“W-what are we gonna do?” Jessica asked.
“Don’t worry.” Lindsay reassured her friend with a smile. “You’re a yōkai, so they won’t hurt you.”
“That’s good for her, but that leaves us in quite the jam,” Andrew quietly said.
“Agreed,” his brother, Alex, declared just as quietly.
Kevin’s group of friends had joined her and Jessica at some point after the yōkai started holding them all hostage. They, along with the only other yōkai-slash-human couple, sat far from everyone else, holed up in their little corner of the room.
“E-excuse me,” a female voice made Lindsay and the others turn to eye the other two people they were with. “I-I don’t mean to be rude, but how can you all be so calm about this?”
“We’ve already gone through something similar to this before,” Alex admitted.
Andrew nodded. “It was back when we went to California for spring break last year.”
Lindsay shivered. She remembered the incident they were talking about; the time they’d gone to California and were caught in a battle between the Sons and Daughters of Humanity and a clan of kitsune. She’d hoped that would have been the last time something like this happened.
I guess it was naive to assume that would be the only thing that went wrong.
There had also been that issue with the yōkai assassins last year, and the other incident with the Shénshèng Clan, but Lindsay hadn’t been conscious for those events.
“Already been through this… does that mean you guys knew about yōkai before the announcement on the news?”
“Yep,” Lindsay answered this one. “Eric and I knew about yōkai since… I wanna say October of last year. These two didn’t find out about yōkai until spring break.”
“That’s just because you guys kept it a secret from us,” Alex complained.
“Really, you’re all just so cruel,” Andrew also cried, “leaving us out of such a big secret.”
“That’s not our fault. We promised Lilian we wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Lilian?” the girl perked up. “You don’t mean Lilian Pnév̱ma, do you?”
“That’s the one,” Lindsay said. “You don’t know her, do you?”
“Uh, no, but Lilian’s been the talk of the school ever since she arrived.”
“Ah, yeah, I guess that’s true.”
Lilian’s vibrant personality, cheerful attitude, and complete openness had made her impossibly popular among the student body—the male side, at least. She was consistently ranked number one or two among the top ten females that every male student wanted to sleep with. Some of the females probably also wanted to sleep with her, and yes, Lindsay included herself in that group. Oddly enough, most of her sexy dreams starring Lilian also featured Christine and Kevin.
“Lilian’s definitely a well-known figure here at school,” Alex agreed. “Even after finding out that she’s a kitsune, I’m still jealous of Kevin.”
“Kevin…” the girl mumbled. “You mean Kevin Swift?”
“That’s the one,” Eric, who’d not said a word till this moment, suddenly spoke up. “He’s Lilian’s mate.”
At this, the silent kuma quickly cranked his neck down to stare at Eric, his eyes wide and his pupils dilated.
“You are sure of this?” the large teen asked.
“Of course I’m sure,” Eric sounded offended.
“I see.” The bear yōkai mumbled. “That would explain the changes I’ve seen in him…”
“What?”
“It’s nothing.” The kuma waved them off.
“I guess that explains why you guys accepted your usagi friend so easily,” the girl said. At being mentioned, Jessica squeaked a bit, but she didn’t react otherwise. “I didn’t even know Jake here was a yōkai until after he was fitted with that wrist band.”
Jake grunted at the pointed look she gave him. Lindsay was surprised when mild amounts of red stained his cheeks.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
The girl smiled. “It’s fine. I already told you I don’t care if you’re not human.”
“Then why bring it up?”
“To remind you that you shouldn’t keep secrets, of course.”
Lindsay shook her head at their antics. “You might be right about why it was so easy to accept Jessica, to an extent, but I like to think that I’m not so shallow I’d reject one of my friends because she’s not human.”
The girl smiled at her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. “Yes, I suppose so. I like to think the same of myself.”
Standing near the front, unknown to the group, several people, both humans and yōkai, were watching them.
