A petite young girl with her dark hair in a Rounded A-Line Lob bounded down out the door of her house before spinning around and waving to her mom. "Goodbye Mama! I'm off to schooool!"

"Goodbye dear! Have fun and work hard, Mari!"

"Rules of life mom!" She called back and waved goodbye as she hurried towards school. Akibara Mariko is dressed in the girl's version of their school uniform. A bright blue jacket worn over a gold vest over a buttoned up white shirt and a red tie on top. Down below she has a bright blue skirt worn over blue tights and fancy shoes. She's carrying a black bag in her hands which she'd decorated with a maneki-neko magnet. Akibara is an extroverted ball of energy and enthusiasm rushing to school with a big smile on her face waving to people on the way and simply vaulting or flipping over objects in her path!

"Going at warp speed again, Mariko?"

She slowed to a stop and looked up above her at the voice to see a taller girl wearing the same school uniform. Said girl had a smug look on her face and long dark hair with a few strands hanging down in front of her face. She pushed off of the wall she was sitting on and dropped to the ground. "Whoo! Good morning!"

"Good morning, Ayako! Are you ready for school?"

"Of course. I just don't know if school is ready for me." She joked as they resumed walking. "Or this new girl."

"A new girl?"

"Yeah, I heard a rumor we're going to be getting a new student. I don't know much about her though. She's a total enigma." Yakushimaru Ayako summarized. "Probably a transfer student."

Ahhh so she's a Mystery Student! I'm intrigued!"

Ayako brushed a hair out of her face. "Think she'll be hot? Sorry not sorry."

"Well if she's a transfer student then she's probably single at least. Go for it."

"I'll check her out when she arrives. With any luck we'll be in the same homeroom. Either way the important thing is to ease into a relationship. You don't want to rush things."

"Very mature of you, Ayako."

"I am the very model of maturity." She joked and stuck out her tongue.

"You sure are." She stopped to perform a few stretches. "Hey, you want to race?"

"I thought you'd never ask." She performed a few of her own stretches. "Ready?"

"Set."

"GO!"

They broke into full on runs racing all the way to school like track stars while dodging around anyone in their path or vaulting any objects in their path like freerunners without ever slowing down! They raced the whole way to school until they finally arrived and ran through the gate entrance! Mariko won by a hair.

Ayako took a moment to catch her breath while laughing. "Ohhh man that was fun! I never get tired of that!"

"Boom! The score is 3-2 now! Advantage, Mariko!"

"Ha ha. Don't get too comfortable princess. I'll beat you next time." She stood up and they resumed walking together into school where they found Niikura Orinosuke and Kuma Ritsuko. Ritsuko was watching him intently with her arms crossed and Niikura listening on his phone trying to call someone.

"Come on man, where are you? Pick up already."

Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Nothing.

Niikura sighed and left another message. "Hey, Sanjiro, it's me again. You weren't at home when I knocked this morning so I've been trying to call you. But you still haven't picked up. Did you lose your phone or something? Anyway, call me when you get this message or any of the others I've sent. Bye." He hung up and sighed. "That's the fourth message today. What's going on?"

Niikura Orinosuke is wearing the men's version of the uniform with pants instead of skirt and tights. He has a handsome physique with a boyish face and his hair is worn in a bowl cut.

Kuma Ritsuko meanwhile is a heavier lady built like a football player or a wrestler and towers over them. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail while her hair hangs down in front of her face with longer strands framing the sides of her face.

"Hey guys! What's up? Did something happen to Sanjiro?" Mariko asked them.

"Maybe. I don't know. He hasn't answered his phone all morning and he wasn't at his house either. If he was inside you think he would at least call."

"That's strange." They walked into school together. "I mean where would he go without at least telling you?"

"I know right? I have no idea where he could've gone and his parents didn't know either."

"Right now the best we can do is wait and see if he shows up. If not then we can team up and visit all of the usual places to see if he's there." Ritsuko suggested. "His phone is ringing at least so we can try tracking it after school."

"That's about all we can do." Ayako responded. "But don't worry, I'm sure he's okay. It's Sanjiro. He's a good kid. No way he'd get into trouble right? I'm sure he has a perfectly valid explanation."

"Right, yeah." The students traversed the hallways until they arrived at their homeroom and took their seats amid the idle chatter of their classmates.

It didn't take long before Professor Wakamura Mushanokoji arrived. The students stood up and bowed and greeted him and he greeted them in return.

"Good morning class! I'm glad to see you all again, though, one of us appears to be late?"

"About that, Sir, Sanjiro wasn't at his home this morning and he isn't answering his phone."

"Huh. Really? Hm. I'll send word about this and they'll call his house to be sure. For right now though, I would like you all to meet our newest transfer student from Shimahaba! Come right in, Miss Tendou!"

The door opened and the new student strolled in. The students felt a brief chill wash over them like someone had just let in a rush of cold air on a winter day but it was only momentary. After that brief lapse in temperature they got a good look at the new student. Tendou Mika was of average height with a slender figure and fair skin and midnight dark hair that hung down around her face and the sides of her head while reaching down to the back of her neck. She is naturally wearing the school uniform. She has a relaxed and happy expression on her face. She reminds you of a cat. Mika brushed the hair out of her face and grinned. "So this is Vista Academy! I like it. Hello everyone! My name is Tendou Mika. I'm new in town and I hope to get to know each and every one of you! Thank you for letting me join your class." She bowed and the students applauded.

"Thank you Tendou! We have an empty seat near the back you can take for now. Please open up your textbook to chapter 14."

"Yes sir. Thank you." She strolled across the room and took her seat in the back.

Niikura watched her walk to the back before returning his attention forward. (My best friend vanishes right when we get a new transfer student. Right. I've got my eye on you.)

"Well then, without further ado, allow me to introduce myself:  My name is Akibara Mariko."

"Nice to meet you, Akibara." They shook hands and Mariko noticed how strong her grip was. They weren't exaggerating about her strength. Cool. She laughed.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you transfer here?"

"Job transfer. My dad had a great opportunity to work a new job here and he took it so we packed up and rode out and here I am."

"Really? Who does he work for?"

"Moondust Eclipse Security. It's a security firm subsidiary of Archstopheles Incorporated."

"Arch...stopheles? Well that's an intimidating name. So your dad works security huh?"

"Yeah. He's a health nut so he made sure we were too. Thus, my athleticism."

"Huh. So did they ask him if he wanted to transfer?" Ayako questioned.

"Heh. Sadly no. Lets face it these days only about 16.2% of firms say that they take the wishes of employees into account when making decisions on transfers. I'm not worried though. I'm sure I'll be able to settle in here just as well."

"Yeah, we'll be sure to do our best to help you feel welcome."

"Thanks. That means a lot."

As their conversation continued, Niikura searched Archstopheles Incorporated on his phone.  It turned out to be a real corporation that, from his little skimming, sold just about everything. He scrolled back up and tapped a link that would take him to their webpage.

The moment he clicked on the link his screen changed to a quick POV animation of the screen flying upward through a spiraling tunnel of orangish-red flaming energy that went by faster and faster until the screen suddenly exited the tunnel into outer space where it circled the globe with a trail of flames until it stopped and quickly zoomed out to reveal the logo of Archstopheles Incorporated in bright red metallic letters which floated in front of a rotating planet earth with glowing lines around it showing their reach. The camera zoomed out to reveal the logo and Earth were sitting in a glass case which was plaed down on an Italian Maple Mahogany Desk. The camera then rose up to reveal a hauntingly beautiful woman wearing a black suit with a red collared shirt underneath, complete with white gloves, a black tie and the Archstopheles symbol on her lapel. Her creamy ivory skin is flawless and she has short dark hair worn in a pixie cut, the deepest green eyes, full lips and a curvaceous figure. Her left hand is extended and open in a welcoming gesture. Welcoming him. Beckoning him.

"So what do you think of the new girl, Niikura?"

He snapped out of his thoughts and suddenly found himself juggling his phone from hand to hand before catching it and exiting the site. "Err...yes. Yeah. What was the question?"

"Hmmmm? What exactly are you looking at?" Kuma teased.

"I was just fact checking her story." He insisted and exited the site and put his phone back on super saver mode. "Anyway what was your question?"

"You're really out of it today.  Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, Kuma. I'm just worried about my friend and...I don't know. Something about this new girl." He looked back to where their classmates were laughing together with Tendou and then faced Kuma again. "Something's off about her."

"Wow you really are jumpy today. Come on, I'm sure Sanjiro is fine. There will be a perfectly rational explanation for him missing school today I'm sure. We'll find him, kick his butt for not showing up and then go for drinks and karaoke. It'll be fine, Niikura. We'll be laughing about this whole thing by tomorrow."

He relaxed and let the tension flow out of him. "I'm sure you're right. I'm probably just overthinking this. Thanks, Kuma."

"Anytime. Now what do you say we work on making the new girl feel welcome?"

Professor Umemura Chiyome walked down the halls of the school while singing to herself. "Do So Do Re La Fa Mi Mi Do Fa Re So So Do La La Fa Ti La So Fa Mi Re Ti Do oh oh Ti Do So Do!" She is a tall woman with an elegant beautiful short hairstyle with bangs hanging down in front of her face wearing a nice business suit with her hands behind her back holding her bag. "Do So Do Re La Fa Mi Mi Do Fa Re So So Do La La Fa Ti La So Fa Mi Re Ti Do Oh Oh Ti Do So Do." She continued singing quietly to herself until she arrived at her classroom and opened the door.

The students stood up and bowed their heads to their teacher. "Gooood morning kids!" She greeted cheerfully. She is dressed in a green business suit worn over a white buttoned up shirt. She has a green skirt worn over her legs and tight leggings on leading down into stylish black heels.

"Good Morning, Miss Unemura!" They all replied to their teacher.

"Take your seats kids." She told them and moonwalked to the monitor screen board, despite wearing heels, while checking her holo-watch. The kids had handed in all of their assignments, and finally stopped. She got setup and she pulled out a headset device and placed it on her head. Professor Unemura snapped her fingers and the monitor turned on along with the girls' monitors activating their Scribe Programs so the girls could commence with note taking. The girls got to work as she began their lesson on Biotech: Human Modification and Augmentation and the possibilities of Transhumanism and how Biotechnology could potentially end human suffering.

After she finally finished her lecture she sipped from her water bottle and then lowered it. "Ahhhh that's better. Alright. Lets go around the classroom and share our thoughts! Who wants to go first?"

Everyone except Tendou was eager to speak up. Professor Umemura Chiyome couldn't help but notice she looked a little down. "Excuse me? Miss Tendou correct? You're new here right? There's no need to be shy. Please go ahead and tell us what's on your mind."

"Uhm, well, maybe in just a little bit. I'm still taking in the lecture, ma'am."

"In that case I'll start!" A student offered. "While the idea of leaving humanity behind can be scary, I'm all for it. Whether through gene manipulation or technological incorporation, humanity needs to evolve, sooner rather than later. Transhumanism is the best way to do that. I mean think about it, what's so great about living life as a plain old human? You can get sick, you can get hurt, you can die in any number of ways, I mean we're already seeing it anyway, with people developing super powers and potentially even the Legendary Lady Knight, so why shouldn't the rest of us catch up in any way we can?"

