A mere hour ago, the building had been a hive of activity. People had been running, screaming, eager to do what they had to and then leave the forsaken place immediately. Eventually they succeeded, or died trying, and nothing was left but a desolate shell. What had once been a testament to the Japanese population density, now compared only to a fallout zone. The entire area was dead. Yet tucked away, in a tiny corner few would even notice, rested the remaining few. Only those unwilling, or unable, to escape remained. They, who still had unfinished business, sat alone in the unnatural afternoon silence, reflecting on the final events which had brought them to this moment. Coach Truncheon lifted himself from his seat, venturing towards the tea room sink. "So who was the final deadpool winner?" "Miss Kurosawa by one," Aug-sensei replied. The phone rang. "Yes? I see. Thank you. We'll *click* see to the paperwork." "Nurse Sybil?" Kurosawa confirmed. "Yes," the vatted brain nodded, "make that by *click* two. The fatal injury was inflicted before the school day finished." "Bless it woman!" Truncheon cried, emptying another pot of coffee. "How do you keep doing that?" "The Basic Villainy test finished *click* early again," Aug observed. "Coincidentally, yes. One student qualified for medical exemption, so we had a few minutes to spare." Those minutes were far from coincidental. Once again, many of Kurosawa's students had shown great promise, by revealing the true levels to which they'd betrayed and manipulated their classmates over the year. Unfortunately, many of those same students had also shown great incompetence, in failing to realise said classmates might be less impressed than their teacher. Those few minutes of free time had proven more than adequate for such students to receive appropriate responses from their peers. "So it's all thanks to the surprise exams," Truncheon realised. "I don't see why we can't hold them every year. The look on their pathetic faces when they come in for the final week and discover the tests, it's priceless! Considering how many of them don't bother to show up Monday morning, or come late, or don't even bring a pen!" "But they always find a *clickclick* way," Aug-sensei said proudly. "This year, three of mine thought to write *click* using their own blood. Pity one ran out halfway *click* through." "They'd squeal," Kurosawa pointed out. "Every year would never work. This way, those few students who do know still have no idea _which_ year the extra exams will be." "True," the coach admitted. "The best part is seeing those freshmen finally work up the nerve to take on their upperclassmen, thinking they knew the whole time." "It's always *click* surprising how many make it through their final year, only to be done in by a mad *click* misinformed freshman." "That just means less papers to grade," Kurosawa reminded her colleagues. The resulting cheer was unanimous. **************************************** Dark Heart High Netherworld Educational Institution for The Universal Propagation of Evil Started by Mads This chapter by: Kurayami Diku Part Sixty: Relaxations! **************************************** "You got the results?" Smiling, Amy handed the doctor's letter to her tutor, then turned Mistypuff's attention to the targets. Trips to the firing range had become a regular weekend activity, and Tokiko had insisted that holidays were no excuse to skip training. "Talented... alignment shock... channel dis-alignment..." the older girl skimmed over the formal report, all while taking pot-shots at her own targets. They were only paper and cardboard; she rarely paid much attention unless something shattered or screamed. "Stabilising... split identity... dual transformation..." "How can you aim with that thing?" Amy asked for the millionth time, still marvelling at having her sniper rifle beaten on accuracy by an Ingram. The fact that Tokiko wasn't even really looking at the targets only added insult to injury. "I don't," came the casual reply. "It's for indiscriminate devastation." Still reading the letter, Tokiko used her gun hand to indicate her head. "When I want to aim, I use this." Amy had gotten used to her mentor's calm demeanour, and knew that underneath her tough iron exterior lay a heart of pure titanium, but pointing a smoking gun at one's own head still seemed a tad unusual. Her words, unfortunately, made little more sense. "Survival mechanism... release valve... psychic potential..." Tokiko kept on reading, once again hitting the targets perfectly with her Mac-10. "Acceptable," she eventually said, handing the letter back. "You differ from my areas a lot, but I think we've still got enough overlap for me to teach you a new trick of two." "Great," Amy chirped, shouldering Mistypuff for the moment, "but first, what does it mean?" Amy had attempted to decipher it herself, but it may as well have been in Aklo. Between Sakura Arts' failure to cover the demonic tongue, and Yasuko's attempts to teach her obscenities under the guise of greetings, the language was one area where Amy was slightly behind her class. "You're talented," Tokiko shrugged, "but you already knew that. You've also stabilised now. So your powers aren't changing in manner, just magnitude." "That's it?" Amy asked, disappointed. "I just stay like this, and keep splitting without warning?" She'd hoped for something a little more informative. "It's just technical babble," Tokiko assured her. "The point is that your third eye can channel more power than your body will hold, so that's when your psychic potential steps in and creates the projections to channel it through. Your real form goes into stasis in some pocket dimension for a while, and your two major sub-personalities each get a projection to use to burn off the extra energy." Amy smiled, realising 'burn off extra energy' translated to 'blow stuff up'. "Then I just have to learn how much energy causes the split?" she asked, delighted at the notion of having some control over the process. "Yes, but your tolerance is rising," her tutor explained. "Someday you may be able to control it all without splitting. If so, and that's a big 'if', then you may transform from your real form again, probably as a _true_ evil magical girl. Of course, by then the school will require you get a ward or two." "I'll need wards?" Amy's eyes flew wide. "You mean I'm that powerful?" "No," Tokiko replied flatly, deflating her enthusiasm, "but you may be someday, if you remember a few things." "Like what?" Tokiko grabbed a stick from the ground and placed it to Amy's chest, resting the tip just in front of her heart. "Like if I pushed that, you'd be dead." Amy knocked the stick away, beginning to feel insulted. "You're saying I'm a pathetic weakling?" Tokiko shook her head. "Far from it. You're a specialist, you just need to know that that doesn't solve everything unless you pay very careful attention to your weaknesses. You're a triclops and a magical girl, both great channellers, but that power is useless if you're too busy bleeding to death on the floor." "But if I'm careful?" "And lucky," the older girl stressed. "Then you may have a promising future." Amy smiled, satisfied. "I'm far more powerful while I'm split though, right?" she asked a minute later. Sighing, Tokiko shook her head again. "The projections are no tougher than you are, and you keep any injuries they collect. Splitting gives you more raw magic at your disposal, but you throw control out the window." "So they're for indiscriminate devastation?" Amy hesitantly guessed at a connection to her tutor's earlier words. "And when I want to aim..." "You use this," Tokiko pointed to Amy's head, cracking her first smile of the day. "You're learning." Amy considered this for some time. "So are you going to show me how that trick works?" she eventually asked her instructor. Tokiko shrugged. "I told you I used to use cards, right?" Amy nodded. "You ever seen a card-wielder in action?" "Once." "Do you know how they