but nodded.

Just before the boy was about ready to return to his bug catching, the subtle sound of heavy breathing grazed Nate's ear and he suddenly felt the hair on the back of his neck standing straight.

"Nate, is something wrong…?" Whisper gave a quizzical look to the boy's shift in demeanor.

"Captain?" Sailornyan ears twitched with worry as she looked up at Nate, before the sound of heavy breathing hit her as well, causing her to look towards some nearby bushes and let out a low hiss.

Quickly turning his focus to the direction the pink nekomata had pointed, Nate's pupils shrunk as he spotted Lizzie, barely hidden within the bush, staring at him.

When it became apparent to the hidden girl that her crush had spotted her, her breath halted and her eyes went wide, continuing to stare straight at him, as if processing what her next move should be...

"Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!" Nate quickly made his way out of the park, keeping the hissing Sailornyan firmly in his arms both in protection of her, and comfort for himself.

---

Back with the stranded girls, the three of them were seated on the beach, trying to figure out what their next course of action should be.

"Anyone have any supplies?" Amy asked hopefully, "All I had on me was an extra set of clothing and a sun hat… I didn't exactly expect to be put into this situation…"

"Why would I share anything I have with you?!" Meg snapped, glaring at the other girl with hatred.

"… So you don't have anything, do you?" Amy concluded with a bored expression.

"… Shut up," Meg huffed, turning away and pouting while kicking some sand.

Amy sighed, turning her attention to the third of their trio, "What about you Isabel, you have anything useful?"

"Hmm, unfortunately, I don't have too much on me…" the blonde girl muttered with a regretful sigh, pulling up a bag she had on her and beginning to rummage through it, "Let's see, all I've got are a pocket knife, my compass, some canned goods, can opener, my gun."

Every item listed was tossed to the ground in a pile as they were listed off, with the last item to land on the ground causing the other two girls to jump back in shock, "GUN?!"

"… What?" Isabel looked clueless as she glanced at the other girls.

"Where did you get a gun?!" Amy asked with a terrified expression.

"Don't your parents give you guns for when you get kidnapped and held for ransom?" Isabel asked with an innocent expression on her face.

Amy gave a blank look, "Uh… no?"

"… Huh, that's weird," Isabel blinked.

"How many bullets does it have?" Meg spoke up in a nervous tone.

"Enough," Isabel answered simply, picking the gun up and smiling.

Amy blinked, struggling to find something else to say, "Uh… isn't that dangerous?"

"Enough," Isabel's smile remained static.

Both Amy and Meg just stared at Isabel, neither looking sure of how to respond.

"… Enough what?" Amy finally spoke up again.

Isabel simply held her gun up a bit higher, her finger just barely hovering over the trigger, "Enough questions."

"Oh, okay, I see!" Amy quickly nodded, backing up a few steps.

"Uh, y-yeah, I'm gonna… go over there," Meg nervously chuckled, gesturing towards a nearby tree, "For… for shade."

"Okay!" Isabel smiled, still holding the weapon as she watched the two girls depart, "… Yes, Father was right, this does make things easier!"

With a loud 'caw!' a seagull suddenly swooped down, swiping the pistol out of Isabel's hand and flying off.

The blonde girl could only stare dumbly as the bird flew off into the distance, "… Okay."

Sighing to herself at the quick loss of her 'easy button,' Isabel surveyed her surroundings again… "Think, Isabel, think…" the sandy-haired girl muttered to herself, staring out into the ocean from her position on the beach. "You're trapped on a deserted island, you have no way to call for help, or any idea of how to get home, the first thing to do would probably be to find a source of water…"

"Water? That's stupid!" Meg suddenly interjected, walking up behind the other girl and pointing out at the ocean, "We're surrounded by water! That's the problem!"

Isabel turned to stare at Meg with a blank expression, slightly surprised by how quickly the previously frightened girl had returned, but more so by her words, "That's… not what I meant, I mean drinking water."

The pig-tailed girl scoffed, turning and waving her hand dismissively, "Just drink the sea water, you big baby!"

Isabel's expression remained blank, "Uh… Meg, you… do know you can't drink sea water, right? It's full of salt!"

"So? I put salt on my eggs all the time!" Meg made another dismissive gesture before stepping closer to the water, "I'm not afraid of some salt in my water!"

Isabel's eyes widened as she watched the other girl kneel down and scoop up some sea water in her hands, "Wait, Megan! Don't!"

Before Meg could take a drink of the water, it was suddenly slapped out of her hand by Amy.

"Hey!" Meg glared at the older girl. "That was my water!"

Isabel let out a sigh of relief in the background.

"You were going to drink sea water! What are you crazy?!" Amy shouted, Isabel silently nodding in agreement. "Do you know what fish do in there?!"

Isabel stopped nodding and blinked, staring at Amy with an incomprehensible expression.

Meg glared at Amy, but took a moment to think about what she said, with her expression quickly morphing into one of horror and disgust, "EWWWW!"

Amy nodded with a satisfied look, "Yeah, you almost drank fish– "

"DON'T EVEN SAY IT!" Meg shouted, before turning and running towards the forest, "EW! EW! EW!"

Isabel continued to just silently stare, until she finally shook her head and let out a sigh of defeat, "Fine, whatever, as long as you guys don't drink the sea water…"

"Right!" Amy gave Isabel a thumbs-up, before crossing her arms and looking up at the sky, "Now, it's obvious that there are important matters to deal with if we're gonna be stuck here…"

Isabel's expression softened a bit, a small smile coming to her face as she walked over to the older girl, "Yeah, we need to find wa– "

"We need to make clothes!"

Amy's interruption had Isabel freezing, the smile on her face dropping as she went back to 'blank stare mode,' "… I'm sorry, what…?"

Amy did not seem to notice Isabel's mood shift, keeping a bright smile as she continued, "Yeah! If we're gonna be stuck here, we can't just get by wearing the same outfits everyday! That would be gross! So obviously making more clothing should be one of our first priorities!"

Isabel just kept staring at Amy for a couple more seconds, before she turned towards the ocean and sat down, "I think I'm going to… just sit here for a bit…"

"Great! You do that, and I'll start looking for material we could use!" Amy cheerfully gave another thumbs-up, before heading off towards the forest.

"EW! EW! EW!" Meg ran back onto the beach, before tripping and falling onto the sand, face first.

"How pathetic…" Jibanyan commented from nearby.

Meg glanced up and glared at the feline yo-kai, "Shut up, cat hallucination! At least I'm not crazy!"

Jibanyan blinked in surprise at the girl seeing and hearing him, before he shrugged, "Sure you're nyot..."

---

"Okay, I think we lost her," Nate fell to his knees, breathing heavily and checking over his shoulder and down the steps of Mt. Wildwood to make sure he was right, "Yeah… yeah, she's gone…" with an exhale of relief, he released Sailornyan from his arms and stood back up.

"Don't worry about her, Captain, I wouldn't let her touch you!" Sailornyan exclaimed with a proud stance.

Though it was clearly an attempt to look inspiring, Nate could only find it adorable, letting out a small chuckle to himself and petting the pink nekomata's head.

"Nya~!" the sailor cat purred happily at the contact.

"Well, as long as we're here, might as well continue looking for bugs," Nate held up his net with a smile, "There is a lot more potential to find rarer bugs up here anyway!"

A sweatdrop formed on Whisper's head as he gave his master a strange look, "Why are you so obsessed with bugs anyway…?"

"Yeah bugs!" Sailornyan cheered obliviously.

"I just enjoy catching bugs, it's not that complicated, Whisper!" Nate laughed as he started to head past the shrine and into the woods.

Whisper sighed, but a small smile came to his face, "Well as long as you're happy, I guess that's good enough…"

With newfound confidence, Nate made his way through the woods, glancing around at trees with his net at the ready, "Let's see, if I were a rare bug, where would I be…?"

"Oh! Oh! In Captain Nyate's nyet!" Sailornyan chimed in, holding a paw up proudly.

Nate gave an amused look to the nekomata and shook his head, "No Sailornyan, I'd need to catch it first."

"If I were a rare bug I'd want to get in the captain's nyet straight away," the pink feline smiled.

Nate rolled his eyes and chuckled, "Well, you're not a bug, are you Sailornyan? You're a cute kitty-cat."

The boy gave the feline yo-kai a pet on the head, causing her to let out a happy purr, "And, I think… I see one now…"

The cat yo-kai looked to where the boy's vision had gone, seeing a nearby tree, with a large stag beetle clinging to the bark.

With a gesture for his yo-kai companions to be silent, Nate held up his net and carefully began creeping towards the tree, his grip slightly shaky as he eyed the magnificent insect, its golden carapace gleaming in the sun.

"You're mine," the human boy spoke quietly, his eyes narrowed in determination.

With a swift movement, the boy's net rushed forward, right onto the tree, and the beetle.

"GOTCHA!" with a cheer, Nate held his net high, before pulling it back down and looking inside at the stag nestled inside, "The others are never gonna believe this!"

However, in his triumph, the boy did not notice the aftereffect of his net hitting the tree, how it had started to shake… and how a screaming pink blur fell from its branches, and right onto him…

"AAAAAHHH?!"

"OUCH?!"

"Captain!/Nate!" with synchronized calls of worry, both Sailornyan and Whisper rushed over to the boy whom now lay on the ground, groaning, his bug net discarded.

"I… I'm fine…" Nate grunted with a wince, glancing towards his bug net… just in time to notice the golden stag he had just caught buzzing off, "… Scratch that, I'm not fine… I don't think I'll ever be fine again…"

"… Well he's fine," Whisper concluded with a sigh.

Sailornyan simply purred as she patted Nate's head.

"Ow, ow, ow…"

The familiar sounding female voice caught the trio's collective attention, with Nate pulling him back up, as a small pink blob tumbled off his back.

"Gah?!" the newcomer grunted as she hit the ground.

"What the…?" Nate looked down at the pink yo-kai that had fallen from the tree, "Uh… are you alright?"

The yo-kai, which resembled some kind of small pink ghost with a slight resemblance to Whisper in general shape, with a heart symbol on the lower right side of her body, and a ponytail shaped like the number three, slowly floated up as she regained her senses, "I… think so."

"Weird… I didn't even need to use my watch to find you…" Nate muttered, looking at his yo-kai watch curiously.

"It was probably because she fell on you," Whisper explained with a shrug, "Yo-kai invisibility is closer to a 'don't notice me' thing than true invisibility, I mean there are times you've been able to see yo-kai without the watch when you knew where to look."

Nate blinked in surprise at Whisper's knowledge, "That was… actually pretty informative, Whisper, thanks."

"… Not sure if I should appreciate the thanks, or be insulted that you're surprised by me having good information," the yo-kai sighed with a shrug.

Meanwhile, the newly appeared yo-kai fully regained her senses, with her eyes widening in terror at the sight of the strangers before her.

"Nya, hello!" Sailornyan innocently smiled as she waved at the other pink spirit.

"AH!"

"Wait, what's wrong?!" Nate jumped in worry at the sudden scream.

"P-Please don't hurt me," the pink spirit whimpered, her entire body shaking like a leaf.

"Hey, hey, we're not gonna hurt you," Nate spoke in a gentle tone, kneeling down to look the new yo-kai in the eye, "It's alright, you don't need to be afraid."

The yo-kai looked uncertain, fear still evident in her eyes, but she seemed to calm down a bit as she got a good look at Nate, "Uh… o-okay..."

"What's your nyame, fellow pink thing?" Sailornyan looked at the new yo-kai with curiosity, her tails swaying back and forth.

"My name…?" the yo-kai muttered, scratching her head and gaining a look of concentration, "It's… Mee 2, I think…?"

"Your name is Mee 2…?" Nate rose a brow skeptically.

"Yeah, that seems right!" the yo-kai seemed more sure of herself after hearing it again, smiling to the boy and doing a quick twirl, "I'm Mee 2!"

Charming Tribe: Mee 2

"Huh, okay, kind of an odd name…" Nate muttered, before shrugging, "But on the other hand; I know a yo-kai called Dummkap."

"Mee 2, Mee 2…" Whisper muttered, turning away to subtly pull out his yo-kai pad and began scrolling.

Nate gave his butler a dull look, "Whisper, just do that in the open, you're not hiding anything, and you not knowing every yo-kai isn't something to be ashamed of!" 'Though I'd say pretending you do is…' the boy chose to keep that last thought to himself.

"I can't hear you, Nathan, I'm too busy searching through, uh, my memories, trying to identify this yo-kai!" the small djinn insisted, his eyes never leaving his device's screen.

Nate sighed in disappointment, before turning his focus back to the pink ghost, "So, Mee 2, what are you doing out here? Why were you hiding in a tree?"

"I, uh… wasn't hiding in it…" the pink yo-kai admitted, looking down nervously, "I was… sleeping in it…"

"What…?" Nate blinked in surprise, "Why were you sleeping in a tree?"

"Uh…" Mee 2 still avoided eye contact as she struggled to find what to say, "I… don't know… it seemed like the safest place."

"Nya?" Sailornyan gave a curious look, "Why didn't you just go home to sleep?"

"Uh, Sailornyan," Nate scolded gently, an awkward look on his face as he tugged the nekomata, "Not everyone has a home, you know…"

"They don't?" Sailornyan glanced up innocently.

"I'm actually pretty sure I do have a home," Mee 2 interjected, a troubled look on her face as she floated in a small circle, "But… I can't remember where it is…"

"You can't remember where your house is?" Nate glanced back at Mee 2 with surprise.

"Not just that!" the ghost girl quickly clarified, flying up closer to Nate with a frightened look on her face, "I can't remember how I got here! I don't remember my street address, the name of my home town, my parents faces! I can't remember anything specific aside from the name 'Mee 2!'"

Nate could only stare at the yo-kai with a stunned expression after her outburst, unsure of what to say in response.

Luckily for Nate, Whisper decided at that moment to step in, "Hmm, that sounds like post-death amnesia to me."

"Post-death amnesia?" the pink floating yo-kai glanced towards the white one with a worried look, before what he just said fully hit her, "… I'M DEAD?!"

"Yeah, it's nyot a big deal; we're dead too~!" Sailornyan cheered as she gestured to herself and Whisper.

"Actually, I never died, I was born this way," Whisper specified with a bit of a huff, though he quickly gained an uncertain look, "At least… I think I was… I can't really remember the first few decades of my existence all that well…"

Mee 2 was not paying attention to the other two yo-kai, staring off into space as her facial features formed into a panicked expression, her body shaking as the same thought echoed through her mind, over and over; 'I'm dead… I'm dead… I'm dead…'

"Uh, guys; I don't think this is helping her…" Nate voiced his concerns, carefully approaching the panicking ghost and looking her over.

"It isn't?" Sailornyan blinked.

"Oh, sorry," Whisper bowed, an apologetic look on his face.

Nate sighed, glancing back at Mee 2, "Hey, uh… are you alright?"

"Alright…?" the female spirit blinked at the question, before turning to the boy and grabbing hold of him, her eyes wide, "ALRIGHT?! I'M DEAD! I'M AS NOT ALRIGHT AS YOU COULD POSSIBLY BE!"

"W-We don't know for sure you're dead," Nate tried to reason, though the female yo-kai did not seem keen on listening.

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH MYSELF?!" Mee 2 shouted, floating around frantically, her fists flailing and waterfalls of tears spraying from her eyes, "I'M DEAD WITH NO MEMORY! I HAVE NOTHING AND NOBODY!"

"I-I mean, your memory probably isn't gone forever!" Nate waved his hands in attempt to get the screaming yo-kai's attention.

"It isn't?" Mee 2 paused, her expression panicked expression swapping to a curious one in the blink of an eye.

"Well I mean, I've met yo-kai before who couldn't remember things about their lives," Nate explained, giving a bit of a relieved smile as his words seemed to be calming the distraught spirit down, "But a lot of them could usually remember after some experience that triggered their memory."

"Really?" Mee 2 looked from Nate, to the other two yo-kai, a bit of hopefulness forming in her eyes.

"Yes, that is fairly normal actually," Whisper confirmed with a confident grin, "Memories of ones life are rarely gone forever, one may just need the right stimulation to bring them back into clarity!"

"Huh… speaking of, you actually do seem kind of familiar to me…" Mee 2 muttered, looking back to Nate with curious eyes.

"I do?" Nate gave a surprised look back as the pink ghost floated around him with critical eyes.

"Yeah, I think… you're Nate!" Mee 2 exclaimed as she pointed at the human boy, before turning and pointing towards the yo-kai butler, "And you… you're Whisper!"

Nate's eyes widened in surprise, "How did you know our names?"

Mee 2 blinked, as she tried to recall how exactly she knew these two, but her mind seemed to turn up blank every time she tried, "I… I'm sorry, I don't know…"

Nate looked concerned at that answer, he knew that something about this yo-kai seemed familiar, but he was unable to put his finger on it, 'What's going on here…?'

"You are kind of famous in the yo-kai world, Nate, she could just know you because of that," Whisper pointed out, a skeptical expression on his face.

"Wouldn't explain how she knyows you," Sailornyan smirked up at the butler, whom glared down at her with annoyance.

"Normally I would take that bait, but I'm not in the mood."

Whisper's rebuttal caused Sailornyan to start pouting and turn away from him with a huff, "Party pooper!"

"This is not a party, and nor am I a 'pooper!'" the yo-kai butler protested, flying over to the nekomata and glaring at her.

Sailornyan's mood immediately did a 180, with her pointing and laughing at Whisper, "You said pooper!"

Whisper's anger subsided in favor of bewilderment as he stared at the laughing nekomata, "… You really are just a child at the end of the day."

"Nya?" the pink nekomata tilted her head in confusion.

"You're famous? Maybe that is why I know you're name…" Mee 2 gave Nate a thoughtful look, though she did not seem entirely convinced, "Something about that doesn't feel right though…" she gave a heavy sigh as her arms drooped, "Why can't I remember? Where do I even live?"

"Hmm…" Nate crossed his arms and closed his eyes for a moment, before an idea struck him, "Oh! Why don't we give you a tour?"

"A tour?" Mee 2 tilted her body curiously.

Nate nodded, smiling at the pink ghost, "Yeah, a tour of Springdale! If you're familiar with us, there could be other stuff you're familiar with around here, maybe even something that could jog your memory!"

Mee 2 thought about this suggestion for a moment, before giving a cheerful smile back towards the human, "That might actually work! Great idea, Nate!"

"Yeah, a tour!" Sailornyan cheered, doing a little twirl and pose.

"You're really too nice for your own good sometimes, Nate," Whisper sighed, though this comment went ignored by the rest of the group.

On the way back up to the shrine, Nate could not help but spare a glance towards Mee 2 again, something about her appearance giving him a strange sense of déjà vu…

After a few moments, what exactly her appearance reminded of seemed to hit Nate with a realization that filled him with a small amount of revulsion, which he quickly forced down as he spoke up, "Mee 2?"

"Yeah?" the pink yo-kai looked at the boy with an innocent smile.

The boy took a deep breath, before asking his question; "Hey, uh, does the name 'Fuu 2' mean anything to you…?"

"Huh, uh… no, I don't think so," Mee 2 looked at Nate with confusion. "Why?"

"… It's nothing," the boy quickly shook his head, gesturing for the pink ghost to follow him, and to catch up with Sailornyan and Whisper, both of whom had already made it up to the shrine. "Come on, let's get that tour started!"

"Yeah, okay," Mee 2 nodded, looking a bit curious over who this 'Fuu 2' is, but deciding to leave it for now, with her current amnesia being a confusing enough issue for the moment.

---

"For our first stop on the tour we have our own Springdale Elementary!" Nate exclaimed as he led the trio of yo-kai, gesturing around as they walked through the gates and onto the school-grounds.

"Hmm…" Mee 2 gave a hard look as she glanced up at the building. "It… seems familiar, but it's not jogging any particular memory either…"

"… Well there was a chance for school to be useful, I should have expected nothing would come of it," Nate let out a sigh, but he quickly smiled again, "No big deal! We've got plenty more stops on our tour, and if this place seems familiar to you, I'm sure at least one of them should help you remember who you are!"

"Yeah, don't give up hope! If the Captain thinks so, I knyow you'll get your memory back!" Sailornyan gave an encouraging cheer, her tails happily wagging as she clapped her front paws.

Mee 2 cracked a smile at the pink nekomata, floating down to her and giggling, "Well how could I have doubt of something so adorable?"

"Nya!" Sailornyan giggled, doing a twirl.

"Hya!"

The sound of a girl's voice had the trio looking towards the field, where they spotted Alex, kicking around a soccer ball on her own.

Alex smirked as she kicked the ball right into the air, before continuing to juggle it with her leg.

Mee 2's eyes widened at the sight of the human girl, pointing at her, "Hey, I know her! That's Alex!"

Nate looked surprised, quickly glancing back at the pink ghost, "You do?! Do you know how?!"

"Yeah, I know her name's Alex, she likes sports and…" Mee 2 paused, her eyes squinting in frustration, "That… that's all I know! Why?!"

Whisper floated over and looked at Mee 2, crossing his arms, "That's… very weird, I guess there is something more going on here…"

"You didn't believe me before?!" Mee 2 quickly turned to glare at Whisper, her cheeks puffed up in anger.

The yo-kai butler quickly turned away with an awkward cough, "Ahem, as I said before, Nate is rather famous among yo-kai, knowing him, or at least of him, isn't exactly strange…"

Mee 2 just kept glaring at Whisper, her cheeks puffing up more as she gave a slight growl.

Nate meanwhile was approaching Alex, thinking to himself on how exactly he should ask her about his slight suspicions.

Alex had a wide grin on her face as she continued to keep the ball from hitting the ground, not even stopping when she took note of her crush approaching, "Oh, hey there Nate! What's up?"

Nate let out an awkward fake cough, shuffling a bit as he thought about what to say, "Uh, Alex… do you uh…"

The sporty girl gave a confused look at the boy struggling to speak, finally stopping her juggling, catching the ball in her hands mid-air, and giving a questioning look, "Uh, Nate, you alright? You look like you've got something on your mind?"

"Uh…" Nate glanced over at Whisper and Mee 2 for help, the latter was still glaring at the former, whom was trying his best to ignore her. Nate then turned his attention to Sailornyan, who gave him a thumbs-up and nodded.

