Troi Mikagami, as it has been established, is not a morning person. In fact, considering that he is in fact a mass of roiling darkness, the word person can only be loosely applied; nonetheless, there was little he hated more than mornings. And, most especially, he hated to be woken at five in the morning by that most infernal of creations, the phone. At least his wife, who considered five in the morning to be a "perfectly normal" time, had the good sense not to wake him. For not the first time, he reconsidered his plan to permanently remove the hours between the thirteenth hour and noon. The phone, luckily, fell silent after the second ring. Troi sighed a little, disappointed; he had finally gathered enough wits about him to summon a hellmouth to consume the phone company. From the far end of the house, he could hear his wife chatter, and smell the beginnings of whatever breakfast she had planned. Troi "Hellstorm" Mikagami sighed again, and coallesced his way out of bed. He could already tell this wasn't going to be a good day. *** The phone didn't much bother Yuri, since she wasn't allowed to keep one in her room. Needless to say, the alarm clock (set to extra-loud) going off at 5:01 was a different story. Unconciously, she rolled over just far enough to punch the snooze, and went right back to sleep. Or tried to. The cushions she had been propped up on decided to protest, however, and deposited her rather ungently on the floor. A few minutes later, a not-quite-so-ill Yuri Mikagami stumbled down the stairs. Her mother set down the phone just a Yuri wandered down the stairs. "Well, you're up early, dear. Feeling better?" Yuri shook her head, wincing. She usually wasn't even this sore after one of Coach Truncheon's lessons. "Well, you look a lot better. Come here." Her mother ran a hand over Yuri's forehead, looking a bit releaved. "Well, the fever's broken. I'm glad, it was just the flu after all. Those exorcists can be expensive. Have some juice, it should help you feel better." Yuri took the juice, just as her father drifted into the room. "You're up as well? This is a surprise." Yuri's mother said. Troi nodded a little, which basically consisted of the two reds orbs which served as his eye bobbing up and down. "Who was that on the phone?" "Oh. Just some old friends of mine from high school. They have a daughter a little older than Yuri, and it seems that the two of them ran into each other at the fencing match." "I see." "I decided to have them over for lunch." Troi's eyes brightened a little at this statement. "No, not like that, dear." His wife chided. Troi frowned. "Besides, don't you have that board meeting to attend this afternoon?" **************************************************** Dark Heart High Netherworlds Educational Institution For The Universal Propagation of Evil Started by Mads This Chapter by: Jason Bates Chapter Seventeen: Diversion! **************************************************** For once, Yuri was actually early to her classes. It helped that her father had driven her because she was ill. Still, she thought, glancing at the clock over the entrance to the school, perhaps she didn't have to be quite SO early. Now she had nothing to do for the next half hour. She stumbled through the door into her Basic Villany class, heading to her desk. Absently, she felt something tug on her foot as she walked through, and heard a muffled thud behind her. Kurosawa-sensei looked up from her desk, to where Yasuko Wareme lying on the ground, completely entangled in rope, and coated with what appeared to be kerosene. A small blowtorch lay knocked over next to her. "Timing, Wareme-san. We've gone over this. If you cannot anticipate your enemy, you cannot lay a trap for them." Kurosawa-sensei chided. Deciding she really didn't want to know what just happened, Yuri sat down at her desk, put her head in her hands, and promptly fell asleep. She awoke to the sound of the tardy bell, and to Leilei prodding her in the shoulder. "Huh?..." She asked no one in particular. "Hey, wake up, Yuri! Class is about to start!" "I'm awake..." She groaned, glancing around. Most of the class was already in their seat or was strolling through the door; however, Yuri noticed Ki prodding Yasuko with his foot where she still lay tangled in rope. "Now, class," Kurosawa began, "since Amakusa saw fit to make me come in early to do paperwork, I thought I should pass the chore on to you. As you all know, next week begins our unit on minions. I expect you to have finished reading chapters 2, 3, and 4 in the text by monday. "Also, we will be starting our first out of class project next week. There is a handout on my desk for you to pick up after class concerning it. I recommend you begin work on it immediately, as there is a ten page preliminary report due one week from today. "Now, if you will please open you text to page 31 ..." *** Amakusa sat in his office, idly thumbing