“Should we do something about them?” one yōkai asked the oni in charge.
“Not yet. We still have to wait until the boss con-cont-calls us. We’ll let them have their fun.” The oni’s face suddenly broke out into a grin. “However, once the boss tells us what’s up, they’ll be the first humans to go.”
***
Mack didn’t drive right up to the school, but instead parked in an out-of-the-way section of desert and had them hoof it the rest of the way.
Kevin didn’t have a problem with this, except for the amount of time it took to reach the school. Yet he also understood the necessity of it. They didn’t know the situation at Desert Cactus High School, so driving through the gate wouldn’t be a very good idea.
“It doesn’t look like there’s anyone guarding the entrance,” Mack said. He didn’t use binoculars to observe the school. They weren’t that far, and rabbits apparently had surprisingly sharp eyes.
Or perhaps he’s using a form of enhancement, Kevin theorized.
“But we’re only looking at the front gate,” Lilian argued. “The yōkai could be guarding the campus, and we’d never know until they ambushed us.”
“I doubt they’d do something like that,” Kevin countered.
“Why is that?” asked Mack.
“Because there aren’t that many yōkai to begin with,” Kevin explained. “I had Kotohime discreetly look into all of the yōkai going to school here. I wanted to know how many there were, who they were, and what their beliefs were on human/yōkai relations. Desert Cactus High School has a total of thirty-two yōkai attending and over 1,500 humans. I doubt all of them sided with that oni, which means the ones who did are likely focusing all of their attention on guarding the students and teachers so no one escapes.”
“They could have brought more help,” Mack said.
“Eendeed,” Davide agreed, playing with his mustache. “Zey could ‘ave gazered zere forces and doubled zeir numbers quite easily.”
Lilian shook her head this time, her mind already catching up to Kevin’s thought process. “No, they couldn’t. There aren’t that many yōkai living here to begin with. I think Kotohime once said that there was a one to two hundred ratio of yōkai to humans. Phoenix has a population of one million people, so that means there’s roughly only… um, uh, mmm…”
“7,500,” Kevin supplied.
“Right! There’s only roughly around 7,500 yōkai living in Phoenix. Thanks, Beloved.”
Kevin smiled at Lilian. “Anytime.”
“So, they really don’t have that many yōkai who can help them,” Kirihime quickly resumed where Lilian left off. “Sir Mack, how many yōkai are currently living in Monstrang’s bases?”
“Sir?” Mack blinked, but he shook those thoughts off and answered her question. “Alpha Base, which is where we’re all stationed, has 2,526 yōkai. Theta and Omega base have about 500 each, while the last base, Zeta, has another 1,700.”
“That means there are roughly 2,274 yōkai left over,” Kevin stated with certainty. “How many of those yōkai do you think know how to fight? How many do you think are inured to violence? I don’t think it’s a very high number. Most yōkai want to live peacefully.”
“We also need to account for all the yōkai who are doing peaceful protests,” Lilian added. “I don’t know h
ow many are doing that right now, but I bet it’s a lot—at least a couple hundred.”
Mack sighed and scratched the back of his head, his face revealing a tired expression.
“You kids do make a good point. It is unlikely that they have many reinforcements, but that doesn’t mean they have none. We should always assume the worst-case scenario. At the very least, we should assume that the thirty-two yōkai who go to school have joined them.”
Kevin and Lilian opened their mouths to protest, but Mack raised a hand, cutting them off.
“I know you two want to think the best of people, but until we know for sure, we should assume that every yōkai there is our enemy.”
Kevin didn’t like the idea Mack was putting forth. He knew there were evil individuals, both human and yōkai, out there. His hands had already been stained with blood. Kevin wasn’t some naive child. He just didn’t want to believe that all of the people he’d known, the young yōkai who went to school with him, could be evil. If he went under that assumption, then Kevin feared where his thoughts would lead him.