"Nate…?" Alex's brow furrowed as she looked at the boy, "Come on man, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

Finally, Nate took a deep breath and spoke, "Alex, do you know anything about yo-kai?"

There was a moment of silence between the two kids where they just stared at each other…

"Uh… what?" Alex blinked, looking unsure if she had heard correctly.

"Do you know anything about yo-kai?" Nate repeated, a serious expression on his face.

"What, you mean like kappa, yuki-onna, those kind of things?" Alex tilted her head with a confused expression, "Yeah, I know of them, what about them?"

The girl's reaction seemed to tell Nate what he wanted to know, with him just letting out a sigh and shaking his head, "Uh, never mind, it's nothing."

"Huh…?" Alex squinted her eyes in confusion for a moment, before shrugging her shoulders, "Okay, if you say so dude."

"Y-Yeah, don't worry… it was nothing," Nate assured the girl with a small smile, "But why would Mee 2 know Alex…?'

"Well, as long as you're here; how about a little one-on-one soccer?" Alex offered eagerly, holding up the ball and winking, "I promise I'll go easy on you~!"

"Uh…" Nate face turned slightly red as he took a nervous step back, with him flinching as a swirl of colors seemed to pulse from Alex that made his head hurt a bit, 'What…?' like the last time he was able to make them go away with concentration, but he was left more confused, 'Is that the… emotion powers I had when I was little…?'

"Come on, Nate! It'll be fun~!" Alex encouraged with a flirtatious smile, causing the boy's blush to intensify.

This commotion caught the attention of the yo-kai, with both Mee 2 and Sailornyan glaring at the human girl, huffing and puffing up their cheeks in jealousy.

Nate took notice of the yo-kai girls' response and paled slightly, 'Oh come on! How can she already have a crush on me?!' shaking his head of these thoughts, the boy decided it would be best to try and diffuse this situation as quickly as possible. "Well, uh while I'd love to, Alex, I'm kind of in the middle of something," he hastily explained as he continued to back away from the girl. "So, uh… yeah, maybe some other time…?"

Alex blinked, before shrugging her shoulders, "Oh, alright! You know how to find me if you change your mind!" with a quick wave, Alex returned to kicking the soccer ball around on her own.

Nate looked a little surprised at how easily Alex had accepted his declining of her invitation.

"Hey, Nate! Where to next?" Mee 2 asked as she floated up to the boy, grabbing onto his arm and glaring at Alex, despite the fact the other girl could not see her. "This place isn't really jogging my memories much, so we should try somewhere else, right?"

"Uh, yeah I guess so," Nate scratched his head as he gave the pink ghost an awkward look, gently pulling his arm from her, causing her to pout. "I do have some other ideas..."

---

"Oh, berries!" a noticeably disheveled Megan drooled at the sigh of a bush of brightly colored fruit, beginning to pick them eagerly.

"I think you probably shouldn't eat those…" Jibanyan commented, giving Meg a bored look.

"Shut up, kitty hallucination! You're not the boss of me!" Meg shouted back at the feline, shoveling more berries into her mouth.

The nekomata watched her for a few more seconds before shaking his head and shrugging, "Whatever, if you die it ain't on me."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't die~!" Pinkipoo happily chimed in, waving his scepter around.

"Thank you puppy, but you can't help me, you are just a hallucination," Meg rolled her eyes as she walked away with a handful of berries.

Nearby, a frustrated Isabel was glancing around some rocks and trees, "I think I can hear running water..."

"Haha! I'm finally done!" a slightly feral looking Amy cheered, admiring an outfit she wore that seemed to be made out of woven together vines and leaves. "Hey, Isabel! Look I made an outfit, isn't it cute?!"

Isabel glanced over at the other girl with an annoyed and tired expression, "Amy, I'm still trying to find water."

"But my outfit!" the older girl whined, giving puppy-dog eyes.

Isabel let out a long sigh, shaking her head and looking at the other girl, giving the outfit a once-over, and quickly gaining a dull look of disappointment on her face, "That's poison ivy."

Amy's eyes widened in shock, before her body began to noticeably twitch, "Itchy… itchy… ITCHY!" with a sudden scream, the young fashionista took off running.

"Haha! You made an outfit out of poison ivy! You're so stupid!" Meg laughed at the panicking Amy, before plopping one of her handful of berries into her mouth.

Isabel glanced over at Meg and let out a heavy sigh, "Those berries are poisonous."

Meg's eyes widened as she quickly spat out the fruit onto the ground, "Poison?!"

Isabel nodded, "Yeah, luckily not deadly in such small– "

"Poison!" Meg ignored Isabel's attempt at an explanation as she began running around, "I'm gonna die! I've been poisoned! I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

Isabel looked annoyed, "No, you– "

"ITCHY!" Amy screamed as she ran by again.

"POISON!" Meg shouted again.

Both Meg and Amy continued to run around in circles screaming as Isabel stood in place, an annoyed sigh escaping her lips as she shook her head.

Isabel rubbed her head, letting out a few calming breaths, "You can't just let them die, Isabel, that would make you a bad person…"

"Eh, I'm fine if you only keep Amy alive, I think the other one's a lost cause," Jibanyan commented with a shrug.

"That's not nice to say, there's always a chance to be friends!" Letsbifrenz spoke up, grinning at the cat yo-kai.

"Oh shut up ya creep!" Jibanyan snapped with an annoyed growl.

"… And now I'm hallucinating, great… that's real great," Isabel muttered in a defeated tone, her mood not helped by the sounds of Amy and Meg screaming and running around still apparent in the background.

---

"Next stop on our Springdale tour; Uptown Springdale's Everymart!" Nate exclaimed, gesturing to the convenient store.

Mee 2 stared at the building with narrowed eyes, "It definitely feels a bit familiar… but I'm not sure why, sorry," the pink spirit looked at the boy and bowed in apology.

Nate let out a disappointed sigh, but smiled back at the yo-kai and shook his head, "No need to apologize, Mee 2, it's not your fault! I think we're on the right track though, we just need to keep looking!"

"Yeah, even if everything you recognyize is just a little piece, maybe we just nyeed to find enyough pieces for you to put it all together!" Sailornyan chimed in an encouraging tone.

"Yes, you do seem to be at least recognizing the locations we've been going, so I'd say it's fair to assume there's something to all this, even if I was a tad skeptical to begin with," Whisper admitted with an encouraging grin.

Mee 2 smiled and wiped a tear from her eye, "Thanks guys, I really appreciate you all trying to help me, even if I don't have any idea where my home is or how to get back there…"

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out if we keep looking," Nate assured with a helpful smile.

"Yeah! And if we don't find your house, you can come live in the yo-kai apartment!" Sailornyan offered helpfully.

"Yo-kai apartment…?" Mee 2 blinked in confusion at that.

Nate gave an awkward laugh at the mention of the apartment, and glanced down at the pink nekomata, "Uh, Sailornyan, maybe don't go offering that without at least talking to Hidabat first?"

"Why nyot? Didn't he put you in charge of who can move in?" the cat yo-kai blinked.

"I also really need to have a talk with him about that…" Nate muttered, letting out a tired sigh as his body slumped a bit.

Mee 2 looked more confused by the exchange between the boy and feline yo-kai, before glancing back at the immediate area, and her eyes widened in recognition as she spotted a nearby figure, she pointed; "Hey, who's that?!"

"Who?" Nate turned to look at whoever Mee 2 was referring to, only to freeze up, his eyes widening, and sweat beginning to drip from his forehead.

"Nate?" Whisper looked at the boy with concern, before he noticed the one that had caused this response from the boy, "Oh dear… this may not be the time for this…"

For the girl that Mee 2 had pointed out was none other than Katie Forester, the young girl currently seeming to be thinking about if she wanted to enter the convenient store or not, luckily having not spotted her nearby friend yet...

"Uh… maybe we should go check another spot," Nate urged, lightly tugging on Mee 2's arm, clearly not wanting to face his crush at this moment.

"But, that girl…" Mee 2 seemed to be in a trance as she started drifting towards the pony-tailed brunette.

"Mee 2, no!" Nate desperately whispered, though a bit too loudly…

"Nate?"

Flinching at being noticed, Nate ceased in his attempts to flee, forcing a smile as he waved at the approaching girl, "Oh, uh… h-hey, Katie…" the boy's eyes nervously glanced to the side.

"Uh, y-yeah, hey, Nate…" Katie greeted back awkwardly, her eyes also failing to look directly at her friend and instead fell towards the sidewalk. "So, uh… yesterday was… something…"

Nate flinched at the mention of 'yesterday' but quickly forced a smile, "Uh, yeah, didn't… expect for any of that to happen."

"It was… really crazy…" the pony-tailed girl, looking like she had no idea where to go with this conversation topic, awkwardly glancing away a few times.

"Oh, uh… where's your noko friend by the way?" Nate asked, clearly looking for an excuse to change the subject, "Uh, I would like to thank them for the help yesterday..."

"Tsuchi? Oh he's back at home," Katie explained with a shrug, "Luckily, he didn't seem interested in following me today."

"Uh, why is that lucky…?" Nate blinked, "I mean, I'm pretty sure noko are lucky, so why is him not following you lucky?"

Katie rolled her eyes, "Luck is subjective, personally I find not being followed by a little hopping snake constantly yelling 'noko!' and headbutting me to be more lucky than not!"

"Uh… okay…" Nate just looked even more confused, but nodded. "So, wait… does 'Tsuchi' live with you?"

Katie's brow rose, her expression one of restrained annoyance, "Is that really any of your business?"

Nate quickly looked down nervously, "Uh, no I guess not, just curious, I-I mean, I have some yo-kai living with me too, s-so it's not like I'm judging or saying it's bad or anything like that…"

Katie took a deep breath and shook her head, "Uh, sorry Nate, I guess I'm still kind of annoyed you kept the whole 'yo-kai' thing from me for so long, I mean; I'm trying not to hold it against you, I know that it wasn't really something you were obligated to tell me about, but…"

"N-No," Nate held up his hand and shook his head, "You're right to be upset, with how many times yo-kai have made you a target of inspiritment, I should've told you about them a long time ago."

"No, it's okay, you–"Katie paused, giving her friend a questioning look, "… Wait, what about me being an inspiritment target? How many times…?"

"Uh… that's kind of a difficult question to answer…" Nate glanced away, giving a nervous chuckle.

"Nate!" Katie growled dangerously.

"L-Look, it's not like you were the only one who was ever inspirited!" Nate futilely tried to placate the girl.

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?!" the girl snapped, taking an imposing step forward.

"I-I'm sorry, I should have told you!" the boy whimpered as he backed up.

"Wow, Nate's kind of a wimp…" Mee 2 muttered, watching the boy with a disappointed look.

"You just haven't seen the captain when he's at his best," Sailornyan assured, a crossing her arms and nodding confidently to herself.

"No, this is pretty standard…" Whisper sighed.

As Katie continued to move menacingly towards the cowering boy, something caught the corner of her eye, and she suddenly turned in the direction of the three yo-kai.

"Uh, Katie?" Nate looked at the girl strangely, his fear quickly fading as she had stopped focusing on him.

"Okay, who's there?! Show yourselves!" Katie ordered, holding up her yo-kai watch and shining the light around, revealing the yo-kai to her.

"Hi!" Sailornyan happily waved to the girl.

"Uh, greetings Miss. Forester," Whisper chuckled awkwardly.

"Uh…" Mee 2 could only let out a few unintelligible mumbles as the girl's eyes fell on her.

"What the…?" Katie blinked, her finding herself staring back at Mee 2 with a dumbfounded expression, "You're… You're so…"

"This doesn't seem good…" Nate gulped, uncertain of what exactly was going to happen next, but sure that it was not going to be pleasant…

"CUTE~!"

Nate fell over from shock as his crush lunged forward and grabbed Mee 2 into a hug, as if the ghost were a cuddly plush toy.

"This is… odd," Mee 2 commented from her position in the giggling girl's arms.

"She really can change personalities on a dime," Whisper muttered in befuddlement over Katie's shift in demeanor.

Nate sighed, "Well at least she doesn't want to kill me anymore…"

"Until she remembers why she was mad!" Sailornyan pointed out, a big innocent smile on her face.

"Please don't say that," Nate muttered pathetically, a cloud of dread raining over him… No, wait; it was just rain water.

"I'M SORRY!" a mortified Drizzelda shouted out from the background, running off and taking the cloud with her.

"… That was weird," Nate commented with a blank expression, before shaking his head and looking back towards Katie, whom was still happily hugging Mee 2.

"So, uh… could you maybe let me go?" Mee 2 spoke up awkwardly, her eyes glancing around as she slightly struggled in the human girl's grip.

Katie's giggling stopped as she processed the ghost's request, before releasing her and letting out a slightly embarrassed chuckle, "Oh, uh, of course! Sorry."

Mee 2 did a bit of a stretch as she floated free, before looking back to Katie and smiling, "Thanks, I appreciate the compliments, but not a hug fan of being restrained."

"Yeah, I get it," the brunette girl nodded, looking at the three present yo-kai with curious eyes, "So, who exactly are you guys anyway? I'm still pretty new to this 'yo-kai' thing, and there wasn't exactly much of a chance for, you know… introductions yesterday…"

Nate let out an awkward cough, an uncomfortable look on his face at the mention of the previous day, before he gestured to the yo-kai, "Uh, well, Katie, I guess it's only fair for me to introduce you; the white floating one is Whisper."

"Charmed, Miss. Forester!" Whisper spoke up, giving a bow as he floated up to the girl, "It's a pleasure to finally be able to speak to you after having seen you be a companion to my master here for quite some time!"

Katie looked confused, "Master…?"

Whisper smiled as he did a midair twirl, "Correct! I am young Nathan's butler! I have been his faithful servant ever since the day he freed me from the Crank-a-Kai!"

That answer only left Katie more confused, "Crank-a-Kai…?"

"We can explain that one later," Nate interjected with an awkward smile, before gesturing to the pink cat standing by his side, "And this adorable kitty here is Sailornyan!"

"Hi!" the nekomata cheered as she waved her paws.

"Aw, she is adorable!" Katie cooed as she moved to pet the cat yo-kai, earning some purrs in response, before the girl looked to the final yo-kai, "And what about her? I don't remember seeing her the other day."

"Oh, that's Mee 2," Nate answered with an unsure expression on his face, "And we actually only met her today ourselves."

"Hi," the pink ghost waved, an uncertain smile on her face, "Yeah I actually… don't really know who I am."

Katie turned back to Mee 2, raising a brow, "What? Didn't you just say you were Mee 2?"

"Yeah, I know that's my name," Mee 2 nodded, letting out a troubled sigh as her expression fell, "But… that's sort of all I know right now, I can't remember anything about my life, nothing specific anyway…"

"Oh…" Katie looked unsure of how to respond to that, "Uh… sorry to hear that?"

"Things, places, people… they all seem familiar," Mee 2 spoke as she looked around, "I can't… pinpoint anything, but I think I might of lived here before I died…" the pink ghost looked back at Katie, "I feel like I've seen you before, but I can't figure out where."

"… You know, you actually seem kind of familiar to me too," Katie gave a thoughtful look at the floating pink yo-kai.

"Wait, really?! Do you know me?!" Mee 2 gave a surprised and hopeful look as she floated closer to the human girl.

Katie let out an awkward fake cough as she took a step back, glancing away, "Uh… no, sorry… it's just kind of a feeling, you know…?"

Mee 2 quickly deflated, but nodded, "Yeah, I get it…"

"That's what we're doing out here actually," Nate said, scratching the back of his neck as he averted his eyes, "We thought, maybe if we showed Mee 2 around town, something might trigger her memories."

"But so far, no luck," Mee 2 sighed.

Katie gave a sympathetic look to the ghost, before smiling, "Well hey; you may not have had any luck yet, but don't give up! Nate may be average, but he's also someone everyone in our class knows can be trusted to help with pretty much anything!"

Nate looked conflicted at the way Katie spoke about him, so he chose to say nothing on the matter.

"Also your ponytail is super cute, I didn't know yo-kai could be stylish!" Katie happily complimented.

Mee 2 giggled as she touched her ponytail, smiling right back at Katie, "Aw, thanks! Yours is super cute too! I also love your outfit! If I wore clothes, I'd want one just like it!"

Katie beamed as she looked at Mee 2's smiling face, letting out a little squeal to herself, "You're so cute~!"

Mee 2 laughed as she floated around Katie, "Well, you're cuter~!"

"No, you're cuter~!"

"No, you're cuter~!"

Both Katie and Mee 2 giggled together as they continued to throw each other compliments back and forth.

"This is starting to get painful to watch…" Whisper muttered with an exasperated sigh.

"Well, it's nice to see they're getting along," Nate chuckled to himself, internally forcing back a strange feeling, 'But… why do I feel like the two of them being together is a disaster waiting to happen…?'

"So, Nate?"

Katie's voice snapped Nate out his thoughts, the boy turning towards his crush to see her focus was now on him, "Uh… Yeah?"

"How's this little 'tour' of yours been going so far?" the girl asked, a kind smile on her face.

Nate gave a slight sigh of relief as it seemed Katie had forgotten about her earlier anger towards him, though his expression soon turned to disappointment, "Well… not so great so far."

"Well we've only been to two places," Mee 2 pointed out with a hopeful tone, "Both here and the school feel familiar, so I think we're on the right track!"

"Maybe," Nate nodded, before looking thoughtful, "But where to next…?"

"How about the park?" Katie suggested helpfully, "That's a pretty popular spot to hang out, I bet there's a sight there that could give a jolt to your memories!"

"Park, park, park…" Mee 2 muttered as she floated in a little circle and glanced up thoughtfully, "Something about that does sound familiar…"

"I mean, parks aren't exactly uncommon," Whisper pointed out, but went ignored.

"Yeah, let's do it!" Mee 2 exclaimed with a fist-pump.

"Uh… the park…?" Nate blinked, a nervous look coming to his face at the thought of going back there, 'What if Lizzie is still there…?'

"Yeah," Katie nodded, turning to the boy, and gaining a confused look when she noticed his demeanor, "Uh… Nate, is something wrong?"

"Uh… n-nothing, just, uh…" Nate began fidgeting, trying to come up with some excuse to not go to the park. "Well, you know, it's like Whisper said; the park's kind of a generic location, maybe it would be better to go somewhere a bit more distinct…?"

"You're not scared, are you?" Katie grew a teasing smirk as she moved closer to the boy.

"W-What? Of course I'm not s-scared!" Nate quickly protested, his face going red from embarrassment, along with how close his crush was getting to him.

"Hmm, seems like you kind of are," Mee 2 joined in on the teasing, her expression practically identical to Katie's.

At the two girls' teasing him, Nate's eyes narrowed as he forced back his nervousness, "I'm not scared of anything, come on, let's go to the park!"

"Nate… you really need to work on not being so easily manipulated," Whisper sighed to himself over his master's lack of willpower.

"Captain Nyate's nyot afraid of anything!" Sailornyan exclaimed with loud conviction.

Whisper looked down at the pink nekomata and shook his head, "You know; you really shouldn't force those sorts of expectations onto Nate, he's just a boy at the end of the day."

"Nya?" Sailornyan looked up at Whisper with a confused expression.

"Come on, let's just go," Whisper gestured to the departing members of their group before floating after them, Sailornyan soon to follow.

---

Nate's eyes carefully scanned the surrounding area of triangle park, a bit of sweat trickling down the side of his face as he anticipated Lizzie popping up at any second, though after a few moments of seeing no sign of her, he let out a sigh of relief and wiped away the sweat, "Okay, all clear."

"All clear of what?" Katie gave the boy a strange look as she stood at the park's entrance, alongside Mee 2. "Seriously, you're acting weird, Nate."

Nate froze and gave a small yelp, apparently having forgotten that the girls were right behind him, "Uh… it's nothing, don't worry about it," the boy gave an unconvincing laugh as he turned around, waving his hand.

Katie's eyes narrowed as she stared at Nate, before she shrugged, "Okay, if you say so…"

"I do say so," Nate nodded with another bout of fake laughter, the two girls awkwardly staring at him the whole time, before he finally stopped and began slinking away, "I'm gonna, uh, go stand in the corner for a few minutes…"

"Uh, yeah, you do that…" Katie blinked as she watched her friend move towards one of the park's corners.

"… What's up with him?" Mee 2 asked, looking concerned.

"It's been a long few days," Whisper answered simply, floating by the pink spirit and towards his sulking master, "I'll make sure he's fine, don't worry."

"I'm coming too!" Sailornyan announced as she scurried after the yo-kai butler.

Katie and Mee 2 both watched this with blank expressions, before finally glancing at each other.

"Uh… so I guess I'll take over helping you regain your memory until…" Katie glanced back towards the direction Nate and his yo-kai had gone briefly, "… Whatever that is resolves…"

"Yeah, I guess so," Mee 2 let out a little chuckle, though she gave a brief, nervous glance in the direction Nate had gone. "Uh… so this is the park."

"Triangle Park, to be specific," Katie smiled as she looked around, her hands to her hips as she stood proudly. "Spent many good days bug hunting out here! I remember once I caught a praying mantis, startled the boys good when I showed 'em!"

The pink ghost laughed a bit along with the human girl at her reminiscing as they went further into the park, glancing around at the trees and play structures, as well as the younger kids having fun around the area.

"This place sure does seem lively," Mee 2 smiled as she watched a young boy laugh while going down a slide, before running off to join some friends in the sandbox.

"Yeah, it's a pretty popular spot," Katie nodded, a nostalgic smile on her face as she looked to the small group of kids. "That's probably why Nate thought it would be a good place to check for your memories!"

"Yeah, that does make sense," the ghost nodded.

"So…" Katie smiled, "Anything striking you? You did say it seems familiar!"

"I don't know, yeah, it all does seems familiar…" Mee 2 muttered, putting a hand to her face as her eyes squinted in contemplation, "But… nothing specific is coming to me..."

Katie's eye twitched slightly, an annoyed frown forming on her face, "Really? That's it?"

Mee 2's looked back at Katie with her own annoyed expression, "Hey! It's not like I can help not remembering anything!"