through the reports Akurei had given him concerning the repairs and upgrades that had been made to the virtue detection system. Not that he felt that the upgrades demanded his attention - no, Akurei, as incompetent as he might be, was capable of handling the matter, and even if he wasn't, it would serve to keep the Dark Heart staff and students on their toes. But, he thought, by thumbing through the paperwork, he could hide from them what was truly on his mind. Yuri Mikagami. Each day, it seemed, she grew more powerful. Even absent, she had sparked a new conflict, this time between Coach Truncheon and the captain of the fencing squad - what was his name? Ahhh, Kashin, yes. A bit of potential, that one - which made it all the more ominous that Yuri could manipulate him so easily. And, it seemed, her influence was spreading to the other schools as well. He thought of the girl they had chained in the dungeons. Obviously meant as a spy to infiltrate Sakura Art. For a moment, he regretted catching the girl. A double edged sword, yes. It might hinder Mikagami's influence a little, and teach her a valuable lesson about secrecy, but there was a drawback as well - if she absorbed the lesson as he thought she would, then how long would it be before she could have spies beneath even his nose, without him knowing? Maybe, just maybe, Truncheon had been right. The girl was a threat to them all, yes. She had the most potential of any student since he himself? Certainly. But, he thought, all dynamic systems must change. He would watch her, he would test her, he would push her, and when it came time for her to make her play, well, then that would be the biggest test of them all. *** Lunchtime found Yuri stumbling to the usual seat she had next to Leilei and Bala, nursing a headache that had caused most of Tactics and Strategy to be a blur. Feng-sensei's voice was definitely not conducive resting. There was a little bit of a crowd over in one corner of the cafeteria, but it didn't seem to be anything important, so Yuri ignored it. Leilei was busy unwrapping Bala enough so that he could eat, but she looked up as Yuri approached. "Wow, Yuri-chan, you've sure been out of it today," she offered. Yuri responded by nodding her head, and wincing as it upset her head yet again. Carefully, she sat down, and started to open the cooler of chicken soup her mother had packed for her. "That bad, huh? The flu, right? I heard it had been going around." She glanced at her mummified friend. "I hope we don't catch it, ne, Bala-kun? That'd be bad." Bala's eyebrow stoically told the world that he was more interested in food than in responding. "Anou..." Leilei finished unwrapping him. "So..." Yuri began, "I hope I didn't miss anything important yesterday." "Well, not really. Kurosawa-sensei went over all the assignments, and then just lectured from the book, so if you read over the chapter you should cover everything." "Ack! More reading. She already assigned us three chapters for the weekend, to! I hope I have time for it all. Not too mention the memorization we were assigned in chanting." Yuri frowned a little. This weekend wasn't looking to be very fun, even without having to worry about that duel. "Hey! I bet I know something that'll help cheer you up! Bala and I managed to get into line yesterday, and got three passes to the movie preview at the school tonight!" Leilei dug into her bag, and produced the three tickets. "We were really lucky, to. That girl from the nurses office came up right behind us and took all of the rest." Bala glared at the tickets, letting his eyebrow frown a bit, and then glanced at Yuri, getting a faraway look in his eye. "That'd be wonderful!" Yuri said, cheerfully, then winced again. Her headache wasn't quite gone, and cheerful and headaches don't mix. "But... I can't. I really have to study." "Oh." Leilei said, frowning. "It'd only be a couple of hours, and it'd make you feel better! But, I understand if you don't have time. And I was sure you and Bala would enjoy it!" "I'd really love to, but what if I didn't finish? And then I bet Kurosawa-sensei'll have a test on monday too, and I'll fail and everything, and then what would I tell my parents?" "Well, you wouldn't really have to tell them anything! But, yeah, that'd be bad. I guess Bala and I'll just go by ourselves then." "Not tell them ..." Yuri repeated, thinking. She'd ALWAYS told her parents everything! Not telling them would be kinda like, like lying, wouldn't it? But, her father always told her to try to be more evil, and Amakusa-sensei had said evil was untruth, so, then, wouldn't her dad want her to go and then not say anything about it? "Well, I guess I could ..." "Really, that's great! I just knew you'd want to come, ne, Bala-kun?" *** Liza surveyed the cafeteria from the little booth she had set up on one of the tables. There were alot of freshies in this lunch, so she had hoped to make a killing, but