What If…The Monsters Encountered a Ghost?
Yokai Academy, a few days after the Sports Festival...
With the festivities now at an end it was time for the Newspaper Club to come back to reality and start getting back to work on their club duties. This meant going back to club and following up on a rumor that had been making the rounds lately: Yokai Acadamy is haunted.
"Haunted?" Kokoa scoffed as Gin told them the story they were going to follow, "Really, a school for monsters is 'haunted'? Are you sure you aren't just thinking of...a normal student. I mean, last time we dealt with a ghost it was a girl that was just scaring girls and ripping their clothes." she said with folded arms as she crossed as she remembered the 'Phantom Assailant' from earlier in the year.
"'Haunting' can mean a lot of things. I've seen 'Haunted Houses' where they were just being run by a weirdo with a fishbowl head trying to be cute on Halloween." Ben replied, "Basically, I'm with Kokoa, this is probably students making up rumors...or this is another situation like the old dungeon shed and some students are just hearing others doing the nasty." he chuckled.
Yukari let out a long sigh, "You ever hear of Occam's Razor?" she asked, "Usually the solution to a problem is the easiest one. What need is there for kids to continue lying the whole time, it doesn't benefit anyone."
Tsukune stepped forward with a smile, "C'mon Ben, at least give Gin a chance to explain the story. We wouldn't be investigating something if it wasn't something to look into."
Gin nodded and pat the secret human on the back, "Now THAT'S how you are supposed to treat upper classman, well done, Tsukune, I trained you well." Gin laughed as he smacked Tsukune on the back so hard he practically knocked the wind out of him, "He's right, this IS important. Before what was considered just a measly rumor turns dangerous. I have several sources that told me they were assaulted by the spirit haunting the school."
He better not mean you. Ben thought, referring to Dream Queen.
As if, I clean up my messes. she reassured.
"The spirit, supposedly, made these students see things, scary things." Gin continued, causing Ben, Kokoa, and Mizore to cock their eyebrows in intrigue, but also skepticism. "All the students received nasty marks and even scars but then were suddenly let go. They can't explain it. Almost as if the spirit had a change of heart."
"Wouldn't happen to have any ACTUAL evidence of these marks, would they?" Mizore asked, with Ben and Kokoa agreeing.
Gin gave a smirk, "But of course, what sort of journalist would I be if I skimped out on facts." he reached into his blazer and threw down a small stack of pictures showing multiple students with different sized bruises and markings. Some had bruises on their arms, some their legs, some had full red marks across their back like they were grabbed by giant clawed hands.
"What's this one?" Kokoa asked, pointing at a picture of a girl that had to similar marks on her body, one that went along her collarbone, back and shoulder and one that was on her torso.
Gin's face becomes much more serious as he stares down Kokoa and the others, "That...is a bite mark." the Newspaper Club members stood in disbelief at what they saw.
"The mouth would have to be as wide as a hippo's!" Kokoa replied in disbelief, "To leave a mark like that and not be heard or seen seems...impossible!"
"Which is what makes the mystery, huh?" Gin smirked, "Perhaps we really do have a ghost on our hands. Some sort of vengeful spirit, perhaps?"
"No, we'd hear reports about a flaming skeleton if it was a vengeful spirit, I'm sure." Kurumu replied as her whole body shuddered thinking of the two separate occasions they had an encounter with a Ghost Rider.
"Wicked Spirit, then." Gin corrected with a roll of his eyes, "Maybe something...demonic." Gin's smile seemed to turn almost sinister, causing Yukari, Kurumu, Tsukune and Moka to gulp, "Or it's another student playing a prank!" he chuckled, "Now go out there and find out!"
Before the group left there was a loud slap sound as Kurumu left a massive red mark across Gin's face, "Screw you, jerk! Scaring us like that. The hell is wrong with you?"
The club members eventually took off, eager to learn more about the situation. Their first destination: The Women's restroom on the Second Year floor near Class Six. There was tape blocking off the restroom from the public so, thankfully, Tsukune didn't have to worry about accidentally running into a girl in there, Ben would have been indifferent. Very nice of the Enforcers to tape the place off for us.
"Yeeesh, I feel at home." Ben mentioned as he started leaning back and walked under the 'Caution' tape like he was playing limbo.
And WHERE do you think you're looking? Inner Moka scolded as Ben's face ended up dangerously close to peeking under Outer Moka's skirt.
"Relax, I'm not peaking up there." Ben assured before reaching out and squeezing Moka's calves, causing her to yelp in surprise, "Just lookin' down here, haha." On instinct Moka tried kicking Ben's head to get his hands off, but by the time she did he was already on the other side of the tape and had stood up again. "C'mon, let's not take forever."
"Wow, rare for Ben to get handsy with us, he must be feeling himself." Mizore mentioned.
Kurumu cocked an eyebrow, "Wait, Ben can do that without his hands? Isn't there a name for that?" she, of course, was immediately hit on the head by a golden wash bucket courtesy of Yukari.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, you cow. She said, 'feeling himself' not 'touching himself'." the young witch groaned, "God, why is it every week with you." she said while rubbing her temples in frustration.
The others soon followed behind Ben into the woman's bathroom and immediately were met with a somewhat destroyed restroom. Two of the three doors were off the hinges and either slanting or completely removed. The sink looked like it had been destroyed by whatever was attacking the students as several large chunks were taken out of the sink and a pipe was broken with water spraying out. "That's annoying." Ben said as he quickly webbed the pipe so it would stop spraying out water. "Yeeesh, talk about wet work." Looking around the bathroom, Ben began searching for any other clues of this 'Ghostly Assailant', and began taking pictures of what he and the others saw. The pipe, the counters, the bathroom doors.
"Ben...look." Tsukune gulped as he pointed to one of the doors that was leaning against the divider on the inside of the bathroom stall that had some blood visible. The group began to slowly move towards the door when, suddenly, Tsukune let out a loud scream as the only closed bathroom door opened. On the other side of the door stood a taller woman with dirty blonde hair and a special school uniform. "IT'S A GHOST!" Tsukune screamed out before getting smacked in the back of the head by Ben.
"She's not a ghost, dumbass, she's an Enforcer." Ben corrected. The girl, her face now clearer as she stepped out of the stall revealing her very mature figure that could give Kurumu a run for her money, as well as her piercing blue eyes and mole on her chin.