The brunette girl looked like she wanted to retort, but instead she took a deep breath and her expression softened, "Sorry, you're right. A lot of stuff has been happening lately and I guess I'm a bit on edge…"

The pink ghost looked at the girl with a bit of concern, "On edge? Why?"

"Oh, I don't know, things have been kind of… hectic, the past few days," Katie muttered, glancing away with an unsure expression.

"Oh, yeah I guess I can understand that," Mee 2 looked sympathetic, sighing to herself thoughtfully. "I don't really have any memories before today, but it's definitely been a hectic one for me, at least I was able to meet Nate." as she spoke the boy's name, Mee 2 gained an affectionate expression as she gazed off into the direction he had gone...

Katie's eyes narrowed, an annoyed sigh escaping her mouth, "For the love of-You've already fallen for him, haven't you?!"

"Huh?! I, uh… don't know what you mean," Mee 2 quickly deflected, her face a bright red as she avoided eye contact with the human girl, deciding that she instead found the sight of a few birds pecking at the ground much more interesting.

"Oh come on, don't try to deny it! I saw the way you were looking at him!" Katie scoffed, tapping her foot on the ground and crossing her arms, "What is with everyone lately?! I know Nate is nice, I could get most of the girls in our class crushing on him, but you haven't even known him a day! This much attention being thrown at Nate is completely ridiculous!"

The pink ghost twitched a bit at the human girl's shouting, turning back to her with slightly narrowed eyes, "And what exactly is that supposed to mean…?"

"Oh, just forget it! We're wasting time," the brunette shook her head, scoffing a bit as she turned away from the yo-kai.

"No!" Mee 2 flew around Katie to face her again, a look of anger clear on her face, "I want to know what you meant by that!"

"I just said forget it! Can't you follow basic instructions?!" Katie snapped, swatting the ghost away from her.

"Ow!" Mee 2 cried out as she hit the ground, before growling as she glared back up at the human, quickly floating back to her eye level, "What was that for?!"

Katie took a step back in surprise over her own actions, "I, uh… I'm sorry, I don't know– "

"RAH!" Mee 2 roared, lunging at the human girl, fists flailing.

"AH?! GET OFF ME!" Katie screeched, trying to pry the raging spirit off of her as she latched onto her head and began to harmlessly hit her with small, squishy fists. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"

As Katie ran around in circles screaming, she began to attract the attention of other park visitors… all of whom only saw a girl running around and screaming for no visible reason.

"Mama, why is that lady doing that?" a little boy asked his mother as he pointed at Katie.

"Don't look at her," the mother quietly scolded, quickly grabbing her son's hand and leading him away.

"Oh Katie, there you are!" Daniel called at as he approached the girl, oblivious to her frantic state, "I've been looking for you, thanks again for letting me borrow your Yo-lo Watch 2 strategy guide– "

"GET OFF!" Katie suddenly shot a fist forward, hitting the blond boy right in the gut, and sending him flying back.

"AH?!" Daniel winced as he hit the ground, slowly standing back up, clutching his stomach with a few tears in his eyes, "O-Okay, I'm sorry! I'll-I'll return it later!" with a fearful whimper the boy quickly scampered off.

"OFF!" with a fierce yank, Katie finally freed herself from the ethereal grip, tossing the yo-kai away as she fell to her knees and her breathing slowly steadied.

"Okay, so how's everything going over…" Nate called out cheerfully as he walked back over to the duo, seeming to have calmed down from whatever was bothering earlier, though his words trailed off when he noticed the sight he had walked in on.

"Uh… hey, don't things seem a lot more… tense, since before you took your break?" Whisper asked as he trailed behind his master, a nervous expression on his face.

"They seem scary," Sailornyan commented, her ears flattening to her head as she noted the way Katie and Mee 2 were glaring at each other, the two having not even acknowledged their return yet...

"So, uh…" Nate nervously glanced between the two girls, the tension in the air so thick he could almost see it, 'Wait, I can see it! Stop it, weird emotion-sight! You give me a headache!' shaking his head and forcing his vision back to normal once more, the boy worked up the nerve to speak, "So, uh… I guess this was a bust too, huh?"

"Yup," Mee 2 answered simply, her grumpy expression static.

"Complete waste of time," Katie scoffed, sending a subtle glare in the pink ghost's direction.

"Oh, I… see," Nate gulped nervously, "Well, uh… maybe we could try Banter Bakery next, that's a pretty popular– "

"Yeah, sounds great, let's go!" Mee 2 interrupted, still looking very grumpy as she quickly floated over to Nate, grabbing one of his hands and began pulling him forward.

"Hey, don't just float off on your own!" Katie growled, catching up to Nate and grabbing hold of his other hand.

"Uh… lead the way I guess," Nate muttered with a nervous sweatdrop, deciding it best not to struggle as Katie and Mee 2 dragged him along...

"You can't hold hands with Captain Nyate! That's illegal!" Sailornyan shouted in outrage as she ran after the departing trio.

"Well, at least it's not another kidnapping," Whisper muttered, giving a tired sigh as he floated after the children.

---

"Homewreckers! Hallucinations! Gather before me and gaze upon my creation!" a rather feral looking Meg, her hair frazzled and matted, and clothing slightly tattered, shouted as she stood on the beach beside a humanoid figure made out of various sticks and tree branches.

The two other humans and three yo-kai soon came walking onto the beach, if for no other reason than to get Meg to stop screaming.

Once they did, they quickly took note of the humanoid figure standing beside Meg, nearly twice her height, and the sticks on the head clearly fashioned into the shape of a familiar hairstyle, one of a boy that the three girls all had a shared interest in...

"Is… Is that supposed to be Nate…?" Amy asked, her expression both confused, and annoyed.

"Behold! I have built this idol in the image of Natey-kins!" Meg shouted with a crazed look in her eyes, pointing to the other girls, "You will fall to your knees in worship of it, and me! As Natey-kins' one true love!"

"Over my dead body!" Amy snarled, picking up a loose tree branch from the ground, holding it threateningly as she ran at Meg.

Meg screamed as she turned tail and ran from the other girl, whom kept chasing her and trying to whack her with the piece of wood.

Isabelle, meanwhile, could only watch this with an expression of barely contained rage, her fists balling and eye twitching at the other two girls' antics and screaming.

"I think this one's about to blow," Pinkipoo lightly prodded Isabelle with his scepter, before quickly jumping away from her when she glared down at him. "You wouldn't hurt a cute doggy, right? Pinky-pink~!"

Isabelle did not respond to the pink creature, her body beginning to shake as the sounds of the other two girls shouting at one another pounding on her psyche, her eyes shutting as a growl started to emit from her clenched teeth.

"Yeah, I'm gonnya go over there…" Jibanyan muttered, quickly scampering to the opposite side of the beach.

"Oh, I'll come with you!" Letsbifrenz exclaimed cheerfully.

"Nyo, you stay here," the nekomata jumped back over to the bird-like yo-kai and patting him on the head, before zooming right back over to the other side of the beach.

"… You got it, buddy!" Letsbifrenz grinned, giving a thumbs-up in the cat yo-kai's direction.

"All of you, shut up!" Isabel shouted, her eyes bloodshot eyes snapping open and stomping her foot on the ground, "I'm the one who found water! I'm the one keeping you alive! I'm the one who will marry Nate! You should all worship ME!"

Isabel's outburst had the other girls stopping their chase and turning towards her with wide eyes.

"… KILL HER!" Meg suddenly shouted, pointing at Isabel.

Both Megan and Amy let out war cries before charging towards the blonde.

Isabel's eyes widened in fear before she turned and fled, screaming as the other two began throwing rocks at her.

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!" the blonde cried out in a panic, running into the forest to try and dodge the stones the two feral girls were chucking at her.

"… You knyow, I nyever thought I would be in this situation," Jibanyan sighed, walking back over as he watched the chaos unfold with a blank stare on his face.

"Really? That's funny, I always knew I'd end up in this sort of situation…" Letsbifrenz smiled at the cat yo-kai.

"… I hate you so much, Letsbifrenz," Jibanyan grunted without even looking over at the other yo-kai.

"… I know," the bird-like yo-kai's smile dropped and he quickly turned his eyes towards the ground with a sad sigh.

---

"And here we are!" Nate announced, gesturing to the bakery as the group approached it. "Banter Bakery!"

"Yeah! Let's buy treats!" Sailornyan cheered as she danced around her favorite human's legs.

Nate sighed, "Sailornyan, I don't have any money."

The cat stopped in her tracks and looked up at the boy blankly, "Nya?"

"… Anyway, what do you think, Mee 2?" Nate turned to the ghost girl, trying to ignore how she and Katie were avoiding looking at each other. "This place bringing back any memories?"

Mee 2 floated forward and looked up at the building, her expression hardening, "Hmm…?" after a few moments of this, the ghost finally let out a sigh, shaking her head, "No, still just vaguely familiar, but no specific memories."

Katie threw her hands up, letting out a groan of frustration, "Oh, of course that's her response!"

"Hey, I can't help not remembering stuff!" Mee 2 glared at the human girl.

"Well maybe you should try harder!" Katie snapped, glaring back at the ghost girl.

"How the heck am I supposed to 'try harder' at remembering?!" Mee 2 snarled, moving closer to Katie, their foreheads nearly touching.

"Uh… what's going on with those two…?" Nate glanced to Whisper with a nervous gulp.

"Something you'd best stay out of, Nathan," the butler answered simply, letting out a sigh as he shook his head at the arguing girls.

"Yeah… okay, that sounds like a good idea…" Nate nodded with an absentminded expression, pretty sure he could see fire in both girls' eyes…

"Aha! There you are!"

"We finally found you, Adams!"

"Huh?" Nate gave a blink of surprise as he turned to see two girls approaching him, scowls evident on their faces, "Sydney? Chloe?"

The newcomers caught the attention of Katie and Mee 2, the two of them halting in their arguing as they looked to the approaching duo with mild curiosity.

"Uh… who are those two…?" Mee 2 asked with a side-glance towards the brunette girl she was just at odds with moments before.

"Two girls from another class, I don't really know them," Katie answered simply, her eyes narrowed slightly at the aggressive way the two seemed to be approaching her friend.

"So, you thought you could just get away with it, huh?" Sydney spoke first as the girls reached Nate, glaring him down.

Nate gained a clueless expression, slowly glancing between the two girls, "Uh… get away with what…?"

Chloe scoffed at the boy's response, crossing her arms and tapping her foot on the ground, "Oh, playing dumb are you? Here's a little hint; where's Isabel?!"

The boy took a surprised step back at the sudden shouting, holding his hands up defensively, "Isabel? Why would I know? Have you checked her house?"

"Oh, have we checked her house? Of course we've checked her house!" Sydney sneered.

"Okay enough with the act, we know this is somehow your fault, Adams!" Chloe accused as she and Sydney kept glaring at him.

"… What?" Nate blinked, looking unsure of how to respond. "You think I'm somehow to blame for you not being able to find Isabel…?"

"Don't try to deny it, we've seen the way you look at her!" Sydney sneered as she pointed at the boy, "All starry eyed, while completely ignoring us!"

Nate flushed a bit in embarrassment, though he paused at the last part of the comment, "Wait, wha– "

"WELL NEWSFLASH! YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER!" the two girls screamed in unison, blaring down at the brunette boy intensely.

"These two are crazy…" Katie commented from the sidelines.

"We gotta save Captain Nyate!" Sailornyan shouted in a panic, starting to run forward, only for the scruff of her shirt to be caught by Katie, "Nya?!"

"Hold on, we should let him handle this," the brunette girl said with a serious expression.

"… Why?!" the pink nekomata cried out, throwing up her hands in protest as Katie seated her back down beside her.

"This is his fight," Katie answered with conviction and crossing her arms in a dramatic stance, her ponytail flowing in the wind that definitely was not blowing seconds before.

Sailornyan just stared up at the human girl with a dumbfounded expression, "… WHY?!"

"It's a matter of pride, Sailornyan," Whisper spoke up, looking equally as dramatic as Katie.

"… NYONE OF YOU MAKE ANY SENSE!" the pink nekomata flailed in confusion and outrage, which received no reaction from the others.

"Okay, fess up!" Chloe sneered as she moved closer to the boy in a threatening manner, "What did you do with Isabel?!"

"Look, I have no idea where Isabel is, the last time I saw her she was with you two!" Nate explained, holding his hands up defensively.

"Oh really?" Sydney spoke up, giving the boy a critical look as she stepped forward to Chloe's side. "Well, the last time we saw her, she was looking for you!"

"Okay, but that doesn't mean I'd know where she is!" Nate frantically argued, growing fearful of what exactly the two enraged girls would do to him if he did not manage to convince them of his innocence.

The two girls kept their eyes on Nate, scanning him over critically as he took another nervous step back.

"Hmph, fine," Chloe begrudgingly relented.

"Yeah, guess you're not smart enough to have done anything to her anyway," Sydney added, giving an annoyed sigh.

Nate wanted to counter that insult, but wisely decided to hold his tongue.

"Fine, you're off the hook this time, Adams!" Chloe stated. "But we still don't trust you! It's not like we like you or anything!" the brunette girl huffed, crossing her arms and turning her nose up.

"Yeah, don't get the wrong idea!" Sydney's tone and pose mirrored Chloe's.

Nate could only stare at the two girls with a look of exasperation, "Well I don't really like you two either!" he huffed in annoyance, clearly fed up with the girls' attitudes towards him.

Sydney and Choe's responses to this comment, however, were not exactly what the boy expected…

"W-What…?" Sydney looked momentarily stunned, her eyes wide with shock.

"Y-You… don't like us…?" Chloe's expression mirrored her friend's, her body seeming to go stiff as she stared off into space.

"Uh… yeah…?" Nate looked to Katie for help, but she just shrugged before making a swirling motion towards her head with one of her fingers.

Both Sydney and Chloe just stared at Nate, water started to well up in their eyes, until…

"WAAAH!" both girls burst into tears, before turning and running. "NATE, YOU JERK!"

"… What…?" Nate had a stunned look on his face, seemingly unable to process what had just happened.

"… Well that was pathetic," Katie commented in a dull tone as she watched the two other girls disappear, clearly unimpressed.

Both Sailornyan and Mee 2 nodded in agreement, their expressions looking just as unimpressed.

"Uh, should we go after them…?" Nate had a look of concern as he turned to look at the rest in his group.

"Nate, trust me, they were asking for it," Katie shook her head, crossing her arms with a serious expression.

Nate still seemed unsure despite his friend's words, but after a moment he nodded, "Yeah, I guess they were…" the boy's expression changed to a serious one as well as he nodded to himself again, "Besides, helping Mee 2 is priority right now!"

"Exactly, so let's just go and see if we can find something else to maybe jog her memory!" Katie exclaimed as she took charge in leading the group, though muttering something under her breath; "Not likely…"

"Hey, I heard that!" Mee 2 snapped as she quickly chased after the brunette girl.

"The pattern is seeming a bit consistent today," Whisper sighed to himself as he floated forward.

"Nya~!" Sailornyan cheered as she skipped forward.

"Still, I'm also a little concerned, those two usually stick to Isabel like glue, but they haven't seen her since last night…?" Nate looked thoughtful, "And thinking back, the last time Maya saw Meg was last night too…"

"Hey, Nate! You coming?!"

Katie's sudden call had Nate looking up in surprise to see that his companions were already a fair bit ahead of him. "Uh, hey! Wait up!" the boy called out, running to catch up. 'I'm sure I'm just worrying over nothing, they're probably fine...'

---

The idol built in the image of Nate was lit with flames for unclear reasons, the three girls trapped on the island were all screaming as they ran around in circles on the beach, while the yo-kai present just watched…

"… I'm nyot the one who set it on fire, nyobody can blame me!" Jibanyan exclaimed with crossed arms and closed eyes.

"… Uh, nobody accused you," Pinkipoos pointed out with a slightly concerned expression.

"Hey, shut up!" Jibanyan hissed.

The pink yo-kai did indeed choose to shut up, leaving the only sounds that of the fire, and the screaming girls.

"… It's so nice to hang out with friends," Letsbifrenz gave an eerie smile as he stared off into space at seemingly nothing in particular.

---

"What's another good place that could help jog Mee 2's memories…" Nate muttered to himself as he and his friends continued on their tour of Springdale.

"The beach?" Sailornyan suggested, holding up a paw as she walked beside the boy.

"… I don't really want to go back to the beach right now," Nate's expression was blank as he looked forward.

"… Oh yeah, sorry," the pink cat bowed her head a bit as her expression turned sheepish.

"What happened at the beach?" Mee 2 asked curiously, floating over to the boy's shoulder.

"Don't want to talk about it," Nate answered simply.

"… Uh, okay," the pink ghost scratched the back of her head awkwardly, glancing over at Whisper questioningly.

"It's best to just let that one be," the butler yo-kai stated plainly.

Mee 2 sighed, looking around at the passing town as the group continued on the sidewalk path, "Is there anywhere else where a lot of people gather? Those are probably the best bet for me recognizing it."

"Maybe the museum…?" Nate spoke in thought. "It's a pretty notable location."

"It's worth a try I guess," Katie sighed, clearly getting fed up with this entire thing.

Mee 2 noticed Katie's demeanor, glaring at her in annoyance, "You can leave you know."

"You can't tell me what to do!" Katie stuck her tongue out at the ghost, getting a few growls in response before the two huffed and turned away from each other.

"… So I guess we're going to the museum?" Nate gave an awkward cough and trying not to make eye contact with either of the angry girls.

With their destination set, the group began to make their way towards Breezy Hills.

The air between the group took on a slightly awkward silence, the tension between Katie and Mee 2 apparent, but nobody wanting to comment on it.

After a few moments of this, Whisper floated up to Nate's side and cleared his throat, "Uh, Nate, I don't mean to undermine your attempts in helping our new friend over there, but this method doesn't really seem to be working," the white djinn spoke up, looking to his master/friend with a bit of concern.

The human boy looked to his butler curiously as he walked beside him, "What do you mean, Whisper?"

"Mee 2 clearly has recognized all the places we've gone to, but it hasn't been able to jog any specific memories from her, so I think it may be fair to say that simply showing her familiar places and people isn't going to be enough to get her memories back," the yo-kai butler carefully explained, being careful not to say anything to upset the boy.

Nate frowned at the djinn's words, but still nodded, "You might have a point, but what else are we supposed to do? We don't have any other leads, and we can't just leave Mee 2 like this."

Whisper let out a heavy sigh, knowing it would be useless to try and talk the boy out of this quest, "I know, I know…" glancing towards the three girls, two of which making a point not to look at each other, and one obliviously smiling, the butler gained a thoughtful expression, "Hey, Nate?"

"Yeah?" the boy responded, tilting his head a bit to glance at the yo-kai, while also keeping his eyes on the path.

"Have you noticed how alike those two are?" Whisper spoke quietly, gesturing back to Katie and Mee 2, both of whom were still refusing to look at each other.

"Huh?" Nate blinked in confusion, "Alike…?"

"Nate, they have practically the same attitude, the heart on Mee 2 is the same on Katie's clothes, they both have ponytails, they even have the exact same voice!"

"WE DO NOT! I'M NOTHING LIKE HER!" both Katie and Mee 2 shouted in sync, startling Nate and Whisper as they both turned to look at the two girls glaring at them.

"… I think I see what you mean," Nate whispered carefully, a bit of sweat dripping from his brow out of fear.

"Nya! Don't hurt Captain Nyate!" Sailornyan cried as she pulled at Katie's leg.

Katie glanced down at the feline yo-kai with annoyed eyes, "What?! I'm not going to hurt– "

"MASTER!"

Katie and Mee 2 jumped back in surprise as Venoct suddenly stood between them and Nate, glaring fiercely as small sparks of electricity danced across his snarling dragon scarf.

"You two shall not take a single step forward, not if you wish to avoid the retribution that would follow for daring to threaten the one I have sworn an oath to protect!" the humanoid yo-kai declared with an exaggerated shouted, holding one fist up and staring fiercely at the girls.

"… Nya!" Sailornyan detached from Katie and quickly scurried over to Nate's side.

Katie and Mee 2 could only stare at the new arrival with blank expressions, looking completely lost on how to even respond to this turn of events.

"Uh, Venoct, where did you come from just now…?" Nate carefully asked, looking slightly unnerved by the ninja yo-kai's sudden appearance. "Weren't you trying to get some sleep?"

"I awoke from my needed rest just in time to hear you depart, Master! And I have been diligently watching you from the shadows since, I will not allow such a shameful failure as the one from the previous day happen again!"

Venoct's answer only served to creep Nate out further, with him glancing around with wide eyes. "You were watching me the entire time…?"

"But of course! If I had been more diligent, you would never have been kidnapped! I swear to you, Master! I shall not fail you again!" Venoct bowed to the boy, which only served to make him more uncomfortable.

"Wait a minute… Venoct?!" Mee 2 suddenly yelled out, pointing at the ninja yo-kai.

Venoct quickly spun to face the pink ghost, his dragon scarf leering threateningly at her, "How do you know my name?! Are you a spy?!"

Mee 2 let out a startled yelp, jumping back.

Venoct continued to glare at her for a few moments, before he suddenly lost his aggressive demeanor, "… Oh wait, I remember now, you're having memory trouble and my master is helping you. My apologies."

"Uh… y-yeah, it's okay," Mee 2 muttered nervously, avoiding eye-contact with the humanoid.

"So, uh… what's this guy's deal?" Katie asked, looking at Venoct curiously, "I think I saw him yesterday, but… you know a lot was going on and all…"

"Uh… you see…" Nate paused, trying to come up with the best way to explain, but he would not get the chance…

"My name is Venoct, and I am but a loyal servant to my master; Nathan Adams!" the ninja yo-kai shouted with pride, striking a heroic pose in the process. "Once, I was but a normal boy living a peaceful life in my village, but everything changed when the vile Rubeus J attacked! He and his minions burned our village to the ground, killing everyone, all my friends, family, acquaintances, the cabbage merchant! No one was spared from the slaughter!"

Everyone stood in stunned silence at Venoct's speech.

Katie in particular looked awkward, being the one to have asked for an explanation, "Uh, wow, that's… a lot, I'm really sorry to hear– "

"BUT!" Venoct shouted, his eyes wide and bloodshot, and his fists clenched, "I would not allow that beast to get away with his heinous crimes! From the ashes of my home, I rose as a yo-kai! A yo-kai with only one mission; take revenge on that demon!"

