Mind, body and soul

by amf studios

If you thought discovering yokai was the craziest thing to happen to Nate, wait till you see what happens when he, or rather she, finds something out about herself(Trans!nate au inspired by a recent tiktok trend)

5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Dupli-Kate

Friday couldn't have come soon enough! Natsuki had made it through her first school week out of the closet, and tonight was her first girls sleepover! As soon as she'd get home, she'd head over to Katie's!

"You look like you're in a good mood, Natty~!" Hailey said, catching up to the girl as she was halfway to the stairs.

"You could say!" Natsuki replied, before a grin forced itself onto her face, "it's my first sleepover as a girl~! I've seen this kind of thing in movies but I didn't think I'd ever get to go to one!"

The nerdy girl giggled at her friend's enthusiasm, "I'm glad for you, nat!".

"Too bad you had plans, you gave me my first girls day, now you're gonna miss my first girls night!" Natsuki said.

"Yeah, I'm gonna miss all the gossip and makeovers," Hailey joked, sticking her tongue out, "you're gonna get all dolled up without me, and I won't even get a chance to out do you."

"Heh, I don't think you'd need it," Nat said,"you're honestly cute enough as is…"

… and then, it immediately registered to the girl what she had just said. Her eyes shot open, pupils tiny, immediately seeing an uncharacteristically silent Hailey, who had a blush forming on her face.

At that moment her own face became beat red and felt like it was currently on fire.

"I… I mean… uh…" Natsuki was in panic mode, the fight or flight response in her brain going absolutely haywire… so she picked flight, "GOTTAGOSEEYAHAILEYBYE!"

she bolted down the hall leaving Hailey in a stunned silence…

"So…" a voice said to her left. The Otaku turned to see someone familiar standing in the doorway of the girl's bathroom, "what's this about a sleepover?"

…

"Why'd I say that, why'd I say that…?" Natsuki sighed to herself as she walked home.

She wasn't even completely over her crush on Katie yet and suddenly she can't get the thought of how cute she thinks Hailey's nerdy rants are…

"Ugh, why do you have to be so stupid, brain?" She sighed again, "we've known each other what, a couple months…? Is it really that good an idea to catch feelings…?"

She shook her head. She had to set her brain straight. She was gonna have a fun night, and that would be that! She could sort out her feelings and junk at a later date… bad choice of words.

Soon enough, she made it home.

"Hey honey, how was school!" Lily greeted her daughter as she entered.

"Fine…" Natsuki said quietly.

Her mother immediately picked up on her tone, "something wrong?"

"No, I just…" Natsuki sighed, a blush on her face, "...said something stupid…"

Lily saw the expression on the girl's face… and a knowing smile came to her face. If she had to guess her little girl had just embarrassed herself in front of a crush. Like mother, like daughter…

"Though to be honest, that could come from either end of the family…" the woman thought to herself, "well, why don't you just get ready for tonight. Katie said you'd start as soon as school let out, right?"

"Yep, just have to grab my stuff really…" Natsuki nodded.

"Alright, have fun, tell her mom I said hi," Lily said, "and remember, no funny business, kay?"

"Still not sure what you mean by that…" Natsuki said… which wasn't entirely true, but it was still a non-issue.

"Just covering my bases, kid," her mother said as she quickly went upstairs to her room.

Natsuki entered her room and set her school bag down. She noticed Whisper was still here, which was a surprise as he'd left early to prepare for his… errand.

"Hey, Whisper," Natsuki said, waking over to her bed and grabbing the duffle bag she'd prepared the night before, "missing something?"

"Ah, yes, Natsuki I was just about to leave, but I remembered I could need something for tonight…" Whisper said, sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Ok… and that is?" His charged asked.

The yokai butler was quiet for a moment, "... could you… summon Enduriphant for me?"

"What?!" Natsuki yelled, "you keep coming home looking like you got struck by lightning or a runaway train, and now you want me to summon you the yokai who's entire thing is pain endurance?!"

"Um… yes!" Whisper gave a sheepish smile.

"What exactly have you been doing! This has been every other day!" Natsuki said, "I know you can't kill a yokai, but seriously, this is getting out of hand!"

"Natsuki, please! I assure you I'll be fine!" Whisper said, "I've endure far worse over the years. If anything Enduriphant is more to ensure… someone else's safety."

Natsuki gave him an odd look. Before she sighed, "Alright, fine… but promise me you'll come back in one piece."

"Verywell…" Whisper nodded, "as long as you promise me you'll enjoy yourself tonight."

His charge looked at him, "Alright…"

The two were quiet, though their expressions at least told each other they had an understanding.

It was then Natsuki realized someone was missing, "hey where's Jibanyan?"

"I think in the closet…" her butler replied.

The girl went over to her closet and opened the door…

Revealing Jibanyan with bloodshot eyes frantically typing on Hidabat's laptop, frantically searching Yo-zon for… next HarMeowny tickets…

The cat yokai briefly halted his search when he noticed his roommates staring at him.

"...I'm desperate, ok?" Jibanyan said flatly.

…

After that little bit of oddity, Natsuki grabbed her bag, said goodbye to her mother for the night, and made her journey down the block to Katie's house.

She came up to the door and rang the doorbell, and stood patiently.

Soon enough, it opened revealing Katie's mother.

"Oh, Nat- Natsuki!" She said with a small grin, "I hardly recognize you in such clothes, they suit you!"

"Thanks, Mrs. Forrester!" The girl said with a slight bow. A blush on her face. She wasn't sure she'd ever get over people complimenting her!

"Katie's just up in her room if you want to join her," the Forrester matriarch said, "you are a bit early, so you're actually the first to arrive!"

Natsuki nodded, removing her shoes and making her way upstairs.

Thinking about it now she'd been to Katie's house a few times, but had never actually seen her room before. Coming up to it, she gave a light knock, "Katie! I'm here!"

In response she heard shuffling behind the door, not quite sure what the other girl was doing…

But soon enough, the ponytail wearing girl opened the door, "Natty! You're here!"

"Yep!" The watch bearing girl said, matching her smile.

"Well, come on in!" Katie said, moving away from the door, "you can just set your bag anywhere!"

Entering, Natsuki took in just how much pink the room used, from the rug, to the bedspread, the curtains. Sort of made her realize that aside from her own and Hailey's that one time, she didn't really spend a lot of time in a girl's room…

"Should I have more pink stuff in my room…?" She thought to herself, before dismissing it, "no no, you don't need to prove your femininity… besides, I prefer lavender…"

She set her bag down on the bed, noticing that there was also a folded pair of Katie's usual outfit there also… wonder what that was about.

"So, evidently I'm early…" Natsuki said aloud, "what should we do until the others show up?"

"Oh, you're not early, I just told everyone else to show up an hour later!" Katie said nonchalantly.

"Heh…?" Natsuki looked at her blankly, "why'd you do that…?"

"Well, for one thing I have some last minute prep things I wanna do before hand," Katie explained.

"Alright, I guess that makes sense…" the watch wearing girl said.

Katie grinned, "...and while we're at it…" she moved over to her bed, grabbing the set of clothes there, "I figured we could be twinsies~!"

At that, Natsuki was at an utter loss for words. Never in a million years would she have anticipated her once crush… to suggest being, 'twinsies…'

"You want me… to dress up in your clothes…" Natsuki asked.

"Uh-huh!" Katie nodded, "same outfit as I'm wearing!"

Natsuki was still confused, "...why?"

"Well, remember when you first came out?" Her friend asked, "Bear said something that got me thinking!

Well, I mean…" Bear had a thoughtful look on his face, "I used to mix up you and Katie all the time, if you had longer hair you'd look just like her!"

"Yeah, I remember that…" Natsuki said.

"So, I thought we'd test this Lil theory!" Katie said, "I did always want a sister growing up!"

"Um… I mean…" Natsuki was… hesitant at the idea.

"You don't have to of course," the other girl said, "i just think it'd be fun!"

"No… I mean… you know what, yeah," Natsuki gave a nervous nod, "Let's do it. If anything I'll probably at least look kinda cute in them…"

"That's the spirit~!" Katie said, handing her the clothes, "get changed real quick, I just gotta grab something!"

"Um… ok," Natsuki said as her friend when toward her closet.

The watch bearing girl noticed a room divider on the wall and pulled it out so she could get changed.

It felt… kinda odd putting on Katie's outfit. Sure, she'd worn plenty of feminine clothes by now and loved each of them, it was just an odd experience putting on one's she associated with someone she spent so long infatuated with…

The outfit itself wasn't particularly uncomfortable, save for the shorts being a tad tight, and showing off a fair bit of her legs that the socks wouldn't cover. Good thing it was the warmer season.

"Alright…" Natsuki said, putting the divider away.

"Hehe, I knew it'd suit you!" Katie said with a grin, "you can keep that outfit if you want, I have a couple of em!"

"I… thanks…" Natsuki said, not trying cause a fuss. She noticed Kafie was holding something behind her back, "whatcha got there…?"

"Oh, right!" Katie said, bringing her hands forth, revealing what looked like a bag of hair in her hands, "ta-da! Hair extensions! I figured you could also try out having long hair for a change~!"

"Oooh… that's… actually a pretty good idea! I'd like to imagine I'd look like my mom, though I left my glasses at home…" Natsuki said, a hand on her chin.

Katie went over to her bed, patting the space in front of it before sitting down. The watch bearing girl took that as a sign to sit in front of her.

As she sat, she heard her friend fiddle with the bag's ziplock, before eventually feeling hands fiddling with her hair and the feeling of string gently pulling against her head.

"And… there!" Katie said, "Now you got long hair, Natty~!"

Standing up, Natsuki went over to Katie's mirror. The sight of herself with long hair brought a smile to her face! She didn't quite looked like her mother like she'd have liked to imagine, but the extension framing her face and going down to her shoulders filled her with euphoria!

She wasn't sure how long she's grow her hair out, but this experience was definitely telling her doing it was a good idea!

"Now, lemme do one last thing here~!" Katie said, coming up behind her. She took a handful of Natsuki's hair.

The girl wasn't quite sure what her friend was doing… until she noticed the pink ribbon in her hand.

"Wait a minute…" she said, putting it together.

Sure enough, Katie had tied her hair up in the exact same ponytail she'd seen her friend wear since the day they met.

"Ta-da!" Katie said, leaning on her shoulder, grinning ear to ear.

Suddenly the two looked like twins, Natsuki was speechless.

"I mean, it isn't perfect of course," Katie said, looking her over, "I'm a few centimeters taller, and our skin colors are slightly different tones, but with the whole get up I barely notice a difference!"

"Yeah…" Natsuki nodded. What could she say, her friend was right, the differences were minimal!

It was mind boggling, how similar she looked to Katie, the girl she'd been crushing over as long as she could remember…

"Anywho, looks like we're ready to go!" Katie said, grabbing a pocket book from her desk.

"Huh…?" Nat snapped out of her thoughts.

"I figured we could do some last minute shopping for tonight, remember?" Her friend said, "I know this candy shop in blossom heights, I swear that Lil old lady has the best supplier in town!"

"Oh… alright…" Natsuki nodded, following her to the door.

"And it means we can mess with anyone we happen to come across~!" Katie snickered at the thought as two left the room.

Just before she could follow her friend downstairs, Natsuki heard a door open, and had to move slightly to avoid Katie's mother almost running into her.

"Whoops, sorry Katie!" The woman said, moving on.

Natsuki's face went blank at that… and she quickly went to catch up with the actual Katie. Quietly muttering, "nope, nope, nope, nope!"

…

"Welcome Whisper, I trust you're ready for another less-" Verygoodsir started as he opened the door, before realizing he had more company than expected, "who in the inferno is that?"

"Endure!" The mammoth-like yokai called out, stomping forward.

"This is Enduriphant, he'll be acting as my sponsor," Whisper said in a dry tone.

Verygoodsir stared at the other butler for a moment… before elegantly turning back inside, "Alright, let's not dilly dally."

Whisper and Enduriphant followed inside, the former dreading whatever his senior had thought up this time. Even with the added protection, he knew it was bound to be torture.