"That's a good point. Imagine all of the cool things you could do with augments! I'd be a super cool cyborg! I'd make myself into a ninja cyborg!"

"Yeah! Live the dream!"

"Leaving aside the goofy sci-fi dreams, there are a lot of benefits to transhumanization and human augmentations such as eliminating or slowing down diseases and the aging process while making ourselves faster, healthier and stronger." Niikura summarized. "Imagine a world where nobody had to worry about being born with defects. Where nobody had to worry about being sick. Where we could be born prefect and healthy with long lives and superhuman abilities and intelligence?  Just think about everything humanity could accomplish together! We could revolutionize the world!"

"Can that really be called living though? Would you still be able to call us humans?" Tendou questioned.

"Of course not. We'd be Super Humans!"

"But if everyone is born perfect all the time wouldn't that just be boring? Where's the variety in life? And what's so great about extending your lifespans anyway? Why would you want to live forever?" She asked again.

"It's better than dying. I mean, sure, there's an afterlife but come on. 100 years at best if you take proper care of your body and you only get one shot at it? What's fair about that? If it's loneliness you're worried about, don't be. If everyone's immortal then you can't be lonely."

She shook her head. "Come on, think about it man. Even if you and your friends and society are immortal, there would only be so many places to go, things to do, and life defying antics you could perform before life settles into a repetitive boring monotony."

"But in the meantime you could accomplish everything you've wanted to do! Every game you've ever wanted to play, every subject you've ever wanted to learn, every book you've ever wanted to read, you could watch every show, listen to every song, visit everywhere on Earth, work every job, there's plenty out there in the world to keep yourself occupied. Besides, everyone would be hooked up to the internet with internal WIFI so it's not like we'd ever be lonely. We could come up with new things on the regular. Just think of the movies you could make in a perfect society."

"With social and cultural trends that rise and fall, you're bound to see the same ones rise in popularity, fade away, and then come back. It only took a few decades for zombie media to regain mainstream media attention, then fade. Superheroes, westerns, romances, adventure stories, you're going to start seeing the same things over and over again. Typical tropes and cliches may be so ingrained in all of them that you recognize them and it'll make everything feel identical. When you've literally seen it all, what is there left to see?"

"Uhm." Mariko raised her hand. "Sorry to interrupt but doesn't this discussion hinge on the idea that we even could make ourselves immortal? Also, we should discuss the limits of humanity. If you mutate a bunch of super powers into someone and then shove a bunch of metal and machines and computer chips into them can you really consider them human?"

"It's called cyberization and it's awesome." The same student from before replied with a laugh.

"About that...doesn't this whole discussion actually hinge on the idea that any of this would be made publicly available at affordable prices instead of being reserved for the rich elite? Even if you can afford it, you have to trust your corporate overlords of the government to not plug something into your head to control you. Or do you really think they would allow you to become a superhumanly augmented cyborg and not have a way to keep you under their thumb?" Yakushimaru reasoned with everyone.

"Oh come on guys. Would our government really do that?" Kuma joked.

The class laughed amidst a slew of acknowledgments.

They continued their discussions in a loop around the room until it came time for class to end and Professor Umemura clapped her hands. "Ahhh what a great productive day! I'm proud of you kids! Alright! Here's your assignment for tonight!  In this assignment, you will be asked to choose a side and defend your position. In at least 300 words, compose a thread that takes the side of supporting or rejecting transhumanism! Give evidence to support your position and include 1 citation from the Bible, or your faith of choice, I'm not picky, and 1 from another source other than your texts. Double Spaced. MLA Format. You know the drills kids. I'm looking forward to reading your papers." She laughed and bid them good day. The students stood up and bowed before sitting back down.

Tendou didn't waste much time before standing back up though. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

"I need to take a leak." She waved it off and walked out of the classroom.

She walked down the hallway into the ladies room where she quietly closed the door behind her and hunched over the sink. She let out a long sigh. "Stupid kids. You don't even realize how good you have it."

A few members of the class split off to guide Tendou to the cafeteria while the rest relaxed and ate lunch in the classroom. "Oh you're about to feast like a Queen, new girl. The food here is great. Healthy, affordable and delicious. You might even want to try some with your drink."

"Heh, well, if it's as good as you say it is then I'll be sure to  take it up with my dad when I get the chance."

"Oh trust us, newbie, we're about to open up a whole new world of fine dining for you!" Kuma assured her with a laugh.

"Hey, hey, could we try some of your drink?" Yaku asked her.

"Sorry. I don't think that's a good idea. It's really an acquired taste. If you're not used to it, you'd spit it right back out. Trust me. It's for your own good."

"Is it weird I want to try it even more now?"

"A little bit. I'll tell you what. I'll bring a small amount of it tomorrow and you can try it then."

"Great! I'm looking forward to it."

"Do you really want to try something like that, Yaku?"

"You bet I am, Niikura! I ain't afraid to taste anything!"

"¥ 2000.00 says you puke it out." Kuma joked.

"You're on!"

The group lead her downstairs to the first floor and out the door to the next building over which was designed to look like a large fancy restaurant with CAFETERIA proudly displayed on a fancy sign on the building. "Okay that's fancy. Are we even dressed for this?"

"Relax, relax! So long as you're wearing your school uniform then you're dressed for it." Mariko assured her. "Follow our lead."

They walked up to the door and presented their ID's to the doormen. They scanned their ID's, nodded and let them inside. Tendou walked past them and stared into the building. "What...the..."

The students who'd arrived before them were already seated around the interior. Either at fancy tables or booths. The restaurant had very nice tiled floors and wallpapers and staff walking around dressed like waitresses and waiters delivering meals and drinks and busboys clearing tables. Some of the students were still reading off of holo-menus that shined out of the tables.  It was like walking into a dream.

"Uhhh are we still on campus?"

The others laughed.

"Oh don't worry, girl, we're still on campus. We just happen to be at the best place on campus!" Mariko assured her. They walked up to the receptionist. "Hi there. We're together. Akibara. Party of 5."

"Of course. Welcome back, Akibara. Would you like a booth or a table?"

"Lets go with a booth. That cool with you guys?"

Naturally they agreed.

"Alright. Booth it is!"

"Great. Right this way." The receptionist lead them across the restaurant to a booth table against the wall and they sat down together. The receptionist tapped the center of the table and holo-menus shined out of it. One for each of them.

"Take your time looking over the menu your waiter will be over shortly." She informed them sweetly and returned to the front.

"I was not ready for today." Tendou acknowledged as she closed her menu and opened up a slot in the lid of her drink to sip from.

"Hmmm?" Kuma looked over at her drink. "Hey is that me or does that thing smell kinda funky?"

"You're not wrong." Tendou admitted and sipped from it.

"It's like...a new car, lavender, caviar, roses and wine." Tendou joked.

"More like grass, engine grease and metal."

"It smells like cologne and mouthwash to me." Akibara responded.

"It smells like stinky fish heads if you ask me." Yaku replied with a grin.

"Grass, engine grease, metal, cologne, mouthwash, fish heads, lavender, caviar, roses, wine and a new car." Niikura chuckled.

"See? He gets it."

"Not going to lie I'm really curious to try this tomorrow." Yaku informed her.

"If you think you can handle it." Tendou smirked.

"Bring it on."

The girls looked over their menus and selected their meals and relaxed as the waitress arrived at their table. "Hello everyone welcome back to the cafeteria! My name is Oshima and I'll be your waitress for the day. Can I start you off with any drinks?"

"Sure! I'll have a strawberry lemonade." Kuma suggested.

"...One for me too. Something to wash this down with." Tendou spoke up.

"A milk blast for me!" Yaku added.

"A tropical infusion." Niikura selected.

"Tropic blitz." Akibara decided.

"Alright got it. Anything else? Are you ready to order?"

"Sure. I'm ready if you guys are."

"Okay. I'll have the Seared Salmon With Israeli Couscous Salad." Kuma selected.

"Classy. An excellent choice. And you ladies?"

"Gousetsu Udon."

"Sarmale De Peste, please." Yaku settled.

"Char Okakiage for me please." Niikura spoke up.

"Excellent, excellent, choices! And you young lady?"

"Ah hah. Sorry. I have something here already. Thank you though."

"You're welcome. Alright I'll be back with your drinks and your meals will be ready before you know it! We pride ourselves in fine dining at warp speeds!" She hurried to the back. Was gone for almost a minute and then she returned with their drinks on a tray and she distributed them to the girls and then returned to her work.

"Alright then. Now that we're all settled in." Akibara raised her glass in a toast. "I would like to formally welcome the newest member of our group! Tendou Mika!"

"Welcome, Tendou!"

"Thanks you guys. I'm happy to be here." They clinked their drinks and sipped from them together.

They sat together chatting among themselves until the waitress came back with everyone else's food. As she was distributing their meals however Tendou raised her hand. "Excuse me. Miss Oshima?"

"Yes, is there something else I can get for you?"

"No, but, I was wondering. Do you know about Sanjiro Sakurai's absence today?"

"Huh? Sanjiro? Come to think of it one of the girls heard about it through the grapevine and word did trickle out from there. Is he alright?"

"We don't know." Akibara admitted. "Nobody's been able to get in touch with him all day. We're planning a search party after school."

"I see. Well I hope he's fine." She finished setting down the plates and started to walk away before turning back around to look at them again. "Heeey. Now that you mention it, one of us is missing today too. Kokoro Sato didn't show up today either."

"Huh? Seriously?"  Niikura asked. "Did you try calling too?"

"We did but she never picked up."

"A boy and a girl skipping school huh? I guess we have our answer!" Yaku replied.

"No. Sanjiro wouldn't do that, at least not without telling me at least, and Kokoro wouldn't skip work would she?"

"That's right she wouldn't! She'd drag herself here through rain and sleet and snow if she had to!"

"Right. So there's definitely something going on here."

"Have you guys tried tracking their phones?" Tendou asked. "There are apps and maps for that."

"We tried to find Kokoro with that but it didn't come up. The phone is ringing whenever we call but she never picks up and we can't track it. Nothing comes up when we try. It just comes up empty. The map comes up but it can't pinpoint where the phone is. It's...eerie." Before the waitress could elaborate further however she was called back. "Sorry. Please enjoy your meals." She bowed and hurried back.

"Okay...this just got weird. Niikura? Can you find his phone?"

"I'm going to try." He said and took out his phone and went into maps and put in the number and waited for it to be located. The page buffered for a minute only to come up blank! The phone could not be found! He tried a few more times only to get the same result each time!

"What the hell?"

"Okay, that's...that's a little scary." Akibara admitted.

"Where the hell are they then? If their phone can pick up calls then surely it should be able to be located right?" Yaku asked.

Tendou sipped her drink while contemplating the situation.

They tossed around ideas but it ultimately came down to the fact that nobody had any clue on how to locate them or what was wrong with the phones.