keep control of the cards, even after they've let go of them?" "Telekinetics, isn't it?" The older girl nodded. "Basic physics. Building up momentum takes time, or a lot of force, but once something's moving you only need a slight nudge to change its course. That's why people actually throw or flick the cards, then just alter the flight path." "So how's that relate to this?" Tokiko grinned and pointed her Ingram at the ground, firing a single shot. Then she leant over, retrieving the bullet, and held it out just in front of Amy's third eye. "What do you see, Angeleye?" Buried within the shell of the bullet, Amy's extra sight could just make out a tiny shard of playing card. ******************** Atsuko sat on her bed, curling the phone cord around her finger. "Come on, answer already," she whispered to herself. While she waited, her eyes kept being drawn to a chest of drawers in the corner, her mind refusing to let her forget its contents. In the bottom drawer, buried under clothes, books and whatever else she could find at the time, was a suitcase. In the suitcase was money. A lot of money. A lot of American money. Every day she wondered why she'd taken it, waging a war between her desires and her conscience, and felt the guilt build up. It would be so much easier for Reika, she'd just deny it existed, deny it ever happened... "Hello?" "Reika, finally!" Atsuko banished the briefcase from her mind. "Look, I've been thinking about meeting up with Yuri." The phone was silent. "Come on, we haven't seen her in ages now." The phone remained silent. "We promised we'd keep in touch! I feel like I barely know her anymore." The phone bored of mere silence, and began to suck the ambient noise out of Atsuko's room. "Nothing weird is going to happen." "You don't know that!" Reika insisted, finally breaking the phone's silence and unmuting the world around Atsuko. "Okay you're right, but maybe I don't care if weird things do keep happening. She's our friend, and we haven't seen her for months now. We HAVE to meet up with her during the holidays!" "The last time we actually saw her we were bossed around by a girl with wings, almost eaten by a giant spider, scared witless by some formless dark mass, and then branded delusional and subjected to repeated drug tests when we made the mistake of trying to see someone about it." "What about..." "Then next time you convinced me to _try_ seeing her again, some stranger tells us she's in trouble and we arrive only to find her house bursting to the brim with pie. With PIE for goodness' sake! You were the one who turned around and left, and with good reason." "I didn't mean to never come back! I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for all of it..." "The therapist seemed to think so: we're delusional." "I meant other than that. Look Reika, I can't talk much longer. I've got chores to do before I start summer school tomorrow, but then I'll call you again through the week. I'm going to see her, with or without you, so just think about it." "Atsuko, wait..." For the first time the anger dropped from her voice and Atsuko could hear the genuine concern beneath. "I'll think about it, but just be careful. Even if she hasn't changed, those new friends of hers still scare me." "She was always careful about the people she associated with; that's why we were her only real friends for so long. I'm sure her new friends have their good sides, we must have just got off on the wrong foot." "All eight of them?" Reika asked. "You were always the quiet one in the corner, now you're spending most of your summer at some drama school with people you don't even know. People do change, Atsuko." "Not that much. Not her," Atsuko sighed, grateful that she'd at least got Reika to consider the idea. That was one source of her guilt addressed, pity the other would not be so easy. "Listen, I've really got to go, talk to you again later. Bye." "Bye," voiced the receiver, as it plunged into its cradle. Atsuko took one last look at the chest of drawers before leaving the room. Reika was right; she'd always been quiet and indecisive. The former had been changing over time but the latter was still causing many of her problems. "I will deal with you," she mockingly vowed to the piece of furniture, "one day." ******************** Eyes ablaze with determination, Craig Maimsworth strode the narrow corridors. The dark knight held onto his dignity, refusing to break into a sprint, but his every step conveyed a sense of urgency which made it clear he'd give no quarter. He knew his time was running out. Every last second was painfully slipping away before his very eyes, but he would make it. He had to! He knew there were hundreds of people in the building, an army of the ignorant human masses who knew nothing of his family or what they represented. Yet despite knowing they were there, he could not see or hear a single soul. The corridors were silent. Rounding a corner, his destination finally entered the field of view. It was so close now, yet the hall seemed to mock his attempts to close in on his target. Just a few more steps. His time was almost up. This was it. He broke into a run. He lunged for the handle. He threw himself at the door. He was in. "YES!" the dark knight cried, shutting the door behind him. "I made it to class on time!" The man at the front of the room raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. Behind him, Craig was relieved to see a banner bearing the words "Tokyo Mechanical Engineering College and High School", around a small crest. At least he knew he was in the right place. "Sorry sir," Craig muttered quickly, taking a seat as the room around him erupted in giggles. Kurosawa wouldn't have let him off so lightly, but this teacher was from a normal school. So were most of the students. Craig had to be careful to avoid scaring those students; Amakusa's policy in the event of an 'incident' was very well known. There were only a handful of times when the 'special' schools of the area were allowed to interact with everyone else, but the principals had a mutual agreement on how to deal with troublemakers. Suffice to say, this kept the problems amazingly few and far between. "You still have to make a theatric production out of everything?" a familiar voice behind Craig scoffed. "Liza? What are you..." The girl in question indicated for him to lower his voice. "What are you doing here?" "It's cheap revision," she shrugged. "And I like to keep an eye out for fresh ideas to research." "You mean to steal, half-implement and profit from?" he asked sweetly. "Don't be silly," she replied, developing a slight, but noticeable, eye twitch. "I've officially retired from my former business ventures." The tone of her voice made it quite clear that she meant the 'officially' far more than the 'retired'. "So are you going to introduce me?" the boy beside her asked, a minute later. Craig turned to see the speaker, and was immediately amazed at the glare his armour managed to produce. He was obviously from Knight School, making his familiarity with Liza somewhat questionable, but the light reflecting off his plate gave him an almost angelic appearance. There was a hint of distaste in his eyes, but nothing compared to the hatred and loathing Craig usually received from good-aligned knights. "Sorry Hikaru, this is Craig Maimsworth, a freshman from my school whom I've had a few past dealings with." Liza paused as the knights each offered a gauntlet. "Craig, this is Hikaru Hikari, my boyfriend." Craig didn't know which to laugh at more: the appropriateness of the boy's name or the idea of Ramidra the Unscrupulous having a boyfriend, let alone one from Knight School. "Pleased to meet you," he said politely. "The pleasure is mine," Hikaru insisted. "It's not every day you meet a knight with a healthy interest in technology. It's comforting to know we're not all still tilting at windmills." "Many families are just a little slow at adjusting to the times," Craig offered. "On both sides of the