her sales had been dismal. After going through all the work to round up tickets the way she had yesterday, cutting duty at the nurses office and everything just so she could get in line early, what had she to show for it? Two tickets sold. Idly, she wondered if 20,000 yen was too much to be charging for supposedly free passes. Of course, she had cornered the market, so she could set whatever price she wanted. The pink-haired girl and that guy with the bandages had gotten there first, but they had only taken three tickets, and all the rest were hers. But she had only two tickets sold so far, both to that Ryuji guy - or girl, now - whatever it was. 40,000 yen. If she weren't getting 100% gross margin, that almost wouldn't be worth the effort. What she needed was a new angle. Some kind of commotion she could use to hook these freshies. Advertising. That was what the marketing club was always talking about. Frankly, she had never needed it, but maybe it was time to try. So, now to think. What would appeal to freshies? Something suitably juvenile, of course. She glanced around the cafeteria for inspiration. Instead, she found the rather familiar countenance of an Ingram Mac-10 pointed at her. For a moment it struck her that that would be a good means of advertising. "You have the medical records." The girl holding the gun stated. "Of course. You have the payment?" The girl holding the gun reached into a pocket with her free hand, and produced a surprisingly small stack of cash. "50,000 yen." Liza reached into her bag, producing a small sheaf of photocopies. "One set of medical records." The other girl scanned over them briefly, then handed Liza the cash. "Well, then." She replied, her voice full of sarcasm and contempt. "A pleasure doing business with you." Rather regretfully, she thumbed the safety off her gun, and holstered it. "Could I interest you in a ticket for tonight's preview, then?" The other girl eyed her suspiciously, then asked, "how much?" "20,000 yen." This time, the other girl laughed aloud. "And why should I pay you?" Faster than Liza could blink, the gun was back in the girl's hand. "I told you. I don't give out freebies." The other girl toyed with the gun's safety a bit, and then flipped it forcefully to off. "Too bad. Normally, I don't either, but in the case, I'll make an exception." Again, in a move faster than Liza could see, the other girl trained the gun directly at her. Ok, Liza thought, time to think fast. There had to be some way to turn this to her advantage. "Ok. How about a different offer?" "What?" "I might be willing to give the ticket away, but I'd want a favor in return." "What kind of favor?" "Just some advertising. I have a lot of tickets that I need to sell." The girl holding the gun laughed again, and flicked the safety back on. "Two tickets." "Deal." *** Ki Tamaida watched the trio of Yuri, Leilei, and Balabalalde from the corner of his eye. It disturbed him that Yuri spent so much time with Bala and Leilei, but he was quickly finding the need to re-evaluate his preconceptions. At first he thought that Bala was toying with her like he was, under the guise of being her protector. Of course, why Bala would do that escaped him, since obviously Bala had no clear cut plans, like Ki did, but Ki had been willing to let that one slide. The girl was obviously of some value, and she could be manipulated - that was what had mattered. Now, he wasn't so sure. If Yuri could protect herself, why would she let Bala manipulate her? Obviously, it was the other way around - that she was in fact the one doing the manipulating. But, how? By pretending to be weak, and letting others pretend to protect her? He had seen the tapes of the fencing match. For a second, he actually thought the surprise on her face when she defeated the other team had been genuine. If he hadn't known better ... But, the Plan require that she be weak. If he couldn't assume the role of her protector... But, he thought, perhaps there was still a way. If he could convince her that she really was weak after all. It would take a coordinated assualt - something he dare not leave up to Yasuko, or at least to her alone - and he could come in and really rescue her - then the Plan still might work. Confident that he could still pull this off, Ki slide over to where the three of them were talking. "Ohayou, Yuri-chan," he greeted, muster all his willpower in order to sound pleasant. He was pleased to notice both Yuri and Leilei startling - obviously they had not seen him coming. "Ohayou, Ki-san," Yuri responded. "You know, you really shouldn't sneak up on people like that. It's not nice!" "My fault." He grimaced inwardly at the need to apologize. "I have something I wanted to ask you." "What?" "I was wondering what you were going to be doing this weekend." "Why do you want to know that?" Leilei asked, suspiciously. One of these days, I'm going to have to get rid of that