(Good f**kin' grief, again and again with this.) Tendou sighed internally. "I guess our only option is to call the police and ask them to assist in our search. With all of us scouring the city I'm sure we'll be able to find them. At least I hope so."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just hope everyone's alright."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure there's a rational explanation for all of this." Yaku replied and patted her on the back.

"Yeah I know. It's just kind of a weird thing to happen on your first day."

"Well sometimes the dice just happen to land that way. What matters is how you play the cards you've been dealt. But listen, we're glad you're helping out. The more help we have looking for them the sooner we'll find them, right?"

"Right! All together now!" She put her hand out. "Lets work together to bring them home!"

"Yeah!" The friends declared and put their hands together and raised them up.

After enjoying lunch they left tips on the table and walked out. Tendou placed her bottle in her bag. "Lets see according to my schedule Gym is up next right?"

"Gym class huh?" Ayako crossed her arms. "You might be in for a rough time."

"Why's that?"

"It's just...look, Miss Ogasawara and Mister Akamatsu are nice and all but they can be really demanding especially of new kids. You're going to be put through your paces today."

Tendou laughed. "Sounds like fun to me. Trust me I'm used to it. I can take anything they throw at me."

"I'm sure they'll be happy to hear that."

"Cool. Lead the way."

They crossed the campus again to the gymnasium where they split up. The girls leaving to their locker room and Niikura leaving to the men's locker room.

Niikura sighed as he stepped into the men's locker room. Still with no sign of his friend.

"Hey man!"

He looked up at the student currently waving him over. "Hey Taka. How's it going?"

"Any sign of Sanjiro?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. We haven't been able to track his phone. Look." He showed his friend what was happening to his phone.

"Okay, yeah that's weird." He thought it over. "Maybe ask the Geek Squad if they know anything."

"You mean the Science Club?"

"Same thing. Look, if we can't figure it out? Maybe they can. You're on better terms with them than I am."

"Yeah that's because you hit one of them with a football."

"Which was an accident and I have continuously apologized for." Taka apologized.

"Yeah but calling them Geek Squad isn't helping." Niikura pointed out.

"It's a term of endearment."

"Sure it is. But hey, listen, something really weird is happening. I heard a waitress didn't show up for work today. They haven't been able to get in touch with her either."

"Are you serious?" Taka laughed. "Well then there's nothing to worry about. They're probably just off on a hot date."

"Sanjiro wouldn't skip school. Or at least not without telling me." Niikura stated firmly. "Besides which, it still wouldn't explain why we can't get in touch with either of them. Something is very wrong here."

"Hey guys!" A bespectacled student walked up to them. "You getting ready for class or what? You know how coach is."

"Yeah." He put away his phone and walked to his locker. "We'll talk some more after class."

"Sure."

Meanwhile in the women's locker room!

Tendou walked to her locker, hit the keypad button to open it up, #13173904, and and pressed Enter. The keypad numbers glowed green and the door popped open. She placed her bag on the ground of the locker and then began undressing.

"Hmmm?"  Akibara looked over at her. "Wow. You weren't kidding about being an athlete. You are toned as hell girl."

Tendou laughed and flexed. "I told you didn't I? Fitness runs in my DNA."

"So you're the new girl, huh?" A haughty voice asked them.

They looked to the side to see a high class looking young lady with short hair and a radiant beauty approaching them.

"Hello, Mushanokoji." Akibara replied politely.

"Hello, Kibanyan." She responded and returned her attention to Tendou. She reached out and placed a hand against the locker behind her and smiled.

"My name is Mushanokoji Akanenyan. That is a name that carries far more prestige than any other in this or any school. As the reigning queen of this institution I would like to formally welcome you to Vista Academy. Getting down to business, I think someone like you would fit right in with my Royal All Stars."

"...Royal What Now? Also you're in my space. At least let me get dressed."

"Don't fall for it. They're a bunch of mindless drones who parrot whatever she says. There isn't a single brain cell between them." Ayako snarked.

"I wasn't talking to you, Ayanyan. Please mind your manners and wait to be spoken too."

Tendou just looked confused. "Ayanyan? Kibanyan?"

"You have to admit it makes them sound much cuter." She reasoned. "Even Kuma's name can be improved by turning it into Kumanyan."

"F.U.R.B. Mushanokoji!" Kuma called over the lockers.

"Riiiiiight. Well, anyway, my name is Tendou Mika and-"

"Tinyan. Got it."

"But I didn't even-"

"Don't worry about. So how about my offer? Join up with me and you can run this school. Why crawl in the mud with the peasants when you can soar above them like a majestic flying Eagle?"

"I'm already walking the path of Heaven. Eagles are beneath me." Tendou smirked and turned around. "Now if you'll kindly back off I need to finish getting dressed."

A few of the girls laughed at Queen Mushan being so utterly dismissed. She just glared at her. "Cocky little...alright then. You might change your mind after we thrash your peasants today." She turned around and walked away to rejoin her friends.

"Hot damn, Tendou! That was awesome! I've never seen anybody so completely dismiss her like that."

"Ehhhh. I've dealt with her kind before. Trust me. They're all just hot air."

"Oh man this day is finally shaping up. Don't worry about class. We've got your back!"

"Hell yeah." She grinned and they returned to getting dressed and stepped out for class.

"Sure, soccer, sounds like a plan." Mister Akamatsu stepped up and clapped his hands. "Alright everybody fall in! We're going to be playing some soccer! To ensure fairness we'll be splitting into two even teams and to avoid biases we'll be selecting only the team captains. They will be the ones who select their teams."

(Wait, how does that avoid bias?) Tendou questioned.

"Team A will be Captained by Mushankoji and Team B will be captained by Tendou!"

Tendou's and Mushan's friends cheered them on as the two walked in front of the class. (Heh, this will be a cinch. New girl doesn't know everybody's strengths and weaknesses like I do. She'll be more likely to pick her loser friends than a winning team like me.) "I would like to start first if that's alright."

"Go ahead."

"Thank you, Tennyan." She smiled sweetly and turned back tot he group. "Alright, alright! My man! Ryousuke! Get on over here!"

A handsome muscular looking teen with a shaved head ran up and high-fived his girlfriend and then kissed her right in front of everyone. A few them cheered them on while others rolled their eyes.

"Kuma! Come on over. You're our goalie." Tendou told her.

"Called it." She laughed and jogged up and high-fived her.

(Heh. Predictable.) "Shichinyan! You're with me!"

Another athletic teen, this time with longer hair, ran up next to his friend.

"Akibara!"

"YES!" She ran up and joined her friends.

"Kyokonyan!"

"Yakushimaru."

"Nao."

"Niikura."

"Natsuki, Ryuu, Miku, Sachie, Saki."

"Yuuma, Saburou, Ryou, Kazuo, Kosuke."

The names went on like that for a while with Mushan recruiting the best athletes and popular kids in the class to her side and Tendou honestly picking seemingly at random but actually picking a mix of the athletes and the other kids. Once everybody was picked onto a team and the teams were even they followed the coaches out onto the field and the teams were given a chance to strategize.

Tendou stepped up onto the bleachers and turned back around to look over the team who were currently muttering about the game and whispering to each other only for Tendou to loudly slam her hands together. "QUIET! FACE FRONT!" She barked at her team like a drill sergeant. The kids immediately snapped to attention.

"That's better! Now listen up! I know you all thought you were being nice and quiet but I heard you loud and clear! 'We can't do it.' 'They're going to cream us' 'It's always the same' 'We can never win'."

She mocked them and then spat on the ground.

"Never. Can't. Helpless. Those are just words. They're meaningless! Wake up! Those words only have power if you give it to them! That is loser talk! You are not losers! I handpicked all of you myself because I saw your potential! I saw the fire burning deep inside your hearts and I AM YOUR GASOLINE! I will light the fire in your asses and awaken the sleeping giants inside of you! Look around! Look at the proud men and women standing next to you! You have trained together! You have exercised together! You have played together! You have attended classes together! You know each other! You know your strengths and weaknesses! You know where your power lies! Use that! You are not a ragtag group of quitters! You are one cohesive unit! Our enemies think us weak. They see us as easy prey. We will prove them wrong. We are going storm that field and score as many goals as we want! Nobody will stop us! I want you all to stick together out there and here's how I want you arranged: tough, tough, soft, tough, soft, soft, tough, tough, soft, soft, tough, soft! Kuma! You're our goalie! That makes you our last line of defense between the enemy and our goal! Do not take your eyes off the ball. Focus on that at all times. The rest of you take your positions and watch me. I will be scoring the first goal myself. Focus on the enemy team, watch how they move and find their weaknesses. When it comes time for the second goal I will be expecting you to capitalize on the enemies weaknesses and flaws. The enemy does not see us as threats. Use that arrogance and stupidity against them. Engage with maximum speed, neutralize the shooters and move on to our objective: Kicking that soccer ball into that goal and letting nothing stand in our way. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

Her team cheered her on.

"Fear Does Not Exist For Our Team. DOES IT?!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"Defeat Does Not Exist For Our Team. DOES IT?!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"Nerves Do Not Exist For Our Team. DOES IT?!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"NO CAPTAIN!" They cheered all the harder.

"WHO'S FIELD IS THIS?"

"OUR FIELD!"

"WHO'S DAY IS THIS?"

"OUR DAY CAPTAIN!"

"YYYEAAAAAHHHH!"

"YYYEAAAAAHHHH!"

"HELL YEAH!"

"HELL YEAH!"

Mushan's team just stared at her in disbelief. "...What kind of drugs is she on?" Kyokonyan questioned.

"She does realize this is a soccer game right?" Nao questioned. She looked over to Mushan. "Right?"

"Uhhh....r-right? Right. Okay." Mushan cleared her throat. "Uhhh...don't...worry about all that. Just focus on the game. We'll kick their butts and win like we always do. No problem."

Tendou quickly outpaced the other students to reach the ball and jumped in the air, caught it on her knee, let it fall to the ground and then passed it over to Mariko! She began dribbling it around the field until she noticed one of Mushan's friends swiftly approaching her and she turned around and kicked the ball through the air to Niikura who jumped in the air and kicked it over to Ayako. She bounced it off her knee, kicked it up into the air, performed a backflip, caught it and continued doing so before suddenly throwing it into the air and then kicking it over to Natsuki who ran with it and dribbled it around and away from the other students before passing it over to Sachie who passed it back and forth between herself and Saki until one of the students ran over and knocked over Sachie and began running with the ball only to be interrupted by Ryuu who tripped him and took the ball but then Shichi came in and tripped him and threw him to the ground but not before Ryuu managed to pass it to Natsuki who kicked it into the air over the others to Tendou who jumped in the air and spin kicked it through the air back to the goal over the goalies head!

2-0 in favor of Team Tendou!