They were led into a sitting room, where Verygoodsir advised Enduriphant to take a seat.

"This is actually a nice Segway to our first lesson for today," the old yokai said, sitting as well, "fetch us a spot of tea. The kettles in the next room."

Whisper gave a begrudging bow, before floating over to the next room. A moderately sized kitchen was what he found on the other end. Bigger than the one at home but still modest.

He'd been in here a few times this week but he hadn't seen a kettle before…

"Aha!" He said, noticing a blue/green tea pot on the counter. He flew by and grabbed it, setting it on the stove.

The butler turned his attention to the cabinets to find tea leaves. He recalled Verygoodsir mentioning he was partial to Jasmine.

After finding the leaves, he turned back to the stove…

Only to notice the kettle was now missing.

"What the devil?!" Whisper said, he could have sworn he'd put it there. He began scanning the room to find where it could have possibly gone.

Soon enough he got an answer, it was right back where he'd found it the first time!

"What the…?" Whisper was baffled. He went to grab it once again… and it hopped away from his grip, "...huh?"

He attempted to grab it again, only to find the same result. And again. And again.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!?" Whisper finally cried out. To his surprise, the kettle seemed to shriek in response.

"Gaah!" It hopped up, revealing eyes and legs it apparently had… "woops…"

"What the… wait, aren't you…" Whisper racked his brain, "...Humtea Jumtea?"

Humtea Jumtea: E rank

Slippery

"... why are you Verygoodsir's kettle…?" The butler tilted his head(?) in confusion.

"Eh, it's a livin,'" the tsukumogami said, "and he said he'd pay me extra today if I avoid you at all costs!"

With that the pot yokai jumped from the counter, landing on a bungee board that had appeared from seemingly nowhere.

"What the?! HEY! GET BACK HERE!" Whisper called out, giving chase.

He chased the pot yokai around the kitchen as she jumped from counter to floor, avoiding his desperate grasps.

As Humtea Jumtea was hopping down from the countertop, she accidentally bumped into a knife holder. Which tipped over the edge as Whisper dove to catch her, gravity doing its job and loosening the seethed blades.

Just as he managed to grab her handle, he felt the searing pain of a dozen knives all piercing his back at once.

Whisper bit his lip, trying hold back the immense pain as best he could, his eyes practically bulging from his nonexistent skull… when suddenly the knife holder fell down as well, digging the knives deeper into his ectoplasmic flesh.

And that was the straw that broke the Whisper's back.

"GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" He cried out in pain so loudly they could hear him in the next room.

"I do apologize, but it seems tea will take a tad longer than expected," Verygoodsir said politely, the smallest of smirks on his face.

The mammoth yokai seated across from him waved him off, "eh, I'll endure."

…

Well… this was odd. Walking through town dressed like an exact replica of the girl to your left… wasn't exactly on Natsuki's bucket list.

Katie for her part had a near constant grin the entire time, a mischievous giggle quietly leaving her lips. Matter of fact it would seem the expression was the only place they differed right now, as Nat looked like her world was falling apart.

"Hopefully when we get back she'll let me change out of this…" she thought to herself, "I am seriously gonna need a pallet cleanser when this is through… I've still got some Lolita outfits to try…"

"Natty, natty!" Katie dragged her out of her thoughts by tugging on her shoulder. Natsuki noticed she was pointing out Eddie and Bear, seemingly having a conversation of their own, "look who I found~!"

"I… see…?" Natsuki wasn't sure why she seemed so excited over it.

"Follow my lead~!" Katie said with a face that screamed 'red flag!'

She took off toward their friends, dragging Natsuki along with her.

"YOU REALLY GOTTA STOP DOING THIS!" The watch bearing girl cried.

"So, like, when two friends have known each other for a long time they start feeling a bit closer then friends…" Eddie seemed to be trying to explain something to bear, a blush on his face, "ya feel me?"

"Yeah, you mean like best friends, right?" Bear said absentmindedly while doing jumping jacks.

"Umm… no, not exactly what I meant…" Eddie sighed.

Before they could continue Katie ran up to them, "hey guys! I wanna show you something~!"

"And now I'm beginning to think I'll regret this…" Natsuki thought to herself.

"Check this!" Katie said, moving out the way to allow her friend to be seen, "Behold! My clone~! I cloned myself!"

At that, Natsuki, Eddie and Bear all had the same reaction, "GAH?!"

"THAT'S what she was planning to say?!" Natsuki wasn't quite sure what to think about that being her friend's plan. Just that none of what she was thinking would be nice to say out loud.

"Oh my God! Its two Katies!" Bear called out.

"cloned yourself… that's completely ridiculous…" Eddie said, much more skeptically, "but then again there's two…"

"Alright, nope, shutting this down!" Natsuki said, shaking her head, "guys, it's Nat. Katie just had a really dumb idea for a prank."

"way to spoil it…" Katie pouted.

"Natsuki…?" Eddie tilted his head, "ok, yeah, that makes much more sense!"

"Hehe, yeah, I always did think you guys looked alike!" Bear chuckled, "guess this is just the last nail in the coffin!"

"I know, right? Just the right clothes and hair extensions and you can barely tell the difference~!" Katie said in a bragging tone.

"Can we just keep going please?" Natsuki asked her friend in an exasperated voice.

"Yeah, you're right, gotta grab those snacks before everyone else shows up for the sleepover," The other girl said. She waved as she started walking off, "well, see ya guys! Your reaction was priceless~!"

"that's one way to put it…" Natsuki groaned, following behind.

"Yeah, yeah, see ya, girls!" Eddie waved back. He turned his attention back to bear, "so, where were we?"

"I dunno… you were saying something about getting closer but…" Bear had a thoughtful look, "I don't think my family can afford a house in breezy hills…"

Eddie face palmed, "not what I meant…"

Welp, that was awkward. .

"Katie… you couldn't have told me we were doing a 'clone' thing before we were in the middle of it…?" Natsuki groaned. She seriously hoped those two were the only people she ran into today.

"Yeah, sorry, i could have let ya know so we could really commit to it!" Katie laughed a bit.

"That is not what I meant," the watch bearing girl sighed.

"Alright, alright, no more bad bits," Katie said, shooting her finger guns "we'll just enjoy being twinsies~!"

"Right… twinsies…" Natsuki repeated, her eyes on the ground as she rubbed her arm.

In the shadows, someone seemed to pick up on the discomfort in her voice…

Soon enough, the two girls reached the candy shop Katie has been talking about, "Alright, here we are! This place has the best stuff! And the raffle is pretty good too!"

"Right… let's just get what we came for…" Natsuki sighed.

…

Soon enough, the two left the store with half their weight in snacks, and began the trek back to Katie's house.

"You sure we need all this?" Natsuki asked.

"Sarah's a big eater," Katie said with a shrug, "come on! We gotta get home before the others show up, and I know a shortcut!"

She ducked down an alleyway, leaving Natsuki to frantically follow behind.

"Wait! Katie, hold up!" She called as she tried to keep up with her friend. Blossom heights could be a maze if you weren't familiar and she only really came for the hot springs, or to visit Bear.

Soon enough she lost sight of the other girl, giving a groan as she tried to see where she had gone.

"Katie…?" Natsuki looked around, trying to spot where she could have gone, "there you are!"

She finally spotted the signature ponytail in a shaded part of the alley.

"Don't ditch me like that again…" Natsuki approached her… though she was noticing something was off… where were the bags she had been carrying…? And why did she look… more "gray" then usual… "Katie…?"

"Heya, twin!" She jumped at Katie somehow appearing behind her.

"Katie…!" She yelled, before pausing… "wait… if you're over here…"

"Yeah, pretty sure I am!" Katie snickered.

And now Natsuki was worried, "then… who's that…?"

She pointed out the grey doppelganger, causing Katie's smirk to fade…

"Um… hello?" She called out.

The doppelganger seemed to stiffly turn around. Showing her face was identical to Katie's, and that the bow she wore and the heart on her jacket were bright red, contrasting the grey.

"Heya, my identical, sisters!" The doppelganger gave a stiff wave and a cheery grin.

"Ok, not what I meant when I said I wanted a twin…" Katie said.

"Well, you got more than just a twin!" Another doppelganger, this time with a blue heart and bow said, causing the girls to jump as she had come out of nowhere.

"There are quite a few of us!" another with a purple bow appeared.

"Isn't it great? You've got plenty of doubles now!" Another with a green bow spoke up.

"Ok, this isn't very fun anymore…" Katie said, Um, nat… what's happening…"

"I don't know… but let's back away… slowly," Natsuki said as they began to do just that…

Before yet another doppelganger jumped out yelling, "HI!"

Both girls yelped, and from either shock, or just the entire situation, Katie fainted, her friend scrambling to catch her.

"Alright, what the heck's going on!" Natsuki called out, "I know this is a yokai thing!"

The doppelgangers all looked at eachother, seemingly unsure how to respond.

"Alright, jig is up," the initial doppelganger in red said in a voice that wasn't Katie's… but the watch bearing girl knew who it did belong to…

The grayed out Katie disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, revealing none other than the mannequin yokai himself, Mimikin.

"...MIMIKIN!" Natsuki was immediately filled with rage at that revelation.

"Sorry, Nat! Was trying to mess with her, not you, mimik!" The yokai said, rubbing the back of his porcelain neck.

"Mess with Katie, what the heck were you doing…?! The watch bearing girl asked, before looking around at the other doppelgangers… "and who the heck are all these?"

"Oh, those are some of my sisters, mimic," Mimikin said. Sure enough each of the other doppelgangers poofed into smoke, and revealed several more mannequin yokai, albeit with more feminine frames and sports bras and shorts colored the same as the Katie's bows.

"Heyya, cutie~!" One with purple attire said with a wink.

Mimikette: D rank

Tough tribe

"Um… hi…" Natsuki gave an unsure wave. She then turned back to the yokai she already knew, "what the heck is going on here, Mimikin?"

"Well, we were just out getting some exercise, Mimic. We do this thing were we all take on the same form and try out best to move in perfect sync," the tough tribe yokai explained, "then we saw the two of you doing the same thing, but… you didn't seem that comfortable with it."

"...was it that obvious?" Natsuki asked.

"Initially? No." The blue wearing sister spoke up.

The green clad one continued "but once we overheard the other one going on about 'twinsies' and how you were reacting, we put it together, mimic."

"So, my sisters and I decided to help my friend out a bit, mimic!" Mimikin finished.

Natsuki stared at the mannequin yokai for a minute, "so… you decided to try and traumatize her…?"

"We were aiming more for 'uncomfortable,' mimic," the purple mimikette shrugged.

"Well… look, I appreciate the thought, but scaring my friend doesn't exactly help me…" Nat said.

"I mean, did you want her to keep making you do this 'twin' thing?" Mimikin asked.

"She wasn't making me…" the watch bearing girl said.

"Then, why did it make you so uncomfortable, then, mimic?" The green mimikette asked.

"Well… it's… it's complicated…" Natsuki said… she groaned, "look, I appreciate the thought, I really do but… I need to resolve this myself…"

Mimikin looked at her for a moment, then shrugged "Alright, if you say so, mimic."

"Alright, everyone, back in formation!" The blue mimikette said, as they all once again turned into Katie doppelgangers.

The yokai lined up single file and began marching out of the alleyway, moving in perfect synchronization…

Except the purple bowed Katie, who gave Natsuki a wink, and tossed her a yokai medal, "call me~!"

"Well, that was odd…" Natsuki said as they marched out of sight. She then looked down at her fainted friend, and started to shake her a bit, "hey, wakey wakey!"

"Huh…?" Katie's eyes slowly opened, "what happened? I remember there being like 7 of me…"

"Nah, you just fell and hit your head…" Natsuki lied.

"Oh… jeez…" Katie said, looking at her… "I'm not concussed, am i?"

"What, no. You're head's fine…" Natsuki said, looking down, noticing the bags her friend had dropped, "but… may have to check the snacks…"

"Heh, yeah…" Katie got to her feet, "good thing my twin had my back, eh?"