fence, I assure you." Liza shook her head, neglecting to point out that 'the times' they spoke of were still many decades behind the present. As the two knights continued their discussion, in their own little world, she knew that this was going to be a long day. ******************** Kashin emerged from the bedroom with two bags and a large grin. "Come on, ladies," he smiled to the two girls cleaning their firearms. "I've found the formless bastard. It's hunting time." "That was quick." Tokiko almost sounded disappointed. "I thought you'd be here longer than that." "What makes you think I'm leaving when I'm done?" Amy, meanwhile, was staring at the luggage in Kashin's hands. "What's in the bag?" she asked, pointing to the longer of the two. "Ethinisian Pain Sticks," he answered, throwing the other bag to Tokiko. "What do they do?" she asked on reflex. Tokiko narrowly resisted the urge to bang her head repeatedly into the nearest wall. "See for yourself," Kashin chuckled, offering her one blade-first. A moment later, Amy was lying unconscious on the floor. "She's got a good set of lungs on her," the swordsman remarked, returning the weapon to his bag. "Most magical girls do." Tokiko tossed the prone girl over her shoulder. "You try making those ludicrously long speeches to all your victims, from a rooftop, in heavy wind and rain." "Point taken." Kashin grabbed Mistypuff, amazed at how frail the extended barrel looked. He was very tempted to snap it like a twig. "She could still come in handy," Tokiko reminded him, grabbing the weapon and placing it in her own bag. "Besides, she needs the field experience." "To think of your reaction when Ikari suggested you for the big sister program," Kashin chuckled. "You've really taken a liking to the freshie, haven't you?" "She reminded me far too much of my old self," Tokiko snorted. "I couldn't stand it, it was either fix her or kill her. Ikari just convinced me that the former could be more profitable." Kashin grinned again. Then they left the house, locking and arming various defense systems as they went. "Race you," Kashin taunted, mounting his motorcycle. "You haven't told me where we're going yet," she replied, loading Amy into a sidecar. "So?" Tokiko chuckled, and revved her engine. "You're on." ******************** Craig left for lunch, pleasantly surprised by what the day had brought. He'd been a little surprised at how greatly he'd enjoyed the class, and proud that he'd managed to do everything correctly without causing a single explosion. He'd been far more surprised to discover Liza and Hikaru really did make quite a couple, and that they were living together over summer. But what had really blown Craig's figurative socks off, was how well he himself got along with the Knight School student. Hikaru Hikari had turned out to be quite the inventor, perhaps unsurprising considering where they were. However, he also seemed to possess a unique understanding of the application of evil techniques to good ideals, all while preserving the family honour. In many ways, it was reminiscent of Yuri's tutoring, only back to front and filled with the sort of anecdotes a fellow knight, good or evil, could really relate to. So it was a very happy Craig who entered the cafeteria, wondering whether anything could put a mark on what was rapidly turning into one of the most interesting days of his life. The complete lack of empty tables certainly gave it a try. "Aw, dragonturds." Looking around, he eventually noticed a table that only had a single occupant. It was a girl. That was generally an upside, despite the distinct possibility he'd receive a severe beating. So he wandered over, hoping the girl's glasses were an indication of a peaceful nature. "Mind if I sit here?" "Not really, I..." The girl looked up, then fell over backwards. "You!" Craig had long ago gotten used to girls running screaming after his first sentence, and eventually come to realise it was sometimes because of something he'd said. However, even the newest of his newfound understanding could make no suggestion as to how he'd caused this situation. "Do I know you?" he eventually asked. "We met in a mall once," the girl answered nervously. "You gave me a briefcase." "Mall... mall..." Craig considered the many times he'd visited the mall, trying to recall a case which stood out. Eventually he recalled a trip where he'd resorted to paying for a date, yet still wound up without one. "Oh right, now I remember! I'd just failed in another plan to get Yuri, and went to the mall to cheer up. You told me to clean up, then disappeared." Atsuko mentally pictured the battered and bruised lad, who'd been offering some of the lamest come-ons in history to every single girl who'd walked past. "That was to cheer up? What kind of..." Then she finally registered the other half of what he'd said. "Hang on, did you say Yuri?" "Yeah," he nodded. "She's one of the girls in my class at school." "Not Yuri Mikagami, by chance?" Craig nodded again. "You know her?" "Of course, you're from that school! That explains everything." Craig was a little confused, but decided not to be offended. "Sorry, I'm Atsuko. Atsuko Shizuguchi. I've been one of her best friends since grade school." "Craig Maimsworth," Craig offered a gauntlet, before his own realisation struck. "Hang on a minute! Would you mind taking off your glasses for a moment?" "I guess not," Atsuko admitted, removing them despite her confusion. "Now, can you snarl for a second?" "WHAT?" "I knew it!" Craig cried triumphantly. "We met before that. Way back at the beginning of the year. You and someone else were with Yuri at a little cafe, then you two just went all lycanthropic. Before I knew what was happening, you had me by the throat and I'd passed out!" Atsuko turned bright red. Nervously looking around, she was thankful to discover that the surrounding tables were all too deep in their own conversations to have noticed. "I always wondered what happened to you two," Craig continued. "Yuri was worried sick for days afterwards, trying to work out what had happened and if you'd ever speak to her again." "She was?" Selfish as it seemed, Atsuko was amazed at how good it felt to hear confirmation that Yuri still cared. "Are you kidding? She spent all week trying to work out a way to explain it, when she didn't have a clue what had happened herself. Then when she finally did get to talk to you again, she was so happy that the mazoku would just pass out whenever she walked past!" "Wow," Atsuko sighed, starting to remember just how extreme her old friend's moods could be. "Then she started planning that sleepover!" Craig narrowly avoided knocking his books flying, as he flung his arms out subconsciously. "She spent days trying to make sure everyone would get along, then Yasuko went and ignored her anyway. What I wouldn't have given to see her get slapped by a human! The look on her face must have been priceless!" The memories of the bat-winged girl flooded back, and Atsuko soon found herself laughing along with Craig. The expression of utter indignation had been quite unforgettable. "That was Reika," she explained, her reservations beginning to fade. "She spent the whole time trying to convince herself that the others were just wearing costumes. At one stage she was about to go up to that girl and try to rip her wings off!" Craig erupted in laughter. "No wonder Yuri was worried for her life! Doesn't that girl have any sense of self-preservation?" "She just hates to back down," Atsuko giggled. "When she was five, her brother scared her with some practical joke. Since then, she just insists that everything's got to be a trick. Most of the time she can find some logical explanation, she's actually pretty good at that, but with Yuri..." "She won't believe the truth?" "Well most people can at least hide their doubts," Atsuko tried to explain, still a little reluctant to believe in the sort of 'truth' Craig was referring to. "At Yuri's eighth birthday party, something looking