"What are all of you doing in here?" she asked with an almost stern tone.
"Having a smoke, the hell does it look like?" Kokoa replied with an irritated tone before Moka snuck up behind her and covered her mouth so that she didn't say anything that could get the group in trouble with the Enforcers...not like it WOULD happen, but they already have a history and the last thing Moka wanted was a repeat of last year.
"She's only kidding, of course." Moka chuckled nervously, "We're here to report on what happened, nothing more."
"Report?" the woman asked.
Ben held up his camera, "Yokai Times." Weird, you'd think every Enforcer would know who we are by now. Ben thought.
The woman blinked a few times before nodding, "Of course. Well, you shouldn't be in here regardless, it could be dangerous."
"Then why are you in here?" Kurumu asked with a scoff.
"I mean, nature calls, and this is one of the only bathrooms on this floor." Mizore said quietly, "Plus she's an Enforcer, she should be more than enough to deal with whatever may be here...theoretically."
Ben brushed the comments made by his friends aside and pulled out the badge that Keito had given him a year prior, "We'll be fine, I'm deputized." he chuckled.
The girl looked Ben up and down before looking at the badge in his hand and smirking, "So you are." she flipped her hair behind her ears and walked past the group as she made her way towards the exit, "I'd be careful if I were you...something smells about this situation."
The group all looked around at each other, "I don't know, despite the blood on the doors this place still smells better than most guys restrooms." Ben replied, getting a washtub to the head from Yukari. The woman left and the teens soon returned to their personal investigation. "That chick was suspicious." Ben mentioned once he was certain they were in the clear.
"What do you mean?" Tsukune asked, "She seemed like a normal upper classman to me."
"Upper Classman?" Ben scoffed, "That chick was like thirty."
"Actually...she did have a weird presence around her. It was almost as if she was hiding something." Yukari gulped before her eyes widened, "WHAT IF SHE WAS THE GHOST!?"
Hmmm... "What's wrong?" Moka (Omote) asked her inner self (Ura). The aura around her...it was strange. Different than a typical monster. "Is that good or bad?" For now, only concerning. She didn't seem to have any ill intent towards us, otherwise I think Ben would have mentioned something. But his intuition is right...something is off about her.
Ben snaps a few pictures of the blood on the stall door and frowned, "This is where that girl got 'bit' right?" he received a few nods from his clubmates, "Okay, someone should get a interview from her shortly. We need more information on this weird situation." with that, the teens left the bathroom with Moka, Yukari and Kurumu going to check on the injured girls while the others would go to the other attack spots.
"And you were just attacked out of the blue?" Moka asked a student in a hospital bed, a girl named Miyuri, one of the many victims of this ghost. The trio had found many leads in the hospital, mostly because many of the attacks happened fairly close together.
Miyuri nodded, "I was just in the restroom to skip for a solid twenty minutes, testing and the festival left me burnt out, ya know? So, I went to have a smoke. I heard some noise outside the stall, heard some girls yelling. When I peeked over the top to see what was going on, the stall door flung open and knocked me against the wall."
"Explains at least one of the broken doors in there." Kurumu mumbled.
"Did you see anything?" Yukari asked.
Miyuri shook her head, "Not a damn thing. Whatever it was...it was big."
"How could you tell?" Moka asked, cocking her eyebrow in confusion.
Miyuri smirked before lifting her hospital gown to reveal a large red claw mark that when from her collarbone to her bellybutton, "I can tell because that thing tossed me more than once." she put her gown back down and sighed, "I only got out alive because some girl came in and shoulder rammed the ghost. I blacked out after that...don't even know if the girl is alive."
The trio looked at each other and gave a sympathetic look. Really, they didn't know anything, the situation is very hush-hush. A girl COULD be dead, and the Enforcers and school officials hadn't stated anything to keep panic low. The only thing the girls knew was certain: there WAS an attack of some kind, there are people who can give an account of what happened, and there was definitely a lot of blood on the floor. "Thanks for the info. Please, try to get better soon." Yukari said with a bow.
Miyuri scoffed and waved them off, "I'll be fine. I probably would have been better if that blonde boytoy of yours would have come to visit instead though." she laughed as the trio left.
"Did you hear what she said in there?" Yukari asked as they shut the door behind them and began walking down the hallway to their next person of interest who was residing on the floor above them.
"Yeah...Ben attracts some of the weirdest girls, I swear." Kurumu replied with a nod as she cupped her chin with her thumb and index finger, "I mean there's Keito who's more weird because of how much she liked him...and also the spider legs she can grow out her abdomen when she transforms. There's that Gyaru in the fashion club that I'm pretty sure just wants to sink her nails into him. There was—OW!" she was cut short when Yukari's wand hit her bum like a paddle.
"I meant that she mentioned a girl that saved her. Someone who shoulder rammed the 'ghost'." Yukari mentioned, "Which means there is a mystery witness that we need to find."
"You think one of the other girls got a better look?" Moka mentioned as they entered the stairwell.
"Or one of them IS that girl."
"What if that girl can see ghosts?" Kurumu mentioned.
Yukari stopped and turned to look at her with a disgruntled face, opening her mouth to insult Kurumu on how dumb that sounds but stopped and cupped here chin with her thumb and index finger before nodding in agreement. "Acutally, I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps this mystery witness is a Medium...or she can see things that can't be seen with normal eyes, like ultraviolet light, or infrared."
"What if she was a Soul Reaper?" Kurumu mentioned with a bit of a playful tone as she twiddled her fingers up and down.
"A Soul Reaper? Puh-leeze." Yukari laughed, "What the hell would a Soul Reaper be doing here? They don't interact with monsters, you know that."
Mizore, Tsukune, and Ruby were tasked with searching one of the other locations where the students have been attacked. As far as they know, there are four confirmed attacks on campus. However, the difficult part is trying to figure out a motive. The attacks were too random, the victims have nothing in common, some were male, some were female, some were alone, and some were attacked as a group.
"I don't get it." Tsukune mentioned as he and the girls walked through a small path in the forest that led to a secluded opening. It looked like the area was used by the student to relax or study. But, judging by the dry blood that was left splattered on a downed log, as well as the various scratches put in trees (including one that looked like it was blown to bits by a cannon) it was clear that the student was lucky to escape with his life. "Guy was all alone, suddenly he's attacked...why? From what Gin told us, he'd never hurt a fly; didn't have any enemies. And look at this damage! Someone didn't just attack him, they were trying to murder him."