"Uh…" Katie glanced around nervously, "Well I suppose that makes– "

"FOR YOU SEE!" Venoct jumped up, two beams of electricity blasting out from the mouths of his dragon scarf and into the sky, "This power that I have achieved was for that purpose, and that purpose alone! That was what I truly believed, that was until… that day."

"H-How long is this story…?" Katie tapped her fingers together awkwardly, looking to the others in the group for help, though they all seemed just as helpless as her.

"That day that I realized my true purpose," Venoct's voice shifted to a softer tone, as he looked at the sky wistfully. "The day… I met my Master."

"That wasn't the first time we met…" Nate muttered tiredly.

"Leading an army the likes of which I had never seen, my master decisively fought back the vile forces of Rubeus J!" Venoct rose a triumphant fist to the air as he shouted. "And at that moment, I had realized my true calling!"

"Can… can we go…?" Katie looked to Nate with desperation in her eyes. "He probably won't notice."

"Just let him finish," Nate denied, a sweatdrop rolling down the side of his face. "I'm pretty sure he's almost done…"

Katie let out a small whine of displeasure, shuffling in place as she glanced at Venoct hopefully.

"My true calling being… to serve my master!" Venoct gestured towards Nate in a dramatic manner, before turning and bowing to him, "I put my trust–no! My very soul! Into his hands, I can see no other more worthy of following!"

"I'm still not sure why you came to that conclusion…" Nate muttered under his breath, before gesturing for the humanoid yo-kai to stand.

Katie watched Venoct stand back up and stand in silence, a few moments passing with her expecting his rant to continue, "… You done?"

"Yes!" Venoct answered simply, nodding to the girl.

The girl let out a sigh of relief, her posture drooping a bit as she put a hand to her forehead.

With a swift twirl, Venoct turned back to Nate and gave another bow, "Master! Worry not, for while you continue at your task at hand, know that I shall be watching from the shadows! Ready to intercept any threats!"

"Could you please no–"Nate's attempt at protest fell on deaf ears, as Venoct had already slipped off into the shadows, seemingly vanishing, though they all knew he was still there...

"… Okay, really; what's his deal?!" Katie asked, looking ready to start pulling her hair out. "And I don't mean backstory-wise, like… everything!"

"Katie… it's a complicated situation, okay?" Nate grunted, giving a look that clearly indicated he wanted to stop talking about this.

Katie did not seem satisfied with that answer, but decided not to argue, "Fine, let's just go to the museum already."

---

"So, where do you think we should start?" Nate asked as the group walked into the museum.

"I'll secure the perimeter, Master!" Venoct loudly announced as he leapt forward from the shadows.

"… What was the point of you even hiding if you were just gonna jump out and yell?" Katie spoke up with a blank expression.

Venoct did not respond to the girl's questioning, jumping up and back flipping away, getting the attention of many passerby's in the process.

"… Well you do that, I guess," Nate muttered, shaking his head as he tried to ignore any of the eyes that had been put on their group from the visible yo-kai's antics.

"So, wait, everyone can see Venoct?" Mee 2 looked around curiously.

"Yeah, pretty much," Nate nodded, wiping some sweat from his brow and releasing a calming breath. "Luckily he looks enough like a kid playing ninja that he doesn't draw too much attention."

"Those dragon heads move…" Katie commented in a dull tone.

"Well nobody seems to care when I'm just talking to invisible yo-kai out in public either, so maybe people around here just aren't very observant," Nate pointed, a look of disappointment briefly crossing his face, before turning his focus back to the museum.

"Well you got a bit of a point there," Katie sweatdropped as she followed her friend.

"So, Mee 2, do any of the exhibits particularly attract your eye?" Whisper asked with a helpful smile as he moved over to the other floating spirit.

"Hmm," the pink ghost hummed to herself, glancing around the lobby area curiously.

"I don't really think asking her will lead to anything," Katie jabbed, a dull look on her face.

"Shut up! Let me think!" Mee 2 snapped at the human girl, before immediately going back to focusing on the museum.

Katie let out a low growl, but decided not to argue, instead stomping off, "I'm gonna go see if the gift shop has any pet toys an idiot hopping snake would like."

"Uh, okay," Nate awkwardly waved as his friend left, sighing to himself and slumping a bit, "At least nothing really troublesome has happened today."

However, unknown to the boy, he was currently being watched…

From the open door to a storage closet at the end of the lobby, a figure stood in the shadows, a pair of glasses gleaming and a mouth stretching into a devious smirk, 'Now, what do we have here…?'

"Is space stuff something in your memory?" Sailornyan asked the other pink yo-kai, pointing towards the exhibit to the left. "Think there's space stuff over there!"

"Space stuff doesn't even sound familiar…" Mee 2 muttered with a disappointed sigh.

"Nya…" Sailornyan's ears drooped sadly.

Mee 2 glanced down at the disappointed cat yo-kai, a tinge of sympathy hitting her as she gave a slightly forced smile, "But, uh, it's at least worth checking."

"Yay! I'm helping~!" Sailornyan as she ran towards the exhibit.

Mee 2 chuckled a little bit, waving back to Nate and Whisper as she began to follow, "You two wait here, this should just take a moment."

Watching the two girls leave, Nate glanced to Whisper as an awkward silence fell between them, "So, uh… what are we supposed to do?"

"I'm… not entirely sure," Whisper sighed in response, scratching his head curl and glancing around for anything to focus on.

"Excuse me?"

Both Nate and Whisper blinked in surprise as they spotted someone approaching them; a human woman with light peach skin, short reddish-brown hair, a pair of red-framed glasses over her brown eyes, and dressed in a lab coat.

The woman's heels clacked against the floor as she stepped in-front of the boy, grinning down at him with an eager expression.

"Um… I need an adult," Nate glanced looked around the immediate area with a bit of fear.

"Good news; I am an adult!" the bespectacled woman exclaimed with a cheerful grin, "Don't worry little guy, I just wanted to ask you a couple questions!"

"Red flag!" Whisper exclaimed, hiding behind Nate and glaring at the woman.

Nate glanced back at the butler, before giving the woman a wary look, "What… do you want to ask me…?"

"What are your parents names?" the woman asked with a serious look.

Nate looked unnerved by the sudden personal question, "Uh… why do you want to know that…?"

"Nate, it might be a good idea to call for security," Whisper advised, looking at the bespectacled woman warily.

"Hey! Shut up, marshmallow ghost! I wasn't talking to you!" the woman suddenly shouted, pointing directly at the stunned yo-kai.

"Marshmallow ghost?!" Whisper shouted in offense, before what just happened fully processed for him. "… Wait! You can see me?!"

"As I just said; wasn't talking to you!" the woman huffed, before directing her attention back to Nate, "As I was saying; who are your mom and dad, little boy?"

"… I think I should get security," Nate muttered, taking a couple steps back.

"No wait, don't!" the woman's voice became desperate as she jumped up a few times, "Please, I can't afford to lose this job! I just thought you looked familiar!"

"Familiar…?" Nate blinked, his eyes narrowing a bit as his hand drifted to his watch, "How can you see Whisper anyway?"

The woman smirked, "Answer my question, I answer yours."

Still glaring at the woman, Nate remained in a guarded stance before reluctantly answering; "My dad's name is Aaron Adams."

"Aaron…" the woman whispered to herself, her expression turning nostalgic as a slight tint of pink colored her cheeks.

Nate and Whisper glanced at each other with shared concern.

Before the woman's reaction could be questioned, she quickly snapped out of it. "And your mom…?" her voice took a tone shift as she asked this, as if she already knew the answer, and did not like it.

"Uh… Lily…?" Nate answered slowly, eyeing the woman suspiciously as he took a cautious step back, "Lily Adams."

"The demon spawn…" the woman muttered, her eyes glazing over as she stared off into space, one of her hands balling up into a tightly clenched fist.

"… Is something wrong…?" Nate looked confused and frightened, taking a couple more steps back from the woman.

"Oh, nothing! It's nothing!" the woman quickly shifted back to a cheerful demeanor, looking at Nate with a wide smile. "My name's Diana, but you can just call me Professor Gately!"

"I have my doubts on the legitimacy of that title," Whisper muttered as he floated out from behind Nate and over his shoulder.

"Well that's your problem, floating marshmallow!" Diana snapped, putting her hands to her hips and glaring at the yo-kai, her glasses gleaming.

"Nathan, I believe this woman is dangerous and we should get away from her as quickly as possible," Whisper quickly said, moving to the boy and lightly pushing him to start moving.

"Hey! Hold on! I am not a dangerous person!" Diana quickly shouted in protest, "Stop! Don't you run away from me!"

"Go, go, go!" Whisper's voice became more frantic as he pushed the boy to move faster.

---

Katie stared at the shelves of trinkets, the sounds of the few other people moving around the gift shop muffled together in the background as the young girl tried to focus.

The item the girl was focused on was a 'dinosaur bone' squeaky dog toy… which was really just a regular dog bone squeaky toy, but this was the museum gift shop so they needed to make it on topic somehow.

Taking the front toy from the shelf, Katie looked at it with squinted eyes, poking it with one figure and inciting a squeaking sound from the hollow object.

The girl hummed to herself thoughtfully, glaring at the toy in her hand.

Glancing around at the other items lining the shop, the brunette saw nothing else of interest, so she finally shrugged and moved towards the checkout counter.

"Excuse me?"

The dead-eyed employee did not seem to hear the girl's words…

Annoyed, Katie waved her hand and tapped the bell on the counter, "Hey, excuse me?!"

Slowly, very slowly, the employee's eyes moved to look at the girl, before he spoke in possibly the most deadpan voice Katie had ever heard, "What…?"

Katie stared at the man for a few seconds of confusion, before she regained her senses and held up the squeaky bone, "Hey, is this thing durable enough to withstand a snake's fangs?"

The employee stared back at the brunette silently, for an uncomfortable amount of time the sounds of the nearby clock ticking and muffled background voices were the only break from the awkward silence.

After what felt like an eternity, the employee finally spoke, "Are you buying a dog toy for a snake?"

Katie just gave an annoyed look in response to the question, dropping the toy onto the counter, "Just sell me the stupid piece of plastic."

Katie impatiently tapped her foot and grumbled to herself as the cashier slowly began the transaction, when a slight commotion going on outside the shop caught her eye, "… Nate?"

"Paper or plastic?" the employee asked as he glanced up from the register, but the girl was already running out the door, having forgotten the item she was trying to purchase. "… Thank you for coming to the Gourd Pond Museum gift shop, have a nice day."

---

"Hey! Hey! Stop running! I'm not crazy!"

"Keep running Nate! She's gaining on us!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Nate grit his teeth as he fled from the pursuing madwoman–

"I'M NOT A MADWOMAN!" her voice suddenly shouted from behind the boy.

"I didn't say you were!" Nate called out, not daring to look back.

"I COULD TELL YOU WERE THINKING IT!"

"Nate, the exit! Hurry!" Whisper cried out, pointing towards the way to freedom.

"I see it!" Nate shouted, leaping towards forward… only to hit what felt like an invisible barrier. "Ow?!"

"Nate?!" Whisper called out in worry, looking down at the fallen boy. "Did you trip?!"

"Ow, ow, ow…" Nate winced as he sat up, glaring forward, "No I hit something!" without even bothering to make his usual accusation, the boy shined his watch light on the space right in front of him.

"Blockaded!" what looked like a giant pufferfish with human arms and legs shouted as it stood in the boy's pathway with outstretched arms.

"Oh dear, that's Blowkade!" Whisper shouted, his yo-kai pad already out as he scrolled through the Yo-kai Wiki. "Once he's in your path it's nearly impossible to get through!" putting the device away, the djinn gained an insightful look, "He's the yo-kai that makes you say; 'What? Why can't I go forward, there's nothing in the way, but it's like something invisible is stopping me!'"

Tough Tribe: Blowkade

"Are you kidding me?!" Nate cried out in outrage, turning around to find another route, but it was already too late.

"Aha! I've got you now!" Diana smirked as she stepped toward the cornered boy.

"Oh come on!" Nate shouted, clutching his head and falling onto his knees.

"Nate, we have no choice, you're going to need to summon a yo-kai!" Whisper urged. "There's no telling what this insane woman has planned for you!"

"Oh would you stop already!" Diana shouted in protest, stomping a foot on the ground and crossing her arms, an annoyed pout on her face, "I'm not going to do anything to you!"

After a couple seconds of silent anticipation, Nate finally looked back up at the woman with a blank expression, "Wait, you're really not doing anything…?"

"Yeah! I said I wasn't gonna!" Diana snapped back, adjusting her glasses a bit and grumbling a bit to herself, "And I thought you wanted to know how I could see your stupid floating friend there!"

"Stupid?!" Whisper yelled out in offense, before pointing an accusing finger at the brunette woman, "You're the one who decided to chase a frightened eleven-year-old boy around after prying personal information out of him! How do you think that looks to the average observer?!"

Diana blinked, a blank expression coming to her face as she thought about the yo-kai's words, before she glanced around the museum lobby and took note of all the looks she was getting from the various bystanders.

The other employees paid her no mind of course, they were used to her at this point…

"Okay, maybe you have a–hey!" Diana stopped mid-sentence to point at a random woman, whom had a cellphone out and had begun dialing '110.' "I see you! Don't you dare call the cops! I know where you live! I'll steal your skin in your sleep!"

With a frightened yelp, the woman put her phone away and quickly turned to run away. All the other spectators soon followed, seeming to prefer pretending they never saw anything.

Nate, Whisper and Blowkade all stared at Diana with horrified expressions.

"Haha, she actually bought it! I don't know where that lady lives, I have no idea who that even was!" Diana laughed proudly, a smug grin on her face.

"… I'm out!" Blowkade announced, before the fish-like yo-kai vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

"Seriously?!" Nate let out a scream of frustration, before letting out a long breath and looking back at the professor, "Okay, fine; how can you see yo-kai?"

"Simple; with these," Diana grinned, putting her hand to her glasses and jiggling them a bit, "The lenses on these babies are made of a special kind of glass that allows people to completely see through a yo-kai's perception filters when you look through it!"

"Wait, something like that exists…?" Nate blinked in surprise, looking at the glasses with curiosity, 'Could it be the same as those marbles…?'

Whisper was already scrolling through his yo-kai pad for any information on this subject.

Diana chuckled at the boy's change in tone, "Of course! Also works to reveal yo-kai if you shine a light through it, how do you think that little watch of yours was made?"

Nate's curious expression turned to surprise at that comment, "Wait, you know about the yo-kai watch?"

The professor raised a finger to answer, but...

"KATIE KICK!"

Before Diana could get her answer out, she was blindsided by the speeding form of a young girl… which zoomed right past her and crashed into a wall.

"Katie?" Nate looked at the girl with concern as she dizzily got back to her feet.

"D-Did I get her…?" Katie asked, a dazed look on her face as she struggled to remain balanced on her feet.

"Uh…" Nate glanced at Diana, whom was just giving a quizzical look towards the girl. "Sure… you got her."

"Nate, you shouldn't lie to your friends," Whisper quietly chastised the boy, whom just sent an annoyed look back at the butler.

"Who's this now?" Diana finally spoke again, her hands to her hips as one of her brows rose, "And why exactly did she call out an attack like she's some sentai hero?"

"W-Who am I?!" Katie finally regained her bearings, before glaring at the woman, "More like; who are you?! And why are you harassing my friend?!"

Diana gave an indignant look at the younger girl's question, giving a bit of a gasp, "Excuse me, harassing? I was just having a normal conversation, you're the one who just tried to assault me for no reason!"

Both Nate and Whisper exchanged dull looks at the woman's denial.

"You were chasing him!" Katie shouted, throwing her arms up in the air.

"So, that's none of your business," Diana huffed.

"HE'S MY FRIEND!" Katie looked like she wanted to kill the woman at this point.

"Doesn't give you the right to pry into every aspect of his life," the professor smirked as she watched the girl's anger grow.

"Uh, Katie?" Nate nervously spoke up, seeing as it looked like his friend was on the verge of exploding.

"WHAT?!" the girl swiftly turned and sent Nate a fierce glare.

Nate winced, making a lowering motion with his hand, "It's, uh… this is just a misunderstanding Katie."

"Is it though?" Whisper gave the boy a look of disbelief, ignoring the angry look he received in return.

"A misunderstanding?" Katie looked skeptical, though her anger did seem to fade a bit.

"Uh, y-yeah," Nate's eyes darted to Diana for help, but was disappointed to find that the professor seemed more interested in simply seeing where this went, an amused expression on her face, "Uh… Professor Gately just wanted to talk to me about the yo-kai watch?"

"The yo-kai watch, she knows about the yo-kai watch?" Katie blinked in surprise, before something else hit her, "Wait, professor?!"

"That's right!" Diana suddenly stepped forward with a twirl, "Professor Diana Gately, at your service!"

"… Are you really a professor…?" Katie looked at the woman skeptically.

"Of course I am!" Diana answered cheerfully, before her demeanor suddenly shifted to one of barely contained rage, a dark aura seemingly forming around her, "Or at least I would be if those elitist HACKS took my research seriously, but noooo! It was always 'you're delusional, Gately,' or 'Research something real, Gately,' or 'Please stop kicking me in the dick, Diana!'"

Diana's rant came to an end when she noticed how everyone was staring at her. She let out a few awkward fake coughs, adjusting her glasses, "Yeah, I'm a 'real' professor."

"… Nate, I do not feel safe around this woman," Katie stated plainly as she looked back at her friend.

"Oh, don't be a baby," Diana scoffed.

"No, I concur with Miss Forester," Whisper spoke quietly, gesturing to the door of the museum, "I say we take the chance to go."

"We can't leave Mee 2 and Sailornyan," Nate protested, before gesturing to the professor, "Plus, I'm curious what she knows about the yo-kai watch."

"Nate, they sell them at every Yopple store in the Yo-kai World, if you want to learn about it we can visit one later!" the butler was uselessly tugging on his master's arm at this point.

"Wait, they do?" Katie looked at the yo-kai butler curiously, "So why did I need to win mine in a claw machine?"

"… Uh, what?" Whisper looked back at the girl strangely.

"Pfft, Yopple, bunch of phonies!" Diana let out a scoff and waved her hand dismissively.

Whisper gave a gasp of disbelief, holding his yo-kai pad defensively as he stared at the woman with wide eyes.

"I mean, they didn't actually invent the yo-kai watch," Nate pointed out a bit awkwardly, scratching his head.

"Yup, besides I got tired of waving my wrist around so why wouldn't I replace that dumb watch with this cool pair of glasses?" Diana chuckled, lifting her glasses up briefly and winking.

"… Oh," Nate seemed disappointed by that answer.

"Can we leave now?" Katie let out an annoyed grumble, pointing to the exit.

Nate sighed as he looked at the girl, "We still can't leave without Mee 2 and Sailornyan."

"Just summon them later!" Katie argued.

"I don't have Mee 2's medal," the brunette boy pointed out.

"Even better!" the girl smirked.

Nate's eye twitched, "KATIE!"

"Alright, fine!" the brunette girl grumbled as she crossed her arms and pouted.

"What are you all talking about?" Diana looked at the kids curiously, her eyes narrowing a bit.

"That's not your business," Katie growled.

Nate rolled his eyes and sighed, "We're just waiting for our friends, they should be along any–oh, there they are now!"

Just as Nate said, a pair of dejected pink yo-kai could be seen making their way back over to the group.

"Yeah, space stuff was a bust," Mee 2 sighed as she gave a little shrug.

"Sorry," Sailornyan bowed her head in disappointment.

"Hey, you tried, and that's what matters," the floating yo-kai smiled to the feline, drifting down a bit to give her a few ear scratches.

"Nya~!" Sailornyan purred happily at the contact.

The duo made their way back over to their friends and took notice of the stranger among them.

"Who that?" Sailornyan eyed the woman warily, moving onto all fours and hiding behind Nate.

"An insane person," Katie answered bluntly, ignoring the glare the woman sent in response.

"Walking red flag," Whisper's answer was just as blunt.

"She's Professor Gately," Nate finally gave a straight answer, subtly glaring at his two companions as he let out an aggravated sigh.

"… Our answers weren't wrong," Katie stated without a hint of doubt.

"I am not insane!" Diana snapped, growling at the girl, "My psychiatrist confirmed it!"

"… So, uh… yeah no memory jogging from the space exhibit over there," Mee 2 let out a little awkward cough as she tried to avoid eye contact with the professor.

At the word 'memory' Diana's glasses briefly gleamed, a smirk coming to her face.

"Well that's too bad," Nate sighed, giving Sailornyan a pat on the head before glancing towards the stairs at the end of the lobby, "So do you want to maybe try looking at some other exhibits, or do we want to be done with the museum for now?"

Before Mee 2 could give her answer, Diana suddenly cleared her throat, catching the group's attention.

Seeing the eyes fall on her, the professor grinned before speaking, "Excuse me, but did you say something about trying to jog your memory? Like, you're having some memory issues?"

"Don't answer her!" Katie quickly hissed.

"Yes," Mee 2 answered without hesitation.

Katie just let out a growl of frustration over being ignored.

"Hmm, I may just have a hypothesis that relates to this little situation of yours!" Diana smiled eagerly, holding up a small handheld computer device, the screen of which displayed a lot of numbers and graphs which the kids and yo-kai could barely begin to understand the meaning of. "Last night, I detected an unusual surge of dimensional distortion, emanating from Mt. Wildwood!"

"Hey, that's where I came from!" Mee 2 pointed out with wide eyes.

Diana's grin widened, "Aha, I suspected as much!"

"What kind of a machine is used to detect 'dimensional distortion…?'" Katie asked with a raised brow and a skeptical expression. "For that matter, what does that even mean?"

Prof. Gately's expression fell, with her looking at Katie with annoyance, "Hey, kid! Do you have a doctorate in quantum physics? No? Then shut up!"

The young girl looked annoyed, crossing her arms and huffing under her breath, "Neither do you…"

"Hey! I said shut up!" Diana snapped, startling the young girl.

"Uh, about how this relates to me?" Mee 2 floated up to the professor, tapping her fingers together nervously.