Natsuki looked at her for a moment, before sighing. She set down what she was holding, and took the bow and extensions out of her hair, before looking at her friend, "Katie, I don't wanna be your twin."

"What?" The other girl looked befuddled, "why not? I'd love having a twin it sou-"

"Or rather, I don't wanna be you!" Natsuki clarified, "like… I'm kinda figuring things out right now. And I don't wanna be 'Katie 2.0'..." the watch bearing girl sighed, "at least that debate's settled…"

Katie was confused upon hearing her friend's words, "... what debate…?"

Natsuki looked at the ponytail wearing girl. 'Should she tell her?' that was certainly the question. Finally tell her ex crush about her feelings toward her…

"Katie… I liked you… like, liked you…" Natsuki sighed.

"...oh…" Katie stared at her, "oooh… that explains so much…"

"But, when I figured out I was trans something clicked in me!" Natsuki continued, "like, you were pretty, popular, everyone thought you were perfect! You were like my mental image of a perfect girl since 2nd grade!"

Katie began to blush as her friend ranted. Her eyes darted to the ground to avoid Nat's.

"But that's the thing. Am I attracted to you because of those qualities… or am I just jealous?!" Natsuki continued, "do I wanna be the pretty, popular, and a perfect girl… would I rather be 'Katie Forester' than have to be 'Nate Adams'..."

"That's… that's a lot…" Katie said.

"But… Here we are, I'm dressed up as 'Katie's twin,' no one can tell the difference, not even her own mom!" Natsuki was practically shouting now, "and i… I hate it. Like, I should be happy I'm evidently so much like you, but… that's not me."

"natsuki…" Katie was honestly speechless. Her face adorning a puzzled expression as to how to respond to that.

Natsuki sighed, "I know… I'm over thinking here…"

Soon after saying that, Natsuki felt her friend hug her, catching her off guard. She yelped a bit at the sudden physical contact.

"I'm so sorry I made you feel uncomfortable like that! I wanted to have fun as twinsies, not give you existential problems!" Katie cried into her friend's shoulder.

"Katie, it's fine…" Natsuki said.

"Ugh, no it isn't!" Katie said, letting go, "you were uncomfortable… and I just ignored you cause I thought it'd be fun…"

"Well… yeah…" Natsuki sighed, "you kinda did…"

"Let's get two things straight, k?" Katie said. "1, I'm not perfect, get that idea out of your skull. And 2, please don't think you have to be me… just be you, alright?"

"Honestly, I don't think that's a concern anymore," Natsuki chuckled a bit.

"Alright, we should probably salvage these snacks and get home so you can change before anyone gets there then," the ponytailed girl said, bending over to grab the bags she's dropped.

"Hmm… nah, I'm keeping these," Natsuki smirked, she unbuttoned her jacket and began helping her friend pick up the snacks, "I'll just make sure 'Natsuki's' the one wearing em!"

"Yeah, good point… whoever said twins had to be identical," Katie returned the smirk.

"Alright, calm it down on the twins thing," Natsuki said with a laugh.

"Ok… I'll just be the older sister then~!" Katie said playfully.

"Wha, hey! That's not what I meant!" Natsuki started laughing, which quickly infected her friend as they once again started the trek to Katie's house.

…

Whisper wasn't sure how he'd finally managed to catch the living teapot, or duct tape her to the stove long enough to boil water in her hollow body… ok, even for yokai this was odd…

Keeping a firm grip on the yokai's handle with one hand, and his other carried a tray of teacups that were already set out, along with the tea leaves… though Whisper questioned why exactly there were four if Verygoodsir was the only one here…

"Maybe they're just part of the set…" he mused to himself as he left the kitchen.

When he left the kitchen, he overheard a familiar woman's voice coming from the sitting room.

"And I'm telling Chatalie, 'if you don't buckle down an commit to your education you'll end up a no good snake like your father!'" the voice said, "I swear, all that's on that girl's mind is gossip and boys."

"Unfortunately, girls her age can be quite difficult sometimes," Verygoodsir replied.

"ain't that the truth, seb," the woman's voice said.

As Whisper came into view of the sitting area, he was immediately met with a very worrying sight. Seated on the couch next to Enduriphant was none other than the Karen to end all Karens, Nagatha.

"WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE?!" Whispers thought to himself in a panic. No doubt Verygoodsir must have set this up somehow, why else would the harshest critic in existence be present?

"Ah! About time!" Verygoodsir said, putting his hands together as he noticed Whisper enter, "for your next lesson, being a butler is all about hospitality! You must be elegant and courteous to your guests!" The elder butler quietly chuckled as he added, "no matter how demanding they may be…"

Whisper gulped as he mentally prepared himself. This would truly be a test in his patience.

The white yokai gave a bow, as he moved to see the teacups onto the coffee table.

"Eh, so this is the new help you're training, eh, Seb?" Nagatha snickered, her wide mouth in a grin, "gotta say, you must have your work cut out for you!"

"Yes, but as a yokai butler it's my duty to train newcomers to the craft to be practically perfect in every way~!" Verygoodsir said with a smile. Clearly from the casual tone of the conversation, there was some familiarity between the two.

Whisper set out a tea cup for each of them.

"Honestly, I'm surprised you took this loser under your wing!" Nagatha continued, "afterall, last I saw him, he was a total nimrod of a butler to some dumb as rocks kid!"

That last part irked Whisper as he began to pour the tea. Insulting him was one thing, but Natsuki…

"I mean, he even summoned my ex to try and talk me down, can you believe that?!" The slit mouthed woman seemed to be starting up a rant, "honestly, how could stupid could you be? Only ended up giving 'em my medal out of pity."

"some friend you are," Whisper gritted his teeth as he was forced to listen to this blatant disrespect toward his master. He was almost afraid he may do something he regretted, before he felt a calming aura wash over him…

He looked back at Enduriphant, who gave the butler a subtle nod. He let out a breath, and continued with the task at hand.

Pouring each cup, he carefully distributed them to the other yokai.

"Took you long enough, bozo," Nagatha scoffed as she picked up the cup. She took a sip of the tea and was quiet for a second, "... eh, it's not bad."

"Satisfactory job," Verygoodsir chimed in, taking a sip himself.

Whisper let out a sigh of relief. He had faced worse then this before. He could endure for Natsuki's sake.

…

"Ok, I think most of this is salvageable…" Katie said, sorting through the snacks they had bought.

"Pocci's screwed though," Natsuki said, popping one of the broken wafers into her mouth.

"Like that stops you," the ponytail girl said, sticking her tongue off.

Soon enough, the two heard a knock coming from the front door.

"Heh, you passed out and we still beat em by like ten minutes!" Natsuki snickered.

"Oh, hush, " Katie said, sitting up from the table.

The watch bearing girl followed her lead, as well as followed her to the front door. As soon as she caught up, Katie opened the door revealing the other three guests.

"Heya!" Sarah grinned.

"sup!" Alex threw up a peace sign.

"w-were here!" Shelly said with a shy smile. The braid wearing girl adjusted her glasses, "o-oh, are you and Katie matching?"

"Uh, we were kinda playin' a bit of dress up before the rest of you got here…hehe," Katie rubbed the back of her neck.

"She wanted to be twins," Natsuki stuck her tongue out.

"And Nat falls further to the girly side…" Alex sighed.

"I think it suits her~" Sarah snickered, elbowing her friend.

"More then Katie in my opinion!" A fourth voice behind the arrivals chimed in. The other girl's turned around and made space to reveal a short, seemingly human girl in a white blouse and red skirt, with something off about her eyes… "honestly, Katie always struck me as a "hot pink' kind of girl anyway."

"What the heck is Toiletta doing here?!" Natsuki internally questioned.

"Huh, hot pink… I'll have to try that," Katie said with a thoughtful look, "but anyway, who are you?"

"My name is Hanako Letrina~!" Toiletta said with a grin. That was so obviously a fake name Nat had to resist the urge to face palm, "I'm a friend of Nat's~!"

And all eyes went to the watch bearing girl.

She groaned, "don't look at me, I haven't even talked to her in a bit, I didn't invite her!"

"Yeah, I just overheard you and Hailey talking about it, and figured 'I haven't had a sleepover in forever~!'" 'Hanako' grinned, looking at the group with big eyes.

Katie looked at her thoughtfully for a moment… "eh, I guess there's no harm in one more."

"Yes!" Toiletta pumped her fist, making Natsuki roll her eyes.

"Come on in, everybody!" Katie said, gesturing for her friend's to enter.

The group of girls all filed inside, with the ponytailed girl shutting the door behind them. Only to hear a knocking at the door again.

Katie looked between Natsuki and 'Hanako,' "Did you tell anyone else about this?"

Both girls only shook their heads in response. Confused, Katie opened the door revealing none other then…

"There wouldn't happen to be room for one more in this little get together, would there~?" Kyubi said, his form that of his human disguise, with a rose in hand.

Katie just gave him a deadpanned look, "Kiwi, this is a girl's sleepover."

As her friend shut the door, Natsuki internally questioned why Katie seemed familiar with the shape-shifting fox yokai… and then immediately realized this was Kyubi she was thinking about.

Yet another knock came to the door, causing Katie to groan as she opened it again.

"What about now~?" Kyubi had slightly altered his disguise to appear like a more feminine version of his prior look. Now sporting longer hair resembling his true form's tails, yellow eye shadow, more femininely cut clothes, and a skirt instead of shorts.

"Impressive costume change, but the answer is still no!" Katie said, slamming the door once again.

Natsuki could almost hear a muffled "dang it" from the other side of the door.

"I hate that guy…" Alex said flatly.

"You know him too?" Natsuki raised an eyebrow.

"He's a jerk, makes you feel all special for like a day, then ditches you to flirt with someone else," Alex huffed, before looking at the watch bearer, "he didn't try that shtick on you, did he?"

"Well…" Natsuki trailed off, "I mean, I knew him before I came out… but…" she let out a sigh, "yeah, he did."

"Hey! This is girls night! I don't wanna hear discussion of Kiwi dampening our mood!" Katie called out.

"His name's Kyubi," Nat corrected her.

"She's right, who cares about cucumber~!" Toiletta said with a grin.

"And that one was on purpose," Natsuki sighed.

"Come on! Let's move up to my room and start this party up!" Katie said, making way to the stairs.

Most the group followed after her, save for Natsuki and Toiletta.

"'Hanako Letrina?" Natsuki looked at her yokai friend, her face clearly showing she wasn't impressed, "that's so obviously a fake name, it hurts."

"Its not fake~" Toiletta grinned, "well, the last name is."

"Are you sure this is even a good idea?" Natsuki asked her, "I mean… aren't you still wanted for tax evasion?"

"They can't take me alive if I'm dead!" Toiletta joked.

Her friend's continued unimpressed look caused her grin to drop.

"look, I was just a little bummed, we haven't hung out in a while!" The ghost girl sighed, "I didn't even get to hear you were a girl from you, some tabloid spoiled it for me."

She proceeded to give her friend the puppy dog eyes.

"Besides, I meant what I said, I haven't had a sleepover in so long!" Toiletta pleaded. Under her breath she muttered, "not since Neko started spending all her time trying to impress some guy…"

Natsuki looked at the genuine sadness on her friend's face, and let out a sigh,"Alright, I suppose I can let you join us."

"Hehe, yes!" Toiletta gained a satisfied grin, "Seriously girl, we gotta start hanging out more outside you calling me!"

"You know… yeah," the watch bearer had to admit, she could stand to call her yokai friends for reasons other than needing their help, "so, shall we?"

"We shall!" Toiletta said, and the two followed the rest of the group upstairs.

…

"Alright, girls, where do we start~?" Katie said as the group began to settle in.

Shelly and Sarah were seated on her bed, while Alex had claimed a bean bag chair.

"I don't know about you, but I wanna do makeovers~!" Sarah said.

"Pass," Alex shot the idea down, before turning to Katie, "you got any good video games?"

"Yeah!" Natsuki said, sitting in a free bean bag, "how about we place some Bash~!"

"Nice try, Nat, but I'm not falling for that again!" Katie said, "we'll play some super Antonio party~!"