"Hmm, maybe it was a ghost." Mizore hummed as she popped her lollipop out of her mouth. She blew down at the ground and formed herself a small stool and sat on it before taking a picture of the dried blood on the log and grass. "Maybe he's haunted." she suggested, causing Ruby to scoff.
"That isn't how hauntings work." Ruby sighed, "If it had been just one person over and over then perhaps you would have a point." she looked around at the destruction and felt a chill run down her spine, The life in this area feels so...suffocating. Like something has the nature's life-force by the throat. she thought. "This feels...wrong. Almost demonic, but we shouldn't be suffering from creatures like that. The barrier should protect us from those beings."
"Didn't Ben say he fought a Demon Lord on campus?" Mizore pointed out as she and Tsukune took more pictures.
"THAT'S DIFFERENT!" Ruby defended, "From what he said it was the demon named Nightmare, he's never truly here physically. He's projecting a spirit."
Tsukune sighed as he took another picture of the area, this one looked like a large divot put into the ground, almost like a giant clawed foot. He was about ready to start heading to the next attack location when he noticed something in the camera. "What the hell?" he zoomed in on the picture to see something glimmering. When he looked to the area where the glimmering was shown in the photo, he didn't see a thing. Trick of the lens? Tsukune thought, Or perhaps... He lifted the camera up and took another picture of the area, and again, he saw the shimmering in the photo. "OOOOOH!" he shouted in surprise, "Just like Fatal Frame!" he took another picture, trying to move closer to the shimmering. Two more photos until he was right on top of the shimmering and took another picture directly at the dirt below his feet. However, this time when he looked at the photo, the shimmering was gone and instead was replaced with what looked to be a necklace. Weird. Tsukune looked down and didn't see a thing, but the method hadn't steered him wrong so far so he took another photo, and again he saw the necklace.
"What if I just..." Tsukune crouched and reach his hand down until it was flat against the ground, but it didn't feel flat, it felt like there was something skinny resting on his palm...something metallic. He closed his hand into a fist and turned it towards him so he could see what was in it, but as he opened his hand again, he only saw dirt. Frowning, he took a picture of his palm, and sure enough, there was a metal necklace resting on his palm. "Holy shit...Mizore is right, there is a ghost."
"I don't follow." Ruby replied skeptically.
"Hell yeah." Mizore replied with a fist pump in a monotone voice.
"Ghost, indeed. One moment." Ruby reached onto her belt and pulled out her magic tome she had taken from Oyakata. She flipped through the pages at rapid pace until she could find a specific 'recipe'. "Here it is." she exclaimed.
Quickly, Ruby walked around the area until she found herself a small, smooth rock, no bigger than her palm. She placed it on the ground in front of her and began some magical chant that neither Tsukune no Mizore could understand before she slammed her wand at the center of the rock, making a perfectly circular hole. "Alright, this will prove if we are actually seeing what you claim." she sighed as she lifted the rock and brought it in front her eye so she was looking through the hole in the rock. "With this sight stone, I shall be able to see in the realm beyond this one. See the spiritual pressures of all living things and the reishi that fills the- WHAT THE HELL?" Ruby yelled in surprise and pulled the rock away from her eye to stare at Tsukune's palm before placing the rock back in front of her eye to see that she wasn't deceived. There was in fact a piece of jewelry on Tsukune's palm. Jewelry that seemed to be made of spiritual matter. "Oh my god...it really is a ghost." Ruby said in disbelief as her mouth hung agape. She eventually snapped herself out of it and snatched the necklace from Tsukune's hands and placed it around her neck for safe keeping. "We need to inform the others...this has become a serious matter."
"Exactly what are we doing?" Kokoa asked as her and Ben walked through the halls toward the Enforcers' room.
"You remember that Enforcer we saw back in the bathroom?"
"The chick with tits bigger than Kurumu's, duh, how could I forget." Kokoa scoffed.
Ben smirked, "There was something...off about her, right?"
"Off how?" the two now stood just outside the door to the Enforcers room and Ben knocked on the door, "You think she's behind it?"
"If not behind it, then she's at least hiding how much she actually knows." Ben explained, "When we first met her, something was...off. Like she was surprised to see us."
"Well, yeah. Wouldn't that be normal? We kinda just walked in while she was taking a piss or jilling off—OW!" she was interrupted by Ben who chopped the top of her head.
"Don't say 'jilling off' what the hell is wrong with you." he cleared his throat than continued, knocking on the door again, "What I'm saying is, she looked like she was anticipating us not to be there. Either that or she was lying about her position."
The door flung open and the duo were met with the Enforcers current second in command, Yuri Ukitake, a smaller boy with bowl cut blonde hair and strange red eyes, almost like a frog. "Oh fuck, it's you." he groaned, "C'mon in then." he flicked his head and let the two teens into the room and motioned them to sit at the couch, "Ms. Keito isn't in right now, so whatever you need, you'll have to go through me." he holds up a kettle and pours three cups of tea and hands a cup to the both of them, "That being said, what do you want."
Ben had to restrain himself from letting out a laugh, He really wears his emotions on his sleeve, huh? Guy doesn't like us here at all. He cleared his throat and placed down a quick sketch he made of the women they saw in the bathroom, "Do you have a gal like this among your ranks? Blondish hair, pretty face, boobs as big as your head, probably tall enough she could Mickey Mouse you?"
Yuri looked up with a confused face, "Mickey what?"
"It's when the girl rests her boobs on your head." Kokoa laughed as she saw the boy become visibly embarrassed.
"Sh-Shut up!" Yuri stammered, his voice cracking. He quickly coughed and took a look at the picture. Whoa, this lady is super beautiful! No way we have someone like that in the Enforcers. Even Ms. Keito isn't this beautiful. Yuri thought. "We don't have anyone in our ranks that looks like this. Sounds like you're barking up the wrong tree."
Ben looked deep into Yuri's eyes with a hint of skepticism, but after a few moments he let out a deep breath and leaned back in his seat, "Shit...I think that was our 'ghost'." he groaned.
"She just slipped pass without setting off your Spider Sense?" Kokoa asked critically, "What were you too pre-occupied trying to look up that other Moka's skirt that you didn't think!"