The kids reassembled and began helping each other back up to their feet as the goalie grabbed the ball, reared back and threw it into the air. This time however Mushan ran on top of one underling, jumped off of him, jumped to the others who gave her a boost into the air, flipped in the air and kicked the ball down to the ground towards Ryousuke who bounced it off of his head and then his chest and then he put his foot on it and then he started quickly dribbling it across the field while outmaneuvering or shoving the other students out of his way until Niikura ran over and then he ducked down into a slide that kicked the ball over to Mariko who passed it between herself and Ayako until Ayako kicked it at Saburo who headbutted it out of the air down to the ground and kicked it over to one of his friends but Tendou intercepted it, smoothly danced around the team and kicked it into the air again and then kicked it at the goal aiming for their third point but Mushan jumped in the air and kicked it out of the air towards her teammates who both jumped up and kicked at Tendou's face but she just hopped up and bounced it off of her chest, back to the ground and she passed it over to one of her friends and then she dodged a swipe from another one of the students and tripped and flipped him to the ground.

The rest of her team ran into the middle of the field against Mushan's team where they all began grappling and wrestling and pushing and shoving each other to give Mariko the room to get through the crowd and kick the ball into the goal!

The score is now 3-0 in favor of Team Tendou!

The teams split up and Tendou's team helped each other up off of the ground and Tendou jogged over to them. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Just fine." Mariko assured her. She grunted from the pain and pulled herself up. "Lets keep going. We've got a lead for once. Lets keep it up."

"Love it. Love the attitude. And the rest of you? Who else wants to keep going?"

"Yes Captain!"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"YES CAPTAIN!"

"Fear Does Not Exist For Our Team. DOES IT?!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"Defeat Does Not Exist For Our Team. DOES IT?!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"Nerves Do Not Exist For Our Team. DOES IT?!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"NO CAPTAIN!" They cheered all the harder.

"WHO'S FIELD IS THIS?"

"OUR FIELD!"

"WHO'S DAY IS THIS?"

"OUR DAY CAPTAIN!"

They all turned back to face Mushan's team again. Ready to finish the game.

The group left the school grounds with Tendou in tow. "Feels good to finally get out of there." Tendou admitted. "Personally speaking? I've been itching to start this adventure." She told them and took another drink out of her bag and began drinking it down.

"You promise us that's non-alcoholic?" Yakushimaru asked her. "Or if it is can you hook me up?"

"Yaku!" Mariko scolded her.

"What? We're off school grounds."

"You still shouldn't be drinking in public. You could get caught. Besides we're on a rescue mission."

"I'll cut you a deal. We can drink together after we find him." Kuma offered.

"Deal."

"After we get answers." Niikura told the group.

"That's fair." Yaku agreed again. "I want to know what happened anyway. We all do."

"It's non-alcoholic anyway." Tendou informed her.

"Oh. Never mind then."

"How many of those do you have anyway?" Mariko questioned.

"Enough to get through the day and get my daily dose of synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs."

As their conversation continued her attention turned to the city around her. It was actually quite amazing. A beautifully pristine skyscraper city with fantastic architecture with a slight futuristic edge to it. The sun shining down on them reflected off of the buildings in such a way to make them sparkle. It made the city look like a beautiful diamond. 

"It's really beautiful, right?" Mariko asked her. "Just wait. We're going to open up a whole new world for you. You're going to love it here, Tendou."

"You know? I think you just might be right about that. I'm already making friends and this is just such a beautiful city. I would really like to stay here. Truly."

The group took a stroll around the city and down the sidewalks touring until they arrived at their first destination. "Al-right! Here's our first stop! Manga Mania Emporium!"

Tendou looked up at the giant bookstore looming over them. "How many floors does this place have?"

"Ten."

"What? Ten? Are you serious?"

"Makes the Mandrake Complex look small right? We come here all the time to hang out. It's kind of a second library for us. This will be our first stopping point on our grand tour search party. If we split up we can cover more ground. Mariko will give you the tour while you search the various floors while the rest of us ask around if anybody's seen him."

"Good idea. Lets get to work guys!"

"YEAH!"

They walked into the store and Tendou was quickly taken aback. The interior of it was just as fantastic as the rest and everything was incredibly neat and orderly without a speck of dust or dirty anywhere! It was immaculately clean and shiny!

"What the?"

"Yeah it's a bit overwhelming at first but it's pretty cool once you figure out the floorplan." Mariko informed her. "They even have a cafe on every floor. Come on. I'll give you a tour."

As Mariko began giving her the tour through the store Niikura walked up to the cashier. "Yo."

"Hey there Niikura. Heck of a place to bring your dates."

"Yeah it's a search party. We're actually looking for Sanjiro. Do you know if he's been in today?"

"Sanjiro? No I haven't seen him and I've been here all day. Still, people are coming and going in and out of here all day long so there's a chance he came and went and I never him."

"Alright, thanks, I'll keep looking."

"Huuuhh? You either?" Yaku asked the cafe barista.

"Sorry, I haven't seen the young man in that photo here today."

"Are you sure he's not ringing any bells?" Kuma asked the cashier.

"Sorry, I haven't seen him here today."

"Wow they have a little bit of everything in here, huh?" Tendou asked as she looked at the cover of Top Secret Sentai Ranger Rebellion. "Mint condition too and the price is pretty good..."

"Ohhh that's a good series. Spy and espionage drama with a Sentai Team is a fun idea." She paused. "It's kind of hard to tell who the heroes are sometimes though."

"When in doubt root for the guys on the cover." Tendou advised her. "What do you have there?"

"Zombie Blasters Resurrección!" She showed her the cover of a cast of wildly eccentric characters blasting apart a group of zombies in comically gory fashion. "It's like if you poured a whole bunnch of Doom all over The Walking Dead. I know it's intended for mature audiences but it's just so over the top and funny that I love it anyway." She laughed. "I mean ocme on, you can't take this stuff seriously."

"I'll...take your word for it." She assured her and set the Manga back. "Come on, lets keep looking for any sign of our missing man."

"Hey did I say something wrong?"

"Naaah, nope, nothing at all. You can buy it on the way out and a lollipop if you behave." Tendou smirked.

Unfortunately they didn't find any sign of Sanjiro. Nobody who worked there had seen him today and they didn't see him there either. Mariko bought the book though.

The next stop on their tour was The Celestial Movie Theater but unfortunately he wasn't there either. The Space Arcade was next and despite getting to look at all of the fancy games they had everywhere there was still no sign of Sanjiro. Afterword they checked out the Radiant Fitness Center Gym. No luck there either unfortunately. No matter which of his usual hangouts they investigated they didn't find any trace of him. Nobody had seen him.

The friends collapsed on benches. "I'm beat." Mariko sighed. "Physically and emotionally."

"I just don't get it. Where could he have gone?" Yuriko asked.

"We've checked all of his usual hangouts but there's no traces of him anywhere." Kuma rubbed the back of her head. "This doesn't make sense."

Niikura drew a line through the names of his friend's favorite places on a peace of paper and then folded it up and put it back into his pocket. "Okay...hell with it, I'm talking to a police officer. The first one we see we flag down."

Tendou leaned back and looked up at the sky lost in thought.

They hung out together on the bench until they spotted a police car driving by and Niikura stood back up and waved him over. "Hello! Hello! Officer! Officer wait up! We need some help!"

The police car pulled over and the police officer lowered his window. "Hello there what can we help you with?"

"It's about my friend Sanjiro Sakurai. He wasn't at school today and we haven't been able to get in touch with him all day." He showed the police officer a picture of Sakurai on his phone while taking the paper out of his pocket and then unfolding it. "We checked all of his usual hangouts today but nobody has seen him. Can you help us out?"

"Sure thing. We'll talk to his parents and see if they've been in touch with him. Do you have any other information you can provide?"

"Certainly."

He provided the officers with his friend's phone number and address and any other information required before the officers thanked them and informed him to go straight home.

The friends walked around the city a bit more before coming to a stop at a bus stop. "Well....damn. I was so sure we'd find him. Something's definitely wrong though."

"Don't worry about it. We got the word out and the police are looking for him now. We'll find him no matter what." Yaku assured him.

"She's right." Kuma agreed as she stretched. "We're going to find him and we'll get out answers. He'll be just fine and it'll all turn out to be a huge misunderstanding."

"He'll be alright. I just know it. Sanjrio always lands on his feet."

"Yeah, you're right, thanks guys. I'll be sure to get in touch with the others and see if anybody else has seen him. Sorry your first day out together has been a mess like this."

"Nah it's cool. I'm glad I got to spend the day with you guys and join in on a search party. It was fun to try and help out even if it didn't work out yet. Don't worry though. I'm sure he'll turn up." She saluted. "I'll see you tomorrow guys. Hopefully it's better."

"Goodbye! See you tomorrow!" The friends split up and walked home.

Tendou took a long stroll through the city walking through the city blocks down the sidewalks while the people of the city walked around and past her and the cars drove to and fro and dogs barked at her in passing and cats yowled and ran off. She paid them no mind and continued strolling through the city before she suddenly walked around a corner and took a long stroll through an alley before stopping in the middle of it and sighed. "You can come out now, boys, I know you're there. Stop playing these childish games already and face me."

Ryousuke, Shichini and Kyokonyo stepped out from the shadows in front of her while another group of older boys walked up behind her.

"Let me guess: Your girlfriend put you up to this?"

"We just wanted to have a word about your behavior in class today." Ryo told her while tapping a pipe against his palm. "All that attitude and violence and poor sportsmanship? It's not cool new girl."

"It's well past time you learned how things work around here." Kyo added while resting a bat against her shoulder.

"Rest assured, you'll have plenty of time to think about your behavior in the hospital." Shichini informed her while he took a wooden sword out of his belt.

"After today, you'll stop associating with those losers and only speak whenever we speak to you. You'll follow our rules new kid and you are never going to pull that shit you pulled today again."

Another group walked up behind Ryo and they took their positions to have her completely surrounded.

"Before we get this started, I have to ask: Are you responsible for Sanjiro's disappearance or the others around school?"

"Not us. Those idiots knew their place and even the ones who didn't toe the line weren't on our list anyway. You're the first one to make our shitlist in a long time newbie. Welcome to the consequences."

"I see. That's good to know." She tossed her bag away so it landed on top of a dumpster lid safely out of the way. "Alright then, come on cockbites, lets fucking dance. I could use the exercise anyway."

Tendou kept walking through the city down the long streets and walkways until she reached her home and walked up the stairs. It was a decently sized house with four bedrooms, four toilets and baths. The total floor area of the house was three hundred forty three square meters. The ground floor plan consisted of the garage which could accommodate three cars. Opening  the main entry, you will pass by the small porch and opens to the foyer. Left of the foyer is the living area which is 31.1 square meters in floor area and directly opposite is the stair going to the second floor. Next to the living room is the breakfast area, which is provided with a sliding door opening to the lanai outside. Kitchen is 10.99 sq.m. with center work table and nook. Besides the kitchen, there is also a daily kitchen area whenever the main kitchen is busy, there is always a reserved area to accommodate more kitchen work. Second floor plan consists of the 2 bedrooms provided with en-suite bathroom for each, Master’s bedroom with walk-in closet and toilet and bath; and balcony exclusive to the master’s bedroom. The third floor plan is where the family room is located complete with tv stand and shelves and toilet and and bath for convenience

"Awww yeah! Home Sweet Home!" The voice cackled. "I've gotta say we've lived in a lot of homes but they did a good job with this one."