like a three-headed dog showed up. We all mostly ran or hid, despite Yuri trying to tell us that he was friendly. To me, one head or three wasn't the issue, it was still a scary dog. Reika, on the other hand, insisted it had to be fake and walked right up to see which head was the 'real' one." "She didn't!" "She did!" Atsuko cried. "She tapped it on each head, and started to play with its ears, and sort of poked its faces a bit." "It really wouldn't have liked that," Craig shook his head, grinning. "It didn't. A minute later it was chasing her, and anyone else who'd stayed about, all around the yard! Reika wound up with this really tiny scar, but whenever anyone asks about it she gets so embarrassed. She still insists it never actually happened, or that the dog really only had one head." "Why's she so insistent?" "Come on, how many people do you think would believe she'd seen a three-headed dog?" "Plenty," Craig grinned, reaching into his pocket. He withdrew an aged but bulging wallet, and extracted a small photograph from it. "When I was nine, our neighbours had puppies, but didn't have the room to keep them. My brother and I got one each. That was mine, we called him 'Kerb' because his droopy head on the end kept hitting it. My brother decided to name his 'Eros', after the latest demoness to take his fancy." "Wow!" Atsuko's eyes watered at the picture. To her eight year old self, the fully grown dog at Yuri's party had looked every bit the guardian of hell his namesake had been. To the teenage Atsuko, the tiny three-headed puppy in the picture shared none of these qualities. "He's so CUTE!" After a minute, Atsuko eventually noticed the young boy in the photo's background. "You don't look so bad yourself..." "So what happened?" Craig teased. "No, I..." The girl blushed, handing the photograph back. "I've just never seen a nine year old in armour before. Maybe a plastic vest, but not..." "Full plate," the young knight finished for her. "My father never approved of hiding weakness. We had to be strong, he said, so we might as well get used to it as early as possible." "Sounds like my mother," Atsuko giggled. "She always dreamed of me becoming a nurse. She'd get me little toy stethoscopes, and always insisted that I went to the best schools. Eventually I got it through to her that it wasn't what I wanted, but I think she's still hoping I'll change my mind. Honestly, can you see _me_ as a nurse?" "Well you don't look a thing like our school nurse," Craig observed, "but then again, neither does most of the Japanese population." Atsuko giggled again. "So what's she? A ghost? A vampire? A demoness? A mad scientist? A giant blob of ooze?" "Nah, nothing that common." Atsuko blinked. "Common? You really do have all those in your school?" "Our school?" Craig chuckled. "I've got all of those in my class! Well, actually I don't think I'm in any classes with an ooze, but I know there's one on the basketball team." "So Yuri really hasn't been exaggerating," Atsuko realised, still uncertain she wanted to believe in all this stuff. Either that or, as Reika would decide, her whole class suffered from the same mass delusions. In some ways, it was surprising Reika hadn't already decided that Yuri's 'school' was in fact a psychiatric ward. Perhaps she had, and was simply too polite to say so. Around this time the two teenagers finally noticed the tables around them being vacated. "I think lunch break's over," Craig sighed. "It's been great fun though. Fancy meeting a friend of Yuri's here, of all places." "I'm here for the drama school," she told him. "I'm in the tech school," he replied, preparing to head back to class. "Wait," Atsuko stopped him as he began to rise. "I still have that briefcase. I... I really think I should give it back to you." "Oh, you don't want to keep the empty case?" "Not that," Atsuko blushed. "With the contents." Craig blinked. "You're telling me you'd like to return what equates to several years worth of wages for some people? Why aren't you at Knight School?" Atsuko didn't entirely understand the question. She did, however, realise that this sounded even harder to believe than his offer to give it to her in the first place. "Because I still took it and ran out on you when I had the chance?" "I guess so," Craig shrugged. "Tell you what, you remember the reason I gave it to you?" Atsuko nodded, and blushed again. "Then keep it for now, and I'll talk to you again at lunch tomorrow. That okay with you?" Last time he'd offered, Atsuko had felt certain there was a hidden camera somewhere, that a security team would have told her it was only a joke, or that the bills would turn out to be toy money. It was only once she was home that she'd realised he'd been serious, and that she'd just potentially committed one of the largest acts of non-corporate fraud in Japanese history. All over a date. Now that she knew he was genuine, and didn't have fears of the police or Yakuza knocking down her door in the middle of the night, the offer was utterly mindblowing. Yet the scary part was that the money wasn't even an incentive. She'd heard more about Yuri in the last few minutes than for several months before that, and Craig had actually seemed like a reasonably nice guy. Like she'd told Reika, they must have just gotten off on the wrong foot. "Sure," she nervously replied as he walked away. "See you tomorrow." A few minutes later, Craig was back in his classroom and watching as the late returners straggled in. Sitting there waiting, a suspicion began to form in his mind. "Liza, have you ever dealt with anything that could create temporary lycanthropes out of regular mortals?" "Dealt with, or dealt in?" she asked with a grin. "I may have had a strength potion that could manage that..." ******************** "!enough, you barbariaN ?have you no respect for culturE" Kashin glanced down at the cracked and splintering remains of the Unbidden's golden box. "Evidently not," he replied. "It also seems I have no respect for our tax authority, despite the substantial 'donations' I recall making to their cause. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" "?whatever are you talking abouT" "Wrong answer," Kashin roared, systematically skewering all four Ethinisian Pain Sticks through the holes he'd created in the box. "!!!!!aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhH" "You could have told me it was just an Elder God," Tokiko sighed, disappointed. "!?!_JUST_ an Elder GoD" the Unbidden screeched, through his dimensional protrusion's equivalent of clenched teeth. "I know he's boring to play with," the swordsman apologised, "but it wasn't my choice. It's just that most students with corporeal form learnt not to bug me a long time ago. It's really just the ghosts and Godlings left who're too stupid for their own good." "I should have at least brought the other ammunition." Kashin shrugged, and started rotating the blades slightly. Tokiko started waving her gun around, looking for something to destroy. "So how long do you have to let him cook for?" "Not sure," Kashin admitted, as the windows all shattered. "My mother used to complain Elder Gods could take hours. Maybe I should just leave them in there for a few days?" "Yeah, we can keep him at my place for a while," Tokiko offered, sending shards of vase across the hallway. "It's too ugly to go in the house, but the cellar rats might appreciate the company." "!alrighT" the box cried. "So you'll come home with us?" Shredded tapestries and paintings began to accumulate on the floor. "!no, you fooL" "Then we'll wait until you feel a little more friendly," Kashin grinned. For the next several minutes they continued to walk down the hallway, as Tokiko demolished anything which looked breakable (as well as several things which didn't). After noticing they were ignoring him, the Unbidden tried to remain silent. Even young Elder Gods have their limits, however, and eventually his screams once again began to echo through the corridors. "This place isn't so