"It doesn't work that way." Ben rubbed his temples in frustration, "C'mon, let's regroup with the others." the two got up to leave, but Ben stopped at the door, "Oh, Yuri...I can draw her much lower next time if you like. But it'll cost ya' a commission." he smirked before he and Kokoa left.
Soon after, the club members all regrouped at the club room to discuss their findings. Kokoa and Ben were the last to arrive and were greeted by the rest of the members setting up the pictures taken as well as what looked like Ruby getting Kurumu to grab her chest for some reason. "What the fuck are you all doing?" Kokoa asked with a slight blush.
"AH! Ben you've returned as well!" Ruby exclaimed as she pulled herself away from Kurumu and approached Ben with her hands resting at the top of their respective breast and presenting her chest forward as she bowed slightly, "Place your hand on my chest." she ordered.
Ben cocked an eyebrow and looked between Ruby and the others, "No." he finally replied with a somewhat concerned tone, "Did she bonk her head or something? She's been weird but this is out of character even for her." Ruby puffed out her cheeks in a pout before grabbing Ben's hand and placing it on her chest, "What the hell is your problem?" he yelled out as he quickly pulled his hand away and webbed her eyes, "What the hell happened to her?"
"Nothing, honest." Tsukune replied, "She was trying to show you something, but I think the stress is just getting to her." Tsukune then unpinned a picture and showed it to Ben. It was of the necklace they had found in the woods.
"Okay...so you found this at one of the attack sites. So what?"
Tsukune shook his head, "It's not about what you are seeing. It's about what you CAN'T see." he exclaimed, "That necklace doesn't exist in the physical world." Ben cocked an eyebrow again, not quite following along. "It's like...a ghost necklace!" Tsukune explained, "And right now, Ruby is wearing it so it doesn't get lost." the two look at the witch who finally ripped the webbing from her eyes and stared at Ben with an annoyed gaze.
Ben grabbed his phone and pointed it at Ruby before snapping a photo, showing the necklace that was naked to the living eye. "Woah..." he said in awe. "So that means we need to find the owner, right?"
"Yeah, but...we can't just 'Fatal Frame' it all around the school. We'd be on a wild goose chase." Mizore pointed out with finger quotes. "Besides, this thing is always popping up when we least expect it."
"Maybe not." Kokoa chimed in, "That chick from this morning, in the bathroom...she doesn't actually belong to the Enforcers. Hell, looking at the current pictures of third years, she doesn't seem to belong to the school in general."
So that's why she had a weird feeling aura. Ura mentioned to her outer half. "Ura thinks that she may be the 'Ghostly Assailant'." Moka mentioned, speaking for her inner half.
"So I heard." Ben cupped his chin with his thumb and index finger and hummed, "But it...it just doesn't make sense. If she were the 'Ghostly Assailant', why didn't she just attack us then and there? What is the motive? She's the prime suspect, but...I don't think it could be her."
"I think Ben is right, too." Yukari added, "When Moka, Kurumu and I interviewed those who were attacked, they all had something in common...someone protected them, a girl. After that they lose all memory of what happened afterward. That girl...she was fishy, but I don't think she was the assailant, I think she was the one helping them."
Kokoa shook her head and scoffed, "The chick doesn't exist, a description that sounds similar to her was seen at each attack. How can we not make it out that she is responsible for all this?"
"Because my Spider Sense would have gone off if she was." Ben countered.
Kokoa groaned and rolled her eyes, "How do you even know your Spider Sense works against ghosts, huh? What if they have some weird spiritual pressure that fucks with your senses."
"Fine. Then my gut didn't tell me she was the culprit. Just that she was an oddball. I don't like that I can't figure out how she fits into the puzzle, but I know she isn't at fault."
"You're basing if she's innocent or not off a GUT FEELING?" Kokoa yelled out in disbelief, "Do you even hear yourself? Do you hear how stupid that sounds? What happened to journalistic integrity and only going off facts and all that bullshit. You're being a hypocrite!"
"Alright fine. Then, Kokoa, given what we know, what you felt when we first encountered her, do YOU believe she is the 'Ghostly Assailant'?"
Kokoa gave Ben a confused look. Despite how sure she sounded, she didn't give an immediate answer. "I think that-" before she could finish her thought process, she was shoved back against the way courtesy of Ben, while he bent his body back so far, he was parallel to the ground with his back mere inches from hitting it. A large crashing sound was heard and a crater in the shape of a large, clawed foot or hand formed on the wall behind Ben.
"OH MY LORD!" Ruby screamed out as she placed the stone on her eye to see the ugly creature that was resting just outside their window. A large, almost spider-like monster with a facemask made of what looked to be bone. The head strangely shapen with a long-pointed nose and cracked teeth; four arms and four legs were on the creature, one of them was still in the room as it tried to attack Ben and Kokoa. "I know this creature...but..but how? It shouldn't have been able to get through the barrier! How is there a Hollow here!?"
Ben, watch out! If what Ruby says is true, this invisible creature devours souls! Ura warned.
His Spider Sense still blaring, Ben punched up and felt a loud crack. Surely, he broke something on the creature. It would be embarrassing if all he did was hurt himself. "Well, good thing one of us here is the imitation crab meat of souls I guess." he chuckled. Using his legs, he was able to push the large arm behind him where he did his best to web it down. Then, using his Spider Sense to feel that the creature was still in the new bay window it created with its massive frame, he began firing web balls at the center and watched as they hung in the air as if they hit something. "HA! Some damn ghost. Can't even phase through my web balls." he laughed. His Spider Sense went off just as the monster's arm started to break free of the webbing, and he tried to jump away to avoid being grabbed, but the invisible force too up so much space in the room and he was slammed against the chalkboard, cracking the slate and leaving a small trail of blood from his nose and mouth.
In his disorientation, Ben didn't even realize he was moving until he felt intense pressure around his body as whatever had him squeezed tightly.
Kokoa, upon seeing Ben in trouble, quickly grabbed Kou and had him transform into a katana before slicing down on the area of the arm that Ben had webbed. She wasn't sure if it would work, but she definitely felt the resistance of flesh and After her weapon touched the ground, Ben had been let free and rolled back to his feet. "Well done, Kokoa!" Ruby cheered.
The room fell silent, Ruby wasn't screaming anymore, so the creature seemed to be gone. "What's the analysis, Ruby." the witch looked at Ben who was wiping the blood from his mouth.