"Ah yes, the game that ruins friendship," Sarah said, "I'll pass. You two are too competitive to play that with."

"Um… I think I'll pass too…" Shelly said.

"Eh, that's fine. It's only four players anyway," Katie said, moving to set the game up, "Nat, hanako, you up for it?"

"Super Antonio party… can't say I've played that, but I'm open to new things," 'Hanako' said, sitting with the other two girls.

"Let's play~" Natsuki smirked as Katie began handing out controllers.

"Alright, you guys do that," Sarah sighed.

"U-um… I'd like a makeover…" the other black haired girl said nervously.

Sarah immediately perked up, "really? You didn't seem like the type!"

"Well… I mean, I've had one once… to be honest I didn't even recognize myself in the mirror after that!" Shelly said with a blush.

"You two have fun!" Katie said, as she sat down with the rest of the gaming party.

Soon enough she had the game set up, and the character selection was on screen. The girl's began selecting their characters.

Katie went with the series leading lady, Princess Plum, while Natsuki went with the lunar Princess Lavender, receiving a comment from an unamused Alex. For her part the sporty girl choise the Tortoise enemy type, Apook.

"Ooh, how bout this!" Toiletta selected the series signature black ghost, Scream. A little on the nose in Natsuki's opinion, but to each their own.

With each character selected, Katie chose a stage. She figured that Lollipop-land was an easy enough stage for a beginner.

After all the set up, the game began. The first step was to role dice to decide the turn order.

"Noko!"

"Huh?" Natsuki questioned as her dice hit 10, the highest it could be by default…. "Did anyone else hear that?"

"Hear what?" Katie asked, getting a five from her roll.

"The sound of me about to woop your butts?" Alex snickered, stopping her dice.

"Nogo!"

And the dice landed on "1," causing the tan girl's smirk to disappear. Toiletta snickered as she grumbled.

Finally, 'Hanako's' die landed on a six, and the order was decided.

"I'm going last?" Alex groaned, "this is rigged."

"Oi, the game just started," Sarah called over from the bed as she was in the middle of painting Shelly's fingernails, "don't start the competitive shtick until you actually start losing."

"Who said I'm gonna lose?" The sporty girl shot back.

Sarah gave an "im watching you" gesture before returning her attention to Shelly.

Natsuki took her turn, moving 7 spaces. Followed by Toiletta getting 4. Both landing on blue tiles and gaining three coins.

"I get it, it's kinda like a board game!" The ghost girl said.

"Kinda!" Natsuki nodded, "the object of the game is to get as many Mega Moons as you can before we run out of turns. Most at the end wins!"

"Which will be me~!" Katie smirked as she took her turn.

"Nogo!"

Katie's die landed on 5, which caused her to land on a red panel. Taking half her starting amount of coins.

"Awe, man…" the ponytailed girl whined.

Natsuki looked around the room at the noise happening again, "does no one else hear that…?"

"I think you might need you're ears checked, natty~!" Toiletta giggled.

"Alright, girlies, this is how it's done!" Alex proclaimed, taking her turn.

"Noko!"

Her die landed on a ten, moving her Apook toward an event space. In particular, a shuffle space. Which could move coins and moons between players. Alex seemed pleased with this outcome.

"Alright! Who am I robbing?" She grinned as she hit the block revealing who'd be in the transfer. None other then Princess Plum's icon appeared.

"Ah, come on! I already lost half my coins!" Katie sighed.

"And I'm gonna take the other half, haha!" Alex boasted as she went to hit the transfer block, which would decide what was transferred to whom.

"Nogo!"

As Natsuki once again questioned the noise, the transfer block indicated that all of Alex's coins would be transferred to Katie. Talk about a bad draw.

"Yay! I got my money back!" Katie cheered.

"My money!" Alex shouted, tears in her eyes as the coins transferred over. The tomboy growled, "I shall have my revenge, Katie!"

"We'll see~!" Katie taunted her, before the screen changed, "Ooh, mini game time!"

As the game continued, Natsuki noticed the continuous familiar cries, and that after each one, a player would either get something really good, or something really bad. It was starting to drive a bit of tension between Katie and Alex, as the two seemed to be taking the brunt of the "bad," namely in relation to each other.

"NO!" Katie cried, "whyd you have to steal my moon!?"

"Hey, I set that Bandit to random, you can't blame me!" Alex snipped at her, "it was entirely random!"

"Yeah, save for whatever called 'Nogo!' Right before it happens…" Natsuki thought to herself. She had a bit of a suspicion of what was going on, but wasn't entirely sure…

"Looks like it's time to tally up the moons…" Katie said, a bit of a glare at Alex.

"But of course, you had to turn on 'lucky moons,'" the sporty girl groaned, "meaning it could literally be down to luck."

"This entire game is luck, Alex," the ponytailed girl's glare intensified.

"Yeah, sure…" Alex said, "whatever makes you feel better for sucking at it."

"Oh boy, this is how it starts…" Sarah sighed as she fiddled with Shelly's hair.

"Excuse me!" Katie exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Her glare no longer subtle., "I'll have you know I'm great at video games! I put on lucky moons to make it more fair to you!"

"Oh, so you think I need a cheat to win, do ya?" Alex standing to meet her.

"Well, you definitely can't seem to win without screwing me over!" Katie yelled.

"Um, guys…" Natsuki looked at the two with apprehension, "it's just a game, don't need to get all…"

"Its part of the game, Katie," Alex practically growled, "it's not like real life where you get a pass just because people think you're pretty!"

"Oh, so you really think I got no skill, huh?" Katie was practically an inch from her face, "I could whoop your butt at anything, at anytime!"

"I THINK ILL JUST WHOOP YOUR BUTT!" The tan girl tackled her friend, sending both to the floor.

Katie however wasn't taking this lying down, as the two began struggling against each other, quickly turning into a cloud of dust and flailing limbs, randomly swinging with no care for the bystanders.

"JEEZ!" Natsuki yelled as she jumped out of the way of the chaotic scuffle, which now seemed to be on the move. She quickly leaped to move Toiletta out of the path of destruction.

"Oof!" The ghost girl let out as Natsuki landed on top of her. Seeing the two-girl-tornado running through the room, as well as her friend on top of her, she couldn't help but blush and giggle, "my hero~!"

The struggle continued to bounce about the room, neither girl willing to concede and both oblivious to the chaos they were causing. Remarkably though, Sarah seemed unaffected, and was continuing with her makeover efforts on Shelly, who contrastly was panicking.

Just as Sarah was looking through her bag for something she need, the dust cloud began moving in her direction.

"S-SARAH, LOOK OUT!" Shelly tried to warn her, but it was in vain.

The braid wearing girl barely had time to duck out of the way as the conflict ran over Sarah, taking her with it as the chaos proceeded.

Natsuki looked on jaw-dropped at the sheer ridiculousness of what she was witnessing.

"There's no way this could get any dumber…" she said, mouth still agape.

As if to punish her for thinking the chaos had hit its peak, the door suddenly opened.

"Hey, Katie, sorry to intrude…" the open door revealed their classmate, Lucas, "you borrowed my history textbook yesterday, and I just figure I'd ask for it ba- ACK!"

Before the black haired boy even knew what hit him the dust cloud had scooped him up, and now he was a part of the madness.

The three remaining girls looked on, two in abject horror, and one in amusement.

The tornado of limbs once again shot around the room, bouncing off the walls before one member was ejected from the chaos and out into the hall.

"AAAAHHH! Ugh!" Lucas yelled as he hit the floor, hearing the door slam shut behind him.

Stumbling to his feat he realized the chaos had somehow switched out his clothes for a pink dress that he was pretty sure belonged to Sarah, and his hair was now done in pigtails…

The frankly confused boy looked back at the door, before deciding, "I'll just try again tomorrow…"

And he sulked down the stairs soon after.

Back in Katie's room, the tornado of chaos finally dispersed as Sarah landed on the bed(confusedly looking at an off-yellow sweater and black jeans she was now holding), and Katie and Alex hit the floor. Both girls huffed for breath as they continued to glare at each other.

"Had… huh, enough…?" Katie said between breaths.

"I…huh, was going, huff… easy on you," Alex replied.

Natsuki couldn't help but stare at the two… before she heard the noise once again, clear as day "noko!"

She turned to see that the human tornado had moved around some furniture. And barely caught between a dresser and the wall was none other then a Noko. Which quickly wiggled itself out of its confinement.

"Noko!" The little snake yokai said before happily hopping along.

"Huh… that explains the weird good luck…" Natsuki whispered to herself, "but what about the weird bad luck?"

"Probably that," Toiletta pointed back to the dresser.

A second snake yokai popped out from behind it, this one a dull brown and blue in color, "Nogo!"

Nogo: wanted

"That's a Nogo. They're like Noko, but finding one is bad luck instead of good luck," Toiletta explained.

Nat stared at her ghostly friend, "did you know they were they're the whole time?"

"Maybe~!" Toiletta simply smirked.

Natsuki briefly groaned at her with an annoyed look, before turning back to her other friends. Katie and Alex continued huffing and glaring at each other… before they both burst into laughter.

"Ugg, those two," Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Does this happen often…?" Natsuki asked.

"Every sleepover," the black haired girl replied, returning to what she was doing, "it's like their weird way of showing they're friends or something, I don't really get it either."

"Hey I won!" Toiletta cheered, bring attention back to the TV which had somehow survived that mini hurricane, "should we play another round?"

"NO!" Natsuki, Sarah and Shelly all said collectively.

…

"Now, I believe it is time we move on to the main course!" Verygoodsir said, leading Whisper back to the kitchen, "tis not enough to provide a meager tea time snack, inevitably your guests will expect a proper meal."

"So now this is a cooking class?" Whisper thought to himself, he looked back at the 'guest' following him, "and why does she need to follow us…?"

Unfortunately it seemed escaping Nagatha wouldn't be that easy.

"Bout time, too," the slit mouthed yokai said, "doubt it'll be anything spectacular, but you can't be worse then my slimey ex at cooking."

"I've provided a recipe for you," Verygoodsir said.

Whisper looked at the elder butler, "what's the catch?"

"Catch, whatever do you mean?" The elderly yokai gave an insincere smile.

The white yokai stared at him for a few seconds. It was quite evidence the old kook wasn't going to reveal his hand until it was too late.

Whisper mentally prepared himself for whatever it was that would going to make this experience like walking into the infinite inferno.

He found the recipe on the counter, and immediately began looking for ingredients.

"British style Bengal chicken curry…" Whisper muttered to himself. Of course the perfectionist, overly british yokai butler would want him to make something like that.

Didn't matter, all he had to do was survive a few more lessons without trying to destroy Verygoodsir's physical form and shove his soul in a blender.

His search for ingredients led him to a large refrigerator, so large it once again made Whisper question who lived here that the could afford one of this size in Japan…

The question was reiterated after he discovered it was walk-in… rich people, am I right?

"Well, at the very least finding that chicken shouldn't be an iss-" the yokai butler was cut off when a terrible odor struck his senses. He instinctively covered the spot where a nose should have been, "What in blazes…"

Upon closer inspection… all of this food was rotten!?

"Why would you fill a fridge with rotten food?!" Whisper shouted to himself.

"To make it harder to select the right one!" Verygoodsir said, popping up in the doorway with a gas mask.

Whisper glared at him, "why am not surprised?"

"Almost stinks as bad as your breath!" Nagatha popped up with a laugh. The kuchisake-onna wore a gas mask of her own.

Whisper definitely didn't sniff his own breath at that comment. What could give you that idea?

"A needle in the haystack," he thought to himself. Clearly Verygoodsir was beginning to run out of ideas if this was what he resorted to.

It didn't matter. He just had to keep looking while ignoring the stench of all this rotten food… speaking of which… was it getting worse?

Oh, yes, it definitely was. The air seemed to be thickening as the putrid scent continued its assault on his nostrils. He thanked his lucky stars he didn't have lungs, because it was becoming hard to breath in here!

Why, he hadn't smelt anything this bad since…

He immediately realized that there must have been another yokai in the room, and quickly spotted one hiding in the corner.