bad," Tokiko admitted, pleased with the changes she had made. "We should come here more often." The Unbidden's response could not be translated into any tongue his tormentors would understand. ******************** "Wow." Lily slumped back on the couch, utterly exhausted. "You can say that again," Ryuji grinned. "You were pretty amazing, for your first time." "I'm a quick learner," she smiled cheekily, "and I had a great teacher." "Thanks," Ryuji blushed slightly. Then the two just sat in silence for a while, content to let time go by. "Ah yes," Ryuji eventually spoke again, "there's nothing quite like professional accounting." Since shortly after Craig had left that morning, Ryuji and Lily had started their attempts to obtain a detailed and thorough understanding of the Maimsworth family's financial situation. After a full day of inspecting the books, touring the estate, questioning Klein and undertaking their own miniature stocktake sessions, the pair had finally gotten a real feel for the way business was currently conducted. Despite the amount of work needed before he could say for sure, Ryuji already felt confident he could make a few small changes that should lead to significant improvements. "So, what next?" Lily asked him. Ryuji glanced up at the clock. "Go home, then come back tomorrow and keep going?" "I meant with Yasuko." The former magical girl poked her tongue out. "Silly." "Hell knows," Ryuji sighed. "I'm still not exactly sure what happened on the last day of school, despite the fact Craig seemed to think he was helping me." "She's free, isn't she?" "And mad," the Merkla demon pointed out. "You don't want to see a succubus when she's mad." "What about when I..." "Not even close," he interrupted. "You are NOT a succubus. You've got the body of one, and the powers of one, but you certainly don't have the personality." Lily looked marginally annoyed. "Trust me, that's a good thing." "Says he who's head over heels in love with one," she pouted. Ryuji ignored the remark. "Apparently, I've also got the feeding needs of one," Lily eventually reminded him. "You had an idea there?" "Ah yes," he grinned, digging around in a large bag. "Here you go." Lily stared in shock at the pile of assorted cans, tins and bottles he produced, sporting such labels as 'Natural Plant-Soul Extract', 'Synthetic Soul Juice', 'Soul Substitute #9' and 'I Can't Believe It's Not Soul!'. "Where'd you find all this?" she asked incredulously. "The Unbidden found me a store that sold them," Ryuji admitted. "I just thought one day that if vegan vampires can survive in this day and age, surely there was some demonic dieting fad somewhere which could help you. Turns out I was right, you just can't buy the stuff in this dimension." Lily picked up several of the items to take a closer look. "There's a supermarket somewhere with shelves of this stuff?" Ryuji nodded, still finding the idea rather comical himself. "You can try them all, see which one you prefer, but I can't guarantee you'll like the taste of any of them." "Oooh!" Lily completely missed his comment, engrossed in the label she was reading. "One of the serving suggestions is with ice cream!" ******************** "!okay, I'll get it bacK" Kashin smiled, removing the Pain Sticks. "Somehow, I just knew you'd be civilised about this." The Unbidden stretched a tentacle out to dial on the phone Kashin offered. ".it's mE .undo iT !all of iT !you know what I'm talking abouT" Kashin waited a minute, then made a call of his own. "It's all there? Good." After carefully loading his bag, the swordsman held the crumbling gold box in his hands one last time. "You will never trouble me again, nor will your kind. Understood?" ".curl up and die, mortaL" Kashin chuckled, before tossing the box as far as he could out the window. "Tokiko?" "With pleasure." With a single shot, the box exploded. Golden debris was soon scattered all across the lawn. "So," Tokiko asked as they left the ruined building. "Care to tell me why that idiot did all this?" "It was over Yuri, he wanted her to go back to the Future Accountants Club. The sad fool had no other way to hurt me, so he somehow ran up a fake tax debt." "All because you wouldn't let him have your successor?" Tokiko teased. "Now who's taken a liking to a freshie?" "I did what I had to, in order to protect the name and reputation of my club," Kashin insisted. "I'd almost think you were jealous." Tokiko just kept walking, meeting up with Amy outside. "That was so much fun!" the young apprentice cried. "Thanks for bringing me along!" "What was fun about it?" Kashin asked, wondering how this girl could enjoy so much what Tokiko had found a bore. "I thought he'd at least have a few more guards." "He did," Amy beamed, pointing to the corpses littering the pathway ahead. "I can't believe they were all stupid enough to come through that one tiny gate!" Kashin whistled appreciatively at the body count. The guards didn't look too tough, but that many at once could have been a severe inconvenience. Tokiko just grinned. "Told you she could still come in handy." ******************** Ki was, much as he hated to admit it, happy. He was going to meet up with Yuri. There was no sign of Bala. There was no sign of Amy. There was no sign of anyone intending to kill Yuri, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd killed anyone in front of her. Even the fact that the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and it was a beautiful day couldn't detract from his mood. For that matter, he wasn't even put off by the very fact that he, a member of the Steel Thorn Clan, actually _had_ a mood. He would soon be with Yuri, alone, on a... Well, it wasn't a 'date' per se, Yuri's response had made that part clear. However, it was a start. It would be time alone with her, and that was all that really mattered. A rose by any other name still stung with the same sharp thorns. He had underestimated how busy the girl's holidays could be, and as a result had seen most of the first week slip away before his eyes. But the week wasn't over yet, and there were still more weeks to come. He planned to use every remaining minute to his fullest advantage. Ki briskly walked the streets, determined, paying little attention to the world which seemed to glow all around him. It was only a few blocks, but he still felt a sense of relief when he arrived at the park, ten minutes early. Standing near Yuri's favourite bench, was a small pink-haired girl. "Leilei?" Where there was smoke, there was usually somebody burning to death. Ki hoped it wasn't him. If Bala was here, that meant trouble. BIG trouble. If he was here when Yuri arrived... However, Ki could see no trace of his bandaged adversary. Strange, Bala wasn't known for his discretion. Then the young girl turned around. She wasn't Leilei. She was a Doombringer. Ki breathed a sigh of relief; it was only a mortal enemy, the sworn nemesis of his clan. For a moment, he'd actually been worried. The girl, however, still looked worried, and with good reason. The elders of their houses both dictated the same procedure for such a meeting: a duel to the death. She looked young and weak, not to mention unarmed, while Ki was a fearsome sight on the best of days. "I'm busy," he told her bluntly. The blood feud was no longer his concern. Yuri would arrive shortly, and would not want to share her bench with a corpse. "Get out of here." "Your clan killed my brother," the girl responded, not moving. Was she planning to stare him to death? "And you'd like to join him?" Ki wondered out loud. "Just draw!" she insisted. This was ridiculous. Why did it have to be so much harder to NOT kill somebody? "You draw first," Ki sighed. So she did. One moment the girl was unarmed, the next she withdrew a blade the size of his from a pocket dimension. It was a trick Kashin often loved to employ, and quite a helpful ability at times, but Ki hadn't seen too many others who could use it. "Now you draw," she said, keeping the blade aimed directly at