"Well...we'll have to ask her." she pointed to a random spot in the room, but nobody could be seen. But Ruby saw clearly. It was the same woman they had seen before only wearing a black robe with a badge of some sort on her arm. "Care to explain for us, Ms. Shinigami?"
Several minutes had passed since the teens were attacked by the invisible force, eventually the woman they had met earlier that day walked into the club room and sat on the desk. It was strange. She wasn't saying anything to the teens, instead she seemed to be analyzing them, almost as if she were confused.
"Well, no reason to keep us in the dark. I already know what you are, and the rest of us were on your trail anyways." Ruby stated with a smirk, "Still, a Shinigami, here in Yokai." she hummed. Yukari wasn't as impressed as Ruby, though she seemed to be muttering more how upset she was that Kurumu was right about the woman being a Soul Reaper.
"Excuse me, but...as one of the two resident humans here...what is a Shinigami, exactly?" Tsukune asked with a raised hand. The lady looked to him and sighed.
"Shinigami like...the Grim Reaper?" Ben asked, "Hey uh...you're not here for me, right? Because I know I kinda cheated death before but in my defense, I didn't have control of my body at the time, so it would be kinda unfair given my circumstances."
Finally, it seemed the woman had had enough and finally blurted out her frustrations, "GOD DAMMIT, what the hell is wrong with this school?" she let out a long groan and ran her hand through her hair like she were massaging the back of her head to be rid of a migraine, "Every time I try to do my job around here, one of you kids keeps getting in the way. To make matters worse, that Hollowseems to be attracted to everyone in this damn place. By the time I save one of you, the Hollow leaves."
"Well, probably because this is a school for monsters." Ben mentioned (though he likely wouldn't have mentioned it had he not heard Ura trying to explain it before remembering only he and Omote can hear her.)
The woman seemed more than perplexed, "Explain."
"This...is a school...for monsters." Ben repeated, this time slowly. "Hence why it's called Yokai Academy."
"WAIT THIS IS A SCHOOL FOR MONSTERS?" the woman yelled out as if everything just fell into place for her.
"Wow Ben, you have such a feminine echo." Mizore said dryly.
The woman, again, rubbed her head and groaned, "Damn...no wonder the Hollow is going after whoever. This place is like a spiritual buffet for it." she bit the nail on her thumb before looking Ben up and down, "Strange...so why did it go after you. Your spiritual pressure isn't different than any other human's." she unknowingly tried reaching out for Ben and only snapped out of it when he slapped her hand away. "Ahem, right. Look, I'm glad you're okay, but I have to finish the rest of this on my own. I've let this creature harm too many people here already, so I need to go on the offensive before it strikes again."
"Oh yeah...and where's it gonna strike next?" Ben asked with a smug smile, one that made the Soul Reaper want to punch him in the face. "But you know...I know where it's at right now." NOW her interest was piqued. The Soul Reaper leaned forward and rolled her eyes before motioning her hand for Ben to continue. Ben reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, "This!" he exclaimed, "Is connected to one of my tracers. One that I happened to place on that 'Hollow' before it took off. Looks like you kinda need us, huh?" he chuckled.
"What? Let you help with this? Absolutely not." the woman crossed her arms and made an 'X', "That's completely against the rules, I already shouldn't even be discussing these types of things with you all. Especially the monsters."
"What's wrong with the yokai?" Tsukune asked with a frown.
The Soul Reaper clicked her tongue a few times and rubbed the back of her head, "Well, you see...we don't exactly bother with monster souls. I mean, they get dragged to hell anyways."
"WOW okay, racist." Kurumu scoffed.
Tsukune gained a concerned expression, "Wait...what do you mean? Am I going to get dragged to hell?"
"NO!" the teens replied in unison. "Soul Reapers opperate by moving souls that are stuck in the living realm to the other side. When they do that, they are sent to their afterlife, what they call The Soul Society." Ruby explained, "You see, the afterlife is like a neighborhood. There is a long street and each version of the afterlife is a plot of land. Valhalla, Abrahamic Heaven, the Soul Society, Hades, The Duat. Then on the other side you have Hell and its many subsections such as Hela, the many layers and whatnot."
"So...I'm not going to Hell?" Tsukune breathed out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, I don't think I would survive eternal damnation."
"I don't know, you looked kinda cute in drag, I think they'd enjoy you there." Ben snorted.
"NOT FUNNY, ASS!"
"I'm sorry, but can we get back to the topic at hand?" the Soul Reaper asked with a somewhat annoyed tone, "You mentioned that you could track the Hollow with that device. I'm asking you to lend it to me until my mission is complete." she held out her hand in front of Ben and motioned for him to give her the phone. However, the human simply snorted at her before breaking out into laughter, "I'M NOT PLAYING GAMES HERE, BRAT! HAND ME THE DAMN PHONE!"
"I don't think you understand the situation here." Ben chuckled, "From the sounds of it, you're out of jurisdiction. I mean, otherwise, why would you be so surprised that this is a school for monsters? Which means you know you aren't supposed to be here, or the barrier surrounding the school is so good even you Soul Reaper types don't realize we're here. Point is, you clearly aren't supposed to be here, and how the Hollow got here is likely a fluke as well."
Ben got up from his seat and began to walk around the clubroom and making a quick sketch on the chalkboard of the Soul Reaper (before adjusting it before Kurumu mentioned the chest should be larger). Next to it he wrote, 'What we know about you' and began to list out things and mark them as negative or positive. Under Negative he listed: Soul Reaper (consensus among the monsters), Potential Racist, Demanding, Huge tits (negative for her shoulders), and Bad at her job. Under Positive he listed: Soul Reaper (necessary evil), Sick Sword (according to Ruby who actually saw it), smells nice, huge tits. "The way I look at it, it's about a 50/50 split on if you should even be trusted." he explained, "The only reason I'm giving you any leniency is that you helped the students who were attacked first...even if you didn't know they were yokai. So...I...we will help you, but only because that Hollow made things personal. We have to protect our own, since it seems you Soul Reapers don't care for us."
"Shinigami." she corrected, "Soul Reaper is such a derogatory term."
"Noted and scrapped. Soul Reaper stays." Ben replied, "So, will you accept the help or not. We gotta get this thing on camera anyways. The student body will want to know what was attacking them."