girl, Ki thought. She was far too suspicious for her own good. Fortunately, Yuri had no such suspicions. "Well, I've got all that reading that Kurosawa-sensei assigned us, and then I should probably get started on that paper as well, and there's that memorization to do for Chanting, and I'll probably have to make up the lab I missed yesterday in Chemistry. Oh, yeah, and then there's that stupid fight thingy that Amakusa-sensei's making me do." She frowned. "Kashin-sempai hasn't even told me who I'll be fighting yet, either." "I see." No luck there, he thought. Unless he could ambush her after the fight, maybe. "Oh! We're all going to that new movie tonight, though! Did you get tickets?" That, on the other hand, had potential. "I'm afraid not." "That's too bad. I bet you'd really enjoy it, Ki-san! But, um ... Leilei, didn't you say that that girl from the nurses office had a whole bunch of tickets? I bet you could get one from her, if you wanted!" "I'll ... consider it." Ki responded. This was almost too perfect, actually. He could get tickets, have the theater ambushed - he might even be able to bribe his cousin into doing it - and be right there the entire time waiting for them to show up. That way, no one would be suspicious of his involvement, or anything. Of course, that idiot Bala would probably be there, so he'd have to get him out of the way somehow. That should be a problem for someone of his skill, he thought. "Well. Class is about to start." Ki headed walked off, smiling inwardly. Perhaps Yuri wasn't quite so sharp after all. Still useful, but perhaps he had been in error labelling her as a threat. The Plan, it seemed, was still working beautifully. *** "Anou... That was weird. Ne, Leilei-chan?" Yuri said. "I hope he wasn't ... um ... do you think he was trying to ask me out?" She blushed furiously. "Maybe..." Leilei responded. "What do you think, Bala-kun?" Bala raised an eyebrow at the pair, and then went back to glaring down the corridor Ki had disappeared. *** "Do you want to go with me to the movie tonight, Yasuko-chan?" An unfamiliar voice asked from behind her. Furious, she spun around, to be confronted by ... someone. A blonde girl she didn't know, who didn't even look like she belonged at the school. "Who the hell are you?" She screamed. "And how dare you called me chan?" "Yasuko-chan? You said you'd rather I had a female body. I was just doing like you told me." The girl had a hurt look in her eyes. And something else, and expression that seemed to familiar. "Ryuji?" The girl nodded. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed, fleeing down the hallway. *** Liza stared at the last five tickets she had remaining, and the rather large stack of cash she had to show for the rest of them. If nothing else, that girl with the gun was efficient, she thought. She'd have to do business with her more often. Of course, lunch was about to end, which meant she'd have to head over to the nurses office. Now, if she could just find someone to dump these last five tickets off on. Looking around the cafeteria, she found the boy in the armor she had sold the assassin bot to for the dance. He was a good mark. "Craig-san," she called out, heading over to him. "Who? What? Huh?" He spun around, finally catching sight of her. "Do you need some movie tickets? Special one-time offer if you buy them right now!" "Huh? Special one-time offer?" "Yup! Get 'em right now, and I'll give you 75% off! And ..." She rummaged through her bag, looking for the water bottle she had brought. Finding it, she continued, "I'll even throw in this, um, special potion of hydration, for free!" Craig's eye lit up at that. "Potion of hydration?" "Yup. Guaranteed to keep you from getting dehydrated." "And I get 75% off on the movie tickets, as well?" "Yup!" "I'll take it!" "Great. That'll be 25,000 yen." Blanching a little, Craig reach into a pocket of his armor. *** It was, Ki thought, a good thing that he had foreseen this possibility, and had managed to steal a copy of his cousin's class schedule from her. Sometimes, it was useful to be able to track her down between classes. "What do you want, Ki-chan." She demanded, noticing him as she exited class. "I need your help. I need you to ambush Mikagami at the movie tonight." Midori rolled her eyes at her cousin. "And explain to me just why I would ever want to do that? Do your own dirty work." "I can't. You know that. I have to be there to rescue her, or the plan won't work." "No." "I'll let you name your price." Midori reached into her bag, and pulled out the ticket she had made an underclassmen buy for her. "No. Don't make me repeat myself." *** Ki was sweating, and it wasn't just because Coach Truncheon had decided to give them all endurance training that day. He was rapidly running out of time to set up the ambush, and the only person he had left that he could manipulate into doing it was Yasuko. Well, she was better than