Still…
“I suppose assuming the worst-case scenario isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” he admitted slowly.
“Right.” Mack nodded and grinned at him. “Now then, let’s get down to planning how we’re going to go about rescuing those kids.”
“I say we go through the front door and cut up everything that stands in our way.”
Everyone took a second to stare at Kirihime who, upon noticing that everyone was looking at her, blushed a light shade of pink.
“What is it? Did I say something weird?”
“You always say something weird,” Lilian muttered.
“T-that wasn’t very nice.”
The group ignored Kirihime and returned to planning.
“I think the best way to do this is for Davide and me to sneak in and distract the yōkai guarding the kids, then Kirhime will come in while we’re leading them on a merry chase and get the students out of there.”
“And what will Kevin and I be doing?” asked Lilian.
“Guarding our escape route, of course.”
“Yeah… no,” Lilian and Kevin said at the same time.
Mack looked back and forth between the two. “Problem?”
“Yes, a big problem,” Kevin started. “I know that you’re the leader; I get that, but just because you’re in charge, that doesn’t mean you can sideline us because you think we’re too young.”
Mack raised his hands in defense. “Woah now, I never said that you two were too young.”
“No, but you were thinking it,” Lilian fired back.
“Well… you got me there.” Mack gestured for the glaring duo to cool their jets. “Okay, then, what would you two do to get those people out?”
“Lilian?” Kevin asked.
“Right!”
Lilian quickly used her tails to draw an approximate map of Desert Cactus High School in the sand. The others looked down while Kevin explained their plan to Mack, Davide, and Kirihime.
“First, we need to do more reconnaissance before we can come up with any plan. What I propose is this: Lilian and I will infiltrate the school under one of her illusions, determine how many numbers are with the rogue yōkai, and then report back to you. Once that’s been determined, the two of us will find a way to grab all of the yōkais’ attention and lead them away from the kids and into a trap.”
“A trap?” Mack blinked.
“Yes.” Lilian’s nod was quite serious. “A trap known as Kirihime.”
“Me?” Kirihime pointed to herself.
“Yes, you.”
Mack eyed the kitsune maid, his gaze contemplative. Then he turned back to Kevin.
“Why you two?”
“Is that a serious question?” Kevin asked rhetorically. “I could list a number of reasons we should be the ones to do this.” He ticked all those reasons off on his fingers. “Lilian and I know this school better than you, so we’re less likely to run into an ambush. Lilian can use celestial-based illusions to render us invisible. You can’t. Her kitsune illusions will also come in handy once the chase begins, and she’s been trained by Kotohime.”
“Eh? But, Beloved, I—”
“Just play along,” Kevin whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
Lilian quickly took the hint. “That’s right, my sensei was none other than the famous Kotohime, who’s known as the Blood Moon Princess in some circles.”
That’s laying it on a little thick, Kevin almost sighed. Well, whatever. It should be fine.
“So you see, Lilian is perfectly suited to an operation like this.”
“Those are reasons that she’s going,” Mack pointed out. “What about you?”
“I’m going because it takes time to weave subtle enough illusions to fool multiple people, and I can buy her that time. What’s more, I’ve been trained in combat by none other than Kiara, and my combat style is uniquely suited toward fighting yōkai. Specifically yōkai like oni, who are physically stronger than I am. My guns also fire youki-based projectiles, which can do a lot of damage, especially if I hit a vital area like someone’s eyes, and I’m a very good shot. Furthermore…”
“… Kevin and I are a team,” Lilian finished. “We’ve been training together a lot, and we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We can watch the other’s back.”
A long moment passed. Kevin and Lilian didn’t back down as Mack stared between them. Kirihime stood on the sidelines, silently holding her breath. A glance at Davide revealed the mustached French octopus yōkai curling his mustache. Kevin would’ve cracked a joke about that, but he decided that now was not the time.