The Soul Reaper bit her lip for a bit before sighing, "Sounds like you aren't exactly giving me a choice anyways." she finally stood up and faced Ben, "Fine, but how do you expect to see the Hollow?"
"I could probably get by on my Spider Sense."
"Or..." Ruby interrupted as she held up the stone for all to see, "It will take a short amount of time to make, the only issue is finding rocks that are large enough."
The Soul Reaper sheds her false body by ingesting a candy-like orb and emerges in her true form. "Here." Ruby, with her stone covering her eye like an eyepatch, holds her hand out to give the Shinigami the necklace they found eariler, "This is yours, right?"
The Soul Reaper gains a large smile on her face, "No way! I can't believe you found it. And here I was thinking it was lost forever." she gratefully takes the necklace and places it around her neck, the long chain sinking into and getting lost in her cleavage. "Well, you gonna take a picture or keep staring." she said cheekily to Ben and Tsukune who had been caught staring.
Tsukune was quick to look away and Ben couldn't help but keep staring. "I thought you weren't a boob guy." Kurumu teased.
"I'm not it's just...um...they look even bigger than with the uniform." Ben eventually was able to shake out of his trance and smack his face a few times before allowing his Iron Spider suit to form over him. He then took one of the stones that Ruby had made that allowed them to see the spritits and placed it over his right lens. Now he, Tsukune, Kokoa, Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari, Ruby and Moka in her true form were set to help the Soul Reaper.
"Wow, two vampires. Never seen one up close before, let alone two." the Soul Reaper chuckled, "Maybe this wasn't so bad after all." she once again found herself looking Ben up and down, curious about the suit that he put on, "I thought you were a normal human. What sort of magic did you learn to have that outfit appear like that."
"Not magic, it's technology." Ben explained as he jumped out the windows and fired a webline, his friends and the Soul Reaper following close. The latter of which looked like she was running in air, "I'm a meta-human. I have superhuman abilities, and spider DNA. So, I'm not exactly the normal type of human."
The Soul Reaper gives a hum as if she were interested, but still had an issue with his explanation, "Then why was the Hollow trying to attack you?"
"Who knows. I hang around a lot of monsters...maybe that has something to do with it." It could also be myself. Dreamqueen mentioned in his head. "Keep following me, it looks like the signal leads to the forest up ahead."
"Oh, no sure...what else is new." Yukari grumbled as she struggled to keep up with everyone else before eventually being grabbed by the Soul Reaper who carried her piggyback as they rushed to the destination.
Soon the group stopped in a clearing deep into the forest, farther away from the school than they had gone before. There wasn't much out this far, but they did see an older building, another one of Yokai's abandoned storage areas based off what Ruby was telling them. "Ruby are you sure these things work?"
"I performed the spell to a 'T'." Ruby replied with puffed cheeks, irritated that Ben would even suggest that she messed up on what was technically an enchantment spell, "You can see the Soul Reaper, can't you? That should be proof enough."
"See? He's been constantly looking at her the whole way here." Mokamuttered. She squinted in annoyance and looked to the Soul Reaper before feeling an odd sense of jealousy creep through her. Does he...like them big?
"How very foolish to come trampling through here. Searching for me, I assume?" a booming monstrous voice called out, causing Yukari to squeal and jump into Mizore's arms as her whole body shook. "A Shinigami, mmm...already a fine meal. But to bring me appetizers too? What a gracious host. I've never tried monster before, but more importantly...I've never tried a human that has spiritual pressure quite like that boy there."
Kokoa looked to Ben with a grin, "I think he's talking about-"
"I know who he's talking about." Ben quickly cut her off. "Instead of hiding like a pansy, why don't you show yourself, coward." he taunted.
"BA-HAHA! Well, well...look at the cajónes on you. And here I was thinking you might be a pushover with all that ducking an' weaving you were doing earlier."
Tsukune cocked an eyebrow in confusion, "Cajónes?"
"Balls." Ben, Moka and the Soul Reaper replied in unison.
The creature seemed to emerge from the ground itself, as if it were rising up from the water. This comparison was made more apparent by the fact the ground rippled and distorted like a body of water. "That normal?" Moka asked and the Soul Reaper shook her head.
"No...this Hollow, it's much more powerful than initially believed. Creatures only get this powerful by avoiding being killed and eating many souls." the Soul Reaper grabbed the hilt of her blade and began to draw it, "That ends today! The rest of you get back, I told you before...this is Shinigami business."
"HAHAHAHAHAHA" the Hollow laughed, "How foolish of you. If you know how us Hollows survive and grow in strength...then surely you must know that those of us who have survived the longest are far more powerful than a typical Hollow...and far more powerful than a typical SOUL REAPER."
The Soul Reaper grit her teeth, seems that name was starting to get to her. "I am no 'Typical Soul Reaper'." she growled, "I am the Lieutenant to Captain Isshin Shiba of Squad 10 of the Gotei 13. You are nothing more than a nuisance who's good at running away."
Again, the Hollow laughed, "You thought I was running away from you? Foolish girl, I was merely playing you! I knew that I could wear you down until you grew tired, then I would devour you like I have so many of your ilk." a rumbling was heard as the ground began to ripple again and more Hollows, that looked just like the one standing in front of the group, emerged. "No matter. Now you have brought me yourself and an appetizer. I think that I'll need all of me to devour you."
The seemingly empty forest clearing now hosted nearly twenty or more Hollows. "What, is that all?" Ben taunted, "And here I thought you were gonna make this hard for us." he laughed as he stretched his body, some pops coming from his spine, "Hey, Soul Reaper, tell ya' what...We'll leave the main one to you, and we'll take on the others, how does that sound?"
"Just tell us the best way to kill these things." Moka said as she slid into a fighting stance.
The Soul Reaper grit her teeth and cursed silently, "Dammit, fine. Destroy the back of their head, then they'll disappear."
Ben laughed and jumped in place a few times before getting into a low stance, "Alright, this sounds like a cake walk. Hey! Does this mean we're Ghost Busters? Or perhaps demon hunters? I guess I'll take honorary Soul Reaper, but I might get laughed out of the school with that title. Ghost Rider might think it's cool though!"
The Hollow let out a loud roar and lunged towards the group, with the Soul Reaper stopping it by blocking its mouth with her sword. "You wanna help? Then don't die. I'll be pissed if you make me do more paperwork than needed."