"A good job with the disguise maybe."

"Just like you."

She strolled up the stairs and walked inside, kicking her shoes off as she did. Tendou rolled her neck. "It feels good to be back." She admitted and headed right to the kitchen where a woman dressed in a blue long sleeved shirt and dress with an apron on. Her face was beautiful enough that she could've graced any billboard. Her long hard reaching down to the middle of her back. Tendou could smell the sweet aroma of her cooking and it made her mouth water. She'd been stuck with the drink all day long. She needed something she could chomp down on.

"Hey. I'm home."

The woman turned to look at her with a way too big smile. She placed the bloody knife back on the cutting board. "Welcome home, honey! How was school?"

"It's as we thought. There's been a number of disappearances and while they can ping their phones they can't locate them anywhere. I've got some planning to do but I'm going to investigate the school again tonight."  Tendou told her. "But enough about that for right now. I'm hungry. What do you have?"

She gestured to a large steaming bowl she had sitting on the counter waiting for her. "Cabonara Ramen! The recipe usually calls 2 tonkatsu instant noodles, 2 soup powders of instant ramen, cheese, eggs, chicken sliced meat, 400 ml of mik and 400 ml of water but I added in a little bit more just for my little girl." She declared. "Of course I also included your usual favorites into the dish as well to spice it up."

"Oh thank you."

"Thank you..."

"Mother."

"That's my girl."

Tendou retrieved the bowl and chopsticks. "We'll be in my room, mom, feel free to call me when dinner's ready."

"Happily. Rest assured, dear, I have something special in mind for tonight."

"Cool." She accepted the bowl and walked up the stairs up to her room. Upon finding it she set the bag down on her futon and sat at her desk to eat.

"Okay. Time to drop the act." She snapped her fingers and a shimmering light surrounded her body and the face of Tendou Mika shimmered away. Her dark hair was replaced with dark short hair with dark red highlights worn in a subtle mohawk. Her beautiful flawless skin became more patchwork with multiple crisscrossing stitches around her flesh where parts of it had been sewn back on and replaced with new skin or limbs. Even a chunk of her face had been sewn back on. One eye was a bright shimmering green and the other was bright red. Her skin color was a mix of castleton green, a solid light lime green or Crayola lemon yellow in various sections of her body. There were two bolts sticking out of her neck and three others sticking out of either shoulder and one out of each wrist. Her wrists were also covered with a black band and cloths that partially covered her skin up her arm. Her clothes also became bigger to better accommodate her more muscular frame. Her teeth became razor sharp points like a shark. She stretched and then got ready to eat as her meal took on its real form. It was indeed Cabonara Ramen like 'Mother' said but with a morbid twist: Pieces of human meat had also been mixed in. Eyeballs, intestines, hearts, chunks of spines and most importantly brains! Big juicy brains floating in the ramen with the sauce already on them and spices mixed in. Exactly what she needed today. The drinks just did not compare!

She began to eat ravenously while a pair of white porcelain hands reached out of the bag and pushed it open. A dark haired head poked out of the bag and looked around before the rest of the body hopped out of the bag and landed on the bed. It was a dark haired ghostly white skinned doll with pitch black hair and no eyes, merely dark shadows where the eyes had been and dark lips. She was wearing a ghostly white frilly dress as well with a shining jewel in the center of her chest. The 30 inch tall doll girl stretched and rotated her head around three hundred sixty degrees. "Ahhhh nice to be back on the bed and out of your little lunch bag. Feels sooo good to be out of there!" She cackled and sat down on the bed. "Sooo? Enjoying the meal? Mother worked all day on it."

"She's not my Mother but...this is still so damn good!"

"I'll take that as a yes. Fresh brains and squishy guts brought to you by Archstopheles Incorporated."

"The Depths Of Hell." She corrected.

"Same thing." The doll tapped her hands on the bed. "Hey you want some tunes while you eat?"

"Sure." She licked her lips. "Put on some Café Music. Something chill and jazzy."

"I've got just the music." The doll clapped her hands and Jazzy Hip-Hop R&B Coffee Café Music began playing from a speaker on the wall next to her bed.

"Yeeeeaaahhh that's the stuff." She danced in her seat a little while she continued eating. "Thanks, Lily." She replied with the Doll's Chosen Codename she took on based on the haunted dolls of the same name.

"You're quite welcome, Kira Hikaru." The doll responded with the zombie girl's real name.

"Always nice to go back to my real name." She mused and continued to enjoy her food. "You tend to get lost under the glamour."

"Wear a mask long enough and your head will grow to fit it." Lily reminded her. "But you know, if you would just put a bit more effort into your glamour, you would have people falling over themselves to help you. It would certainly make the assignments go easier."

"No." She responded adamantly. "I'm crossing enough lines with the illusions and lies as it is. There's no reason to mindfuck them further. Besides, the psychic hangovers when I inevitably leave would be killer."

"Fooling your classmates, fooling your teachers, fooling security cameras, fooling everybody else, lying to everyone else...what's wrong with taking a step further?"

"Not happening. I'm comfortable with the magic I'm using as is. Next topic." She resumed eating.

"Very well then. How are you planning to find the missing people?"

"I'm going to go back and investigate the school further tonight." She took a chunk of brain and popped it in her mouth. "Hmmmmmm." She moaned happily. "I'll do a bit more research on Vista in the meantime."

"Do you really think they're still there?"

"It's our best option. I didn't sense anything there today but I also didn't get the chance to investigate it completely." She slurped her noodles. "Ssssllluuuurrrrrppp! Ahhhh. I'll find t hem and bring down whatever's responsible for this. Hopefully they'll still be alive when we get there...."

"Let's see, here we go. Vista Academy. It was originally known as The Tsuchimikado School and built back around the year 843 by Tsuchimikado Mochitsune. It declined in the Muromachi Period and was revived by Karasumaru Sanetaka, blah blah blah, they acquired a metric ton of books for it, revitalized the curriculum, worked alongside doctors from different nations, oh hey it used to be free can you believe that? That's interesting. Yadda, yadda, yadda, the school continued to flourish throughout the years that it's been open throughout the centuries until it was lost in a fire in the 1800's only to be rebuilt by Vista Yuzuru back up better than ever and it continued to flourish and expand ever since now known as The Illustrious Vista Academy. Time passed and it became the High-Class Elaborate University Highschool it is today. The alternate classes were deigned to separate the poorest performing students from the top students for special classes until they could bring their grades back up. I guess that explains that and the entrance exam's bizarre, overly complicated questions that no one short of a genius could possibly figure out." She commented to herself.

"Or a Zombie."

"Ha ha ha." She continued researching. "Uh huh, yeah, see it, yep, know this...here we go!"

"Did you find something?"

"Yeah. The gym teachers weren't the only assholes at the school. They had a guy there, Iwamoto Akashi," She began looking into him.

"Ohhhh yeaaaah, I remember him." Lily replied. "Crazy bastard. The guy would demean, insult, deride, scream, shout, throw things, abused and just generally treated his students like crap."

"That sounds about right. What I'm reading about this guy is that he was that level of asshole. Insulting his students left and right, yelling at them, hurting them and psychologically torturing them on a daily basis. He also campaigned to make life worse for the kids in the extra classes to screw them over to the point that they flat out couldn't work their way back into the main building and were tormented for trying. Even after he was exposed it took a lot of work to sort out the mess he created."

"But that wasn't the whole story was it?"

"No. He was enraged at not being fired and came back for revenge. Apparently the guy was so crazy he created this whole elaborate scheme to destroy the school but he was stopped by a security guard and his plan was foiled. He escaped and went on the run again only to be confronted by a former student who took the liberty to exact some revenge for his earlier torture. Iwamato escaped but he was hurt so badly in the altercation that he ended up stumbling into the street and was hit and killed by a truck." She sipped her drink. "It sounds like this could be our guy." She sipped her drink. "Oh man that's good. Still though this leaves the question: Is it his soul back for revenge or is this a Phantasma?"  She sat back and crossed her legs while sipping her drink and then she realized something and swiveled in her chair to look at Lily. "If that's the case however, it wouldn't be just Iwamoto being mimicked, would it? It would be taking influence from the entire school."

"That's right. So you'll be facing a Demon Teacher this time." Lily summarized.

"Huh. Not entirely sure what to expect from that."

Phantasma Illusio Bestia. Phantom Illusion Beasts.

Shapeless disembodied demonic spirits who latch onto a particular location, nest themselves inside of it and soak in the negative emotions and energy in their surroundings to gain strength to take physical form to begin hunting down the humans in their vicinity to either kill or corrupt them to bring them more victims to repeat the process. What form they take, while still demonic, is still influenced by their surroundings however and this will influence their personality and actions.  The power levels of the demons tends to vary depending on how long they've been nesting and the influence their surroundings have on them. Phantasma's tend to be territorial so it's extremely rare to find more than one in a select location.

Kira finished downing her drink and set it down on the desk. She licked her lips and stood up. "Ahhh that was good. You ready to go, Lily?"

"Ready to go visit our expansive underground laboratory of nightmares? Always!" Lily laughed.

Kira picked her up and walked out of her room, down the hallway and down the stairs.

"Oh hello, dear!"

"Hello Mother. I'm going down to the labs to visit the doc for a checkup before my night visit to the school."

"Oh that's a wonderful idea! I'm proud of you for taking initiative on your doctor visits."

"Yeah I guess. Thanks. Don't worry I'll be back up for dinner."

"Good to know. Have fun with your visit!"

"I will, mother, don't worry." She walked past the kitchen and to the end of the living room. She pulled a book from the bookshelf, thumbed through it the middle of the book and then she removed a page to reveal a hidden button. If you weren't able to see through the glamour you wouldn't ever be able to see it. She pressed the button and replaced the page and placed the book back on the shelf. Kira heard the movement of gears and machines as the bookshelf slid forward and then it parted in half to reveal a thick black door behind it with an eyeball esque device on top of it. The device scanned her and there was a *Ping-Pong* sound from the door and the door slid open to reveal a long descending staircase.

"Well down we go!" She declared and walked through the doorway and began descending the long staircase as the door slid down behind her and the bookcase closed back up. She walked down the long, long, staircase as the lights lit up above her as she walked and illuminated the staircase more and more. Not that it was a concern of hers of course but there were serious security measures in place. The stairs had retractable drill spikes that could drill through the feet of intruders, there were lasers built into the walls and flamethrowers built into the ceiling. Essentially if somebody was to break into the staircase there'd be nowhere for them to run.

Try to run down the stairs and your feet would be torn apart and you'd fall down on the spikes to your death.

Try to run on the walls and you'd be sliced apart by the laser grid and then you'd fall on the spikes and be ground up further.

Try to run on the ceiling like a Wall-Crawling Menace and you'd be roasted alive by the flamethrowers.