He didn't know how he'd missed a literal buttface, but Cuttincheez let out a snicker as he was spotted.

"He may stink, but unlike you he's good at his job!" Nagatha snicked.

Whisper shook his head. He had to find the good food, preferably before he passed out from the stench.

The yokai butler soldiered on with his search, all the while Cuttincheez managed to keep finding new levels of "stench" that previously didn't exist.

Every ounce of ectoplasm in Whisper's body screamed out for mercy as he continued.

"Oh enma, I think he's about to pass out!" Nagatha laughed.

"I should hope not, what kind of a butler can't handle such a minor yokai's interference?" Verygoodsir asked.

"Minor my behind, he's an A rank…" Whisper groaned, holding back the urge to vomit.

"Now, now, Mr. Whisper, the only words I want to hear from you right now are 'I've found it!'" The elder butler said, making a 'tut tut' gesture.

The woman at his side snickered, "what do you expect? His mouths half the size of his face! Of course he's a blabber mouth!"

"Blabber mouth…" Whisper found that choice of wording ironic. A cruel reminder of his obnoxious power… obnoxious… gaseous power…

There was no way what he was thinking could work, could it? His power had no use, it simply made things worse… just like he did… unless…

Well. It couldn't smell worse than this.

"Heh, I think the stench is making him pop a blood vessel!" Nagatha laughed, "Wait, do we have those?"

Verygoodsir ignored her question, as he was instead focusing on the other butler, who himself seemed to be focusing on something…

"I haven't done this in years, but I hope this works!" Whisper focused his energy into his gullet. He could feel the ectoplasmic smoke build in his throat, pressure rising in his cheeks… until he released it, "BLABBERMOUTH! WHISSU!"

A cloud of green and purple smoke erupted from the yokai's lips, filling the room in seconds and most importantly; smoking out the putrid stench that Cuttincheez had amplified.

Whisper's nonuttin smoke was a nuisance, he wouldn't deny it. Whenever inhaled by anyone other than him, it would cause an individual to spout random nonsense as if it were fact.

But the smoke was also completely odorless, making it an effective neutralizing agent against the gasses created by this bigger nuisance.

And Cuttincheez himself was suddenly too preoccupied to make any more stink, as he was doing the signature 'Totally legit, no foolin!' pose. To be honest, Whisper wasn't sure what his inspiritment made the other yokai say, giving he can't really speak. But whatever it was he imagined it wasn't true.

Finally able to breathe and think straight, Whisper quickly began searching amongst the meats, and in no time at all discovering the one that had yet to turn.

"Found it," he said to Verygoodsir with a smug expression, as he left the pantry to begin properly making the meal.

"The heck was that…?" Nagatha questioned.

"Hmm…" Verygoodsir mused, "a creative solution… well met, Mr. Whisper."

…

With the hectic results of the Antonio Party out of the way, the girls had moved on to more peaceful activities.

Alex was lounging on the ground reading some kind of sports magazine, while Katie and Toiletta had continued playing games, this time a two player co-op.

Sarah meanwhile had finished up on Shelly and was currently doing Natsuki's nails.

"Powder blue really is your color, Nat!" The pink wearing girl said.

Natsuki only replied with a blush and a giggle.

"Ugh, you're so into this, it's sickening…" Alex stuck her tongue out.

"Oh, knock it off, we've already had this discussion," Natsuki groaned, "and what do you have against me being girly, anyway?"

"I just think it's dumb," Alex said.

"Well you'd better make peace with it," Sarah said in an annoyed tone, "couple months and we'll all be going to schools with uniforms. Then you'll have to wear a skirt every day."

"I refuse!" The tan skinned girl said, sticking her nose up.

"Not an option," Katie simply said, not paying her any mind.

"Yeah, unless you applied to the boys school or something," 'hanako' added.

"Maybe I will," Alex said.

"Eh, whatever. As long as I don't have to go to it!" Natsuki shrugged, "hard to believe we're almost out of elementary school."

"Yeah, I'm almost gonna miss Mr. Johnson…" Katie said, "...almost."

"Yeah… anyone else getting bored?" Alex asked.

"Honestly, a little bit," Katie sighed.

"Same here…" Toiletta said, and the two paused the game, "got any ideas?"

The ponytail girl put a hand to her chin and closed her eyes. The subtle humming coming from her mouth indicating she was thinking deeply about this.

Her eyes shot open, and she snapped her fingers, "Prank calls!"

"Oh, heck yeah!" Alex said with enthusiasm.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Natsuki tilted her head. To be honest she'd only ever heard of people prank calling in movies. Wasn't really the type of thing you just saw people doing.

"Relax, Natty, I do it all the time~!" Katie said, fishing out her cellphone. She stood up and moved to the bed, positioning herself in the middle of the group.

"You what?" The watch bearing girl gave her a look.

"Yep, and I know exactly who to call first~!" Katie snickered and began typing in a number. Soon enough the tell tale tone of a phone ringing began playing, "Ok, everyone, quiet down!"

…

In another part of Springdale, a different girl was spending her night doing an entirely different activity…

"Surging bloodlust…" Zoey said to herself, her face illuminated by candle light, "overwhelming despair…"

Before her was a circle of five candles, a five pointed star drawn between them.

"Forces of the underworld, I beseech thee! Heed my call!" The bespeckled girl cocked a sinister grin as she stared at the center of the pentagram…

Taped to the floor was a squirming cicade. Buzzing helplessly as the girl continued her ritual.

"In exchange, I offer you the life of this vile creature," the girl drew a pair of scissors, lifting them above her head… she prepared to strike, "answer m-!"

Before she could cut the helpless insect, Zoey heard her ringtone begin to play. She let out a grown as she sat her scissors down, and got up to grab her phone.

Without bothering to check the number she hit the answer button, "You've reached Zoey Sakai, I'm kinda in the middle of something so make it quick."

…

Katie stifled a laugh on the other end, before attempting a more mature sounding tone of voice, "Yes, hello Miss Sakai. I represent the Sakura Region Paranormal Society, and wish to speak about your application to our organization."

It was a pretty impressive impression, Natsuki had to admit. It sounded like one of those borderline robotic telemarketers. Though as impressive as it was, she doubted Zoey would fall for it, she was a smart one.

"OH MY GOSH, FINALLY!" Zoey's voice on the other end was one of genuine enthusiasm… meaning she fell for it.

"Yes, I am happy to say almost everything is in order for your acceptance, I just have a few things to confirm with you," Katie lied, a sly grin on her face.

"Yes, yes, yes! I knew if I kept asking you'd let me in!" The bespeckled girl said with glee, "I've had so many theories to discuss! The odd goings on of Mount Wildwood, rumors of a hulking elder in San Fantastico, the mysterious isolation of Kanai ward~!"

"Yes, in due time, but first the confirmations, please," Katie continued her charade.

"Right, right! Ask away!" Zoey said.

"Right, you've already confirmed your name. birthday?" Katie asked.

"Third of may," Zoey stated.

"height and shoe size? For uniform of course," Katie asked.

"There's a uniform?" Zoey questioned, "um… I'm about 156 centimeters… and I'm a size… Do I have to say?"

Hearing an embarrassed tone from her friend, Natsuki signaled a disapproving nod to Katie.

The ponytailed girl rolled her eyes, "we'll circle back. First encounter with the supernatural?"

"Well, I wasn't able to get any evidence, but I remembered encountering a ghostly girl my age when I was about 5," Zoey said, before she paused, "but I also remember her being half cat…?"

"Alright, one more for now…" Katie said, before dawning a smirk, "most embarrassing moment in recent memory?"

"Well, that'd definitely be… WAIT A MINUTE!" and the bespeckled girl had caught on, "KATIE?! IS THAT YOU?!"

"Always fun chatting with ya, Zo-zo!" Katie let out a laugh, "you really gotta start checking caller ID!"

The girl on the other end was practically going feral, "CURSE YOU, KATIE FORESTER! AND I DON'T MEAN THAT LIKE THE PHRASE, WHEN I COMPLETE THIS RITUAL, I AM LITERALLY GOING TO CURSE YOU!"

"See you at school~!" Katie said, pressing the hang up button.

…

"UGH!" Zoey let out an audible growl. She couldn't believe she'd fallen for this again! She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs in frustration.

"ZOEY! ARE YOU TRYING TO DEMONICALLY SACRIFICE INSECTS AGAIN?!" Her frustration was paused as she flinched at the sound of her Mama shouting from downstairs.

"Um… NO!" Zoey called back, before letting out a deep breath, "Alright. Just finish this quick, and make that ponytailed princess pay!"

She went back to her makeshift alter, only to find a crucial aspect missing.

"AH! that little monster got loose!" She leaped back in fear at the sight of the cicada's escape, "GROSS, GROSS, IT COULD BE ANYWHERE!"

Meanwhile, Cadin, who had up til that point was disguised as a regular cicada, fearfully ran out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him.

"I'VE GOT TO BE MORE CAREFUL WHO I LET CATCH ME, MING MING!" The cicada yokai cried out.

…

Katie burst out laughing, clearly proud of herself.

"I swear, that girl has no idea how to check caller ID!" She said between laughs.

"Do you do this a lot?" Natsuki asked, not very impressed.

"Only twice a month," Katie grinned, "should have seen the time I pretended I was her grandma!"

"Eh, not gonna lie, that was a pretty mid prank call," Alex said.

"oh, you think you can do better?" Katie smirked, Nat internally prepared for another brawl. Thankfully Katie merely handed the phone to their sporty friend, "be my guest."

Alex put a finger to her chin for a moment… then began dialing a number. The other girls listened in as the dial tone played.

"Hello?" The voice of Andy answered, though there was an odd echo.

"Heya, Andy," Alex said, a sly grin on her face.

"Oh, hey Alex! How's the sleepover thing?" Andy asked.

"Good, good," the sporty girl replied, "say, I got a question for you…"

"Shoot," the boy on the other end said.

Alex's cocky gaze was fixed on Katie, as if what she was about to ask would blow her apparent rival's prank call out of the water… "is your refrigerator running?"

And with that, all the other girls fell over… Except Toiletta.

"I don't get it…" the yokai girl said blankly.

"I'm not sure, not in my kitchen," Andy replied, oblivious to the obvious prank. The odd echo was still there too.

"Then you better go catch it!" Alex laughed, before she paused, "Wait, did you say it was running?"

"Ok, that one was just pathetic," Natsuki said.

"I'm embarrassed on your behalf…" Sarah groaned.

The girls stared at their sporty friend in silence, each with a face depicting some level of disappointment.

"Oooh!" 'Hanako' said, breaking the silence, she giggled a bit, "you'd better go catch it, because it's running! That's hilarious!"

Natsuki sweatdropped at that. This couldn't be her first time hearing that joke, right? How long was she held up in that bathroom…?

"Um, Alex…? I said I wasn't in the kitchen," Andy spoke up again. Once again with that weird echo, what was that about?!

It seemed Alex was also wondering, "Ok, forget the prank, where are you right now?"

…

"Um…" Andy said in an unsure tone.

He looked around his surroundings. Stone and dirt walls, stalactites on the ceiling. The soft yet distinctive chatter of bats off in the distance.

No doubt about it, he was lost in a cave…

"In my bathroom," he answered.

…

"Whatever, talk to you later," Alex said, hanging up. She turned her attention back to the group, "who's next?"

"Why don't you give it a shot, Shelly?" Katie asked the bespeckled girl by her side.

"U-um… why me?" Shelly nervously asked

"Well, my usual victims wouldn't guess you pranking them~!" Katie donned an evil grin.

"U-uh… ok," the shy girl said, taking the phone, "who should I call…?

"Well, not Eddie. He always sees through it…" Katie said, "and Bears the opposite, I honestly just feel bad pranking him."

"You could do Bearmie," Natsuki suggested.

"No, don't do her, it's not right to pick on someone younger than us!" Katie shook her head.

"When did you get standards?" Nat stuck her tongue out.

"U-um…. I've got an idea, actually," Shelly said sheepishly, and she began her turn dialing a number.

Once again, the phone rang audibly. The girl's wondered what the shy girl had in store for them… and hoped it was better then Alex's sorry attempt. Shelly seemed to be mentally preparing herself.