Diana blinked as she turned her focus back to the pink ghost, before chuckling to herself, "Right, right! Got distracted there for a second!"

"She seems very easily distracted for a professor…" Whisper muttered, luckily softly enough that the hyper woman did not seem to notice.

"Anyway, I suspect your memory issues are not simple post-death amnesia, but related to the dimensional distortion that may have brought you to this world!" Diana explained confidently, adjusting her glasses a bit.

The group continued to listen with interest to the woman's explanation.

… Aside from Katie, whom looked very fed up, "What, how the heck does that work?!"

"You wouldn't get it, kid, maybe try finishing school first," Diana waved the girl off dismissively, which only served to anger Katie further.

"Nate, let's leave, this lady's a hack!" Katie snapped, grabbing hold of Nate's arm.

"Wha?! Katie?!" Nate gave a look that was both surprised and flustered at his crush suddenly grabbing him, "Hold on! Don't you think we should at least hear her out?"

"Nope!" the girl responded without a moment of hesitation.

Katie moved forward with determined eyes, but soon found herself struggling a bit, as Nate was being pulled in the opposite direction, "What the?"

"I want to hear what this is about!" Mee 2 shouted in protest, pulling on Nate's other arm.

Katie's eyes narrowed before she started pulling harder, "Well I want to leave!"

"You can leave without Nate!" Mee 2 growled, matching Katie's strength as she pulled the scared boy back.

"Well you can listen to the nut-job without Nate!" Katie grabbed Nate's arm with both hands, huffing as she pulled with all her strength.

"Let him go!" Mee 2 yelled, grabbing on with both arms and tugging with all her might.

"No, you let him go!" Katie yelled back as the tug-of-war continued.

"G-Guys?" Nate tried to speak up as he felt the strain of being pulled in two directions, his eyes wide with panic as sweat began to fall from his brow.

"LET GO!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Nate finally snapped, pulling his arms free of the two girls and giving some heavy breaths as they fell to his sides, "I am not dealing with this today!"

Both Katie and Mee 2 had stunned expressions as they stared at the boy, which were quickly replaced with shame as they fully processed what had just happened.

"Well, that was entertaining," Diana chuckled, getting some looks of disbelief in response.

"How did nobody notice any of that…?" Whisper looked around curiously, before noticing how none of the other museum occupants were even looking their way, and his eyes moved back to Diana, "Oh right, her…"

"I'll save you, Captain!" Sailornyan reacted just a tad too late, jumping forward and latching onto the boy's back.

Nate sighed as he put a hand to his face, "Look, can we just listen to what Prof. Gately has to say?"

Mee 2 nodded, sending Katie a smug look.

"… Ugh, fine," the human girl grumbled, crossing her arms with an angry huff.

"Thank you," Nate smiled, kneeling down to allow Sailornyan to jump off his back.

The pink nekomata gave the boy an awkward smile, before purring as he gave her a pet.

"Okay, Professor lady!" Mee 2 pointed at Diana, whom looked pleased at finally being able to speak again, "What were you gonna say.

"Ahem, I believe the solution may lie with the Gates of Whimsy," Diana answered with a smug expression, looking like she was expecting applause at any moment.

"… I stand by my first impression, we should get out of here," Katie gave a look of dull annoyance.

"Hold on, Katie," Nate pleaded, before looking at Diana questioningly, "And what exactly is the 'Gates of Whimsy?'"

"Aha! Such a curious young lad, I see physical attributes aren't all you inherited from Master," Diana giggled a bit, patting the boy on the hand.

"Wait, what…?" Nate blinked, giving the woman a quizzical look, "Inherited? Master?"

"But we can reminisce about bygone days later! Right now what's important is helping your weird pink friend!" the woman exclaimed, seemingly not even processing Nate's questions.

"Wait, really! Who's this 'Master?!'" Nate shouted in frustration and confusion.

"You're right here, Master!" Venoct exclaimed, popping up beside Nate.

"No! That's obviously not what she meant!" the brunette boy protested, looking to the humanoid yo-kai and throwing his hands up.

Venoct stared back at the boy with a blank expression, "… I still answered the question though."

Nate just stared at the humanoid yo-kai with a tired expression, "… Hold on, didn't you say you were going to 'secure the perimeter?'"

"Astute observation, Master!" Venoct praised, giving a quick bow to the boy, "Not to worry! I have already finished in that task! This perimeter is now the most secure it could possibly be!"

"… What does that even mean?" the brunette boy's brow rose as he stared at the yo-kai blankly.

"As for what a Gate of Whimsy is!" Diana spoke up again, smiling proudly as she adjusted her glasses. "Well, to put it into simple words, a Gate of Whimsy is… so-so, and… you know, a bit like that, and a touch of 'bam!' ya'know?"

"No," Katie responded in a dull tone, "None of what you said made any sense…"

"How exactly is 'bam' and 'ya'know' supposed to help me get my memories back?" Mee 2 asked with a blank expression.

"No, no, you don't get it," Diana waved her hand, before taking on a thoughtful posture, "The Gate of Whimsy is… well it's like this pocket dimension that manifests behind a strange door, within it pretty much anything can happen, but…" the woman grinned as she looked back at the pink ghost, "I have a pretty good amount of evidence to suggest those contents of those spaces are influenced by, if not made up entirely of, the memories of those who enter the doors!"

"Wait, really?" Mee 2 smiled, "So if we enter one, it could potentially help jog my memories?"

"You got it, Pinky!" the professor gave a thumbs-up.

"Why didn't you just say that first?!" Katie tugged at her hair out of frustration, "Instead you go all about 'bam' or whatever?!"

The adult huffed, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms, "Well sorry, I was just trying to explain it in a way you children could better comprehend."

"I don't see how you could have thought that would be easier to comprehend…" Whisper muttered, though his words seemed to go unheard by the professor.

"And we're in luck," Diana smirked eager, a single finger raised, "Because I just so happened to have recently detected the manifestation of a Gate of Whimsy, right outside this museum!"

"Well, that's… convenient," Nate muttered with a bit of a sigh, trying to ignore Katie glaring at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Yup, sure is!" Diana chuckled obliviously, "I needed some willing subjects to head inside and get me some Gate Globes, and you all just happen to show up at just the right time~!"

"Gate Globes?" Mee 2 blinked, "What about my memory…?"

"Yeah, yeah, that too!" Diana waved quickly, "But while you're in there looking to jog those memories of yours, you might as well do a bit tiny favor for me, I mean; you won't even be able to get into the Gate without my help!"

"… What does that mean?" Katie sent the woman a glare full of skepticism and suspicion.

"I believe it means we won't be able to enter the Gate of Whimsy without her help," Venoct answered simply as he looked towards the brunette girl.

Katie slowly turned her glare towards the humanoid yo-kai, the suspicion in her expression giving way in favor of dull annoyance, "Thank you, Venoct, I never would have guessed."

Despite the sarcasm oozing from the girl's voice, the ninja-like yo-kai did not seem to register it, "You are welcome, it is an honor to be of assistants to one of Master Nathan's companions!"

Nate briefly sent Venoct a concerned look, before turning his focus back to the professor, "What do you mean we can't get into the Gate without your help? Why not?"

Diana let out another chuckle, "And the curiosity continues, you should've been my son."

"What?" Nate blinked, his expression going blank.

"What?" Diana blinked back, a clueless look on her face, before her smile swiftly returned and she continued; "You can't just walk into a Gate of Whimsy, they're not visible to the eyes of humans, or even yo-kai, under normal circumstances."

"Aha, so that's why I found no such 'gate' during my securing of the perimeter!" Venoct yelled out with wide eyes.

"That it is, little ninja boy," Prof. Gately nodded to the humanoid yo-kai. "But, luckily for all of you; I just so happened to have invented a means that can reveal the Gates of Whimsy, and with just a little upgrade I can add that feature into your yo-kai watches!"

"Wait, you know how to upgrade a yo-kai watch…?" Katie looked at the woman with surprise, though a hint of her skepticism remained.

Diana chuckled, rubbing her nose a bit as she smiled proudly, "Of course I do! The guy who made 'em taught me everything I know!"

"… I think I figured out who 'Master' is," Nate muttered, shaking his head wearily, keeping himself from screaming his thoughts, 'Why not just say you knew my grandpa?! Were you trying to build up suspense or something?!'

Diana paid the boy's muttering no mind, holding out her hand as she grinned, "Now come on, just hand over your watches, and I'll get that upgrade done in no time at all~!"

Nate and Katie both looked hesitant, but after a moment the two relented, taking off their watches and handing them over to the professor.

"Excellent! You won't regret this!" Diana cheered as she took the two yo-kai watches from the children's' hands and began looking them over.

"We'll see," Katie muttered, already looking like she was regretting this decisions.

"… What models are these anyway?" Diana looked at the yo-kai watches with a bit of confusion, turning them over and examining them with critical eyes, "I don't think I've ever seen them before, are they new?"

"Oh yeah, I never got my Model U back," Nate spoke in realization, "I don't… actually know where that watch came from."

"I got my watch out of a claw machine," Katie said plainly, giving the woman a bored glare.

Diana let out a curious hum, before shrugging her shoulders, "Oh well, I'll figure that one out later, still looks to be using Master's design as a base, so the upgrade should work just fine!"

With a skip in her step, Prof. Gately moved towards the storage room at the back of the lobby, waving back to the kids as she entered it, "Don't go anywhere, this will only take a couple minutes!"

"Gately, stop yelling in the middle of the lobby!" an employee at the front desk finally spoke up, glaring at the retreating woman from across the room.

"Sorry, can't hear you!" Diana quickly shouted back as she entered into the storage room, slamming the door behind her.

The employee let out a sigh of annoyance at being ignored, but seemingly did not care enough about the matter to do anything further, simply sitting at their desk with a bored expression.

Nate and his companions just remained in the spot where they had been left, an awkward silence settling between them as they waited for the professor to finish the upgrades.

Letting out a small cough, Nate looked around in uncertainty, "So, uh… how long do you guys think this is gonna– "

"ALRIGHT, DONE!" Diana's shout suddenly boomed throughout the lobby as she burst out from the door she had retreated behind mere moments before, a wide smile on her face as she held up the pair of watches with triumph.

"That long," Katie answered plainly, letting out a sigh, "Well there goes any chance to escape."

"We're not escaping, we already agreed to do this," Mee 2 hissed, giving the human girl a side-glare, before smiling pleasantly as the professor skipped back over.

"Alright, here you two go!" Diana smiled, handing Nate and Katie their yo-kai watches back, with Katie putting hers back over her neck, and Nate fastening his back to his wrist.

"That was really fast," Nate commented, looking over his watch with some concern.

"What did you even do?" Katie held up her watch to her face as she scanned it over critically, "I don't notice anything different…"

"You wouldn't, I only added a few small modifications for you to be able to detect a Gate of Whimsy and make it visible," Diana stated with a shrug, before pointing to the entrance door of the museum, "Now come on, let's get to it, let's go, go, go!"

Before the kids could respond, Diana was already in a sprint and out the door.

"… This lady is very concerning, Nate," Katie said with a blank expression.

"I know…" Nate responded with a near identical expression.

"You realize you're going to owe me big time for getting me to go along with this, right?" the girl stated, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"I know…" Nate's posture drooped as he nodded in understanding.

"Let's just follow her already," Mee 2 sighed, motioning towards the door.

And so the small group of humans and yo-kai made their way out of the museum, finding Diana standing at a wall near the entrance, looking at it quizzically.

"If I remember correctly, it should be right here," the bespectacled woman stated firmly, pointing at the wall with determined eyes. "Okay, kids; scan away!"

"Well, we've come this far," Nate shrugged, pulling up his watch and activating the light.

"Yeah, yeah," Katie grunted, holding up her own watch and pressing the search button.

After a few moments of shining their lights around, the group was a bit surprised when something was revealed; a brown wooden door, with what looked like an eye on it.

"Huh, there actually was something," Katie muttered with a bit of astonishment.

"What do you mean 'actually,' did you think I was just nuts?!" Diana spoke up with an offended expression as she glared at the girl.

Katie gave a dull look in response, "I refuse to answer that."

"… Just get in the door," Diana grunted, pointing at the door, before pausing as her expression quickly switched back to an eager smile, "Oh! And if you come across any Gate Globes, be sure to bring 'em back!"

Nate blinked at the request, "What's a Gate Globe…?"

"A Gate Globe is a Gate Globe!" Diana responded in a plain tone, "I need them for my research!"

"That tells us nothing," Katie pointed out with annoyance in her voice.

Diana's eyes narrowed, before she pointed at the gate, "Get in there! Come on! Go, go, go!"

"I think that's the best we're going to get out of her," Whisper sighed.

Nate groaned, moving to open the door, though before he did he glanced back at the group, focusing on one individual, "Hey, Venoct?"

The ninja-like yo-kai was immediately bowing before the boy, "Yes, Master? What is it you require of me?"

Nate sweatdropped a bit at the Slippery yo-kai's dramatic way of speech, before he glanced at Diana, whom was tapping her foot impatiently, and whispered to the yo-kai, "Would you mind hanging back and keeping an eye on her? You know, make sure she doesn't trap us in there or something…?"

"Of course, Master! I shall stand vigilantly until your return!" Venoct exclaimed as he gave a bow.

Nate flinched, glancing toward Diana fearfully, and sighing in relief that she did not seem to have cared, "Okay, thanks," he sighed, looking at the door and hesitantly reaching for the knob once more. "Here goes nothing…"

With a firm pull, the Gate of Whimsy was opened, revealing what appeared to be a portal of swirling colors, which Nate, Katie, Whisper, Mee 2, and Sailornyan all stepped into, and vanished in a bright light, the door slamming firmly shut after.

"Aha, finally! And now we wait!" Diana cheered as she kept her eyes on the door eagerly, though she paused as she glanced towards Venoct, and noticed how he was staring at her, "Hey, why didn't you go in anyway…?"

"Don't think you can interrogate me! My lips are sealed!" the Slippery yo-kai shouted firmly, his eyes narrowed as he kept his gaze locked on the professor.

"… Okay than," Diana shrugged, deciding it was in her best interest to ignore the yo-kai.

---

"Uhh… okay…?" Nate blinked, finding himself in some strange empty area with a checkered pattern floor and a rainbow of colors swirling in a seemingly infinite sky, "This isn't exactly what I was expecting, what do you guys think we're even supposed to do here…?"

Nate only got silence in response to his question.

"… Guys?" the boy glanced back over his shoulder, only to see no sign of any of his companions, "… Well that can't be good."

---

"Ow!" Katie grunted as she found herself tumbling onto the ground, sitting up and rubbing her head with a small hiss, "A little warning would be appreciated next time…"

"A warning for what?"

At the sudden voice, Katie glanced up, finding herself staring at… a pig, "… Uhh…?"

"What's with that look? I got something on my face?" the pig asked grumpily, in a voice that sounded like one you'd expect from a middle-aged man.

"Uh… no?" the girl answered in an unsure tone, glancing around her surroundings to see she appeared to be in Uptown Springdale, but instead of humans it seemed to be entirely populated by animals, many of which were giving her strange looks.

"Is that human talking?" a dog spoke up as it walked along the sidewalk on the other side of the street.

"Ignore it!" a cat that walked beside the canine hissed.

"… Well this is concerning," Katie muttered with a helpless sigh.

---

"WHERE AM I?!" Mee 2 shouted out to the sky, finding herself on some kind of rainbow colored racetrack suspended in a void.

"WOO!" a gray featureless humanoid cheered, running by while pushing a shopping cart.

The pink spirit stared after the passing humanoid with blank eyes, her eye slightly twitching, "… How is any of this supposed to help with my memories?"

"Perhaps you're not trying hard enough to find the solution here?" a fish with a monocle commented as the armchair it was seated on floated by.

Mee 2 turned to stare at the fish, the twitching of her eye increasing in speed… before she screamed.

---

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Huh?!" Nate jumped a bit in surprise as he looked up towards the sky of random, swerving colors, "Was that Katie, or Mee 2…?" the boy sighed with worry as he put a hand to the back of his neck, glancing around at his surroundings.

No matter which direction the boy looked, he only could see the same empty space bare of features, save for the endlessly repeating checkered pattern on the floor.

'Which direction am I even supposed to go?!' Nate grit his teeth, his hands moving to grip his head as he felt a headache incoming; one of his friends was probably in danger, and he had no idea what to do…

"Wait… maybe," the brunette boy reached into his pocket, pulling out a small handful of yo-kai medals, holding them up to his face and beginning to sift through them with his finger, "Let's see… oh! Sailornyan!" Nate smiled as he pulled separated the medal depicting the pink nekomata, 'She can't really help with solving this problem, but I can at least find one of my friends!'

After returning his other medals to his pocket, Nate held up the charming tribe medal and spoke, "Come on out my friend! Calling, Sailornyan!" with a flip of the medal, the boy inserted it into his watch, "Yo-kai medal, do your thing!"

"MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! IT'S TIME TO CALL FORTH THE CHARMING TRIBE!" the watch blared as music began to play, along with a swirl of glowing runes bursting out from it. "CHARMING! SO CHARMING! SPARKLING AND DARLING! EVERYONE CHEER! THEY'RE CHARMING! ENMA CHARGE!"

"Nya! Sailornyan~!" the pink nekomata cheered as she appeared from the portal of runes, a blue aura enveloping her, before she blinked and looked at her surroundings in confusion, before her eyes fell onto the one who had summoned her, "CAPTAIN NYATE!"

"Whoa?!" Nate nearly fell over when the feline yo-kai tearfully barreled into him, as she began crying into his shirt, the boy quickly regained his footing and began to hug the cat in a comforting manner, "It's okay, Sailornyan, I'm here."

"IT WAS SO SCARY, CAPTAIN!" the nekomata cried as she clung to the human tightly, "WE ALL WENT INTO THAT WEIRD DOOR, THEN I WAS ALONE AND I DIDN'T KNYOW WHERE I WAS AND IT WAS REALLY DARK, AND THERE WAS THIS CREEPY GUY WITH A DOG ASKING ME WEIRD QUESTIONS!"

"There, there, I'm here now, you don't need to be alone," Nate soothed the pink cat, stroking her head as her crying slowly calmed into sniffles.

Once Sailornyan seemed to have fully calmed down Nate gently placed her back onto the ground and smiled at her.

"Alright, I'm okay nyow…" the feline yo-kai let out a few more sniffles, before smiling back at the human boy, "Thank you, Captain!"

"I'm glad you're okay, Sailornyan," Nate pet the feline on the head one more time, before reaching into his pocket again and pulling back out his handful of medals, "Now let's see… I really need to ask Whisper for his medal later…"

"Nya?" the pink nekomata blinked, "You don't have his medal…?"

"No, he never gave it to me…" Nate muttered with a bit of thought as he sifted through the medals he had on hand, "Jibanyan? No, calling him probably won't help. Blazion? I can't really see him helping much with this. Mirapo? Maybe if we need to make an escape, but he probably can't help us with navigation within this place…"

As Sailornyan watched her crush go through the various medals, she started shuffling in place, clearly growing more and more impatient, "Captain…"

"Walkappa wouldn't be much help… neither would Noway…" Nate did not seem to hear the cat yo-kai, his focus fully on his medals.

"Captain…" Sailornyan spoke again, slightly more anxiously…

"Wait a minute, Dromp!" Nate picked out the Tough tribe medal triumphantly.

"CAPTAIN!" Sailornyan suddenly shouted, jumping up and startling the boy, nearly causing him to drop his medals.

"WAH?!" Nate quickly regained his balance, keeping his grip on his medals, turning his focus back to the cat yo-kai, "Sailornyan? What is it?!"

"I'm bored and I want to leave!" the pink feline whined, her body going limp as she fell onto her stomach.

"Sailornyan, we can't leave yet, we need to find the others," the brunette boy lightly scolded, kneeling down. "And the reason we're here in the first place is to try and help with Mee 2's amnesia, remember?"

"Oh yeah…" the cat yo-kai sighed, reluctantly pulling herself back to her feet.

"Good girl," Nate chuckled as he scratched the feline behind the ears, inciting a few happy purrs from her, before he stood back up, returning all his medals to his pocket, aside from one, "Okay, that's enough standing around here, we need to start finding where everyone else went, and I've got just the yo-kai to help with it!"

"Dromp?" Sailornyan tilted her head as she looked up.

Nate paused, glancing back down at the cat, "… How did you know?"

"You already said it…" the nekomata answered.

The two stared at each other in silence for a couple seconds, before Nate gave an awkward cough, "W-Well, it's true; he's just the yo-kai to help us out of this situation!"

"He is?" Sailornyan smiled happily, jumping up a few times, "Yay! Summon him!" after finishing her cheer, the pink nekomata took a moment to look herself over, a bit of confusion coming to her face, "Hey, Captain, why am I all glowy…?"

Nate glanced back down at the feline yo-kai, scratching his head a bit and turning his eyes to his watch, "Oh yeah, that… I don't really know what that's about, I think it has something to do with this watch, maybe?"

"Hmm…" Sailornyan stared at the yo-kai watch curiously, "Captain, where did your other watch go anyway?"

"Uh, Kirene took it…" the boy answered with an uncertain look, flinching a bit as the memories of the other day came back to him, "I… don't really know when I'll get around to asking for it back…"

Sailornyan frowned at the mention of Kirene, suppressing a growl as she thought about the other cat girl and what she had done the previous day, 'I won't ever let her take you again, Captain!'

Nate shook his head, putting the thoughts of Kirene to the back of his mind, before he pulled up the Tough Tribe medal, "Come on out my friend! Calling, Dromp! Yo-kai medal, do your thing!"

"MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! IT'S TIME TO CALL FORTH THE TOUGH TRIBE! TOUCH! THEY'RE TOUGH! SUPER STRONG STUFF! YOU'LL NEVER KNOCK THEM DOWN! THEY'RE JUST TOO TOUGH! ENMA CHARGE!"

From the summoning appeared a giant, mountain-like creature, which was quickly enveloped with the same blue aura as Sailornyan, the yo-kai looking around in confusion at the area he was summoned to, before turning his focus down to the summoner.

"Hey, Dromp! Long time no see!" Nate called out as he waved up at the massive yo-kai. "Do you think you could help us out here?!"