The teens spread out to fend off against the Hollows. "Alright guys, I have a theory." Ben started as the group spread out to fight, "All these Hollows look like the main one. So, what if the reason he's lived for so long is because he sends out these things in his place."
"You're suggesting that the only way to kill this thing is to kill the main one." Moka finished.
"Then let's gang-bang the one the Soul Reaper is fighting." Kokoa yelled out.
"NOT THE CORRECT TERM!" Ben and Moka yelled out, "Even if we did team up to destroy that one, how do we know it's actually the real Hollow? For all we know all of these are fakes."
Kurumu let out a loud groan as she avoided getting hit from one of the Hollow clones as she flew around it, "So you mean to say that we'll have to keep fighting these stupid large-ass bugs until the real one is killed?"
"Got it." Mizore sliced through one of the Hollows with her ice claws before slamming her palms into the ground, forming a huge glacier in the forest that froze most of the Hollows in place, and almost hit some of her friends. Mizore then held up her left hand with her thumb and her middle finger touching before she let out a snap, "Laters." the glacier practically exploded with the Hollows frozen within. Those that survived now were limbless, making them easy kills for Kokoa who would slice through them with Kou.
"Did I get him?" Mizore asked, her answer coming to her as more Hollows showed up, "Hm, guess not. Worth the try though."
"NEXT TIME SAY SOMETHING FIRST, ICE BITCH!" Kurumu yelled out as she shook off some ice from her tail.
Yukari tightened her grip on her wand as she threw her tarot cards in the air and allowed them to, "Guess we need to do this the hard way." she pointed her wand forward and the cards flew in the direction of one of the Hollows, surrounding it in a circle before all quickly sliced through the head section, some getting stuck in the bone mask, but plenty of the others cutting through without issue. "Oh, I guess they aren't so—EEEEK!" Yukari screeched as one of the Hollows had managed to sneak up on her and open its mouth in order to devour the small witch, but luckily it was stopped by vines that came from the ground, courtesy of Ruby's own magic, which allowed Kurumu to swoop down and slice through it with ease. "Thanks, guys."
Over with Tsukune, he was stuck dealing with several of the Hollows at once. God dammit, it would be my luck that I get stuck between multiple of these creatures. he gulped. Trying his best to remember his training with Moka, Tsukune took a deep breath and focused his energy. "OOOH, this one's spiritual pressure looks good. It looks like a monster's." the Hollow taunted as it licked its chops.
Tsukune gave a nervous chuckle at the sight, "Awe, c'mon guys...I don't suppose we can talk this over first?" There was a loud growl that the group of Hollows shared before they began to approach him. Tsukune clicked his tongue and clenched his fists while goading the creatures to come at him.
One of the Hollows swiped at Tsukune, but he managed to duck out of the way and roll to a stop by the Hollow to his right. He cocked his fist back and slammed it against the back of the monster's leg, watching as it screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground. Wanting to use his strength, Tsukune grabbed the leg he punched and tried to lift up the Hollow, but was surprised by how heavy the creature truly was. Because of his struggle, he wasn't prepared for when another Hollow bit down on his shoulder, sending out a large spurt of blood, "AAAH!" Tsukune cried out in pain, but almost immediately stopped as he let out a loud battle cry and sent a fist throught the head of the Hollow and watched as it disappeared. "You want to fight...fine, I'll give you a fight." Tsukune looked to the Hollows again, but this time his eyes were replaced by the red slitted eyes of a vampire.
The Hollow's looked at each other before diving down into the ground like it were water. Tsukune watched as they moved towards him, but instead of getting to higher ground or trying to run, he simply stood his ground and cocked his fist back before slamming it into the ground. When his hand came up, he pulled the Hollow along with it, his hand stuck in its eye socket. "Look at that, I caught myself a spider fish." he then grabbed the back of the Hollow's head and shoved his arm all the way through until the creature disappeared.
Tsukune took a deep breath and closed his eyes until he saw a light as he tried searching for the Hollow's aura. His eyes shot open just as another Hollow reached from the ground and grabbed his leg. "Cocky brat, you're mi—" The Hollow didn't have time to finish his taunt as Tsukune kicked his leg forward, pulling the Hollow from the ground and slamming it into another Hollow.
"I feel bad for those Soul Reapers, you're a complete pushover." Tsukune taunted before getting into a fighting stance as more.
With the Soul Reaper, she once more shoved the Hollow off her and tightened her grip on her Zanpakuto. "Ahhh, despite your rank, you truly are only a pathetic specimen of a Shinigami. Even your Zanpakuto is pathetic. Even the others I have eaten put up a true fight." he threw a swipe at the Soul Reaper, but this time when she countered, she managed to cut off his hand, "AAAAAAGH!"
The soul reaper smirked and placed her free hand on the base of the blade and slowly slid her hand up, "Growl, Haineko." Suddenly, her sword disintegrated into ash as her hand moved up the shaft of the blade before the entire blade itself was gone and she was surrounded by a whirlwind of ash and dust. "Weak..." she chuckled, "You were just struggling against me...and I haven't even used my Shikai yet." she twirled the hilt in her hand and pointed her right hand forward. The ash began to cover the ground and linger in the air around the Hollow.
"How obvious!" he taunted, only to see that he could not move, "What? What is this?!" unbeknownst to him, the Hollow was webbed still by Ben as he saw the Soul Reaper setting something up before he went off to join Kokoa.
The Soul Reaper twirled the hilt in her hand again before putting it by her waist and gripping it with her right hand, "You're finished." she then quickly sliced forward, extending her arm high into the air with the slash, the ash on the ground and in the air began to slice and cut all around in the area. The Hollow had no time to react before he was completely sliced to ribbons and disappeared.
"Oh sick, you see that Kokoa, the ghost girl has a Judgement Cut!" Ben laughed
"WILL YOU FUCKING FOCUS!"
"Yeah, yeah. You act like we're struggling out here." Ben fired a webline and zipped himself down, punching one of the Hollows across the face so hard part of its mask chipped off. Ben then quickly rolled underneath the Hollow and kicked both of his legs up to send the Hollow flying into the air; he then fired a webline at the Hollow's chest and began to spin around with it, knocking a few more Hollows down. While he was spinning, Ben fired more weblines at the downed Hollows and began to spin them before attaching the web to his foot so he could place his two palms flat on the ground and perform a head spin, having the Hollows hit even more of their kind before jumping in the air and performing an air somersault and slamming the monsters into the ground. "Set 'em up!"