Soon enough, someone picked up, a familiar, if a little annoyed sounding, voice on the other end, "hey, you've reached Casey, what do you want?"

"yes, is this Casey Yoshiada?" Shelly asked in a tone that wasn't much different from her normal one, but had a much more cutesy vibe to it that sounded somewhat familiar to Natsuki.

"Um… yeah…" Casey also seemed to recognize this semi-impression, "who is this…?"

"Oh, I thought you'd know," Shelly answered, "I'm Topatopa Gracewill!"

"Wait, you mean… TOPATOPA FROM NEXT HARMEOWNY?!" Casey practically cheered.

"That's me~!" Shelly had a bit of a grin on her face as she lied, "I've heard you're quite the fan of mine~!"

"Oh-ho! I so am! I've got all the band's albums since you became a mainstay! You're posters up in my room, I was even hoping to get an autograph while I was here~!" Casey shouted, fan boy mode in full affect.

"Here?" Nat grinned a bit, "sounds like he's at the concert in sparkopolis…"

"I thought Casey 'couldn't stand that girly crap,'" Sarah said with hand quotes.

"Wow, you really must be a big fan!" Shelly kept up her Topatopa impersonation, "so, are you in line for the concert right now?"

"You'd bet I am~!" The boy replied, "I'd bet you can even see me from your dressing room~!"

"Hmm, give me a wave, I'll see If I can~!" Shelly said, getting all the girls to giggle.

"ALRIGHT! I'M WAVING! CAN YOU SEE ME!" Casey called out.

"Geez, quiet kid!" An older guy's voice could be heard. Seems Casey was starting to cause a scene.

"NO! LET YOUR PASSION RISE!" Natsuki heard the unmistakable voice of Hailey Anne, being her chaotic self as always. She blushed and giggled a bit, which Katie took notice of.

"Wow, you must really be a big next HarMeowny fan!" Shelly said.

"You'd bet I am~!" Caset replied.

Shelly instantly gained a sinister grin. She dropped the cutesy voice as she said, "glad you finally admit it~!"

"HUH?! WAIT, SHELLY?!" Casey immediately put together that he'd been conned.

"And she ain't alone~!" Katie said into the phone.

"Have fun at the concert~! Say hi to Hailey for me!" Natsuki spoke up with a giggle.

"Oh, Natty, is that you? Hi!" The girls heard Hailey say.

"ACK! GET AWAY!" Casey must have been swatting the Otaku away from his phone, "I'LL GET YOU GIRLS FOR THIS!"

He then hung up, just as all the girls began bursting out in laughter.

"Oh-ho, that was good!" 'Hanako' laughed.

"Shelly, I didn't know you could hold a character like that!" Alex said between laughs.

The shy girl blushed at the compliment, "i-i guess it's e-easier when I'm not talking to them in person!"

"I'd say! You seem to be quite the actress!" Katie said, "Alright, anyone else wanna?"

Stifling her laughter, Natsuki spoke up, "you know what, why not! Lemme give it a shot!"

"Ooh, the skeptic wants in on the fun now?" Katie smirked, "I thought this was a 'bad idea?'"

"I'm allowed to change my opinion," Nat faked a pout.

"Fine, but you don't get to know who you're pranking~!" Katie said typing in a number. Soon enough she handed it over, her face making it clear she was proud of herself.

Nat could only imagine what her friend was expecting to happen…

"howdy!" The other end had picked up, A young, southern guy's voice could be heard, "Hazeltine residence. What can I do fur ya?"

"Hazeltine..?" Natsuki thought to herself. She didn't know anyone named 'Hazeltine.' and that voice definitely wasn't similar to any she'd heard before, except maybe komasan. She put a hand over the receiver before asking, "who the heck did you call?"

"No clue! Typed in a random number!" Katie stuck her tongue out.

"you what?!" Natsuki groaned. How was she supposed to work with that?!

"Um… hello?" The stranger on the other end said, "shoot, this better not be the aliens messing with me again…"

"Alien…? Why is that where his mind goes…" Nat questioned silently. Her eyes went wide… that gave her an idea.

"That's right! I am an alien from Uranus~!" She cackled, doing the best impression of Falien she could muster.

"Aha! You alien freaks just can't leave me alone, can ya?" The stranger on other end said, "ever since I found out y'all existed you're always up in my business!"

"You are simply a person of interest to us~!" Natsuki lied, "I can tell you why, but first you need to do something for me~!"

"and that is?" The stranger asked.

"First… find a mirror…" the girl donned an evil grin as she formulated her plan.

Footsteps could be over the phone, "Aight, now what?"

"Now, begin spinning in place~!" Natsuki commanded, "it will help you enter the appropriate wavelength to receive this message~!"

"Right, that makes enough sense…" the stranger said, "alright… I'm doing it… what now?"

"As you spin, chant 'wrinkly dinkly, doobity do!'" Nat continued. Who knew still lines from yokai made for good pranking material? The girl's definitely seemed to be enjoying it!

"Um… Wrinkly dinkly, doobity do!" The stranger chanted this a few more times, before the watch bearing girl decided to move things along.

"Stop!" She was pretty sure he heard him falling over through the receiver, "now… look in the mirror…"

"Huff… huff… looking…" looked like the spinning had gotten him a little bit tuckered out.

"Now… you should see…" Natsuki paused, she then continued in her regular voice, "... a moron who actually believed aliens would call his phone."

"HUHH?!" The stranger called out, "NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE!"

"You've been pranked, lol!" Natsuki stuck out her tongue as she immediately hung up before he could get another word in.

She gained a smug grin as the girl's burst out into fits of laughter.

…

"Dang nabbit, I can't believe I fell for that…" the southern boy groaned to himself.

"Buck! Come on!" A girl's voice called out to him, "it's almost time to leave! Dad said we gotta be on our best behaviors if we wanna do this trip!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He called back, setting the phone down.

…

The girl's meanwhile were winding down from their collective laughing fit.

"How you like that? Turns out I'm pretty good at improv~!" Natsuki shot Katie a smug grin.

The ponytailed girl couldn't respond as she was still laughing.

"Alright, alright, my turn!" Sarah spoke up, snatching the phone from Nat's hands. She immediately typed in a number, intentions clear. After a bit of ringing she began her attempt, "Oh, megan~! This is-"

"WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" A high pitched wail was all that came from the other end, along with some interference accompanying it. Both of which contributed to the girl's ears all experiencing a decent burst of pain.

To snip that growing pain, the bookworm quickly hung up. Leaving the girls in a stunned silence.

"...the heck was that about?" Katie asked.

"Me thinks Meg also isn't taking the loss of a crush well," Alex sighed.

"How many people apparently have crushes on me?!" Natsuki blurted out. Toiletta subtly looked away to hide her blush.

"I think that's our cue to quit while we're ahead…" Katie said.

"Ah, what?" 'Hanako' said in a disappointed tone, "I haven't gotten to try yet!"

"Alright, but this should probably be the last one," Sarah said, handing her the phone.

"Right, right!" Toiletta said, immediately typing a number. For the final time, the dial tone rang.

"Yes?" A familiar sounding British voice answered.

"Is y-" Toiletta tried to start her set up, but she was immediately cut off.

"I'm not going to catch a refrigerator, I haven't ordered anything, I am single by choice so I have no scorned lovers, and our bathroom is fully stocked," the British man said, "if you're going to try and prank call me, you'd better try harder then that."

The phone immediately hung up, leaving the girls in silence…

"Well, that's a low point to end with…" Alex sighed.

…

"Hmmph, kids these days," Verygoodsir sighed as he hung up the house phone, he flew back to the head of the table to address all yokai present,"well, since dinner was a moderately successful, I'd say we move on to my latest lesson segment~!"

"And that bodes absolutely well…" Whisper sighed.

"Don't worry, you'd have to be an ignoramus to fail this…" Nagatha said, "oh wait… maybe you should be worried~!"

"This next segment of your training is simple," Verygoodsir explained, "I shall give you a yokai's name and description, then they will appear before you."

"Alright…" Whisper knew there was a twist. There was no way it was that simple.

"Along with them, a yokai who looks near identical aside from color," the older butler continued, "it will be up to you to tell which is the yokai being described."

"And if I get it wrong?" Whisper knew it was coming, he just didn't know what "it" was.

Nagatha leaner over her seat, grabbing at her purse and digging through it. After a few seconds of rustling purse contents, she found her prize. Whisper didn't bother to ask how she fit a giant cartoon mallet twice her own size in that small purse.

"Then Nagatha will smack you with that hammer," Verygoodsir said.

"This part was my idea~!" The slit mouthed woman snickered.

The butler could only stare at her, "...let's get this over with…"

"Is this safe?" Enduriphant spoke up.

"He'll be fine," Nagatha said, hoisting her hammer over her shoulder.

Verygoodsir took out a score keeping bored, "Let's begin!"

Whisper mentally prepared himself for the likely scenario he would endure blunt force trauma today.

"Question one," the elder butler said, pulling a flashcard from a handful he had, "Payn will show your shoulders the meaning of pain using his massive strength. Payn is really into working out."

As soon as he finished reading off the card, two puffs of smoke appeared behind him, revealing two, near identical muscular yokai.

"Alright, you've seen Payn before… more than a year ago…" Whisper thought to himself, "Guess Natsuki never really summoned him much… Let's hope I remember what he looked like…"

He looked between the two, trying to remember his master's previous encounter with Payn… and Ake! The butler remembered Payn doesn't work alone! Immediately his mental picture of the yokai became much clearer!

"That one!" Whisper said, pointing out the green headed yokai.

"Hmm, correct," Verygoodsir gave a nod, the two yokai behind him vanishing.

"Awe, man," Nagatha groaned, clearly disappointed. Whisper sighed in relief at temporarily escaping her wrath, though he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Moving on to the next," Verygoodsir said, grabbing the whispy yokai's attention, he once again read from a flash card, "Negasus will make you want to do things that'll get you in trouble. The more trouble the better!"

Once again, two yokai appeared in puffs of smoke. Both winged horses, one black and red, one yellow and white.

"Negasus…" Whisper thought to himself.

Another yokai he'd encountered before, but yet again one he'd not seen in some time. Recalling the chap, that description was right, Negasus was a nasty chap indeed. He'd inspirited Natsuki several times that day…

"That one!" He pointed out the yellow horse.

"Correct again," the elder butler said, as the yokai once again disappeared.

"Huh… really thought he would have flake it by now…" Nagatha groaned. Whisper resisted the urge to smirk at swiping the wind from her sails.

"Wooh! Go Whisper!" Enduriphant gave a small cheer. A nice vote of confidence, that.

"Onto round three," Verygoodsir pulled yet another card,"If you catch Insomni's eye, she won't let you fall asleep until she's bored with you...or you're almost dead."

"Insomni!" Whisper mentally cheered, a yokai Natsuki had summoned more than once! Surely he'd be able to spot her!

Sure enough, two beautiful djinns appeared, one in a few shades of purple with white hair, the other a pale white with pink hair and clothes.

Whisper grinned, obviously he could tell which was Insomni of these… two… beautiful djinn women…

Both of whom giving him flirty expression… was it getting hot in here?

Whisper's white face flushed a bit red. Surely this was just to distract him, it had to be. He'd gone a good few years without a date even before he'd been locked in the Crank-a-kai, and he'd definitely not had any luck since his release.

There was no way two… very attractive djinn's were interest in him…

"Ugh! Focus!" Whisper tried to reorganize his thoughts, "Insomni, you know which is Insomni, it's-"

Before he could finish the thought, the pink haired djinn winked(blinked?), before blowing him a kiss.

"GAH!" Whisper's face went beat red, he pointed out the pink one, "HER! ITS HER, FINAL ANSWER!"

"Incorrect!" Verygoodsir made an 'X' motion with his arms and a buzzer sound effect could be heard.

"...oh no," Whisper said, realizing his mistake. Before he could get another word in, Nagatha appeared behind him and swung with all her might, the face of the mallet hitting his back with the force of a speeding truck, "OK, THAT WAS CHEEEEEEAAAAPPP!"