Even worse? You'd have to deal with all of this at once! So basically unless you had some way of defending yourself from the security system or were too fast for it, you'd be sliced up, ground up and barbecued and likely served up later.

Kira and Lily reached the bottom of the stairs and knocked on the door.  "Living Dead Girl and Killer Doll calling!" She called out.

"Acknowledged." A robotic voice replied and the door opened up. She walked inside to a expansive underground laboratory with a large number of capsule tanks on either side of the long hallway in front of her. Each of them containing pieces of different creatures in various states of development. All of the creatures inside of the capsule tanks are monitored through the terminals in front of them. There's also various machines that are used to compile experimental data and information. She walked past the capsule tanks and further into the lab where there were a few different machines monitoring experiments and a giant computer which monitored everything in the giant expansive laboratory and the house along with multiple different camera angles. She walked past the main room which had a few different beds with wrapped up vacuum-packed tarp packages that were writhing from whatever was inside of them down to a series of doors on either side. She looked around et each of the doors until she was able to sense them and she knocked on it. "Hey Doc! I'm here for my checkup!"

The door slid open and she was greeted by an unnaturally tall and lanky rail thin man.  He was so alarmingly thin, in fact, that it looked as if his bones were about to break through his skin. His body was covered by a skin tight white labcoat with exposed arm and bone muscle from his fingertips leading up his wrists and forearms with five organic hypodermic syringes sticking out of each hand. His mouth was covered by a steel plate with exhalation valves on either side. His eyes were covered by bright blue goggles and he ad spiky white-gold hair on his scarred head. His legs were covered by the same skintight pants legs and he had white boots on. There were clawed metal multi-jointed arm devices attached to his back with glowing red eyes in the centers and spikes running along their backs. He had a tight head mirror bolted into his head.

Steam blew out of the exhalation valves on his mask and he looked down on her. "Ahhhh hello Kira. You're early today. Are you feeling alright?" His buzzing metallic voice chimed out in a friendly tone.

"Feeling just fine. I just want to be in my best shape for my investigation tonight."

"Oh excellent. Nurse! Please go prepare a room and we'll begin Kira's check up and operation!"

"Yes sir. Of course." A sultry voice replied and she finished the work they'd been doing in the room and washed her hands of blood and strolled past her. Nurse Macabre was a tall and sultry professional looking woman with elegant luxury glasses on her face. She has a beautiful face that makes her look like a model which is offset by the top half of her head being missing and covered with a rose tinted glass with her large brain inside of it hooked up to multiple machines with other machines inside of it. She's wearing a tight white bodysuit with black boots and her burned and clawed hands, looking similar to Doctor Graves, were soon covered by tight black gloves. What little of her hair remains around her head is a jade green along with her eyebrows. She is wearing ruby red lipstick. The nurse retrieved her gloves and adjusted her glasses and walked past Kira. "Hello again Kira. I hope this day finds you well."

"Feeling great, Nurse Macabre!"

"That's good to hear. The Doctor has had a few ideas on how to upgrade your body as well. But we can discuss that after your check-up."

"Cool. Thanks guys." She bowed her head and followed the nurse to her room.

In life, Doctor Graves and Nurse Macabre were Super-Villains who'd tried to, what else, Take Over The World! According to them they'd made a pretty good go of it until they were killed in battle and they spent a prolonged period in Hell until they were recruited for The Kira Project. Her. Things had been awkward between them at first of course but ever since then they'd been developing a professional relationship together. They took care of her modifications and upkeep. Whenever she was torn up in a fight or her body had trouble working right she went to them for repair work, upgrades or check ups like she was going to do so today.

Nurse Macabre lead Kira around the laboratory to another room containing the pod. The room had a few computer terminals, capsule tanks with a variety of body parts floating in them, vials of various fluids contained in boxes, numerous medical tools, a large pod covered by a glass lid that could open to hold a grown adult or a zombie of her size, several other machines and glass tubes with various fluids flowing through them. The floor was littered with occult symbols and scribblings. Kira set Lily down on a table and walked behind a curtain where she removed her school uniform and and walked out in the buff with her naked stitched together zombie flesh and bolts exposed. Kira casually rolled her neck and strolled across the room to the pod without a care in the world. Doing this had been awkward at first but after a couple of times she'd gotten used to it. Not like the Southern Hemisphere was worth looking at anyway. Or her Cans either for that matter. The pod opened up on its own and she climbed inside and she laid down inside of the pod as it closed back up. Nurse Macabre logged onto a terminal and typed in her password for it: !WWgh0ghigh0woV^&%^8(()%%#1165756711868123489907U*V1CMKBJ12B0dcvyVdYinRWGN3iv0d5t%%GWt9^4h%ZVfOh&FL#eGJEDjMQ8Xoo@c5ic7QoGJrtg#BxRk!dm5SGD!
         ***********************************************************************************************************************************************

It was a very long password.

"Alright so what are we doing today? Any upgrades or modifications you would like?"

"I think just a general check-up, refill, recharge and a slight boost will work best."

"Understood. I'll start with the check-up analysis and then I'll move onto the shock and injections." Nurse Macabre explained while The Doctor strolled into the room. The pod lit up with a bright blue light as Kira's zombified body was scanned and analyzed both internally and externally while a readout of her body's condition and a rotating three dimensional image of her body appeared on the screen.

"Hmmmm. This is good! Your body is in excellent condition. Of course it was highly unlikely to be damaged in any way over the course of a simple school day. We worked much too hard on you for that to be a problem. All of your body's vitals are good. For a Zombie." Doctor Graves joked.

Kira laughed. "What can I say? I keep myself well fed and hydrated." 

"All day long that's good. That will keep your body in working order and ensure you don't lose your mental faculties and degenerate into a shambling drooling simpleton."

"Oh hell no. I've seen way too many Zombie Movies to let that happen to me."

"Glad to hear it. Would you like the shock now?"

"Sure. Charge me up."

Doctor Graves nodded and flipped a few switches, turned a dial and pressed a button and the pod began warming up.

"Heh. I remember you used to scream like a banshee before you got used to this." Nurse Macabre teased.

"Can you blame me? A normal human would be fried to a crisp. I could shrug off a taser or two back in the day but this is something completely different."

"Now, now, it's only the 50,000 volts. Just a quick little charge-up. You'll be fine."

The sigils around the room began glowing blue while the pod glowed around her once again and then she had 50,000 Volts charged around her and through her body. A normal human would be cooked in the pod by all of this electricity but her Zombie Body was designed to be able to withstand and absorb it. Essentially she was like a machine being plugged in and charged up. It was quite appropriate for her Frankenstein-esque aesthetic. Even if the lightning bolt was not featured in the original novel but...details. At any rate she simply laughed as the electricity arced and danced around her body. The mad scientists kept this up for a minute before they slowly powered the pod back down. After it finished and the pod cooled back down she finally finished laughing and relaxed. "Oh man that always feels so good."

"Of course it does. We designed your body to be able to absorb electricity after all. I'm quite proud over how you've turned out as well. We really did such magnificent work on her didn't we doctor?"

"We really did, didn't we? You're a work of art, Kira!"

"Thanks guys! I think I'm ready for the injections."

"Excellent. Now lets see...alright it's ready." They pressed a few buttons on the terminal and turned a nozzle. The sigils around the room turned green and hole slots began opening around the pod and long thin syringe tipped tubes slid out of the holes and stabbed into her skin. These of course were specifically designed to be able to pierce her skin. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to get through. Once all of these were stabbed into her body another hole opened up and a long metal device slid out and opened up to hold her head. Once all of this was done a sickly green gas began spraying into the pod while a dark green fluid was injected into her body. She wasn't entirely sure what it was only that it was a mixture of different chemicals they'd created: R35urr3cc1ón, 7yr4nn1z3r, Hexachluchiene and 3,5,6-Terephthalamide among others. The serum was injected into her body and spread through it while she bathed in and inhaled the gas. The gas was absorbed through her zombie skin and inhaled. The sickly green gas reached out to her, covering and embracing her with its many arms in an amorphous shape she could only barely comprehend. A yellow-ish green with a writhing cloud-like shape covered with a thin layer of a slickly, oily liquid and surrounded by rapidly shaking shapes she couldn't quite make out. The cloud filled the entire pod until it was finished being absorbed into her body and the syringes pulled out of her body and retracted back into the pod.

Kira breathed out a sigh of relief. She felt incredibly relaxed now. Between the serums and the shocks and the gas her body felt lighter and stronger and completely recharged and refreshed. The brain food and drinks helped keep her functioning and her mental faculties intact but it was their treatments that kept her body operating at full capacity. Not just her physical abilities but her mystical abilities as well. She needed both to be operating at full capacity.

"How was that? Are you feeling good, Kira?"

"Hell yeah." She breathed out while relaxing and waiting for the pod to open while the holes from the syringes closed back up. "Hell yeah."

Doctor Graves turned around politely while Kira got out of the pod and walked across the lab to get her clothes.

"Thanks for the treatment guys. I needed that today and I know it will be enough to accomplish the assignment with flying colors."

"Of course. Anytime dear."

Kira walked behind the curtain and started getting dressed. "You know, you still haven't told me how you originally died."

Doctor Graves laughed. "Well, that's a story for another time. Besides, it was a long time ago."

Mushanokoji Akane played with her cat Diana in her room by dangling a toy above the Fluffy Persian's head so the cat had to reach up to bat it. "Come on, Diana, get it! Get it! Come on! Good kitty!" She laughed and pulled the toy back up as the cat reached up and pawed at it until the cat got back down on all fours and she lowered it again. She repeated this a few times before bringing the toy back onto her bed and patting it. The cat wiggled her butt and then leaped up onto the bed to attack the toy. Mushan laughed again and set it down and amused herself by petting her fluffy cat. Stroking and petting her favorite feline's fluffy fur while her cat enjoyed his toy and purred happily and leaned into her. It didn't take long before the cat got up and crawled onto her shirt for cuddle time. Elated, she resumed petting him with both hands. "Awwwww you're so sweet! Who's a good kitty? Who's a good kitty? You! You're a good kitty! Nyan-nyan, Diana!" 
Diana purred in response and got comfortable on her hooman.  Mushanokojii Akane would get to her schoolwork eventually of course but it was cuddle time right now. Besides this was a good way for her to unwind from the day's events. She couldn't be evil 24/7 after all. Even she needed to take the time to kick back and relax and play games with her kitty.

She continued to pet her for a good long time until she eventually decided she'd had enough and got up off of her, shook off and leaped off of the bed and walked to her door and began pawing at it. She meowed at Akane to let her out.