"Cut 'em down!" Kokoa said with a sinister smile before quickly lunged and cleanly sliced through all three Hollow's heads. "Hey sis, you see that, three in one go!" Kokoa's smile faded when she saw Moka quick six at once and destroy them all with a single hit. "...Nevermind."
"This is annoying. You'd have to be a ghost to do this as a career, otherwise you'd die of boredom." Moka grumbled, "Any luck on finding the main one? Or are we stuck with the infinite wave.
Ben rolled his shoulder as he watched the Soul Reaper slice down multiple Hollows at a time. When she did so it seemed that the others moved slower, and it took longer for more to appear. "What if Mizore was right the first time?" Ben suggested, "What if we need to take them all down at once...all of them. But we have to make sure none escape into the ground."
"And how do you propose we do that?" Ruby asked.
Ben looked to the soul reaper then back to Mizore, "I got it!" he exclaimed as he slammed his fist into his open palm, "Mizore, be ready for my signal, everyone else, try to goad these heartless bastards into one position. We'll set 'em up, have the Soul Reaper knock 'em down. Alright, guys. Yokai on Three. 1, 2, 3..."
"YOKAI!" the teens cheered out, aside from Moka and Kokoa who just looked at the others with confused expressions.
"YO, Soul Reaper!" Ben whistled out, "After that one, try and hang back, we have a plan!"
The Soul Reaper dodged an attack from the Hollow and side-stepped to its side. She took a deep breath and held her left hand up before reciting an incantation: "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hadō 31:Shakkahō!" suddenly a large fireball emerged and fired forth from her hand, striking the Hollow directly on the side of the head, melting through its head completely.
The Soul Reaper stood straight up and spread out the ashes of her blade all around the clearing, "Whatever you're planning, let's finish this."
"Let's do our thing guys." Ben called out, releasing the mechanical spider legs from his back and jumping towards the large group of Hollows that approached, Kokoa and Moka following close behind as they grabbed as much of the Hollows as they could so Ben could start webbing them together. Tsukune, Kurumu and Ruby were responsible for snagging any that eluded the trio in the center while Yukari took down any that got past so they could start again.
Kurumu flew around and had the Hollows chase her. She performed a corkscrew to maneuver between the Hollows that were tied up already, allowing Ben to web the Hollows that chased her to the others easily. Ruby was able to snag Hollows with vines and slam them into the other Hollows with ease. Meanwhile, Tsukune was able to grab the few that tried to escape into the ground.
"What are you doing?" The Hollow cried out, "Stop that! You damn brats, I swear, I'll kill all of you!" Mizore began to freeze the group of Hollows together. They struggled and fought to escape from her ice and Ben's webbing, but nothing seemed to work. "Release me! Do so and I'll let you live. Just give me the Shinigami."
The teens looked at each other before nodding, "Blow it out your ass, loser." Kokoa replied with a cocky smile while she flipped the Hollow off.
Mizore finished freezing the Hollows and looked to the Soul Reaper, "Finish it, Soul Reaper." the Shinigami smirked and spun the hilt of her sword around before pointing it at the ice glacier prison. Soon a tornado of ash and dust surrounded the glacier, and with a snap of her fingers the ash and dust began to slice and slash the glacier into tiny pieces until it was nothing but a pile of crushed ice.
"Is it...Is it done?" Ben asked.
The group looked around until they heard a beeping sound. The Soul Reaper reached into her cleavage and pulled out a flip phone and checked it, "It's done now." she smiled. The ash began to flow and form back into her sword. She spun it around and sheathed her blade before letting out a sigh of relief, "Well, that worked better than I expected. You know I broke a couple rules today but...um...I probably would have had an issue without the help."
"Honestly, not nearly as bad as we usually deal with. I mean, definitely more 'life or death' than usual, but we've been through a lot this year." Ben mentioned.
"Might rather deal with the Spirit of Vengeance again." Moka replied dryly, "But...thanks."
Ben and the Soul Reaper shook hands before he and the others removed their stones from their eyes and began walking back to the clubroom. "Hey Ben," Kurumu started, "What are we going to write for the story."
"Play it off as a haunting, throw some crosses around the areas." he suggested, "I mean, nobody had fatal wounds and the wounds they did sustain were mostly a couple of scratches. Issue is taken care of now."
"What about telling the truth?" Kokoa mentioned.
"Sheeesh, you think they'd believe us? Besides...something tells me if we mention a Soul Reaper was here it would cause a panic." Realistically, the others couldn't find a reason to disagree with Ben's reasoning, may as well as treat things as business as usual. Besides, when would they ever see a Soul Reaper again?
The Seireitei...
"CAPTAIN SHIBA! I've returned!" the Soul Reaper called out as she entered the office of her captain, Isshin Shiba.
The captain, a rugged man with short, spikey black hair and a stubble, jumped awake as the sudden sound of his lieutenant awoke him from his midday nap. "AH, Matsumoto! Welcome back. I take it everything went well? No hiccups."
The Soul Reaper, Matsumoto, stared at her captain for a few moments unsure if she should tell him the truth, "All fine, no hiccups here." she held up her hand and gave the 'O.K.' gesture.
"She interacted with a group of monsters and a human." a new voice spoke up, it belonging to the third in command of Squad 10, a short younger man with snow white spikey hair and vibrant blue eyes.
"Toshirooooo!" Matsumoto whined, "You weren't supposed to tell the captain!"
Captain Shiba looked at the two and cupped his chin, "Seems we have ourselves a bit of a predicament...what do you think the likelihood of encountering these monsters again are?"
Toshiro squinted his eyes, already feeling like he knew what his captain would say, "Not high, but captain, surely you aren't suggesting that-"
"Then who cares!" Captain Shiba laughed, "May as well throw away the papers. We didn't do anything to mess with the monster world, no harm no foul. And here you had me worried that she was about to start a war!"
Toshiro looked at the lieutenant with daggered eyes, "If we do, in fact, run into these monsters again...you are doing your own paperwork. In fact, you will be doing your paperwork and the captain's paperwork. And you'll lose alcohol permissions for a week."
"Well, it's a good thing that won't happen." Matsumoto smiled with her tongue sticking out.
End..?
Next Time: The next real chapter for the story