The yokai butler was launched through the wall and into the next room. A loud 'thud' could be heard on the other end.

"About time~!" Nagatha snickered.

In the next room, Whisper groaned from his impact… well, impacts. His head hurt and his senses were hazy.

"Whisper…?" A familiar voice said in a confused tone.

The butler lifted his head, coming face to face with a floating blue Bakeneko he'd encountered a few times before

"Hovernyan…?" He groaned, "what are you doing here…?"

"You're on my pool table…" Hovernyan stated plainly.

Sure enough, Whisper had landed on a pool table.

"...in my house…" Hovernyan continued, "I was actually about to ask, how the hell did you get in here?"

"Your house…" Whisper said, putting together what they meant, "you're Verygoodsir's employer?"

Speak of the devil, Verygoodsir quickly entered the room. An unusually panicked expression adorning the older butler's face.

"M-Master Hovernyan!" Verygoodsir sounded as panicked as he looked, "I-I was not aware you'd returned home!"

"Oh, you know my butler," Hovernyan said, his attention still on Whisper, "I suppose you know eachother from the 'yokai butler's union.'"

Whisper rose to meet Hovernyan's eye level, "um… not really…"

"Uh… Master Hovernyan… are you… acquainted with this gentleman?" Verygoodsir was suddenly even more nervous.

"Why yes of course!" The floating cat yokai said, "I happened to be a close family friend with Whisper's master! Say, how is the bold basher doing?"

At those words, Whisper knew the immediate thoughts of his rival turned teacher. That being that he'd supremely screwed up.

"Well, Nate prefers to go by Natsuki now, but she's been doing rather well recently," Whisper said, straightening out his back, "I've actually been trying to improve my craft as a butler for her sake."

"Ah, so that's how you and Sébastien know each other!" Hovernyan said, "he is quite good at what he does."

"Well, Natsuki and I have had run ins with Verygoodsir before…" Whisper said. The older butler was making a clear handsign go shut his mouth… but when was Whisper ever good at doing that? "unfortunately, he seems to get quite a kick out of giving us unwarranted discomfort…"

Receiving this information, Hovernyan gained a shocked expression, "what?!"

"Matter of fact, he's been taking my desperate request for training as an excuse to subject me to literal torture…" Whisper continued.

Verygoodsir's panicked face gained a bit of rage to it at that revelation.

"SÉBASTIEN!" Hovernyan said, his voice full of betrayal.

"I-i can assure you he's greatly exaggerating, Sir!" Verygoodsir was quickly realizing he was no longer in control of this situation.

"You put me in an electric chair," Whisper gave him a deadpanned look.

"I-I uh…" the older butler was running out of excuses.

"Sébastien…" Hovernyan sighed, "you've been a faithful helper in my pursuits of justice for many years now…"

"P-please, sir!" Verygoodsir pleaded.

"But, you've committed villainous acts, and for that you must be punishment," Hovernyan said, gearing up his fist.

"NO NO, SIR, WAIT!" The elderly yokai panicked, pleading in vain at his master's wrath.

"GUSTY, CROSS PAW!" The Bakeneko struck him square in the abdomen, launching the old butler through the wall not unlike what had just happened to Whisper. Hovernyan gained a satisfied look, "all is forgiven!"

The wind charged punch had sent Verygoodsir so far, he went through several rooms of the house, before eventually landing in the same electric chair he'd out Whisper in days prior.

"GAH!" He panicked as he realized just where he had landed.

He reeled back knowing he was about to be jolted with electricity… only for it to not happen…

"Fhew…" he sighed in relief as it seemed the electricity was on… of course it only seemed that way. The second his guard was down the electric current short through his ectoplasmic body, "GYAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Nagatha heard the screaming from the next room, "I think that's my cue to leave…" she hurriedly disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

"I greatly apologize for my butler's actions," Hovernyan said to Whisper, giving a deep bow, "if still wish to undergo his training, I can sit in to ensure he doesn't stoop to any more villainous actions."

"That would be quite appreciated," Whisper gave a bow in turn. Happy this unpleasantness was finally over with.

…

After a few more activities, the girls had begun winding for the night.

Natsuki had changed into her pajamas, just some pink shorts and one of her old red star shirts. After stepping out to change she returned to the main group, who were just talking amongst themselves with the lights dim.

"so then I said, 'It's not that kind of bathroom!'" 'Hanako' said, finishing up a story.

"...I don't get it…" Katie said, before noticing ger other friends return, "oh, head Nat!"

"Hey," Natsuki said, adjusting her neckline.

"I know that look, bra trouble?" Sarah asked.

"Eh, my mom's just making me wear training bras now, still getting used to em," the brunette replied, sitting down on the makeshift bed made out on the floor, "do these things get any better?"

"Eh, it depends on a lot to be honest. A lot of girls never know why they're being annoying so they just whine about it," Sarah giggled.

"So, we've still got some time before lights out. What now?" Natsuki asked.

"How bout we talk boys~?" Katie asked, a clear smirk on her face.

"You're rubbing salt in my wounds, ya know?" Alex deadpanned. Her ponytail wearing friend gave her a smug look.

"Eh, sorry, not interested in guys," Natsuki said.

"I am, but don't really have any in my life, ya know?" Toiletta piped up.

"Ok, how bout crushes in general then?" Katie said, "for example… isn't Wildcard just dreamy~!"

"Ok, vetoing that," Alex groaned, "real crushes only, no fictional characters. I am not hearing Katie gush over that phantom thief, or Sarah bring up that tween romance novel about marrying demons again."

"Well, they never actually got married…" Sarah huffed, "... the series got canceled before they got that far…"

"Don't care, real crushes only," Alex was firm on this stance.

"Well, um…" Shelly's face gained a pink tint, "i… don't really know if it's obvious, but I've… kinda been admiring Eddie lately~..."

Natsuki was surprised that the shy girl was willing to go first. Though at the same time she remembered her conversation with Eddie days prior, as well as encountering him earlier today. Poor girl was in for the unpleasant surprise that her love was pursuing someone else.

"Going for the rich kid, good for you!" Alex chuckled.

"I-I mean, it's not really money that has anything to do with it…" Shelly said with a slight pout.

"Yeah, Eddie's a sweet guy," Katie nodded.

"Eh, you do you, Shell," Alex shrugged.

"Not sure I really fit here," Toiletta stuck her tongue out, "you guys don't really know my friends aside from Nat."

"Well, you did kinda invite yourself to a sleepover with people who didn't know you," Katie said.

"Yeah, yeah…" 'Hanako' said, before her eyes fell toward Natsuki. A blush appeared on the ghost girl's face as she seemed to have gotten an idea, "how bout, Natty? Any crushes?"

Now the watch bearing girl was the one blushing. She averted her gaze, dodging the question.

"Well, she apparently had one on me," Katie giggled a bit.

"Katie!" Nat yelled at her friend saying that so casually.

Though instead of surprise, the other three girls were… giggling.

"Pfft, in other news, water is wet, fire is hot, and you two are oblivious!" Sarah snickered.

"Literally everyone knew she liked you, Katie," Alex said.

"I didn't!" The ponytailed girl said.

"Yeah, because your both so freakin oblivious," the sporty girl shot back, "for a bit I thought 'they have to be made for eachother.'"

"I'm not that oblivious!" Katie shouted at, in her mind, such a ridiculous statement.

The two went back and forth like that a bit, causing Toiletta to groan before bringing her attention back to Natsuki, "You know, Nat, you never answered the question~!"

"I… well…" Natsuki went red again.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't wanna," Sarah said.

"I…" the watch bearing girl paused… she keep it to herself, sure… but that wouldn't really help her, would it? She breathed out, and gave an answer, "I… think I might have a crush on Hailey…"

"The Otaku from class 1?" Toiletta deadpanned.

"Oh, the nerd you've been hanging out with!" Katie had apparently tuned back into the conversation. She paused for a few seconds, before she gasped, "wait, is that why you've been hanging out with her? Are you looking to ask her out~!?"

"Well, n-no… I've only recently realized I even have a crush at all…" Natsuki explained, "and… I've only really known her since Christmas. Isn't it a little soon to even be think about this?"

Sarah put an affirming hand on her shoulder "Nat, lemme tell ya, the heart wants what it wants. And it's gonna want it regardless of what your head thinks."

"...yeah, I think you're right…" Natsuki sighed.

"Romance novel knowledge, baby!" The bookish girl giggled.

"if you want my two cents, I think you actually should ask her out," Katie suggested.

The watch bearing girl was unsure about her friend's suggestion "Really?"

"I mean think about it, you spent how long simping for me without actually saying anything?" Katie said, "you wanna waste just as much time on your new crush?"

Natsuki thought about it, "no… no I do not."

"Well then, consider me your wing woman! I won't rest until you and Hailey are a happy couple!" Katie shot her a thumbs up, her face beaming with enthusiasm.

By contrast, Alex and Toiletta were looking at her with deadpanned expressions.

"That can only go well," the sporty girl sighed, her voice filled with sarcasm.

"Bet you 2000 yen she makes a fool of herself, or Nat," Toiletta added.

Ignoring her friend's less then enthused responses to Katie assigning herself 'wing woman,' Natsuki nodded to herself, "yeah… I think I'm gonna do it!"

While less enthused then Katie, Sarah gave a supportive smile, "I'm rooting for you!"

Shelly gave a nod showing support of her own!

"Hehe, thanks guys!" Natsuki giggled a bit.

Before any further discussion could commence, the door to Katie's room opened. Her mother stepping inside.

"Alright girls, time to call it night," Mrs. Forrester said.

"Ah, come on, mom… 5 more minutes?" Katie asked.

"Bed." Her mother said in a slightly stern tone, clear she knew what her daughter was trying to do.

"Ok…" Katie said, getting herself into bed.

"Goodnight girls!" Mrs. Forrester said, flipping the light switch and leaving the room.

"Heh, guess my mom isn't the only one who's good at being intimidating," Nat chuckled as she got herself comfortable.

"I think that's just how moms are in general," Alex said.

"Yeah, pretty much!" Toiletta nodded. Though soon after she said in a much quieter, sadder tone, "I miss my mom…"

Well, anyone who heard that didn't exactly want to unpack it, so they all got themselves comfortable. Katie and Sarah sharing the bed, and the other four with makeshift beds on the floor made from spare blankets.

They exchanged goodnights, and all layed down to drift to sleep… drift to sleep… why weren't they drifting to sleep?

Natsuki was trying to turn her brain off, but her eyes just refused to stay shut! It was very irritating!

"Psst!" She heard Toiletta Whisper from her side.

"What?" She whispered back.

"Can you sleep?" The bathroom dwelling yokai asked.

"Ugh… no," Natsuki groaned.

"Me neither…" 'Hanako' said.

"Join the club," Alex whispered.

"What's the meaning of life?" Sarah asked no one in particular.

"Guys, shut up," Katie said in an annoyed whisper of her own.

"Can anyone sleep…?" Natsuki whispered.

There was a silence amongst them… before Shelly said in a tone not unlike her normal voice, "no…"

From there was a collective groan.

"Anyone happen to carry melatonin?" Alex asked.

"nah, I usually just read until I konk out," Sarah said.

"Quiet, before my mom hears," Katie quietly scolded them.

Despite her protests, the girls kept murmuring amongst themselves. Sudden random insomnia over all of them… odd…

"Natsuki…" Toiletta whispered to her again, getting her attention, "doesn't this seem a little… strange?"

"Yeah, it does…" Natsuki nodded, "...yokai?"

"Yokai," Toiletta confirmed, pointing to the corner of the room, " he's over there."

As subtly as she could, she shined the where her ghostly friend pointed. Sure enough, a dark silhouette appeared in the light. Once it faded, a yokai was revealed.

He looked a lot like the yokai Wydeawake, however he looked somewhat older, had long red hair, and large, asymmetrical horns. He somehow seemed even more sleep deprived than the other yokai he resembled.

"Apparently his name is 'Allnyta,'" Toiletta whispered, staring at her cellphone. Natsuki gave her an odd look, "what? I have the yokai wiki on my phone!"