nothing, he thought. Then again, considering he track record, maybe not. He put on a little more speed, so that he could catch up to her on the track again. "So," he said, gasping, "will you do it?" "Let me get this straight. You want me to ambush the trollop at the movie tonight, show her up in front of all of her friends, and you don't even care who I kill?" "I will, of course, be there to see to it that she is not harmed, but yes, that's pretty much it." "You'll try to make sure she isn't harmed, that is! Ohoho-ack-*cough*- *wheeze*-hohohoho!" Yasuko said, demonstrating that during long- distance running wasn't the time place to try out one's bitch laugh. *** "I'm home" Yuri called as she slumped through the door, gasping a little. She was glad she had been able to get out of her Battle Education class today. If she had had to do all of that running, she never would have been able to make it home. "How was school today?" Her mother called to her. "It was really fun! Hey, listen, I can't stay too long. Leilei-chan and Bala-kun and all of us are going to go see a movie showing up at the school tonight! Where's daddy?" "He's still at that board meeting he had to attend. Are you sure you should be going? Don't you have any studying you need to do?" Yuri hesitated a moment, before remembering that this is what her dad would want her to do. "Only a little, and I'll have plenty of time to get it done over the weekend." "Alright then. Just be careful." "I will." *** "What do you mean you don't have any tickets left!" Ki exclaimed. He reached for the sword hanging at his side. "Jeez! What is it with people trying to threaten me recently? I said I don't have any tickets left, I mean I don't have any tickets left. I sold them all at lunch." This was getting to be a little much. Liza expected the upperclassmen to try and threaten her, but a freshie? "I'll tell you what. Put down a little deposit, oh, say, 10,000 yen, and I'll be sure to hold one for you next time." *** Bala and Leilei were waiting for her as she got back up to the campus. The movie still wasn't for another half hour, but they wanted to make sure they got good seats. "Ohayou, Leilei-chan, Bala-kun!" The trio handed their tickets to Akurei, who favored them with his perpetual grin, and headed in to look for seats. The cafeteria had been set up with a large projection screen, with seating arranged in a semi-circle spreading outwards around it. Yuri noticed that a few people had gotten their already, mostly upper classmen, and that they had claimed most of the front row. "You missed practice yesterday, Mikagami," Kashin said. Yuri jumped, and turned around. She hadn't even heard him walk up. "Ka- Kashin-sempai! Gomen! I was ill yesterday, so I couldn't show up." "And, you believe that constitutes an excuse for your absence?" "Ha, hai!" Kashin frowned. "Well. Do not let it happen again. I am not normally this lenient - I will not tolerate a second mistake. Even if you are the equipment manager. Please keep that in mind." Yuri nodded. "Now then, I trust you will be ready for tomorrow's duel?" "Hai!" "Good." *** Yasuko Wareme studied the stream of students arriving from her hiding place in the shadow of the front wall, whip in hand. Most of them were upperclassmen, which she thought was rather surprising - they usually didn't go for this kind of entertainment. She hadn't seen Ki or the trollop yet, which meant that they had probably arrived early. It made things a little more complicated, but she had come prepared. Along with the contact poison dripping her whip, she had stolen a bottle of perfume her mother used to control men. A hint of it would drive men into insensibility and other women nauseous; using the entire bottle out to knock them all unconcious - which would keep Ki out of her way long enough to kill the trollop and make her escape. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ryuji enter the schoolground, glancing around carefully, and pressed closer to the wall, stifling a curse as a stone point bit into her back. The gargoyles were certainly good for concealment, but they weren't the least bit comfortable. "Yasuko Wareme. Correct?" Yasuko gasped a little, as Amakusa appeared in front of her. "And what of it?" She responded, coldly. "You know being on campus after hours without permission is forbidden. I assume then that you have a ticket?" Amakusa favored her with a cold, peircing smile. That wasn't good. "Actually, I, um, I'm waiting for someone." She said, thinking quickly. "Which would, of course, explain why you were hiding." Fortunately, or maybe not, Ryuji picked that time to turn around, and finally noticed her. "Yasuko-chan! I thought that was your voice. I thought we were going to meet in that alleyway you mentioned, not here." Amakusa entirely forgotten, Yasuko dashed past both of them towards the school's entrance. Maybe should could loose him once she got inside, she