him. This was frustrating. She was clearly serious, and that sword would make her significantly more irritating to deal with. Still, Yuri wouldn't want him to kill her. "Quit picking on him," Yuri's voice suddenly arrived, giggling. "You little bully!" Ki glanced up to see her approaching from behind the girl. "Honestly Leilei, I never expected Bala to send you to do his..." Yuri paused, reaching a position where she could suddenly tell it wasn't Leilei. "She's a Doombringer," Ki explained. "Our clans are at war. I think she wants to kill me." Yuri looked the girl over, then giggled again. "I have to," the girl replied. "It is the will of the elders. Your house is no different!" "So?" Ki shrugged. "So you are honourbound to fight! Do you dare refuse a challenge and defy your family?" "Yuri," he asked. "Do you want me to kill her?" "Nope," Yuri shook her head. "Then yes," Ki replied. "I do." "Yuri?" The girl's eyes flew wide. "Not Yuri _Mikagami_?" Yuri looked at the girl one more time. She still looked like Leilei, but was otherwise unfamiliar. "Do I know you?" "I'm Selune," the girl introduced herself. "Selune the Thirteenth, Doombringer. I'll be starting at Dark Heart High next year, and I'm really keen to join the fencing team. I've heard _so_ much about you!" "I'm honoured," Yuri replied, hoping that didn't include the latest rumours around the school. "So you'll be in Lily's year? It's nice to meet you!" "Is it true you're going to be the captain next year?" "Yep," she admitted. "I can still barely believe it myself." "It's such a coincidence to bump into you like this!" Ki cleared his throat, far less convinced it was a coincidence. Whether the conspiracy was Selune's fault, or simply the rest of the world reminding him that it cared, he no longer believed anything which interrupted his time with Yuri was a mere coincidence. That, and the girl was still pointing a sword at him. "So do you still want to kill my friend?" Yuri asked her. "I have to fight," Selune asserted. "To the death." Yuri smiled to herself, deciding to test just what this girl had heard about her. "I can't let you do that. You'll have to beat me first." Sure enough, Yuri's boast seemed to rattle the girl. "Just to first point," Yuri continued her bluff, reaching for Ki's sword. "I wouldn't want to hurt a future student." "Wait Yuri," Ki tried to warn her. "My ancestral blade can only be drawn by..." *ching* Yuri held the blade up to the sun, ignoring the Steel Thorn's amazement. The younger girl stared at her, seeming to panic. Yuri kept a straight face, but began to feel a little sorry for her. Were it not for the family dispute, she would surely never have dared challenge Ki. She certainly seemed young and frail, for somebody starting at Dark Heart in a matter of weeks. "I concede," Selune muttered, backing away. "My gripe is with his family, not yours, and I would rather witness your swordsmanship from an entirely different perspective." "As you wish," Yuri smiled, sheathing Ki's blade once again. She glanced at the girl half-running away, and couldn't help but giggle. "See you again some time!" "What if she hadn't run?" Ki asked, once she was gone. "I suppose I would have had to disarm her," Yuri admitted. "But I just wanted to try saving you for a change." "I'm surprised you didn't invite her along for ice cream," Ki chuckled, realising he didn't entirely object to the reversal of roles. "Oooh!" Yuri peered down the street, preparing to yell after the girl, but she had gotten away. "Maybe next time." ******************** Selune was already several blocks away. She walked proudly, seeming just a little taller and many times more sinister. "Like taking candy from a baby," she chuckled to herself. She'd played the weakling for so many years that it now came as second nature to her. Only her immediate family ever had any idea of what lay beneath the act, and she'd ensured her brothers were in no position to give away her little secret. The Mikagami girl had lapped it up, just as she'd expected. If she played her cards right, she'd now have a noble benefactor at Dark Heart. Nobody would pick on the 'weak' girl, if she was under the protection of THE Yuri Mikagami. Truth be told, Selune could handle herself. It was just that if greater demons started picking on her, then suddenly disappearing, even the most braindead of classmates might eventually put two and two together. However, that Steel Thorn had fascinated her. He'd seemed... domesticated. Not at all like his late cousin. She'd written Yuri off as a fool, a fluke surviving off dumb luck and a snowballing reputation, but to see a Steel Thorn in such a state... Perhaps there was something to her after all. It was just one more reason to stay on her good side. Selune never bared her claws until she knew EXACTLY what to expect, by which stage her victim had spent weeks, if not months, living on borrowed time. This time would be no different. Selune was nothing if not patient. Everything revealed itself in time. ******************** "We're here." Bala opened his eyes to discover he was standing in an old quarry. They must have been miles from civilisation, and he had no idea why. His guide seemed little surer herself. "She said she'd be here..." She? Images of Yuri immediately leapt to Bala's mind, discarded a moment later when a figure emerged before them. Amy Angeleye. "You may be the fated union of two of the most ancient evils on the planet," she snarled, "but you really suck as a boyfriend." Correction. Evil Amy Angeleye. As Amy's splitting had become more common, those closest to Yuri had begun to recognise the different forms of the young Angeleye. To Bala, the distinction was pretty clear: the good Amy preached and begged, the evil Amy bitched and insulted, and the 'real' Amy shivered if he so much as looked at her, at least unless she thought she was protecting Yuri. In many ways her evil half was the only one he ever actually listened to, but her rants were still far too emotional and repetitive. Amy turned her attention to Leilei. "My better half's hiding over the rise there. She suggests you join her, if you're at all squeamish." It took Leilei a moment to realise what she meant by 'better half'. Bala nodded to her, and she reluctantly hurried behind the small hill. "Now, where were we?" Amy asked sarcastically, as if interrogating a prisoner. "Ah yes, you suck. You've been stringing Yuri along all year, and then running away whenever the chance presented itself. You must be the biggest coward in the world. But you already know that, don't you?" Bala just blinked, refusing to show any real reaction. "That's what I'm talking about! I specifically instructed Leilei to remove the bandages from your mouth, so that you could talk back, yet you're still too scared to. You're still hiding behind that blinking. Or are you just lazy? Is that your problem?" Bala didn't even bother blinking this time. "Your actions _are_ inexcusable, but aren't you even going to try?" No direct reply, but Bala's confusion was beginning to turn into frustration. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue? Or is it content with your ears?" Bala snorted when he realised what she was alluding to, remembering what he'd done to the last person to tease him about them. Brobdingnag and the corridor wall had spent the rest of the day being extracted from each other, and neither had yet made a full recovery. "Yes, don't think the entire school didn't notice. You wear those things for months, then one day they just vanish. Then you come back with them, but don't say a word. Um, hello? Go with your symbolism if it suits you, sure, but remember what it's supposed to represent. I thought you were after YURI! If you want the girl, then recovering two bits of metal might be a nice step, but it won't do jack on it's own. You have to actually TALK TO HER! Unless you care more about the jewelry than you do about her, but if that's the case then why dump it in the first place?" "She turned me down," Bala growled under his breath. "I can't hear you!" Amy sung. "What was that marvellous justification?" "She turned me down!" Bala repeated, feeling his frustration turn to anger. "So you respond by proving you're a stubborn vindictive coward? What's she supposed to say, when your solution for everything is to run off and vow never to speak to her again? Even when you are spending time with her, you never seem to care, you never even bother thinking how she'd feel." "I..." "Yes, you. Everything's about you, isn't it? That's where Ki walks all over you, I'm afraid. Don't get me wrong, I hate his worthless hide as much as I detest you, but you heard his speech for the final exam. Did you notice the way he was looking at Yuri, the entire time?" Bala's snarl made it quite clear that he had. "I thought so. He's openly admitted that nothing else in his life can interfere with his goals, and I think we both know one of his primary goals right now. You, on the other hand, just seem to sit around waiting for Yuri's sympathy." Sometimes waiting seemed like all he could do. Nothing else ever seemed to go right. "You know you're the sympathy case," Amy continued, "don't you? Your powers could rival half the school staff combined, and yet she pities you. People have the sense to get out of your way, but nobody knows you at all, not even Yuri can ever understand you." "I'm a monster." Bala recalled Amy's words after he'd proposed. He'd agreed at the time, but been unable to give up so easily. "No," she countered, "you're an IDIOT! Nobody understands you because you never bother trying to explain yourself, you never give them a clue what you're thinking. Yuri's spent the entire year around you, but you still spend more time hiding from her than opening up! You've never shown her what you feel." "I proposed," he angrily reminded her. "No you didn't, you told her to marry you. It wasn't even a question!" Bala's reaction made it clear he didn't entirely see the difference. "Girls don't just spend half their life dreaming about their wedding, it goes much further back than that! A proposal is supposed to be a confession: you're supposed to bare your soul and tell her everything she means to you, tell her you can't live without her, tell her that nothing could make you happier than spending every last waking minute of your life with her!" Bala began to see the distinction. "You don't just hand over a rock and say 'put it on'!" Amy screamed. "Have you ever even told her you LIKE her?" Reluctantly, Bala shook his head. "And you wonder why it came as a surprise to her? She's trying to work out if you even care, and then you somehow manage to bring up marriage without even answering her question! DO you even like her?" Bala nodded, with the kind of raging determination that caused inanimate objects to sweatdrop. "Than at least SAY it!" "I like her," Bala mumbled. "You're joking, right?" "I like her!" Bala insisted. Amy tilted her head and rolled her eyes. "Is that it?" "I love her!" Bala roared. "ABOUT BLOODY TIME!" Amy sneered. "Now, go and tell HER that!" The slightest hint of realisation dawned on Bala's face, along with what could almost be called the beginnings of a smile. He said nothing else, instead storming off towards town at top speed. Amy wandered over the rise. Her sneer slowly faded to a grin, then finally a look of relief. Leilei pointed to the large sign saying 'Stay here, I'll explain after', and glanced at her quizzically. "That was scary!" Amy moped. "I don't see how my evil half can handle it. I never want to do anything like that again!" "You mean you're not..." "Split?" She shook her head. "I had to aim. If I'd let just one half of my personality tackle that, then this quarry probably wouldn't have been enough to stop civilian casualties." Leilei realised she was right, but the argument had still sounded far from controlled. "The problem is he's still running away," Amy sighed. "Even if he does manage to confess to Yuri, he's running on nothing but rage and adrenaline, with me to blame. As soon as he calms down, he'll likely just run off again." Leilei shook her head softly. "I hope you know what you're doing." "I don't mind who she chooses, I just want her to be happy. This indecision is only making them all tense and miserable. I gave her up so she could choose one of those two, but they won't even get off their backsides and DO something about it!" "Has she done anything about it?" Amy hadn't expected that response, and wasn't certain she could answer it. "I'd like everybody to be happy too, but Yuri still owes Bala the truth about her own feelings. Do you think she's ready to give him that yet?" "No," the triclops sadly admitted. "Then we may both be hoping in vain." ******************** "Yuri, hi!" "Atsuko? How long has it been? How're your holidays going?" "It's been too long. I'm attending a drama summer school, so far it's been great!" "I still can't believe you're a drama girl now." Yuri smiled. Atsuko was right, it had been far too long since they'd last met up. "Listen," her friend continued. "There's something else I need to tell you." "Fire away!" "When I signed up, Reika told me it'd be a chance to finally meet some boys. At least if I'd actually talk to them. I didn't believe her, but then imagine my surprise when I..." "Oh my darkness!" Yuri squealed. "You mean you did meet someone?" "Well it's not like that," Atsuko's embarrassment was obvious, even over the phone, "but we've spent every lunchtime so far talking, mostly about you." "About me?" Yuri knew her friend was a little clueless in the relationship department, even compared to her, but this didn't quite sound right. "Yeah, I was just so shocked to meet one of your school friends!" Yuri's whole body became rigid, as a very awkward tingle danced up her spine. "Are you alright? How many limbs does he have? Has there been any chanting? Strange jewelry? Stay away from that tentacle! What about..." "Calm down," Atsuko giggled. "It's not like that either. He seems... nice. A little strange I'll grant, but far less than the first time I met him. Well, actually it was the second time I met him, since the first time I tried to kill him and don't really remember it all, but that's perfectly normal isn't it?" Yuri eventually managed a weak 'yeah'. "He's just so... different from what I imagined. From everything, really. It's just so amazing being able to swap stories about you, and not have Reika insist it never happened or the other person brand me as delusional!" "Are you sure you're alright? I didn't think you believed in all those things either." "Well, not until they started happening," she admitted. "I'm not sure I care if I am delusional. I missed you, and it feels so great to finally feel like I really know you again!" Yuri tried to recall the last time Atsuko had sounded so happy, but nothing came to mind. She just hoped her friend knew what she was getting herself into. "Look, just be careful. If anything were to happen..." "I will be, don't worry. I'm happy, not stupid." "Okay," Yuri sighed, smiling to herself. "So who is this tall, dark and handsome then?" "Craig Maimsworth." Yuri promptly fell off her chair. "Yuri? Are you alright?" "I'm okay," she eventually managed to reply, picking herself up but still trying to control her laughter. "Craig 'Ladyspooker' Maimsworth? The walking explosion? The guy who failed spectacularly to kill me every day of school for the first several weeks, then had me tutor him just so he could pass Basic Villainy 101?" "That's what he said," Atsuko agreed. "He said he was kind of a friend of yours now though." "Yeah, he is. I guess I exaggerated a little. He really is kinda sweet for an evil overlord. Until recently his reputation as class clown was unrivalled, but he's improved a lot lately." "He told me he hasn't blown up a single thing since vacation started," Atsuko said proudly. "Well, except for a microwave, but that was just because nobody ever told him not to put whole