"Hey there, Diana, you want out? Huh, you want out? Alright, alright, I'll let you out, you silly kitty." She stood up and brushed off her shirt. The Help would take care of the cat hairs anyway. She got up and strolled across her large luxurious bedroom, which was the size of an apartment on its own, 882 square feet, with her Abygaël Upholstered Low Profile Sleigh Bed being just as fancy as someone would expect with a bedroom like this. Her parents took a page out of the Sistine Chapel design book when setting up her bedroom and applied beautiful murals on the ceilings. Elegant maroon archways serve to segregate the sitting area and sleeping area. The maroon motif is seen the drapes of the white four post bed, the English sofa, and the ottoman. The pillars around the room have gilded Corinthian capitals and add extra sophistication to the space. The marble floor also add a nice finishing touch. Mushan reached the bedroom door and opened it up so Diana could rush out of the room to go play or nap somewhere else in their mansion. "Now where are you going, huh?" Mushan asked while she stretched.

The cat said nothing of course but just ran away down the hallway and turned a corner. Mushan just followed at her. All of the doors were closed so it wasn't like she could go anywhere. Mushan turned the corner to the next hallway knowing it would lead another doorway to the staircase down to the second floor of the manor. Mushan would have had her but...she noticed something was off. Where was the Staff? They were usually working around the clock to ensure her home remained as spick and span and sparkly clean or working in the kitchen but Mushan didn't see them anywhere. Where were they?

"Emmalyn?" She called out. "Emmalyn? Are you here? Where are you? Quincy? Trudy? Ethel?" She called out to her staff but nobody responded. This was strange because there would have been somebody up here with her at all times. At least one or two of their staff to both cater to her whims and protect her if it ever became necessary. But she didn't see them around and nobody was answering her. What was going on? "Cicely? Madge? Where you guys? HELLO! Where are you? Come on out! Ugh, I swear if this is a prank you are all in so much trouble! Come on out here! Where are you?" She turned the corner and stopped cold as instead of her beloved kitty cat waiting for her patiently at the door or crossing her path to go sit somewhere else it was nowhere to be found and she instead found herself staring down a long long hallway that seemed to stretch into infinity! It was one incredibly long hallway that stretched on forever. She couldn't see where it ended. The longer she looked down the hallway the longer it seemed to stretch on.

"What...what the hell?" She blinked and rubbed her eyes and looked again to see a towering hunched over man with long gibbon arms reaching down to the floor so that its arms dragged across the floor. It was monstrously tall. At least over seven feet tall and dressed in a black school uniform. The creature looked down at her with a mask in the shape of a student smiled down at her but even this far away she could tell that this man, this thing, was not human. The creature slowly lifted up its right arm and waved to her with its right hand.

Mushan had seen enough movies to know this was not a good situation to be in. "NOPE!" She declared and ran like hell towards the kitchen while the creature stampeded down the hallway. She could hear its thunderous footsteps thundering after her but she didn't dare look back. Whatever the hell this thing was it was too damn fast for its size! It didn't seem possible! Where the hell had it even come from? That hallway wasn't supposed to be there! It wasn't possible! Mushan didn't know if this was a nightmare or something else but she knew her only option was to fight and she had options available. There was no way in hell she could beat it in a fist fight but thankfully there were a LOT of knives up ahead. She stampeded into the kitchen, leaped onto the kitchen island, slid across it, landed on the floor, yanked open the drawer and pulled out two knives, stuffed them into the back of her skirt, pulled out two more large knives, jumped on top of the island and faced the creature standing in the archway into the kitchen. It had raced down that too damn long hallway and chased her across the floor into the kitchen and she'd only barely evaded it!

(Fine then. Bring it on!) "I don't know who, or what, the fuck you are but I'm about to make you tell me! BOW TO YOUR QUEEN!" She declared and ran towards the creature, took a flying leap off of the kitchen island and screamed bloody murder while she thrusted her knives forward! She flew through the air like an arrow! Straight and true with her knives pointed right at the monster's eyes which she fully intended to cut right out!

The creature's arm smacked her like a flyswatter and slapped her right back down to the floor. Her knives clattering to the floor as the darkness took the young girl. The creature lifted her up into the air and shook her a few times causing the other two knives to fall down to the floor as well. The creature simply lifted her up and placed Akane on its shoulder and walked away. The floor shifting and turning left and right and back and forth until it reached the hallway again and the Manor returned to normal.

Diana the cat meowed in confusion while calling out for her beloved Akane-Mommy. Where was she? Where had her Akane-Mommy gone? She was just here wasn't she but then Diana lost track of her after turning the corner. Where was she? Where was everyone? "Meow?" The cat called out again. "Meow?" She called out and sniffed the air. Finally finding her scent again Diana raced towards it happily only to come to a sudden stop as she saw the sharp things on the floor. What were they doing here? Akane-Mommy always said they were supposed to go up high inside big thing. They didn't belong on the floor! She sniffed them curiously. That was definitely Akane-Mommy's scent but...there was something else. Something that made her recoil in horror. Something not right. Something that didn't belong here. Not in her home. Not anywhere. Not in this world. Something scary. She let out another timid scared "Meow?" louder this time hoping Akane-Mommy would hear her and come out to comfort her and let her know it was all okay.

"There you are!"

Diana turned around and looked hoping to see Mommy again but only saw the servant lady. Good enough. The cat bounded over and began rubbing against her while mewing.  Emmalyn reached down to pet her and Diana leaped into her arms!

"Ohhhh you're so sweet...but what's this? Is something wrong? You're shaking like a leaf. Whatever could be the matter?" The cat mewed in her arms. "Okay. Have you seen Lady Akane?" The cat mewed again and just got comfortable.

"I see. Well we'll just have to look for her won't we? But what do you suppose those are doing there? Knives don't belong on the floor do they? That's just silly." She knelt down and kept a hold of the cat with one arm and retrieved the knives with the other, picked up two, returned them to the shelf and then the other two. After closing it up she sat down on the sofa and pet the cat to help calm her down. "Now, now, there, there, whatever could have frightened you so much?"

"Cool." She walked out from behind the curtain fully dressed again. "So how's it look? A clean bill of health?"

"Sure. For A Ghoulish Frankenzombie." Nurse Macabre joked.

"This from the lady with her delicious juicy brain on display." She quipped back.

"Well I certainly can't give you that, and it would take more effort than you think to get through the glass and my skull." She tapped it. "It's a nanomechanically strengthened polycarbonate thermoplastic laminated hellglass case. A highly damage-tolerant metallic glass forged from materials in Hell and Earth that is tougher and stronger than most alloys you'll find on Earth. Even your strength would have trouble breaking it." Nurse Macabre assured her. "But rest assured there's a big juicy dinner waiting for you upstairs."

"Oh I know. I'm just ribbing you." She joked. "So are you guys eating with us tonight?"

"Hmmmm, I suppose we could use a break. What do you think, Doctor?"

"I would be more than happy to assist with preparation!" He offered. "Besides I could use a break myself. I don't need to eat much but taking some time away from the labs to do some cooking again sounds like fun." Doctor Graves agreed. "Just give us a minute to secure the labs and we'll meet you back upstairs."

"Cool. Thanks. This should be fun." She grinned and retrieved Lily. "I'll inform Mother that you're joining us tonight. I'll see you then!" Kira waved and walked out of the labs with Lily in tow. Before she could leave however an alarm began blaring from the computer!

The Akibara's were in the living room talking when they heard her ear piercing shriek of terror compounded by Mariko stampeding down the hallway like the hounds of hell were on her tail. "MOOOOOMMM!"

Her parents got right back up to their feet and ran to their daughter's aid. "Whatever's the matter? What happened?"

"Did somebody try to break in?"

"N-no...no...I-I saw it...I saw them take them...We need to call the police please."

"Calm down dear, please, calm down, deep breaths, come, lets sit down." Her father offered to her in a calm and gentle voice as he guided her to the couch and sat down with her. "Now please, tell us what happened."

"I-I w-was...video..ch-chatting with m-my friends while doing homework...and s-something took them away! Something...something scary invaded their house and-and took them! I-it took Ritsuko right on camera and it took Ayako too! I-I don't know...I don't know...how they got into their homes...b-but they took them It's them! It's them! It's always been them! They're the ones who kidnapped Sanjiro and the others!"

"Others? What others?" Her mother asked her. "A lady who works at the school was abducted too...a-and...and...R-Ritsu...s-she...she found out there were others. Graduates. Who were abducted too. Kusumoto Daiki, Iwai Taro and Shinkawa Shin she said."

"Oh Goodness, you poor girl. You're shaking like a leaf. Here let me get you some water. You can take a few deep breaths, sip some ice water and then you can tell us what happened." Her mother stood back up and walked to the kitchen leaving Mariko to hug her father.

"I'm so scared. I'm so scared, daddy." Mariko sobbed. "I-I don't...I don't know they got into their houses but they're coming for everyone! They're coming for me I just know it!"

"Shhhh, shhhh, it's okay. It's alright dear. Nobody is coming to get you. We'll call the police and get you protection. In the meantime?" Her father directed her vision to the swords in the display case on the wall. "I've got two nice sharp swords hanging over there in case of emergency. Also." He turned his daughter's attention to the bookshelf. "I have a hidden gunsafe behind there where I keep my shotgun. Of course, the ammunition is stored separately. It's the law after all. But my point is, nobody is breaking in here. Not while we're around."

THE MORE YOU KNOW!

BACK ON TOPIC!

"I-is...is that...legal?"

"It is so long as I go through all of the proper channels. If someone is dumb enough to try and break in here and we can't de-escalate the situation?" He booped his daughter's nose. "You can bet your bottom dollar I'll do whatever it takes to protect you both."

"Thanks daddy. But, these guys, the kidnappers, I think we might really need that shotgun for them."

Her mother returned with the ice water. "Now, now, dear, drink your water, take a deep breath, blow it out and tell us what happened."

Mariko took a few sips of the ice water and then performed her breathing exercises until she was able to calm back down and relax enough to explain what happened. "I was talking with Ritsuko and Ayako while working on my homework and we started talking about the kidnappings, right? But then Ayako's screen froze up, we heard crashing and screaming and then her screen cut out and she was logged out. Th-then...then...they came for Ritsuko. We were about to call the police but then I saw it. I-I saw...a shadow. A giant looming shadow leaning over her. It reached down and grabbed her and pulled her across the room and into the closet." She sipped the ice water before continuing. "N-now...Ritsuko...Ritsuko is a big girl. Strong too. She's tough. But this thing...this person...whatever it was...it grabbed her and pulled her away like she was a doll and she couldn't do anything!" She looked back up at her parents. "I'm scared. I'm really scared. Something's wrong."

"Ooookaaaay....that's...certainly a story. Well, don't you worry, sweetie, we'll...call...the police. They'll...take care of it."

Mariko looked up at her mother. "Mom? Why are you talking so slowly?"

"It's...fine...dear." Her father assured her. "It...will...be...okay. You're...safe...heeeeeeeeeeerrreeee...."

Mariko got back up on her feet and looked back at her parents. "MOM? DAD? WHAT'S HAPPENING TO YOU?!"