thought. *** "So, if I give you all five tickets, that means I get five seats to myself, right?" Craig asked the lizard-like vice principal. Akurei gave him a menacing grin for an answer, or at least would have if a succubus hadn't chosen that time to plow right into him, and then bounce off as he stood there, unfazed. "Eager?" He hissed. Yasuko got up, glared at him, and started to push her way past him. "Wait." Akurei said, grabbing her arm with his clawed hand. "Where's your ticket?" Yasuko glanced around for a second nervously, then noticed the five tickets Craig was clutching. Snatching one of them from him with her free hand, she handed it to Akurei. "Craig-san is my date for the night." Craig started to protest, until he noticed the glare Yasuko gave him. Glumly, he nodded, and handed the other four tickets to Akurei. "Dragonturds." *** "Craig-san is my date for the night." Ryuji clench his fists, not caring that the carefully groomed nails were carving into his flesh, or even that a couple of the bones in his hands were starting to snap. Craig. Maimsworth. Had the gall to steal his date? Maimsworth? The little punk who couldn't even cut bread with that sword of his? He punched the cement walkway, making a small thud and smashing the rest of the bones in his hand. Fury filling his mind, Ryuji quickly began summoning hellfire from his true home, intending to consume the entire school, and Maimsworth with it. Unfortunately, it required a body with considerably more structural integrity that the one he was possessing to truly channel hellfire, and the end result was a human-shaped bonfire that quickly reduced itself to a pile of ash. Oh well, Ryuji thought, so much for that body. *** Yuri, Bala, and Leilei had managed to find seats in the middle of the third row, and glares from Bala had so far managed to ward off all of the attempts by other students to take their seats. It helped that most of the students had heard of Yuri's performance against Sakura Art, and weren't yet quite willing to find out if it had been a fluke. It occured to Yuri that the soreness she felt from the day before had almost completely disappeared, and that she had stopped worrying about all of the things she had to do this weekend. Of course, this served to remind her of all of the things she had to do this weekend, but she chose not to think about that. "Hey, Leilei-chan. You know, I think you were right. This is just what I needed to relax!" "I'm really glad. I bet it was just what Bala-kun needed as well, ne, Bala-kun?" Bala chose that time to glare at another student who looked like he was headed their way. *** "Hey, go find somewhere else!" Craig complained to the succubus. "Just because you stole one of my tickets doesn't mean you get to steal one of my seats!" "Shut up. Its not like these seats are any good, anyway." Yasuko responded, annoyed. Indeed, the seats in question were at the very edge of the back row, and required craning around one of the columns of the cafeteria to even see the screen. "Well, if you don't like them, go find someplace else to sit!" Craig whined. "I said shut up! I'm trying to find that little bitch and her friends." "Yuri's here? Your going to ambush her again?" Craig snickered a little. "Do you know what the words 'shut up' mean?" Yasuko demanded, angrily. "I know what 'shut up' means. Duh. I'm not stupid!" Yasuko idly wondered if it would be worth it to use the whip on him. Instead, she caught sight of her rival, sitting almost in the front row. Inwardly, she bristled that they had managed to get such good seats, and reached into her bag for the vial of perfume. The trio were sitting among a group of upperclassmen, and Ki was nowhere to be seen. With a little effort, she managed to stifle her urge to laugh - no need to give everything away now. Grasping the perfume's cap, she slowly began removing the top. Click. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Yasuko spun around, to see a black Ingram Mac-10 levelled at her forehead. Attached to it was an girl dressed in matching black. "If anything should happen which would interrupt the movie, it would be ... unfortunate. I'm sure you wouldn't want something like that to happen, would you." *** The movie, Bala thought, was about as interesting as one of Aug-sensei's lectures. It was a typical romance about a love triangle between a young girl, played by Meimei Murder, a tentacle demon, and a man trying to kill them both - although, he had to admit, some of the fight scenes were decent. Leilei and Yuri seemed to be enjoying it, however. The man was chasing after the tentacle demon weilding some kind of large sword, with the girl chasing them both screaming. Bala heard a sigh which he didn't think came from the speakers, and felt a little pressure against the bandages on his shoulder. Looking down, he noticed Yuri's head lying against him. Suddenly, the movie didn't seem quite so boring.