"Oh, hello there, Nate!" the giant yo-kai called back to the human, glancing around again at his strange surroundings, "Where are we exactly? What is this place?"

"Some kind of extra-dimensional space, I think!" Nate answered, looking around with uncertainty, 'It's called a 'Gate of Whimsy,' have you ever heard of them?!"

"Hmm…" the earth titan looked thoughtful as he considered his surroundings, "No, can't say I have, what did you need my help with this for anyway?"

"Well this place seems to be kind of like a labyrinth!" the human answered, looking at his surroundings again with uncertainty, "And I know you like to make labyrinths, so I thought maybe you would be able to help!"

"Hmm, this place is quite the puzzle," Dromp looked around the seemingly empty space with curiosity, and a bit of awe. "I'm used to just shifted physical space, but the spatial distortion at work here is at another level!"

"Oh," Nate and Sailornyan both looked a bit disappointed by the giant's words.

"So, does that mean you can't really help out with this?!" Nate called out, still looking a bit hopeful.

"It's a bit tricky," Dromp's eyes narrowed his focus shifted towards the ground, "I don't think I'll be able to solve this… but I think I may be able to direct you towards the correct path."

"What does that– "Nate started to ask, but froze as he and Sailornyan both gained wide-eyes, watching as Dromp lifted up one of his massive arms, and slammed it down onto the floor.

A small tremor shook the space around them, Nate and Sailornyan struggling to maintain their balance, while Dromp kept his eyes locked firmly on the location that his hand had landed on.

After a few moments of this, Dromp finally lifted up his hand, pulling up something from the ground along with it.

"What the…?" Nate looked on in shock as he saw what the giant yo-kai had managed to pull up from the floor; a white cube only slightly bigger than the human child, lacking in any features aside from a wooden door.

"Anyother door, great," Sailornyan commented with a bit of sarcasm.

Nate sent the feline a slight scolding look, before turning his focus back to Dromp, "What is this?!"

"The right path," Dromp answered simply, "I'm sorry I can't do more, the complexities of the distortions here are simply beyond me, but I'm certain this passage will lead you to where you need to go."

Nate looked surprised at the answer, turning his focus to the door, staring at it with a bit of apprehension.

"I'm sorry I can't accompany you further in," the giant spoke again, looking down at the human with apologetic eyes, "But I will remain here to pull you back out if you need me to."

"Don't worry about the Captain, Mr. Dromp! I'll protect him nyo matter what!" Sailornyan spoke up with a cheer, before giving a dutiful salute.

Dromp let out a bellowing chuckle at Sailornyan's display, nodding, "I'm sure you will, little one! Just remember, yell for me if you need my help."

Nate gave Sailornyan a pet on the head, nodding to the Earth yo-kai with a grateful smile, "Thank you, Dromp! I really appreciate this!"

Opening the door, Nate found an impossibly long, twisting hallway, seemingly leading into oblivion, with a deep breath the boy, along with his feline companion, stepped inside...

---

"Come on you worthless lump of goo, work those arms!"

"I'm working them as fast as I can!" Whisper let out a gasp as he struggled to move his body in the same way the orange oni known as Sergeant Burly was directing him.

"No! No! You're doing it all wrong!" the muscular yo-kai scolded, stopping in his movements and pulling out a rubber chicken from nowhere, "Check out this guy! Now he's got it right!"

Whisper paused in his exercise, staring at the chicken toy blankly, "That, uh… that's a rubber chicken?"

"EXACTLY!" Sgt. Burly suddenly ran up to the butler and slapped him in the face with the chicken.

"WHY?!" Whisper cried out as he fell to the ground, his eyes turning to swirls.

"OH, I SPY SOMETHING RARE!"

At the booming voice, Whisper got back up and shook his head, "Oh no! Not you!" the white yo-kai attempted to flee, but was quickly grabbed by a giant skeletal hand.

"IN YOU GO!" Gutsy Bones laughed as he stuffed Whisper into a giant capsule machine.

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!" Whisper shouted out into the void as he fell through the various capsules and into a bottomless pit, before landing in what looked to be Springdale Elementary with a pained grunt.

Floating back up with a wince, the yo-kai butler looked around, his eyes narrowed, "Okay, think Whisper, obviously none of this is real, but how 'not real' is it?" wincing to himself and rubbing where the rubber chicken had slapped him earlier, the yo-kai's expression grew worried, "Obviously real enough to inflict pain, so that's a bit too real for my liking!"

Beginning to float through the halls, the butler glanced at the various doors, "I need to find Nate, or somebody, I have no idea what in the world that woman was thinking sending us in here! And I have no idea what Nathan was thinking trusting her!" sighing to himself, Whisper's expression turned worried again, "That boy is far too trusting, one of these days it may get him killed…"

"Well you best look out for him, wouldn't want to let him die, like you let me die," the voice of an adult man spoke as one of the doors behind the yo-kai opened, a tall figure stepping out.

Whisper froze up at that voice, slowly turning towards its source, his eyes widening, "S-SHOGUN WAITINGTON?!" the butler found himself shaking at the sight of the brunette man smiling at him, before closing his eyes and shaking his head rapidly, "No, stop! You're not real!"

"You're right, I'm not real," Shogun Waitington confirmed, giving a smug look as he approached the shaking yo-kai, "But clearly you're in need of my help right now, aren't you, Whispocrates?"

The yo-kai gave a pained expression, refusing to look directly at his long dead master, "I actually go by 'Whisper' now."

Shogun Waitington simply chuckled at the correction, "I'm aware; I'm pretty much a figment of your own subconscious after all! We both know the real Waitington would never blame you for his death!"

"Please stop," Whisper pleaded, starting to float away, "I need to find Nate, I don't have time for these mind games!"

"Yeah, you best do that, wouldn't want that kid to end up like me!"

Whisper's pained expression began to crack as barely restrained anger boiled to the surface, "Stop taunting me."

"Okay."

That simple answer surprised Whisper, with him turning to see the illusion of his former master had vanished. Giving a sigh of relief, the yo-kai could not help a slight look of disappointment from coming to his face, "Thank you…"

"Yo, what up, Dad!"

Whisper's eye twitched at the taunting female voice that sounded from behind him, "Is this place just going to use every little mistake from my past to mess with me?!"

Spinning around the butler found himself looking at a spirit that greatly resembled him in form, but her body was a light purple color, she lacked the eye mask and blue lips of the yo-kai butler, instead being nearly all one solid color aside from her pure white eyes, and the darker purple crown that rested on her head between two pointed horns.

"Shinigami…" Whisper muttered, "… Are you real or just an illusion? Because with you I could believe either way!"

The purple yo-kai let out a slight snort at the question, "Oh please, pops, you really think your actual daughter would go out of her way to find you? Did you ever go out of your way to find her?"

"I don't need this," Whisper grunted, turning away from the illusion, "You're not my daughter, you're just a manifestation of my own guilt, this entire place is just trying to mess with me!"

"Is this place messing with you, or are you messing with you?" Shinigami grinned as she floated around the yo-kai butler, whom continued to look away from her every time she came into his line of sight. "With so much baggage weighing you down, is it any wonder that this place built from thoughts and memories would bring that all to the surface?"

"Go away," Whisper growled in a low tone.

"I may go away," Shinigami sneered as she finally forced the butler to look at her, giving a sinister smirk, "But the guilt will continue to eat at you!"

Whisper just stared at the purple yo-kai in silence, looking unsure of what to say.

"AND THINK FAST!" Shinigami shouted as she pulled out a giant paper fan from nowhere and smacked the butler with it, sending him flying.

"WHY?!" Whisper cried out as he went soaring out an open window and into the distance.

"Ahehe, serves him right," Shinigami chuckled, glancing around the area for a moment, "Now, how do I get back home…?" with a shrug the 'illusion' floated off.

---

"This place is so weird…" Nate commented as he and Sailornyan walked through an alleyway with what looked to be glowing eyes staring at them from every shadow.

"Nya!" Sailornyan glared at one of the eyes, waving her paw at it angrily and causing it to wince, the feline chuckled before skipping to catch up with Nate.

Making their way out of the alley, the two found themselves somewhere in the middle of the woods, trees obscuring every direction.

Nate let out a groan of frustration, "There's no consistency to this place!"

"Don't worry, Captain, I'm sure the right way is just behind one of those trees!" the pink nekomata tried to encourage, though her own expression gave away her waning confidence.

Nate sighed, though the sound of a familiar voice groaning caught his attention, walking forward and past a few trees, he spotted the figure resembling a white ghost on the ground.

"Uh, where am I now?" the white yo-kai winced as he pulled himself up, glancing around his surroundings, "Oh great, as if I needed to be even more lost..."

"Whisper?" Nate spoke up, relief in his eyes as he walked up behind the butler.

"Nate?!" the djinn shouted out in surprise as he spun around to face the source of the voice, jumping onto the boy, knocking him to the ground and hugging him, "I'm so glad to see you are safe! This place is insane! How are we supposed to get out of here?!"

"Please get off me first…" the human boy grunted, letting out a small hiss of pain.

"Oh, right, sorry!" Whisper quickly moved to release his young master, giving a sheepish smile as the boy stood back up and brushed himself off.

Nate shook his head, before giving a relieved look, "Glad to see you're okay, Whisper."

The yo-kai butler chuckled a bit, "Well, I'm not sure if 'okay' is how I'd describe my current state, but I am very glad to have bumped into you, Nathan!"

The boy gave a thumbs-up to that response, "We can unpack that later! For now we still need to find Katie and Mee 2, and then a way out of this place!"

"Hi marshmallow man!" Sailornyan chimed as she skipped over, waving a paw at Whisper.

Whisper sighed as he pinched the area between his eyes, "Sailornyan, I'm not a marshmallow–wait, why are you glowing?" the djinn's eyes widened in confusion as he took note of the pink feline's current state.

"Something to do with Captain Nyate's nyew watch!" the nekomata answered, her voice an oblivious, cheerful tone.

"We can figure that one out later," Nate interjected, looking around and trying to figure out what direction to go, "For now, let's just try to make our way forward."

Whisper and Sailornyan both nodded, with the former floating forward and giving a serious look, "Alright, Nathan, but a word of warning… this place can seriously mess with your head!"

"Noted!" Nate nodded to his butler's advice, before the trio began to make their way through the trees.

---

"Someone catch that human!"

"Wild human on the loose!"

"Catch it! Catch it!"

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!" Katie cried out as she ran from an angry mob of talking animals.

The animals kept shouting various things at the girl as she fled down the street, eventually she came to a turn and quickly ducked into an alleyway.

The girl hid pressed her back up against a concrete wall, steadying her breathing as the mob rushed by.

Once Katie was sure the danger had passed, she let out a heavy exhale and dropped to her knees, "Why didn't I bring any yo-kai medals with me today?" the girl groaned to herself, her face falling into her hands as she curled up into a fetal position.

As the girl continued to groan to herself, one of the doors on the side of the alley opened up, and a trio of one human and two yo-kai stepped out, the human of the group glancing around curiously, before his eyes fell on the girl.

"Katie?" Nate called out carefully, taking a step towards her.

Hearing that voice snapped the brunette girl out of her funk, with her looking up, eyes wide in shock, "Nate?!"

Jumping to her feet, the human girl latched onto her friend and hugged him, causing the boy's face to turn red, "Nate! I'm so glad to see you!" immediately shifting moods, the girl pushed the blushing boy away, and gave him a swift punch to the head.

"Ow?!" Nate cried out, his blush vanishing as he looked at his crush with shock.

"And that's for getting us into this mess!" the girl snapped angrily, giving her friend a stern glare, "Seriously; what were you thinking trusting that crazy lady?!"

Nate nervously held up his hands as he took a step back, "I mean, to be fair; she did tell us that this place was made up of memories and junk."

"Still, there were a lot of red flags there, Nate," Whisper stated plainly as he floated to the boy's side.

"Not helping," Nate glared at the butler.

"And I'm glowing!" Sailornyan chimed in cheerfully.

"Huh, that looks familiar," Katie commented thoughtfully.

"Look, let's just move, we need to find Mee 2," Nate hurried, moving to the door on the opposite side of the alley to the one he had entered from.

"Fine, but I won't be forgetting this any time soon," Katie grunted as she moved to follow Nate.

"Noted," the boy sighed, before opening the door and stepping inside.

---

"Well, I can safely conclude that none of this nonsense is helping me with my memory problems!" Mee 2 exclaimed with a mixture of exhaustion and annoyance, as she was currently trapped inside of a giant lava lamp, with a bunch of clowns surrounding it, laughing at her and honking horns.

A purple seahorse swam up to the yo-kai and gave a goofy laugh, "Hi, my name's Horst Fedders!"

Mee 2 gave the aquatic creature a glare, "Alright, that's it; I'm sick of this place."

With a swift and forceful movement, the pink ghost slammed her body against the glass of the lamp, breaking through it and sending a wave of water rushing out, sweeping up all the clowns in its current and sending them into a giant drain that seemingly had only just appeared.

"… Well that was unexpected," Mee 2 muttered with a blank expression, before gaining a thoughtful look, "Then again; I think after I saw the giant banana slug dragon, nothing should surprise me about this place."

Suddenly a door to the pink yo-kai's left opened, with a familiar brunette boy poking his head in, "Mee 2?"

"Nate?!" the female spirit cheered, zooming over to the boy and tackling him into a hug.

"Again?!" Nate cried out in surprise, while his other companions rolled their eyes.

---

"Finally, we're all back together," Nate smiled as he looked between each of his companions, as they all stood in a hallway of swerving colors.

"And sorry to say that none of this nonsense has helped with my memory," Mee 2 sighed, crossing her arms, her expression one of disappointment and annoyance.

"Well just goes to show; next time listen to me," Katie sneered.

Mee 2 growled as she glared back at the human girl.

"Guys, now is not the time to fight!" Nate quickly interjected, snapping both girls out of their conflict, "We need to find a way out of here!"

"And how exactly are we supposed to do that?" Katie asked as she looked at the boy skeptically.

"Yeah, Captain; this entire place is more confusing than Whisper's search history!" Sailornyan pointed out with a little jump.

"Wait, what?" Whisper gave the feline cat a suspicious look.

"Nyothing," the feline stuck her tongue out at the djinn.

"Sailornyan, did you forget," Nate spoke up again, giving a confident smile, "We've got somebody on the outside," turning to look down the hallway, the boy cupped his hands in front of his face and called out; "Hey! Dromp! We're ready! Pull us back!"

For a few seconds nothing seemed to happen, but soon a slight tremor began to shake the entire area, and that small tremor slowly became bigger and bigger, until it felt like the entire place was in the middle of a giant earthquake.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" Katie cried out fearfully as she nearly fell over.

"DON'T WORRY, IT'S JUST MY FRIEND!" Nate called back, looking like he was trying to remain calm despite all the shaking.

As the shaking continued to increase, the group found themselves being pulled down the hall, until they were all swept up as if it were a giant vacuum, inciting screams from all of them as they flew through the narrow pathway of swerving colors...

---

The small group all grunted as they landed onto a checkered-pattern floor.

Nate rubbed his head with a wince as he sat up, before noting the familiar rainbow colored sky overhead, "It worked, we're back!"

"We're what?" Katie dizzily muttered as she struggled to stand up.

"My everything hurts…" Mee 2 whimpered as she slowly floated off the ground.

"… It sort of worked," Nate said sheepishly, noting the state of his companions, and wincing to himself as he noted the pain of his own body. "Ow, ow, ow…"

"Yeah, 'sort of…'" Whisper grunted as he floated over to the boy, rubbing his head with a look of pain.

"Oh, sorry about that!" Dromp called out as he looked down at the small group, "The trip back ended up being a bit rougher than I intended."

Katie blinked at the loud voice from above, before glancing up at the Tough Tribe yo-kai, her pupils shrinking as she took in just how massive the being was in comparison to her, "Uh… Nate?"

Nate gave a confused look as he glanced at his crush, "Yeah, Katie?"

"You… didn't tell me your friend was a living mountain," the girl said, her voice failing to convey any emotion as she just kept staring at the giant yo-kai.

"I mean, I'm not really sure if 'living mountain' is exactly what I'd call him…" Nate looked thoughtful for a moment, before shaking his head, "Eh, it doesn't matter, the point is he helped us out, right?"

"I guess so…" Katie still looked wary as she looked away from the looming giant, letting out a sigh to herself as she rubbed her forehead, "This has all just been a lot to take in lately…"

Nate looked at the girl strangely, before he noticed how the area around them had started to darken, looking up, his expression turned to concern, "Uh… guys? Were those clouds always there?"

Each of the others looked up at the sky, seeing how it had begun to be filled with rainbow colored clouds, which were multiplying rapidly.

"I've been here the whole time, and I can definitely say those weren't there before," Dromp assured, sounding a bit concerned himself.

"CHEATERS!" a voice boomed out like thunder from the rainbow storm clouds, "YOU CHEATED! CHEATERS! CHEATERS!"

"What's going on?!" Mee 2 called out fearfully.

"Nya!" Sailornyan hid behind Nate, pushing down her ears, "Too loud!"

"Uh, guys, what's that?" Katie pointed up into the sky with concern.

The others all looked where the girl was pointing, seeing how the rainbow clouds had begun to converge into a vortex, a vortex from which a giant purple and green eye opened up in the center of.

"… Well that's… slightly concerning," Whisper spoke with a blank expression, his arms dropping limply to his sides as she just stared up at the eye of the storm, as it intently stared back…

"Guys I don't think that has anything to do with my memories," Mee 2 said quickly, moving to join Sailornyan in hiding behind Nate.

From the clouds emerged a large head of which the eye was attached, followed by a massive humanoid torso, two arms emerged and revealed hands, the palms of which having eyes the same as the one on the head.

The mouth of the giant humanoid was twisted into a scowl as all three of the eyes narrowed down at the group, "You! How dare you CHEAT!"

"Cheat? What?" Nate looked up at Dromp questioningly, "What's he talking about?!"

"Hmm, maybe he didn't like my interference," Dromp concluded with a thoughtful look, before a giant blast of wind suddenly hit him and sent him flying back, creating a large tremor as he hit the ground, "… Yeah, I don't think he liked how I helped!"

"Do any of you have any idea how much work I put into this place?!" the giant humanoid in the sky shouted, "I am Eyephoon! Master of the Gates of Whimsy! And I do not tolerate cheaters!"

? Tribe: Eyephoon

"Eyephoon?" Whisper pulled out his yo-kai pad, only to let out a horrified gasp as he looked at the screen, "No signal?!"

"I don't give the Wi-Fi password to just anyone!" the boss yo-kai shouted in annoyance, sending a gust of wind the djinn's way.

"My yo-kai pad?!" Whisper cried out as his precious device was ripped from his hands and sent hurtling off into the void. "NOOOO!"

Nate grabbed the butler before he could dive into the void after his device, "Whisper! No!"

"NATHAN! LET ME GO! I NEED TO SAVE IT!" Whisper cried out as he struggled against the young human's grip.

"We'll buy you another! Stop!" Nate protested, pulling his butler back from the drop into the void.

"Nate, quick! Summon something!" Katie called out to her friend, struggling to keep herself steady as the winds around them had started to pick up more and more.

"Uh, right!" Nate released Whisper, whom thankfully did not try to dive into the void again, and reached into his pocket to pull out some yo-kai medals, "Okay, how about– "

"NOT HAPPENING!" Eyephoon shouted, the winds becoming even more intense.

"HEY!" Nate cried out as the yo-kai medals flew out of his hand and off into the void, "My medals?!"

"We're doomed," Whisper muttered, curled up on the ground in a fetal position.

"ARG! Why didn't I bring any yo-kai medals?!" Katie cried out in frustration, pulling at her hair, before a thought suddenly struck her, "Wait, this place is created from thoughts and memories, so..."

"What are you muttering about?!" Eyephoon turned his focus towards the girl, "If you have something to say, say it!"

Katie blinked as the attention fell on her, before giving a determined glare, "Okay… Well then I summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" she shouted while striking a dramatic pose.

"No," the giant triclops denied, quickly sending the girl flying back with a spatial distortion.

"Ow! Why didn't my imagination plan work?" Katie whimpered as she got back up and ran to hide behind Nate.

"That's not how this works! You're thinking of Hoaxy-Coaxy!" Eyephoon scoffed, his three eyes glaring down at Katie. "For that matter; why would you go with Blue-Eyes White Dragon?! Exodia would have been a much better choice if you really wanted to defeat me!"

The human girl scoffed as she glared back at the boss yo-kai, "Are you kidding? Exodia is such a boring choice! Who wants to win instantly?!"

"Me, I would appreciate winning instantly…." Whisper raised his hand, a look of despair on on his face. "I really want to go home…"

"Nobody is asking you!" Katie snapped at the yo-kai butler, before glaring back at the giant humanoid, "Anyone who relies on Exodia is a coward!"

"Well anyone who relies on Blue-Eyes is a moron!" Eyephoon shot back.

"Why you!" Katie's eyes burned with rage as she looked ready to try and attack the giant yo-kai herself.

"Katie!" Nate finally snapped.

"What?!" the girl turned to her friend, her face slightly red from anger at this point.

"Stop arguing with the boss yo-kai about Yu-Gi-Oh!" the boy ordered, his patience looking to be at its end.

"But, but, but…" Katie tried to protest, but quickly ended up sighing as she accepted that her friend was right, "Fine, but just so you know; I'm right!"

"Katie!" Nate gave a low growl, making it clear his patience was rapidly diminishing.

"Okay, fine!" the girl relented, before looking towards the floating pink yo-kai nearby, "Mee 2, what kind of attacks can you do?!"

"Attacks? I don't know!" Mee 2 shouted out as she raised her arms, before getting blown away.

"Nya!" Sailornyan cried as she was tossed around in the wind.

"Sailornyan!" Nate ran to catch the flying feline, jumping up to grab her in his arms, "Gotcha!" only to quickly realize he too was now being swept up into the wind, "Oh… that's not good!"

Katie glanced around for any advantage in desperation, before he eyes fell onto the toppled over Dromp, running over to the giant yo-kai, the human girl quickly tapped on the side of his head, "Hey! Big guy, could really use your help about now!"