Allnyta: B rank

Shady

"He's like Insomni and Wydeawake but even more annoying," Toiletta explained, "he acts like he's allergic to sleep or something, and no one in his vicinity can get a wink unless he does."

"Just great…" Natsuki groaned, she quietly tried to get the new yokai's attention, "Allnyta… Allnyta?"

He seemed to be engrossed in his handheld gaming system. Natsuki couldn't speak much louder without the other girls hearing…

Toiletta stuck her finger out, shooting a small blast of purple energy like a bullet, flying straight into Allnyta's forehead.

"ACK!" The insomniac yokai winced, rubbing his forehead in pain, he turned toward the two "The hell was that about?!"

"Allnyta, right?" the watch bearing girl whispered, "we need to sleep! Can you please stop inspiriting us?"

"Or leave. Either one works," Toiletta added.

"And why should I?" Allnyta practically growled, "I ain't leaving this haunt, this place has the best wifi this side of town!"

"Then can you at least go to sleep…?" Natsuki asked.

"Heh, hell no. The night is still young!" Allnyta grinned, returning to his game.

"Well, there goes negotiations…" Toiletta groaned, "any ideas?"

"Can't you fight him?" Natsuki asked.

"Sure, then you can explain to your friends why a normal girl is shooting dark energy bolts at the corner of the room," the ghost girl deadpanned.

"Right, right, point taken… I'll have to summon someone else" Natsuki said, thinking to herself, "hmm… maybe he could reason with him…"

She subtly grabbed her bag, getting at her stash of medals. Finding the one she needed, she inserted in the watch.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, INTRODUCING THE SHADY TRIBE!" The watch's voice chimed as blue runes burst from it.

"Wydeawake!" The yokai kid said, landing on a cloud that had randomly materialized.

"Yo, hey, Nate. Been awhile," the insomnia yokai said.

"Oh, i… guess you missed the news," Nat said awkwardly, "it's Natsuki now actually…"

"Huh…?" Wydeawake seemed confused.

"Could you maybe try to reason with Allnyta? You guys are similar yokai, right?" The watch bearing girl asked, "he's kinda ruining our sleepover."

"Um… backup, why are you 'Natsuki' now?" Wydeawake asked, his expression puzzled.

"Um… because I'm a girl?" Natsuki said. She had a bad feeling about answering that question.

"You're… a girl… and this is… a sleepover…" the demons face went pale. "Im… at a girl's sleepover…"

Both Nat and Toiletta looked at Wydeawake worriedly, as he began staring into space.

"...Wydeawake?" Nat asked, giving him a slight shake. The yokai was completely unresponsive.

Toiletta snapped in front of his eyes, still nothing in response. She sighed "Oh great, he blue screened."

"HA!" Allnyta gave a laugh at the girl's predicament, "how'd that plan work out for ya?"

"Any other bright ideas?" Toiletta sighed.

"Ugh, why do insomnia yokai have to be so annoying to deal with…" the brunette groaned, "this one, Wydeawake, Insomni… wait a minute, Insomni!

"Please don't tell me you think summoning her will help this situation," Toiletta groaned.

"No, no, that's not what I meant!" Natsuki assure her, "I mean I can call the same yokai I called to stop her!"

She once again fished around in her bag for yokai medals. Quickly finding the one she needed, and inserting it.

The watch once again chimed, "LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! INTRODUCING THE CHARMING TRIBE!"

"Baku!" The tapir yokai of inconsistent gender said as they appeared.

"Oh, Baku!" Toiletta said, before her expression immediately fell, "why wasn't that plan A?"

"Don't knock my process," Natsuki sighed, before turning to Baku, "hey Baku, I need your help with someone!"

"Uh-huh. Of course you do," Baku's tone implied that she wasn't in a good mood. Natsuki immediately picked up that something was up.

"Um… is something wrong?" she asked.

"I suppose… I'm just a little miffed you only summoned me because you needed something…" Baku said, clearly not happy.

"Um… you are…?" Natsuki shrank a little.

"I mean we're supposed to be friends, right? But when was the last time you called me?" The tapir yokai said, "and it's not as if you actually call me unless you need something."

"I, uh…" and now the girl just felt guilty. It wasn't as if they were wrong, but it had never occurred to Natsuki that she'd never really called yokai just to hangout. Like actual friends would.

Seeing the guilty look on her face, Baku sighed, "Ugh, what do you need?"

"Allnyta is kinda making it impossible to sleep…" Natsuki said quietly. Both so no one would notice, and out of guilt.

"I see," Baku said, turning to the red-haired yokai, "shouldn't be any more difficult then Insomni…"

Baku took a deep breath, and shot out a cloud of white smoke from her snout, sending it toward Allnyta. The insomnia demon, however, noticed this attack.

"Oh for the love of- YOU'RE MESSING UP MY GAME!" Allnyta was not happy with this attempted attack.

He flicked his moon like tail into the smoke, causing it to turn much darker, almost resembling the cloud he sat upon.

"Huh?" Baku's pupils shrunk.

"Return to sender!" Allnyta flashed his sharp grin. Red energy surrounded the cloud, making it more resemblant of a storm. That is before it shot into Baku with enough force to launch them into the wall.

"ACK!" Baku squeaked out on impact.

"Baku!" Natsuki suppressed the urge to shout.

Toiletta winced, "That had to hurt…" .

"Sorry, toots, but I'm no Insomni," Allnyta cackled, returning to his game.

Natsuki quietly made her way over to Baku, concern flooding her face.

"Baku, are you alright?" Natsuki asked.

"Ugh, I… definitely been better," Baku groaned, trying to get to his feet.

"I'm sorry!" The girl said, "I called you to help me, and it gets you hurt… ugh, I'm a crummy friend…"

Baku looked at the genuine guilt on the young girl's face, she let out a cough, "hey, kid, it's not like you were the one that hit me…"

"No, I just put you in the situation that got you hit to begin with!" Natsuki argued, "I'm so sorry…"

"Heh… you do care about me, huh…?" Baku asked.

"of course I do!" Natsuki said, "sure, I don't always talk you them, but I care about all my yokai friends. I wouldn't want any of them to get hurt…"

"Well then…" Baku said, "...sorry I was so harsh with you."

"You weren't wrong…" Natsuki said, "you can eat my dreams for a week for putting up with this!"

Baku didn't say anything, only gave a nod. This kid was a good one…

Out of nowhere, Baku began glowing brightly.

"What the?!" Natsuki was taken aback.

"The hell?!" Allnyta said, shielding his eyes from the light.

"Oh my enma… evolution?!" Toiletta said in quiet awe.

The shap of the light began go change, from the familiar Baku shape, to a seemingly bipedal version of themself. The light faded revealing how she had changed.

The tapir yokai was now standing effortlessly on two legs. His body was adorned with Shinto jewelry, a smoke cloud wrapped around her like a robe and a paper fan was in hand.

"BAAAAKULIA!" The evolved dream eater shouted.

Bakulia: B rank

Charming

"WHAT THE?! WHAT 'POWER OF FRIENDSHIP' BS IS THIS?!" Allnyta shouted.

"I think it's about time you go to sleep!" Bakulia once again let out a stream of smoke from her snout.

This time however, the smoke became to swirl around the tapir yokai, quickly becoming a tornado!

With a Flick of their fan, the tornado rose in height, stretching back down to engulf Allnyta.

"OH THIS IS BULLSH-" Allnyta's protests we're quickly drowned out by the smoke, which soon after faded away, leaving the demon laying on his cloud. Eyes shut, snot bubble forming in his nose, and loudly snoring.

His cloud disappeared, causing him to hit the floor, still fast asleep. A medal flew from his hoodie on impact, landing around Natsuki's legs.

"Haha, you wooped him!" Toiletta quietly cheered.

"Now then, I think it's time for bed~!" Bakulia said, her smoke drifting over to the other girls, covering most of that part of the room.

"Yuuuuh… huh… I think I'm finally sleepy…" Katie yawned.

"Yeah… me too…" Sarah sleepily nodded.

"Goodnight folks…!" Alex said as she fell face first into her pillow.

Natsuki gained a small smile as her friend's drifted peacefully to sleep.

"Thanks, Bakulia. I promise, you can eat my dreams any time you want!" She beamed at the tapir yokai.

"Heh, well then, I look forward to seeing you more, kid!" Bakulia briefly glowed, as a her medal floated down into Natsuki's palm, "for now, let's get you to sleep~!"

Natsuki gave a nod, moving back over to her makeshift bed. Tucking herself in, and allowing the smoke to drift over herself. Peaceful sleep soon taking her…

As soon as she was thoroughly asleep, Toiletta snuck herself under her 'friend's' arm, giggling to herself.

"Toiletta wins again~!" The ghost girl said snuggling up, letting the sleep smoke do its thing.

…

The night came and went, and the morning sun soon raised. The girls awoke from their slumber, some earlier than others.

They did a few more activities, including enjoying a big breakfast cooked by Mrs. Forrester, but eventually it was time to head back home.

Natsuki looked through her bag, ensuring she had everything she arrived with.

"Alright, looks like I'm good to go!" She said, satisfied with her search. She slipped her bag on and turned to Kafie, "I had a good time, all things considered."

"Glad to hear it," The ponytailed grinned.

"Well, I think it's about time I headout," Nat said, "I'll see you at school!"

"Same! Afterall, I gotta get you and Hailey together don't i~!" Katie called back.

"Please don't do anything drastic," was all Natsuki could mutter as she left.

"I wont~" Katie snickered as her friend left.

As the girl giggled to herself, her mother came up behind her, "so, care to explain why you made a long distance call to America?"

Katie went silent, "aw beans."

…

"I'm home!" Natsuki said, taking her boots off.

She ascended the stairs to her room, where she was met with something of a surprise.

Whisper, dressed in a well pressed suit very in line with his 'high class butler' persona. A very eager look on his face.

"Ok… what did you do," Natsuki was immediately suspicious.

At the less then enthused reaction, Whisper nearly fell over.

"Why, Natsuki, is it not obvious?" He asked, a bit of a nervous look on his face.

The girl gave him a blank look for a few seconds, "...no."

"I, well… you've surely been wondering where I've been going the last few days, correct?" The yokai asked.

"Yes… and why you keep coming home with various new injuries…" the girl gave him a suspicious look.

"Well, i… I haven't been the best butler to you, Natsuki. But you've still not given up on me…" Whisper explained, a small smile on his face, "So, I've decided to make efforts to improve! I have been taking lessons from Verygoodsir! I'm finally getting proper training as a yokai butler!"

Natsuki wasn't sure how to react to that declaration, "so you've been getting… tutored… by Verygoodsir? Doesn't he hate you?"

"Yes, and its been less 'tutoring' and more 'torturing,'" Whisper sighed, "but none the less my craft is improving! I promise you, I will become a butler you can be proud of!"

"Whisper…" Natsuki said, she walked up to the spirit and wrapped her arms around him, "this is for caring enough to do something like that…"

Whisper was touched his master had felt such appreciation for his efforts… until he immediately felt a pounding onto his forehead, "AH!"

"And that was so you never get the idea to do it again," Natsuki said in a stern tone, "I was worried sick about you, ya dingus."

"Ugh, point taking," Whisper chuckled a bit, "but don't worry, Hovernyan is insuring future lessons won't be nearly as… painful."

That just made Natsuki look puzzled, "how did Hovernyan get involved?"

"Long story," Whisper sighed, "anything exciting happen at Katie's?"

"Um… also long story…" Natsuki gave a small giggle.

From there the two talked about their days, enjoying a peaceful afternoon…

…

"Hey guys! Natsuki again! Talk about a hectic day, right? Next time we- wait, Katie?!"

"Hey, it's Katie! Next time I play Natty's wing woman, trying to get her and Hailey together! The love birds~!"

"Katie, how did you even get in he- Arachnia?"

"Then once that happens, I help make sure no yokai try to screw with their date! Hijinks and violence are about to ensue!"

"Hey! I thought I was supposed to be doing these things! Ugh. Next time: Chapter 6: Date fright! Don't miss it!"