Her parents reached out to her but then they froze in place as they were pushed away from her by some invisible unseen force. The glass dropped from her hand and she completely forgot about it to chase after her parents. "MOM! DAD! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? DON'T LEAVE ME! WHAT'S HAPPENING?" No matter how fast she ran her parents were just pushed further and further away from her until she tripped and fell to her knees. "Ow. M-mom? D-dad? Where are you? Huh?" Mariko looked around the living room to see that everything in the living room had been pushed away as well! The walls and furniture were all so far away from her it was like she was kneeling in an empty room!

"Wh-wh-wh..." She stammered and trailed off as she tried in vain to make sense of all of this! Her brain twisting itself into knots as she desperately tried to make sense of this. "What the hell?" She finally managed. She stumbled forward until she could find her footing again and looked around the room. The walls, the furniture, the tables, her glass, it was all so far away. The only thing she could see clearly was the towering giant standing where her doorway had been. Mariko did a double take and stared in horror at the giant making its way towards her twitching and jerking in a very inhuman manner as it smiled down at her. It was here.

The Kidnapper.

"Where are my friends?" She questioned him in a quiet timid shaking voice.

"Heeeee heeeeee heeeeeeeeeeeee." The giant's only response was long drawn out breathy gravely laughs.

"Where...are...my...friends?" She repeated more angry now. "Where. Are. They? Where are my parents? What did you do to them? TELL ME!"

"Heeeeeeee heeeee heeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" The giant laughed again and began making it was towards her.

Mariko was not going to win this. She knew that. She didn't have a chance against someone that big. She didn't even know how many of them were here. She had even less of an idea of how this thing was even doing any of this but she knew one thing for sure. This thing had taken her friends and likely her parents too. Understandably she felt a rage boiling in her heart as she recalled today's soccer game and Tendou's words rang in her mind.

"Now listen up! I know you all thought you were being nice and quiet but I heard you loud and clear! 'We can't do it.' 'They're going to cream us' 'It's always the same' 'We can never win'."

"Never. Can't. Helpless. Those are just words. They're meaningless! Wake up! Those words only have power if you give it to them! That is loser talk! You are not losers! I handpicked all of you myself because I saw your potential! I saw the fire burning deep inside your hearts and I AM YOUR GASOLINE! I will light the fire in your asses and awaken the sleeping giants inside of you! Look around! Look at the proud men and women standing next to you! You have trained together! You have exercised together! You have played together! You have attended classes together! You know each other! You know your strengths and weaknesses! You know where your power lies! Use that! You are not a ragtag group of quitters! You are one cohesive unit! Our enemies think us weak. They see us as easy prey. We will prove them wrong. We are going storm that field and score as many goals as we want! Nobody will stop us! I want you all to stick together out there and here's how I want you arranged: tough, tough, soft, tough, soft, soft, tough, tough, soft, soft, tough, soft! Kuma! You're our goalie! That makes you our last line of defense between the enemy and our goal! Do not take your eyes off the ball. Focus on that at all times. The rest of you take your positions and watch me. I will be scoring the first goal myself. Focus on the enemy team, watch how they move and find their weaknesses. When it comes time for the second goal I will be expecting you to capitalize on the enemies weaknesses and flaws. The enemy does not see us as threats. Use that arrogance and stupidity against them. Engage with maximum speed, neutralize the shooters and move on to our objective: Kicking that soccer ball into that goal and letting nothing stand in our way. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

"Fear Does Not Exist For Our Team. DOES IT?!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"Defeat Does Not Exist For Our Team. DOES IT?!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"Nerves Do Not Exist For Our Team. DOES IT?!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"WHO'S FIELD IS THIS?"

"OUR FIELD!"

"WHO'S DAY IS THIS?"

"OUR DAY CAPTAIN!"

"GIVE THEM BACK TO ME!" She screamed and charged the monster with her fist raised up. The herky-jerky monster man continued to lumber towards her and swiped at her but she just barely managed to clear its lazy swipe with a running leap! She jumped into the air and planted a powerpacked kick to the monster man! Her kick collided with it full force but the monster man didn't even flinch! Shock ran through her leg instead like she'd just kicked a solid wall! She dropped back down to the ground and the monster swatted her down to the floor. She hit the floor hard, bounced off of it, and dropped to the floor sprawled out in pain. The monster man reached down, grabbed her with its giant hand and curled its unnaturally long fingers around her torso and carried her towards the pitch black doorway to bring her to the classroom for her lesson.

The monster was promptly kicked in the face so hard that its head jerked backwards so hard that the neck would've been snapped right off of the body were it a normal being and the monster man was flung across the living room! The monster man flew backwards a considerable distance before landing down on its head, sliding across the floor and then falling down on its stomach. The monster man groaned in pain and lifted its head up gingerly to see a new arrival in heeled boots and a blue dress with a skull helmet staring him down with the girl in her arms.

The Skull-Woman walked several feet to the right and set Mariko down on the floor gently. "Wh...wha..." She groaned and tried to get a good look at her mysterious savior through her blurred vision. "Who...are...you?"

The Skull-Woman smiled and stood up. "Don't worry about. I'm here to help."

"Are...are...you really?"

"Trust me." The Skull-Woman raised her hand up and caught the Monster Man's punch without even turning to look at him. The impact of his fist against her gloved palm was like a bomb going off completely with an air burst that blew over Mariko but The Skull-Woman didn't even flinch! "I'm A Magical Girl!" She declared and squeezed her hand so hard she began crushing the monster's hand! Mariko heard the bones in the monster's hand crumpling and cracking and breaking apart is it began to howl in pain!

What Happened In That Instant? Let's Rewind The Attack And See It Again!

The now 8 foot tall demon now lunged at her! Warping the spatial distance between the two of them to reach her instantaneously and slash at her face with its razor sharp claws! They cut through the air like razor blades as it swiped at her. To Kira the creature was standing a short distance away from her one second and then it immediately warped in front of her and was slashing at her face! In that instant however she sidestepped the monster's clawed hand, leaned back and then she lunged forward with her mouth wide open. She clamped down hard on two of his fingers and then she turned her head and ripped them right off its hand! Kira turned around as the demon kept moving forward and she began happily chewing them. They kind of tasted like meatier chicken tenders. The fingers by themselves would best be described as a snack that sustains you, delivering the perfect combo of crispy breading, grease, and moisture. Even eating them raw like this was quite tasty and perfectly serviceable. He would be amazing if cooked properly with some barbecue sauce. Mother could prep the remains after she was done here though.

Kira wanted the brain.

The monster slid to a stop and turned back around to snarl at her expecting to see her zombified face torn clean off by its claws only to feel burning pain from his hand! He looked down at it to see blood spurting from his hand. <WHAT?! WHAT?> He looked down at his hand to see two of his fingers, the pinky and ring finger, missing now with blood spraying from the holes! He looked back up at her to see the zombie girl chewing something in her mouth. Completely unharmed. She opened her mouth just enough to show him that she was now chewing on the two fingers before closing her mouth and she resumed chewing. A smug smile on her face the entire time.

She finished chewing and swallowed. Her tongue slipping out to slide around her mouth and lap up the demonic blood that had dribbled out. "Oh I'm sorry are we starting?"

"GRRRAAARRGGHH!" The monster roared and rotated its arms around and around and around and around wrapping them ever tighter around themselves while the ground beneath Kira's feet, and thus the plane she was standing on, shifted from right to left. The entire world around them tilted from side-to-side rapidly swinging between the two directions! Kira stumbled around initially as she tried to find her footing until she raised her wand again and called out some quick magic. "Spatium Contumelia: Firmitas!" An eerie light shined from the tip of her wand and spread down her arm to the rest of her body and then it spread down to the ground where it spread out across the shifting plane! The ground slowly shifted back to normal as the rocking stopped and the area returned to normal. The Spatial Dimensions and the Plane returned to normal. The demon meanwhile finished rotating its arms and then they both stretched out towards her while rapidly unwinding themselves like drills. She laughed and swung her wand at them. The two demonic arm drills clashed against her wand and attempted to bore into it for but a moment before she deflected them aside and shattered the demon's clawed fingers!

"Hey now what's wrong? I thought I was supposed to be an inferior little zombie! What happened? Is the big tough demon bitch unable to keep up?" She laughed mockingly as the demon recoiled and stared at his bloodied broken hands. "Come on now! Try harder! SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!" She yelled out madly as she charged forward outpacing its retracting arms! She swung her wand left and right blasting off the arms as she closed in on him and they burst like balloons as the light from her wand struck them. Now disarmed the demon could only scream in horror and back away from her. It tried to warp space again to push the plane away from the two of them so it could recover but she simply charged forward defying it spatial bending and closing on him. A wide manic bloodthirsty smile on her face. The demon's eyes lit up and six red beams were fired from its eyes at her but she deflected them aside with ease. The beams were deflected to the left where they continued on for a substantial distance until they struck a boulder and blew it apart! Kira meanwhile finally closed in on the demon and drove her hand and arm straight through the monstrous demon!

"DEATH PUNCH!" She called out on impact and her hand arm tore right through the monster's skin, muscle, bone and everything else to emerge out the other side! The demon hunched over and blood sprayed out of its mouth and stomach and back like waterfalls! The demonic blood covered and drenched her as she turned her arm slightly and kicked out its leg to force the giant demon down onto one knee and then she leaped up while 'Slashing' with a knife hand that tore open the monster's guts from the stomach, up through its body and out of its shoulder! "FUNERAL SLICER!" More of its demonic blood sprayed out of its gaping wounds as the monster flailed blindly with its obliterated arms and fell onto its back and rolled around.

"GRRAAAAGGH! GUUHHHH! ARRRRRGGHHHH!"

Kira landed back on top of it drenched in the monster's blood from head to toe. "Soooooo? Any last words from the Superior Lifeform?"

"S-stop....s-stop...p-please....I-I-I...I know...I know...where...humans....are." It stammered out. "I....know...s-spare...me...I'l tell you." It begged.

"Oh so you can speak Japanese. Cool. Still, I already knew that you knew where they were. That's why I left your brain intact." Kira taunted him. "I needed what was inside you see."

"WAIT N-NO!"

Kira swung her arm and cleanly and smoothly decapitated it with a flash of light. The read didn't roll far away before she grabbed its head by the horns and holstered her wand. She lifted the head up and smiled at the demon staring at her in horror. "Itadakimasu. Brain Food." She sneered and her jaw unhinged itself in a hideously unsettling manner not unlike that of a snake, even though snakes have no chin, no chin bone, so their jaws aren't connected the way ours are, and took a giant bite out of the monster's head! Now this, THIS was what she was talking about! It was like biting into a big juicy stake burger! She ate ravenously! Devouring the demon's head, flesh, skull and brain with a vicious animalistic intensity. She barely even paused long enough to rip its horns out and discard them in the midst of her gory feast. In no time at all she'd devoured the demon's head. Brains, skull, eyes, hair, all of it. She took the time to savor the demonic flesh of her prey before looking up and swallowing it all down.

Kira licked her lips and fingers happily and then closed her eyes to brace herself for the visions of Hell she was about to endure.  She had, after all, just taken in ALL of a demon's memories. But she had to, she would endure it to acquire the exact location and knowledge of where the kids were being kept. She would endure. She would save them.