eggs in there..." "Yep, that's Craig," Yuri giggled, wondering what quirk of cosmic fate had brought those two together. She still had some doubts about Craig, mostly relating to his competence, but after tutoring him for so long she knew the dark knight had a strong sense of honour. If there was anyone from Dark Heart she could trust her old friend with, he would at least rank rather high on the list. "So you really like him?" Yuri asked once her laughter had again subsided. "And the fact that he's evil doesn't bother you?" "I still like you. Are you evil now?" Atsuko asked rather bluntly, despite the nervousness in her voice. "I... err... well..." "Then I'll reserve my judgement on that matter." Yuri could practically hear the smirk on her friend's face. She really had blossomed from the silent wallflower she used to be. "So you really like him?" Yuri asked again, refusing to be sidestepped that easily. "I... err..." It was Atsuko's turn to stammer. "I can talk to him freely," she eventually said. "That's more than I've been able to do with a guy for as long as I can remember." "I imagine he's in the same boat," Yuri assured her. "I'm really happy for you." "Yuri," the soul-shattering rumble that was her father's voice came marauding up the stairs. "Dinner time." "Gotta go," Yuri apologised. "It's been great talking to you, we've really got to meet up sometime soon. Can I ring you back after dinner?" "That was your father, wasn't it?" There was a hint of fear in Atsuko's voice, but barely a fraction of the terror and denial that used to follow Troi's calls from downstairs. "Yeah," Yuri admitted. "Tell him I say hi," Atsuko said happily. "Your mother too. I'll talk to you again later then." Yuri's father often yelled when she was on the phone, largely as a means of getting her off the phone if he knew she was speaking to Atsuko or Reika. She wondered how he'd react to the news Atsuko didn't seem to mind anymore. Probably better not to tell him. He'd just decide that meant he had to eat her now, cholesterol or not. ******************** Author's notes: My second chapter is complete! Again, it's seemed quite an ordeal at some points, but been a wonderful experience overall. Plus, it marks the sixtieth chapter for DHH, which is really quite an achievement for the series. Firstly, I want to make it clear that my intention with Atsuko was never to turn her evil, make her a core character or get her killed off. I liked her and Reika as they were, I just didn't want to see them vanish forever. I think the amount of 'screentime' she received in this chapter was necessary for what I wanted to do with her, but still rather excessive, so I hope future authors can keep her around without going as overboard as I have. Similarly, Selune isn't my invention, she arrived in chapter 54 and has been carefully biding her time since then. She's nowhere near as stupid or headstrong as her brothers, so I hope she won't suddenly decide to launch a suicide-attack and erase herself from existence within the next few chapters. Also, Tokiko's 'trick' is meant to be a way she can use a significant percentage of her older powers to make a very slight difference, not an attempt to increase her powers an order of magnitude. I just wanted to show that the surviving upperclassmen still have some tricks up their sleeves, many of which may be far more subtle than those of their deceased classmates. The Amy/Tokiko scene saw much rewrite discussion, just unfortunately not as much actual rewrite as it should have. After delays for a variety of reasons, the version here was finally whipped up a few hours before the deadline, by which stage it was far too late to get any real response to the changes. I hope my prereaders see it as at least a slight improvement, but I would probably have spent a few more days trying to fix it, if I'd had them. My apologies for the 'mazoku' reference. The mazoku are a race of monsters, from the Slayers anime series, who feed and delight off negative emotions. On the flipside, any excessive happiness (like Yuri, a good half of the time) tends to irritate them and give them headaches. I would have preferred to use a reference I'd be more confident most readers should get, but unfortunately I couldn't find a more commonly known equivalent, and the mention wouldn't have worked with anything less succinct. Otherwise, I tried to keep all references internal. I've referred to a lot of past events, so I'm not going to try and list everything, but the major chapters I've pulled things from have been those with the larger appearances of Atsuko and Reika. Chapter 4 introduced Atsuko and Reika, mentioned the incident at Yuri's eighth birthday party, and saw a strength potion of Liza's accidently turn the two normal girls into werewolves for a short while. Chapter 20 had Atsuko and Reika bump into Craig at the mall, where he was quite unsuccessfully attempting to find a date. A short while later, Atsuko left with a large briefcase of American bills, and Craig realised he had no way of contacting her. Chapters 26 and 27 covered the sleepover, where Reika and Yasuko had a mild disagreement, and Melvin showed up to cause all sorts of problems. Aside from a few very brief mentions, Atsuko and Reika have barely been seen since. Other than that, Hikaru was introduced (and targetted by Liza) in chapter 44, Selune murdered her eldest surviving brother with Midori's blade in chapter 54, sparking the Steel Thorn/Doombringer war, Craig was informed about the engineering summer school in chapter 58, and Kashin's house and possessions were repossessed in chapter 59, thanks to the Unbidden. Many thanks to DrKultra, Nick Callahan and Segev Stormlord for prereading. Special thanks to Doublemint, for suggesting a holiday arc and helping with the original planning, to Nicolas Juzda, for once again finding the errors nobody else could spot and showing me the things I'd been blind to, to Mingi and Kobbie, for making the time to always be there when I needed somebody to bounce ideas off, and to Qetuth, for getting through DHH in three days and then letting himself be roped into last-minute prereading. Lastly, thanks to all the other writers who've helped get DHH this far. I can't wait to see where things go next. Kurayami Diku ******************** Reluctantly, Troi flung open the door, a little disappointed at the lack of response to his appearance. It was always fun to watch the religion-peddlers scream and run off, but this visitor wasn't like them. At the door stood a slightly familiar boy, wrapped from head to foot in chains, bandages and wards. The coverings to his mouth had been loosened just enough to be pulled down, enabling him to speak. He was still young, still weak and underdeveloped, but it was obvious that he would be a force to be reckoned with when he came of age. If he lived to come of age. "I love your daughter," the boy said, insistently. "So does half her school, apparently," the Hellstorm replied, unimpressed, "but does she care for you?" "I'm here to find that out," the youth responded, making it clear he had no intention of moving until he did. The dark mass' face arranged itself into a sadistic smile. "Wonderful," he rumbled, beginning to shut the door. "She'll be back from her aunt's in a month." Once the door had closed, Troi glimpsed back through the keyhole. Surprise and embarrassment were making their way into the boy's face, if barely, but he showed no signs of moving. "Could be a keeper after all," Troi mused, wandering back into the living room. He'd been searching for a new lawn imp, to keep the salescreatures away. This boy would do a far better job. It would certainly be interesting to see how long he stood there. "Who was it?" Yuri asked her father, as he returned to the table. "Just a lost tourist," he replied, grinning to himself. Hoshiko couldn't help but notice his expression. "You didn't eat them, did you dear?" "No honey," he replied, picking up his newspaper. "I wasn't snacking before dinner."