"Sorry, I'll try to get up," Dromp grunted, attempting to push himself back up with his arms, the girl running back to avoid getting crushed as he did so… only to fall back onto his back with a loud 'thud,' "Sorry, I can't…"

"You're useless!" Katie snapped angrily.

"That's not nice, Katie!" Nate called out as he flew by in the wind.

Eyephoon let out an evil laugh as he watched the group helplessly flail about, "You all refused to play by the rules, now you're going to be trapped wandering the void for all eternity!"

"So much for getting the chance to talk to my parents," Nate lamented as he continued to fly around in the wind, Sailornyan firmly held in his arms.

"Captain, what about the glow?" Sailornyan spoke up hopefully, gesturing to herself, and the blue glow still present around her body.

"I think that would enhance your healing abilities, but I'm not sure how it would help with this situation," Nate admitted with a sigh, before a thought occurred to him, his eyes glancing to the fallen Dromp, still struggling (and failing) to pull himself upright, "But maybe… do you think if you hit Dromp with your Soultimate, it could give him the energy needed to pull himself up?"

"Hmm… I dunnyo!" Sailornyan admitted, with a shrug, "But worth a try!"

Nodding to the pink feline, Nate glanced towards the still laughing boss yo-kai, confirming that he was not paying the floating human-cat duo any mind at the moment, before the boy turned his gaze towards the fallen Dromp, which the supernatural winds were bringing them around towards fast.

"Okay, we've probably only got one shot at this," Nate's eyes narrowed as he clutched Sailornyan, "You'll be okay if I throw you, right?"

"Of course!" Sailornyan held up a paw cheerfully as she nodded, before what the boy said fully processed to her, "Wait; throw me?"

Nate did not seem to hear that last bit from Sailornyan, as he was already preparing to throw the nekomata, "I'm counting on you, Sailornyan!"

"Wait, hold– "the pink cat's words fell on deaf ears, as she suddenly found herself hurtling through the air, and straight for the giant yo-kai of earth. "CAAAAAAAPTAAAAAIIIIINN!" the pink yo-kai screamed, bracing for impact as she saw the soil-like body of Dromp getting closer and closer…

With a sound comparable to a plush toy being thrown against a wall, Sailornyan grunted as she hit the giant yo-kai's body, "Owwie."

"Sorry!" Nate quickly called out as he flew by in the winds of distortion.

Pulling herself up, Sailornyan wobbled in place a bit, her eyes swirls, before shaking her head and regaining her bearings, "Okay, I nyeed to try! Lovely Meow!"

With the exclamation of her Soultimate attack, the blue aura around Sailornyan flared, a great burst of healing energy erupting from the small yo-kai and washing over the fallen giant.

"Huh, what is that…?" Dromp spoke up with a confusion, lifting his head up a bit and spotting the small feline on his body, "Was that you? That's rather soothing."

"Nyo problem!" Sailornyan nodded, jumping off the large yo-kai's body and looking up at him hopefully, "Can you get up nyow?!"

"I'm not sure, let me try," Dromp's eyes narrowed as he attempted to push himself upright once more, but this time his energy levels had clearly been filled well above his usual cap, with him managing to get back up with seemingly little effort, "Wow, that's incredible!"

"Yeah!" Sailornyan cheered at the success, jumping up happily, before a blast of space distortion knocked her back, "NYA?!"

"What's going on over here?!" Eyephoon's three giant eyes glared upon the form of the other giant yo-kai, his expression an angry snarl, "I thought I already took care of you!"

"Well, not well enough, clearly," Dromp glared back at the boss yo-kai, taking a menacing stance as the blue aura around him flared up, "And I won't let you hurt my friends anymore, let us leave now, or I'm gonna show you what the strength of a mountain can do!"

Nate screamed as the winds began to concentrate around Eyephoon, flinging him out from their current, and onto the ground, "OW!" pulling himself up while dusting off his clothing, the boy noticed the fallen nekomata nearby and began running over to her, "Sailornyan!"

"Captain!" the pink cat winced in a bit of pain as she ran over to meet the human boy.

"You guys got the big guy up!" Katie spoke up as she ran over to Nate and Sailornyan, as the boy was scooping up the cat yo-kai into his arms, "But will that be enough to get us out of this?!"

"Without any yo-kai medals, it will have to be," Nate gave a worried look towards the confrontation of giant yo-kai, before something crossed his mind, "Wait, where are Whisper and Mee 2?"

"Well, your butler is still crying about his tablet– "

"YO-KAI PAD!" Whisper's shout interrupted Katie from across the area.

Katie sent a look of annoyance in the direction the voice had come from, before focusing back on Nate, "And as for Mee 2, she should be around here somewhere."

"Here I am!" the aforementioned pink ghost exclaimed, popping up from behind Katie, startling the human girl.

Katie pointed at the floating yo-kai girl, "See, told you she was around here somewhere!"

"TOTAL COLLAPSE!" Dromp's voice shouted as the blue aura around him began to glow brighter, catching the attention of the small group.

"Wait, what does that do again…?" Nate asked with concern, before he, along with everyone else, was blinded by a giant explosion.

---

"Uh… what happened?" Nate grunted, opening his eyes and looking around, before gaining a look of shock when he saw where he was, or perhaps where he wasn't… "WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS PLACE?!"

The checkered patterned floor that was previously acting as solid ground for the group had been replaced with various scattered broken pieces all floating freely in the void.

"Well… that could have gone better," Dromp spoke as he floated by in the empty space.

"YOU THINK?!" a scorched Eyephoon shouted as he floated up to the giant earth yo-kai and smacked him over the head.

"How are we still alive?!" Katie shouted from another piece of what was previously the floor, which drifted by Nate's piece.

"That's a question I find myself asking more and more as time goes on," Nate muttered with a heavy sigh.

"Can we leave yet?!" Mee 2 shouted out as she drifted by.

"NO!" Eyephoon snapped, clapping his hands and causing the ground to reassemble itself, startling everyone, and having Dromp fall onto his back.

"Ow! And here I am again…" the earth giant mumbled with a sad sigh.

"Your efforts have been worthless, this is my domain!" the boss yo-kai shouted, his three eyes looking around at the group in front of him, "And you will not leave here, not until I say so!"

"Great…" Katie groaned, "We're gonna be trapped forever…"

"Maybe nyot forever?" Sailornyan offered, though she quickly sat down and looked at the ground with a sad sigh.

"Well, at least I know Hidabat will look after my room," Nate said with a tone both tired and defeated.

"Wait a minute," the giant triclops held up a hand to stop, turning his main eye towards Nate, "Did you say Hidabat?"

Nate looked confused, slowly nodding his head, "Uh… yeah? He's a friend of mine…"

At that confirmation, Eyephoon gained a large grin as he let out a hearty laugh, "Well why didn't you just say so? Any friend of Hidabat's is welcome in my domain!"

"Wait, say what now…?" Katie looked dumbfounded, "Why is the tone suddenly changing?"

"How do you know Hidabat?" Nate asked, a shocked expression on his face.

"Oh, he's probably one of my best clients!" the giant yo-kai answered with another loud laugh, "You know, designing pocket dimensions may not be the most in demand job out there, but whenever I'm asked to do a job, I make sure I do it right, and Hidabat always makes sure to pay well for the effort!"

Nate blinked, before a realization hit him, "… Wait a minute, are you the one who put an apartment complex in my closet?!"

"That was your closet?!" Eyephoon's three eyes widened as he moved to get a closer look at the boy, "Then that means… you're the Yo-kai Master, Nathan Adams!"

"What is happening?" Katie stood up with an indignant look, crossing her arms, "I thought we were trapped forever? But now we're focusing on Nate being famous or whatever?"

"You're jealous~!" Sailornyan teased as she pointed one of her paws at the human girl.

"I am not!" Katie quickly snapped, growling a bit to herself as she stomped one of her feet on the ground, "I'm just frustrated, I haven't exactly been having a great time lately!"

"Well maybe that's an attitude problem…" Mee 2 muttered with a disapproving look.

The brunette girl slowly turned her head to look at the ghost, her expression conveying barely restrained outrage, "I swear I will toss you into the abyss, Pinky…"

"Oh, right; your things," Eyephoon chuckled, making a few hand motions as Whisper's yo-kai pad and Nate's yo-kai medals floated up from the abyss and to their respective owners.

"My yo-kai pad!" Whisper cried tears of joy as he clutched the precious device in his arms.

"… What a baby," Katie grunted, shaking her head at the yo-kai butler's antics.

"Uh… thanks?" Nate looked unsure of how to respond to any of what just happened, but also relieved that it seemed they were not going to be trapped forever.

"Hey, no problem!" Eyephoon gave a thumbs up, "Here, take this!" after saying that, the giant yo-kai snapped his fingers, and a colorful orb manifested in front of Nate.

"What's that?" the boy asked, looking at the rainbow colored ball with caution.

"That's a Gate Globe! Just take it, and you'll all be out of here!" Eyephoon assured with a thumbs-up.

"Good, Nate, grab it!" Katie shouted, thoroughly fed up with this entire experience.

Nate moved to pick the Gate Globe up, but before he could Dromp spoke up.

"Uh, excuse me! Before you do that, could I ask something?" the earth yo-kai's eyes glanced towards Eyephoon, as he struggled to pull himself back upright.

Rolling his eyes, Eyephoon made a hand motion towards Dromp, causing the other giant to float up and be put back in an upright position. "What?"

"Would it be alright if I stayed here for a bit?" Dromp asked the other giant, tapping his fingers together a bit nervously, "You know; pick your brain a little?"

"What?! You blew this place up a second ago!" Eyephoon pointed out in outrage.

Dromp shrunk back a bit, "Well, yeah; but you fixed it, and I'm really interested in the workings of this place and how you designed it all…"

The triclops gave an annoyed look, before sighing, "Fine, but only because you're a friend of the Yo-kai Master, and you seem to have an appreciation for my work!"

With that conclusion, Nate grabbed hold of the Gate Globe, and was blinded by a flash of colorful lights...

---

When the light faded, the group found themselves back outside the museum, all of them clearly dazed and exhausted; both mentally and physically.

"… That was nyuts!" Sailornyan suddenly shouted, clinging to Nate's head as her fur frizzed.

"Yeah, that's… one way to put it…" Katie nodded, looking nearly as frazzled as the nekomata.

"So… uh, did any of… that help your memory, Mee 2?" Nate spoke up between breaths, glancing to the pink ghost.

Mee 2 simply hovered in the air with a blank expression, not seeming to register Nate's voice for a few moments, "Huh…?" she suddenly blinked, looking around, "Where am I? What year is this? Where's Waldo?"

"Who?" Nate's brow rose, glancing to Katie, whom shrugged cluelessly.

"What?" Mee 2 blinked again, shaking her head to regain her senses, "S-Sorry, what were we doing again…?"

"… So that's a no," Katie commented bluntly, sighing as she shook her head in disappointment, "Meaning we did all of that for nothing."

Mee 2 glared at Katie, a low growl under her breath, but said nothing.

Nate looked like he was about to argue with his crush's conclusion, but was interrupted before he could.

"It was definitely not for nothing!" Diana exclaimed, stepping before the group with a wide grin on her face, "That is… if you got any Gate Globes?"

The group all looked at the professor with clueless expressions, sharing a few glances between themselves.

"Uh… do you mean this thing?" Nate finally asked, holding up the colorful orb he had picked up earlier, only for him to jump back with a yelp when Diana was right in his face before he could he even blink.

"Gimme!" the bespectacled woman grabbed the colorful orb eagerly, staring at it with sparkling eyes, "Oh yeah, you kids really came through for me!"

"What are you…?" Nate mumbled, clutching his heart and trying to calm down with some deep breathing.

"What do you want with that thing anyway?" Katie asked, glaring at Diana skeptically.

"Hmm?" the woman barely seemed to notice the girl's glare as she kept staring at the Gate Globe, "Oh, don't you kids worry about that!"

"Well that certainly fills me with confidence," Katie's sarcasm did not seem to register to Diana either.

"Hahaha, shiny…" the professor drooled slightly as she continued to stare into the rainbow colored sphere.

"Master, I am glad to see you are unharmed!" Venoct spoke up as he bowed to the human boy, "Did your quest yield the desired results?"

Nate sighed, sparing a sympathetic look Mee 2's way, before turning his attention to the ninja-like yo-kai, "Sorry to say; no it didn't, we're still no closer to helping Mee 2 get her memory back..."

"Oh?" Diana blinked, finally moving her gaze away from the globe and looking towards the disappointed pink ghost, "Well, I am sorry the Gate of Whimsy didn't yield any results for unlocking this little one's memories," she gave a sympathetic smile as she patted Mee 2 on the head.

"Please don't touch me," the pink ghost muttered tiredly, clearly mentally drained.

"Okay, I can see you're not very happy," Diana chuckled, holding her hands up. "Would you like a pony? I can get you a pony… probably."

Mee 2's only response to that was to glare at Diana, before silently floating away from her.

"… Huh, I was sure that would work," Prof. Gately crossed her arms, a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Hey! Answer me!" Katie interjected angrily.

"Huh, about what?" the professor turned to the girl with a blank expression.

"Why do you want lots of Gate Globes, what are you planning to do with them?!" Katie pried in a frustrated tone.

Diana just laughed, giving a dismissive wave, "You just worry about getting me more Gate Globes, okay~?"

"Do you seriously expect us to just trust you about that?! For all we know you could be some lunatic plotting world domination!" the pony-tailed girl shouted in protest.

Diana scoffed at that accusation, rolling her eyes, "Don't be ridiculous; I haven't thought about world domination since I was in my twenties!"

At this admission, the rest of the group all stared at the bespectacled women with varying degrees of uncertainty, while Katie herself seemed to be unsure of what to say in response.

"… Maybe we should just leave now?" the brunette girl muttered, turning to walk away from the professor.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Nate mumbled, shaking his head as the group began to leave.

"Oh! By the way, Nate!" Diana called out to the boy, whom looked back at her questioningly, "Say 'hi' to your dad for me~!" she winked before turning and walking back into the museum.

"… Wha…?" Nate looked confused, "What was that just now?"

"Hmm, I'm suspecting there may be some history between that woman and your father…" Whisper looked thoughtful, before his eyes widened as a thought struck, "Oh dear! Nathan, do you think it could possibly be an… affair?!"

Nate looked surprised by his butler's suggestion, which quickly became a look of disappointment, "… No."

Whisper seemed disappointed that his dramatic suggestion had been immediately shot down, "But maybe– "

"No!" Nate repeated more firmly, his eyes focused straight ahead, "Look she was apparently taught by grandpa, her knowing my dad makes sense, it's nothing more than that!"

Whisper sighed, but nodded, "Fine, let's just go."

"Have no fear, Master! I shall scout ahead the way home to ensure there is no danger!" Venoct shouted, jumping up onto a rooftop and speeding off in the direction of Nate's house.

"… Okay, you do that, I guess," Nate shook his head in defeat.

---

There was an awkward silence between the group as they made their way from the museum and back to Uptown Springdale.

"So, uh…" Nate started, getting the attention of the others as he glanced up at the sky and scratched his head.

"What?" one of Katie's eyebrows rose as she looked at the boy.

"Well, should we keep trying?" Nate asked, looking at Mee 2 with concern and regret that they had so far not made any progress towards getting her memories back.

"Nate, I appreciate everything you're trying to do for me, but I think we can probably call it a day for now," the pink ghost assured, floating over to the boy and patting him on the shoulder.

"I have to agree, that Gate of Whimsy thing was… kind of a lot," Katie muttered, still looking a little dizzy from the experience.

"Yeah, I'm tired…" Sailornyan yawned, moving over to Nate and tugging on his pants-leg, "Will you carry me, Captain?"

"Oh would you not be such a child?" Whisper looked at Sailornyan with disappointment, though this fell on deaf ears as Nate moved to pick her up. Whisper could only sigh in defeat, "She's never going to learn to be independent if you baby her, Nathan…"

"I think she's fine," Nate argued, holding the purring nekomata up and hugging her to his chest.

Whisper let out a 'hmph,' turning away in a huff, "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Okay, I won't," Nate agreed without hesitation as he walked forward, with Sailornyan sticking her tongue out at Whisper.

"Hey, wait up!" Whisper quickly moved to follow, leaving Katie and Mee 2 behind.

"I guess we'll pick this back up later?!" Nate called out back to the two girls as he ran towards his house, both him and Sailornyan laughing as Whisper angrily chased them.

"Uh, yeah…" Mee 2 waved, her body beginning to drift forward to follow the boy's lead.

"Oh no you don't!"

Mee 2 let out a surprised yelp as she felt a hand grip her by the tail and yank her back, before she was met face-to-face with a glare from Katie. "H-Hey, what's the big idea?!"

"You are not staying with Nate!" Katie spoke sternly as she released her grip from the yo-kai, allowing her to float freely again. "You're staying with me, and that's final!"

"What?! Why should I listen to you?!" Mee 2 glared back at the other girl.

Katie did not falter in her stance, "Because lately Nate has had way too many girls fighting over him! I'm not letting you add to those problems from within his own home!"

This reasoning caught Mee 2 a bit off guard, her aggressive energy diminishing somewhat, "Wha…? Well that… I mean…" the pink of the yo-kai's face suddenly shifted to a bright red as what was being implied hit her, "W-Wait, hold on a second! I don't like him like that!"

Katie rolled her eyes, "Sure you don't, now come on! You're staying with me!"

"But… but… oh fine," the pink ghost's arms dropped in defeat.

Meanwhile Nate had stopped in his running and had turned back around, remembering that he had not asked Mee 2 if she had a place to stay, just in time to see Katie taking the lead and hear where Mee 2 would apparently be staying...

"Is that really a good idea…?" Nate muttered as he watched Katie drag away the amnesiac yo-kai.

"Probably a better idea than her following us home," Whisper shrugged as he floated around the boy.

One of Nate's fingers rose as if he wanted to give a rebuttal, but it quickly was retracted, "… You probably have a point there."

"Bye-bye!" Sailornyan waved her paws to the departing duo as she sat in Nate's arms.

---

Nate did not announce his return home once he stepped inside, instead deciding to head straight up the stairs…

"Nate, shouldn't you– "

"I will, I just… need a few minutes," Nate gently interrupted his butler, sighing to himself as he reached the door to his bedroom.

"Darling!"

Nate let out a startled yelp, being met with a glomp from a frantic yuki-onna as soon as she had stepped into his room, "B-Blizzaria?!"

Sailornyan hissed angrily as she followed Nate into the room, though she went ignored by the cryomancer girl.

"Oh Darling, I was so worried about you!" Blizzaria cried as she nuzzled her face into the flustered boy's chest. "I wasn't able to find you anywhere, and with everything that happened yesterday I was terrified you had been taken away again!"

"I, uh… w-well as y-you can see; I'm fine," Nate stuttered, his face bright red from the cute yo-kai girl's affection. "S-So, could you m-maybe let me go…?"

Pulling her face away from his shirt, the young yuki-onna looked up at the boy with an unhappy pout, before reluctantly releasing him from her grip and crossing her arms, "Hmph! Fine!"

"Sorry, but today has been really tiring," Nate groaned at the ice elemental's childishness, though before he could have a moment to think…

"DARLING!"

Nate gave a shout in surprise at the two excited voices, before he found himself being hugged by a pair of excited cyclops, "Insomni?! Sandi?!"

Blizzaria gave a jealous snarl at the twins' attack, shaking her fists as she floated over, "Hey! Let Nate go! Didn't you guys hear what he just said?! If I can't hug him, you two certainly can't!"

"Yeah, the captain has had a hard day you knyow!" Sailornyan angrily called out.

The twins sighed in disappointment, but noting the look on the boy's face, reluctantly released him and allowed him to breath.

"Thank you," Nate grunted, shaking his head.

"Nate, does something seem… different about those two…?" Whisper spoke up, gesturing to the twins as they smiled at Nate and clasped their hands happily.

Nate narrowed his eyes as he looked the two over, noting that there definitely did seem to be something different about the two of them, until it suddenly clicked with him what exactly it was, "Hey, wait a minute; what happened to your figures!"

Both insomni and Sandi's eyes widened, glancing down at themselves and letting out gasps at the fact that their bodies were not the hourglass shape they were usually, now being a lot closer to that of Blizzaria, aside from the lack of legs of course.

"Oh… oops," Insomni spoke as she and her sister shared a few awkward chuckles.

"Guess we forgot to shapeshift this morning…" Sandi looked a bit nervous as she put a hand to her chest. "Hearing about all the craziness that went on last night, must have slipped our mind…"

Nate looked at the cyclops twins with a dull expression, crossing his arms before asking; "What are you two talking about? Are you saying you've been shapeshifting this whole time… to look older?"

The two sisters averted their eyes, trying to look as innocent as possible…

"Ha! I knew it!" Blizzara laughed in triumph as she pointed at the djinn twins, whom both glared back at her with annoyed pouts.

"Well, I'll admit; this at least eases some concerns I've had regarding their affection for you," Whisper sighed, shrugging as he sat down on the bed.

"Huh, what now?" Insomni looked at Whisper strangely at that comment.

"It's nothing, forget it," the yo-kai butler insisted, looking away and shaking his head.

"Master!" Venoct shouted as he jumped into the room.

"Can I get no peace?!" the human boy nearly tore out his hair as he let out a shout of frustration, before turning to face the humanoid yo-kai, "What is it, Venoct?!"

"… Just wanted to say, I'm glad you made it home safely," the Slippery yo-kai answered quickly, before giving a respectful nod and quickly ducking back into the hall.

"… I may be a bit tense at the moment," Nate admitted, glancing back to the yo-kai girls in the room with a slightly apologetic look, but it was quickly replaced with a firm one, "But that doesn't mean I want to be smothered right now!"

"Understood, Darling!" Blizzaria did a quick bow, grabbing both Insomni and Sandi by their collars.

"Hey!" the djinn twins cried out as they were dragged back into the closet along with the yuki-onna, leaving the boy alone, alongside his butler and cat.

"Huh, that was surprising," Whisper commented with a look of disbelief over how easily Blizzaria had yielded to his master's wishes.

"Wonder how long that will last," Sailornyan's tone indicated she did not have much faith, as she made her way over to the bed and jumped up on it to take a nap.