“All right,” Mack sighed at last. “Fine, you two have made too many good points, and both the boss and Kiara have spoken highly about your abilities. I guess we’ll give your plan a shot.” Kevin and Lilian grinned, but Mack gave them a stern look. “Just remember, don’t get cocky because I’m following your plan. Overconfidence can lead to you underestimating your enemies.”
“We know.”
“We don’t plan on being overconfident.”
“Right.” Mack looked tired, as if he’d just wrestled with an oni for several hours and lost. “Let’s get this mission started, then. You two have your communicators?”
“Of course,” Kevin said, adjusting the small communication device installed inside of his ear. Lilian did the same.
“Then get moving. We’ll wait until you two are in position to act. Don’t make me regret this.”
“Don’t worry.” Lilian thumped her chest with her left fist. “You can count on us.”
With nothing left that needed to be said, Kevin and Lilian turned and started walking. As they walked, the two glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes, their faces set in matching grins.
“We were awesome.”
“Totally awesome.”
“Completely awesome.”
“We showed that bunny up.”
They shared a high five.
“And now we can cross that off of our ‘list of things to do.’” Lilian pulled a small spiral-bound notepad from her bosom, flipped through several pages, and then pulled out a pencil and crossed a small section off. “Show up superior officer by giving shōnen protagonist speech? Check.”
She nodded to herself, then put the pencil and notepad back into her Extra Dimensional Storage Space.
“All right.” Kevin cracked his knuckles. He was nervous, admittedly, but he masked his anxiety with a large grin. “Time to go work.”
Lilian gasped. “Kevin, you just quoted a video game character!”
“I did? Heck yeah! Another one crossed off the list!”
“Yay! You’re the best, Beloved!”
“Heh, I know.” Kevin grinned and swiped his nose with his thumb.
***
Lindsay knew that something had changed due to the sudden tension being exuded by the yōkai who’d taken them hostage. This fact was co
nfirmed when, after getting off the phone with someone, the oni grinned at the students with his sharp, shark-like teeth.
“It looks like the dead-deadli—the time we set fer yer government is up!” His voice boomed out like the ominous rumbling of distant thunder. “And that means… one of you is going to die.”
A wave of shock and fear rippled through the students. Several started crying again. One even tried to run for it, but he was beset by several yōkai and brutally subdued.
The oni grinned, and Lindsay felt as if her body had been dumped in a tub of ice when he turned to face her.
“That girl,” he pointed to her, “bring her to me.”
Lindsay’s body froze. Her mind screamed at her to run, yelled with all its might, but it might as well have been yelling at a mannequin. She couldn’t move—she could hardly even breath! Her body was locked up in fear, the joints frozen solid, her muscles stiff and unresponsive.
Four yōkai stomped over to her. While Lindsay remained stationary, so terrified her body couldn’t even move, Alex, Andrew, and Eric stood up and tried to protect her.
“Hey, asshole!” Eric ran at the nearest yōkai, a big guy with hairy arms and legs and a monkey tail—a saru, monkey yōkai. “Don’t think I’m gonna let you hurt my—DUOGH!”
Lindsay, even in the throes of fear, felt like facepalming when she saw how quickly Eric crumbled after being decked in the face. It was pathetic.
“Alex?”
“Yes, Andrew?”
“You know this is stupid, right?”
“Indeed, but that’s not gonna stop me. I’ll understand if you’re too afraid to move, though.”
“Ha! Me? Afraid? In your dreams!”
The fraternal twins, different as night and day on the outside and the inside, tried to fend off one of the yōkai. Lindsay didn’t know the type, but they had large, fluffy, raccoon-like ears. They moved to either side, trying to hem the yōkai in and attack using a pincer maneuver. It was no use, however, and they were quickly subdued. Alex was flattened when the yōkai’s tail slammed him into the ground, his legs bent at an awkward angle. Andrew went flying when, without warning, a large ball of compressed air slammed into his chest. He hit the ground several feet away and didn’t get back up.
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