"Well, regardless, I'm thankful for it," Nate sighed, "I don't have the mental energy for them right now, and there's something else that I need to do that will require a lot of it…"

"You sure you're ready to do this?" Whisper gave his master a look of concern as the boy began to walk out of the room.

"No," Nate answered simply as he glanced back at the butler, "But they already know, there's no getting around it."

"Wazzat could erase their memory," Whisper pointed out, but was quickly met with a disapproving look.

"No, I'm not doing that," Nate sighed, shaking his head, "Putting aside that Wazzat only makes you forget things in the moment and they'd probably remember later, I don't want to do that to them, I need to deal with this…"

"Okay, sorry," the yo-kai butler apologized with a bow, "I know it's the right thing to do, I'll be just a call away if you need me."

"Thank you, Whisper," the boy gave his butler a soft smile, before walking into the hallway and heading for the stairs.

---

When Nate entered the living room he froze when he spotted both his parents seated on the couch, watching TV. With a gulp, the boy snuck by them and into the kitchen, sighing to himself as he began to mentally prepare for the discussion that would soon take place…

"Oh, you're back?"

Jumping a bit, the boy looked to see Toiletta in the kitchen, finishing a glass of water as she stared at him with her two large eyes.

Quickly calming himself down, Nate gave a deep breath before speaking, "Oh, Toiletta, uh… hi…"

"Yes, hello," the ghost girl responded curtly, as she put the glass she had just finished drinking from into the sink, "Seems like you had a bit of an exciting day, bet you wish you didn't speed off like that earlier, huh?" she gave a teasing smirk as she spoke.

Nate glanced down guiltily, "Uh… yeah…"

This response gave Toiletta pause, the girl looking at her crush with concern, "Hey, you alright? I was kidding you know, I understand how things got really hectic for you the other day and everything."

"… Sorry about earlier," the young man looked away awkwardly, rubbing his arm a bit, "I was… overwhelmed, but it wasn't an excuse to throw you under the bus like that…"

Toiletta simply smiled at the boy's apology, chuckling a bit to herself, "Oh, don't worry about that, Nate. I was gonna have to face the music about them knowing I'm a yo-kai eventually, luckily your parents seem pretty accepting; though they did scold me for clogging the toilets at school on my way out."

Nate chuckled as well at that memory, scratching the back of his head as he managed to meet the ghost girl's eyes, "Y-Yeah, they're… they're really great…" the boy found himself pausing, thinking about his parents; all they did to support him, all the unconditional love that never wavered.

He thought of his mother; strict, strong, kind, warm.

He thought of his father; calm, fun, loving, supportive.

Both of them had their faults, but Nate was not sure he could ever ask for a better set of parents.

"… They deserve to know the truth," the boy muttered, his eyes narrowing in determination.

Toiletta kept her eyes on the boy as she watched him move over to the kitchen table, "You sure you're ready to talk about it…?"

Nate looked at the ghost girl, shaking his head as he pulled out a chair, "No… I'm not sure… but I also need to do this."

Toiletta frowned, "You almost died many times, they'll probably freak out…"

"I know," Nate nodded, letting out a sigh as he sat down, keeping a single morbid thought to himself, 'One of those times was more than 'almost…''

The humanoid yo-kai looked troubled, taking a deep breath before speaking again, "They might… forbid you from seeing any of us again."

"I'm not sure if that'd even be possible," the brunette boy chuckled, even as a worried look briefly flashed across his face, "And… yeah, I know. But I need to do this."

Toiletta continued to stare at Nate for a few more seconds, before she wordlessly nodded.

"Mom, dad, could you both come over here!" Nate called out from his seat and into the living room.

It was not long before both parents entered the room, looking to their son with curiosity and concern.

"Uh… have a seat?" the boy offered with an awkward chuckle, before lowering his head and muttering to himself.

Briefly glancing at one another, Lily and Aaron both nodded, slowly taking the seats across from their child, looking towards him expectantly.

Looking back at his parents, Nate tapped his fingers nervously, looking like he was having trouble thinking of what to say.

"You need me to be here?" Toiletta asked, drifting over to her crush with a nervous expression.

Nate sighed, before putting a gentle hand on the ghost girl's shoulder, "No, Toiletta, thanks but… just let me do this, okay?"

Toiletta frowned a bit, but bowed her head, "Okay, I'll be upstairs if you need me…"

The trio of parents and child watched as the ghost girl drifted out of the room, turning to face one another again once she had fully left their sight.

Neither of the parents said a word as they looked at their son expectantly, seemingly wanting him to begin before speaking.

Nate let out a heavy sigh as he glanced down at his watch, before looking back up at his parents, "Okay… let's talk."

---

"I'm home!" Katie called out as she walked into her home, a grumbling Mee 2 trailing behind her. "Oh quit whining, you'll see Nate again later!"

"I'm not whining!" Mee 2 snapped, looking at Katie with annoyance.

"Sure, sure," Katie rolled her eyes in an unconvinced manner, before heading to the stairs, "I'm heading up to my room!"

"Okay! I'll call you when dinner is ready!" the voice of Katie's mother called back to her from the kitchen.

Mee 2 started to follow Katie but paused when she heard the voice of the woman in the kitchen, her eyes widening a bit as she looked in the direction it came from, "Why do I… know that voice…?"

"Hey, come on Mee 2! Don't lag behind!" Katie called out, snapping the pink ghost out of her pondering.

"Right, right, I'm coming!" Mee 2 called back with an annoyed voice, floating up the stairs and following Katie into her room.

---

"Noko! Noko! Noko!"

"Please shut up," Katie groaned, stuffing her head into her pillow to try and drown out the chattering of the hopping snake.

"Is he always like this?" Mee 2 asked with an annoyed expression as she floated over Katie's bed.

The human girl looked up with a grumble, sitting up to face the ghost girl, "Not all the time, but– "

"NOKO!" the snake yo-kai interrupted, jumping up onto the bed and bouncing around.

"TSUCHI! SHUT UP!" both Katie and Mee 2 shouted as their annoyance and anger reached a boiling point.

"NOKO! NOKO!" the snake seemed completely unfazed by the shouting, simply continuing to hop around the room in a hyperactive manner.

Both girls groaned, Katie slumping on her bed.

"Noko! Noko! Noko!" Tsuchi paused as he landed at the foot of the bed, his tongue hanging out as his pupils drifted into two different directions… before the snake yo-kai abruptly fell asleep, letting out a few 'nokos' between snores.

"Why do I keep this thing around…?" Katie glared at Tsuchi with a tired expression.

"Yeah, why do you keep that thing around…?" Mee 2 grumbled with a similar expression.

"Hey, don't talk about my Tsuchi like that!" Katie snapped, turning her glare towards the pink ghost.

"Uh, okay… sorry," Mee 2 backed up a bit in surprise.

The two girls stared at each other in awkward and slightly tense silence for a few moments, with only the sounds of Tsuchi's snoring to break it. However, it was soon interrupted by another sound.

A few banging sounds echoed through the walls, along with some muffled voices, catching the two girls' attention.

"Did you hear that…?" Katie stood up from her bed, looking around the room warily.

"Shh, I think she heard us."

"SHUT UP!"

Some more banging was heard as Katie and Mee 2 glanced at each other.

"I think it came from the closet," Mee 2 said carefully, floating behind Katie.

Katie glared in the direction of her closet, picking up her bug-net from her bedside and beginning a slow approach.

Reaching her hand forward, the girl gripped hold of her closet door and yanked it open.

"WAH?!" with a startled yell, three small yo-kai came tumbling out and onto the floor; Doppelnyan, Intrudapyon and Komasham.

Katie and Mee 2 both gasped in surprise, the former dropping her bug-net as their eyes widened.

"Uh… we can explain," Doppelnyan looked up nervously, though neither girl seemed to notice him…

"SO CUTE!" Katie and Mee 2 squealed in unison, pouncing on Komasham and trapping the little komainu in a hug between them.

"O-Oh my swirls!" Komasham stuttered in surprise, his face bright red over the girls' attention.

Both Doppelnyan and Intrudapyon stood up, the former looking dumbfounded over the lack of notice towards their presence.

"Man, Komasham gets all the girls," Intrudapyon commented in an insincere tone.

"Oh, shut up!" Doppelnyan snapped at the otter yo-kai, whom simply gave a smug laugh in response.

"Noko?" Tsuchi seemed to have been woken up by the commotion, his body beginning to vibrate, before launching off the bed and continuing his bouncing frenzy. "NOKO! NOKO! NOKO!"

Neither Katie or Mee 2 noticed the tsuchinoko bouncing around the room again, as they were still both too focused on cuddling the blushing Komasham.

"Oh my swirls, I r-really don't know what to do about this…" Komasham muttered helplessly as the two girls continued to cuddle him like a plush toy.

---

Three girls lay on the beach with a smoking pile charcoal.

"We're never getting off this island…" Amy muttered in a hopeless tone.

"Don't say that, we…" Isabel started, but there was no enthusiasm in her voice as she quickly trailed off. "… No, probably not."

"… WAAAH!" Meg suddenly started bawling, "WE'RE NEVER GETTING HOME! I'M GONNA HAVE TO MARRY A SEAGULL!"

Amy and Isabel glanced towards Meg tiredly, before they started wailing too, filling the island air with their cries and causing nearby birds to scatter.

After a few moments, the cries of the girls died down as they continued to stare into the sky with tears in their eyes.

Jibanyan came running over, pointing in the direction he came from, "Uh, girls, you may want to come look at this…"

"Just give us a few more minutes of wallowing in despair, Rudy," Amy requested between sniffles as she barely tilted her head to look at the cat yo-kai.

"But, I really think you should see this…" the red nekomata urged, glancing between the girls and the direction he wanted them to go.

"Did you tell them yet?!" Letsbifrenz suddenly popped up, his wings flapping quickly as he hovered in the air, looking down at Jibanyan with wide, blank eyes.

"I'm working on it!" the cat yo-kai snapped, glaring up at the bird-like creature with barely restrained rage.

"Alright, fine," Amy grunted in frustration, pulling herself up and glaring at her cat. "What is it already?!"

Jibanyan let out a startled yelp at Amy's glare, before he started frantically pointing to the west, "This way! This way!"

Megan and Isabel both sat up, sharing annoyed looks over the cat 'hallucination's' actions.

"Fine, let's just go see whatever this is, then we can get back to wallowing in our collective misery," Amy grunted, pulling herself to her feet and beginning to move in the direction Jibanyan was pointing.

"Fine," Meg and Isabel both sighed in unison, reluctantly getting to their feet as well and following the older girl.

Amy let out an annoyed sigh, shaking a few stray grains of sand out of her hair and brushing some off her clothes as she continued to move in the direction her cat was leading her.

"Come on! Come on!" Jibanyan bounded forward, jumping a few times and pointing, "Come on! Come on!"

"Alright, I'm coming! I'm coming!" Amy growled, continuing to trudge forward.

Pushing their way through the foliage, the girls continued following the feline yo-kai until they eventually broke into a clearing...

The sounds of horns honking echoed through the streets as several vehicles zoomed by.

The voices of people going about their days blended together, giving life to the atmosphere of the small seaside town.

Amy's eyes went wide as a stunned expression came to her face, "What…"

Isabel's eye gave the slightest of twitches as she seemed to be restraining the urge to scream, "In the…"

Meg's expression was blank, her pupils dilating and looking as if something in her had just broken, "BEANS!"

The girls could hardly process the sight in front of them, as they had found themselves in the small coastal town of San Fantastico.

"Hey, what were you kids doing over there?" an old man asked as he approached, a puzzled look on his face, "Why, that's not even a good fishing spot, you know?" after getting no response from the three girls, the elder shrugged as he turned to continue on his path, "Young people these days, there's just no understanding them."

After a few more moments of standing in silence, staring out at the various people and cars going about their lives, the girls finally found their voices...

"We're not on an island…" Amy began in an emotionless tone.

"We've been connected to the shore this whole time…" Meg continued in an identical tone.

"And we've just been looking in the wrong direction…?" Isabel finished, her tone the same as the previous two.

"Yup, seems like it," Jibanyan nodded confidently.

Without another word, the three girls fell over, and fainted.

---

Harem Etiquette with Hailey!

Hailey and Usapyon stood in front of a chalkboard, the former smiling widely, while the latter looked somewhere between annoyed and indifferent.

"Hello class, I'm Prof. Hailey Anne Thomas, and this– "

"You ain't a professor!" the otter yo-kai interrupted in annoyance.

Hailey turned to look at Usapyon blankly, before she picked him up and tossed him out the window of the classroom.

"HEY!" Usapyon shouted in protest as he crashed through the glass and went plummeting.

The entire classroom was silent for a few moments, before Hailey turned back to face them, clearing her throat.

"As I was saying; my name is Prof. Hailey Anne Thomas!" she then turned back towards the chalkboard and began writing on it, "And welcome to Harem Etiquette 101!" She faced the class again, a proud smile on her face as she gestured to what she had written.

The occupants of the class, whom mostly consisted of Hailey and Nate's female classmates, just stared at the purple haired girl with expressions of confusion, many of them glancing at each other or at the classroom, muttering things under their breath.

"So, before we begin… any questions?" Hailey smiled widely, looking over her class with eager eyes. "Questions? Any at all?"

After a few moments of awkward silence, one of the students finally decided to raise their hand.

"Amy?" Hailey pointed to the pig-tailed girl eagerly, "You had a question?"

"Uh, yeah… what is this?" Amy asked, her eyes darting around uncertainly.

"Oh, I'm glad you asked!" the purple-haired girl giggled, picking up a ruler and using it to tap the chalkboard. "It's quite simple really; it has become pretty apparent from the past few chapters that you girls have no idea on the basic etiquette of a harem anime/manga, so I'm going to be helping getting you all up to speed!"

Amy's hand lowered, her expression no less confused, "… What?"

Before Hailey could give another response, her attention was seized by another girl raising her hand, "Yes Isabel?" the purple haired girl pointed to the blonde.

"Uh… where are we?" Isabel asked, looking around the classroom in confusion.

"Ah, excellent question!" Hailey adjusted her glasses, a smug grin on her face, "We're currently in a non-canon space that has taken the form of a classroom for us to inhabit! Such spaces are common in anime and manga, as they allow characters to converse on topics of their work without breaking canon or creating plot-holes!"

"Huh…?" the blonde girl just looked confused by that explanation.

"Have you ever seen Gintama?" Hailey asked with a raised brow.

Isabel blinked, "No…?"

"Good! We're really too young to be watching it!" Hailey exclaimed with a flourish. "Now! Let the lesson begin!"

"But… but…" Isabel tried to argue, but quickly gave up, it being apparent she would not be getting the answers she wanted, "Okay…"

"Now, onto our first lesson!" Hailey moved to turn back towards the chalkboard, but paused when she noticed another raised hand, "Yes Jessica?" Hailey pointed to the girl.

Jessica cleared her throat before speaking, "Uh… can I go?"

The purple-haired girl blinked, "Huh…?"

The blue-haired girl glanced to the side awkwardly, "You know, since I'm Nate's cousin in this story?"

Hailey looked to be in thought for a moment, before eventually nodding, "Alright fine, you can go."

"Thank you," Jessica stood up from her seat and gave a bow, before rushing out of the classroom as fast as she could.

"Hey, can I leave too?"

At the unexpected male voice, Hailey turned to stare at Lucas, seated at the back of the class, "What the… Lucas?! Why are you even here?!"

The bespectacled boy shrugged, an unfazed expression on his face.

Hailey blinked, continuing to stare at the boy for a few moments, before finally nodding in confirmation.

Nodding back, the boy silently stood up and left the room.

The purple-haired girl gave an awkward cough as the classroom went quiet, she turned to the chalkboard and began writing on it, "Well, uh, let's get to our first lesson, shall we? How about we start with some good old 'cliches?'" after finishing writing 'cliches' on the board, Hailey turned back to the class and smiled, "Anyone know any classic cliches of the harem genre? Anyone?"

Hailey eagerly scanned the classroom for anyone ready to answer her, though to her growing disappointment, none of the girls seemed interested...

"Excuse me?" Katie spoke up, standing in her seat and a hand raised.

"Yes, Miss Forester?" Hailey pointed to the girl, happy that her lesson seemed to be picking up speed.

Katie frowned, and pointed towards the exit door, "Yeah, uh… this is terrible, can I go too?"

"No!" Hailey snapped in annoyance, her eager smile quickly replaced with an annoyed scowl, glaring straight at the brunette girl, "In fact; you have to stay even longer than the rest of the class!"

Katie crossed her arms and sunk into her seat, letting out a few grumbles and glaring at a few of the other girls she heard chuckles coming from.

"I'm never going to actually get to anything important in this stupid lesson," Hailey muttered to herself, turning back to the chalkboard and beginning to write something on it, "If none of you are going to give me any, I'll just give you some examples myself!"

"Hey, Prof. Thomas! I have a question!" Maya spoke up, raising her hand.

"What's your question, Maya?" Hailey sighed, giving an annoyed side-glance towards the aforementioned girl.

"When do I get a date with Nate?" the young fashionista crossed her arms, an impatient look on her face.

"Yeah! I want a date too!" Megan Jones raised her hand, standing up in her seat.

"Meg, sit down!" Hailey snapped at the hyper girl, before focusing back on Maya, "A good question, that depends on how the plot develops usually. If you play your cards right and stay relevant, maybe some time around the second arc!"

"Arc…?" Maya gave a quizzical look at that answer.

"Hey! I have a question!" Zoey sprang up, hand raised and a dangerous gleam in her eyes, "None of this is canon right?!"

Hailey sent an annoyed glare towards the other bespectacled girl, "You should wait for me to respond to you before asking your question!" she sighed, shaking her head and giving an annoyed look, "But, yes; none of this is canon, nor does it have any impact on the overall narrative of this story."

"So what you're saying is…" Zoey's smirk grew, the shine of her glasses obscuring her eyes, "There's no consequences?"

"Yup!" Hailey answered with a nod, before what she had been asked fully processed, "Wait, what? Why would you ask– "

"SEE-YA LOSERS!" Zoey was already out the door of the classroom, giving a peace sign before rushing off, "I'M GOING TO ROB A BANK!"

Hailey stared blankly at the exit, blinking a few times as she processed what had just happened.

The seated girls seemed equally stunned.

"… Wait, we can just leave?" Katie finally spoke, beginning to get up from her seat.

"HEY, YOU STAY THERE!" Hailey snapped, fuming out of desperation to keep control of her class, "And all of you! Stop with the stupid questions!"

Megan Jones raised her hand.

Hailey glared, "This better not be a stupid question, what?"

Meg blinked, before asking; "… What makes a question stupid?"

"No more questions!" the purple haired girl snapped, before gesturing to what she had written down, "Now, for the basics– "

The ringing of a bell signaled the end of class, causing everyone aside from Hailey to cheer...

"… Okay class, that's it for today, we'll pick this back up next time," Hailey spoke with annoyance and disappointment as she pointed to the exit, grumbling under her breath; "Whenever that is…"

The girls all continued to cheered as they stood up from their seats and began leaving.

"Not you! You stay!" Hailey snapped, pointing at Katie as she was just starting to get out of her chair.

"What?! But– "

"You heard me!" Hailey interrupted Katie's attempt at protest, keeping her finger pointed at her the entire time.

Katie growled, sinking into her seat again, as the last of the other girls exited the room.

With nobody left in the classroom aside from Hailey and Katie, the two girls simply continued to silently glare at each other…

Suddenly, the door to the classroom was kicked open, and a small, steaming figure lurched back in...

"Oh, hey Usapyon!" Hailey quickly changed demeanor, turning away from her glaring match with Katie and cheerfully greeted the yo-kai, "Why do you look so mad…?"

"You…" the otter yo-kai simply growled, his hands moving to the buttons on his helmet.

"… Oh, right," the purple haired girl muttered muttered, the memory of tossing the otter yo-kai out the window returning to her. "Uh, you know, Usapyon, they say that revenge is never the answer…"

Usapyon said nothing as he continued to glare at the girl, his fingers hovering over the buttons on his helmet.

"Uh-ha, hey, none of this is canon, so it's not like anything you could do here would even matter, so why bother?" the purple haired girl pointed out with a few nervous laughs.

The yo-kai said nothing, simply continuing to glare at his human partner, and pressing the buttons.

'Invader Mode!'

---

I'm not gonna try to give some excuse for why this took as long as it done, it's not that nothing happened that caused my writing to slow, but I genuinely do not remember why I stopped writing for so long.

I'm now back to writing pretty frequently though, and keep in mind this is a hobby and not a job.

Anyway, there are some points I'd like to address, first of all: the tone of this story.

I feel like it got way too serious the past couple chapters, this was not supposed to be a serious story, it was supposed to be a stupid crack fic I could write in my free time between my other projects. I allowed this to get too big for what it was, and I'm trying to pull the tone back. Not devoid of any serious moments, but more humor focused. Like the entire concept of this story is absurd, it should not be taken seriously.

Another point: my sort of retcon with Insomni and Sandi near the end there.

I have to be honest; when I started this story I did not put too much thought into what the implications of some of its contents were, like I can't really remember what was going through my head at the time, but I probably did not consider that, while a lot of yo-kai are kind of ambiguous in what age range they're in, Insomni and Sandi are both… hard to justify as being kids.

Another yo-kai I'll probably have to address in this manner will be Smogmella, but given their prominence, dealing with the djinn twins was priority.

In the future I may alter the designs of yo-kai that get introduced for similar reasons. Like I may modify the outfits of the Spect-hare's, even if they weren't all that revealing really, but still.

Anyway; I know ultimately that this probably matters a lot more to me than it does to anyone reading this stupid story, but I wanted to address it.

Some other things reference wise:

A lot of you probably noticed the DBZ abridged quote that's in the chapter, but what many of you may not have recognized were the jokes stolen from Digimon Abridged by Abridgilliance; go watch it, it's great! :D

Another matter to address: Whisper's 'daughter' who appears in the Gate of Whimsy is Shinigami from the game Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE. This is a concept that my friend amf-studios thought up back when that game came out, and I thought it would be fun to throw in there.

Side note: If you haven't read amf-studios' stories, or checked out her art on tumblr, you should definitely do so, as she does a lot of great work.

Next time on 'The Unwanted Harem of Nathan Adams: Mermaid Mania!