Chapter 5:

Culture Festival... Start?

The Demon Hunting Club


*Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep*

Damn it all... I guess I should try to get used to getting 4½ hours of sleep from now on, but for today, I feel like I've earned a complaint or two. Part of me wants to believe that the events of last night were a dream, but my mother scolding me about 'staying out until god knows when' squashed that hope as soon as I got downstairs. Not that she has any right to lecture me about that sort of thing. Regardless, I still have my duties as a student, Demon Hunter or not, so I get dressed and head for school. There's some sort of commotion at the gates, and all through the halls people are murmuring, but it isn't until I get to my classroom that I find the root of the disturbance.

On top of the broken window (that I definitely hadn't forgotten about in all the commotion yesterday), the entire room has been vandalized beyond recognition. Desks and chairs have been tipped over and in some cases torn apart, the light fixture has been ripped out of the roof, it's parts scattered across the floor, and, most concerning of all, the word 'Hate' has been carved into the walls and blackboard over and over again.

“Hey, Sekigahara!” Nishida races over to me, quietly pushing me into the hallway. “Dude, did you see anything weird last night?”

You wouldn't believe me if I told you, and so, I won't. “Nothing, to be honest, I left not long after you did.”

“Yeah, figures.” Nishida looks cautiously into the room. “I guess if you caught whoever did this, you wouldn't be standing here talking to me, right?”

“Sekigahara-kun!” Konishi must have spotted me, because the next thing I know, she's stood next to me. “Uh, hello.”

“Yo. Konishi-chan, right?” Nishida smiles. I guess Nishida's the kind of guy who memorises the name of every girl in school.

“That's right. You must be Nishida-san.” On the flip side Nishida practically swoons at the fact Konishi knows his name. And once he realises that she called out my name, he looks back and forth between us rapidly, before pulling me into a two-man huddle. “Hold on, hold on, hold on. How the heck are you and Konishi-chan friends? Are you, like, secretly a player or something?”

“She stayed back last night too, and we met in the hallways.” I lie. “If you'd stayed back and helped me a little, you might have bumped into her, too.”

“Oh, like you wanted my help!” I can't tell if Nishida's just teasing, or if he's genuinely mad he didn't get the chance to talk to her and is taking it out on me. Trust me, you're the lucky one here.

“Um, I don't mean to interrupt, but I really need to talk to Sekigahara-kun.” Konishi says. “In private, if that's not too much of a bother.”

“Ahh, when did you become a reaju!?” Nishida pushes me away, and towards Konishi. “Go explode, traitor!”

For all that posturing about being popular yesterday, it really doesn't take much for Nishida to show his true colours, does it?

“He seems... intense.” Konishi notes. “It's hard to believe that he's Mei-chan's little brother.”

You think? They're basically the same person but with different genders. Not that I'd ever actually say that. You never know who's listening in.

“But that's not what's important here.” Konishi peers into my classroom, her voice much more serious than I'd ever heard before. “As expected, the room where we fought got hit worse than anywhere else.”

“Anywhere else? What does that mean?” I ask.

“Your classroom wasn't the only one she trashed. Just about every room in the school's in a similar state.”

Great, so now not only was there a demon in the loose, she had some sort of grudge against me. Why is nothing in life ever simple?

“Sekigahara-kun, I know this might seem presumption of me, but... stay safe, okay?” Konishi pleads. “I wouldn't want you getting hurt.” She was getting awful close to me as she said this, for some reason, and I could feel Nishida's glare on me. If I don't play my cards right, the demon won't even get the chance to finish me off.

“That's nice of you to say, Konishi-san.” I tell her, subtly backing away. “And, uh... same to you, too.”

“R-Right.” Konishi must've realised how we looked to any (angry) onlookers, and took a step back, herself. “Anyway, I'll see you at the club.”

As she dashed off, I turned to go to class, only to find myself face to face with Nishida. Can he use instantaneous movement, or something?

“You joined her club?” He asks, also uncomfortably close to me. “The Paranormal Research club? The club that she's in with the three hottest girls in school, and my older sister?”

I had no idea that Date and Fukada were so popular, and believe me, if any of their respective fans had even the faintest experience of their personalities, those reputations would crumble like a house of cards in a hurricane.

Not that I'd ever say that out loud, of course.

“I suppose, if that's how you'd describe it.” I tell him with a shrug. “She mentioned that they were looking for somebody with a more sceptical outlook, and I volunteered. There's nothing I enjoy more than dashing any sort of fantastical beliefs, after all.”

“Dude, you're sadistic.” Nishida comments, his jaw slack like an idiot. “Like, that's some medieval torturer shit.”

“Hardly.” I tell him as we finally enter the classroom, and he sighs.

“Guess the culture festival's not gonna happen.” He whines. “Farewell, my heaven of gorgeous maids.”

“Worst case scenario is it just getting postponed.” I encourage him for reasons than I cannot imagine. “So, it's less 'Farewell' and more 'I'll see you soon'.”

“Sekigahara... ever since you got a girlfriend, it's like your entire personality changed.” Misguided as he may be, Nishida thanks me. “I think I preferred when you were just as miserable as I am.” Or not. What a jerk.

~~~

Since there's an active demon hunt ongoing, as soon as our lunch break started, Konishi pulled me away from my desk (Nishida tried to punch me as we passed him) and brought me to the Club Shed, where the rest of the group were already sat.

“So, what's the situation?” Date asks once Konishi and I are seated

“After I fought off the demon yesterday, she returned and vandalised every classroom in the school, as well as the faculty lounge, and the girl's restroom.” Konishi summarises. She really is a different person when she's focussed on the job at hand.

“This might seem like a stupid question,” I say. “but is demons coming back for this sort of revenge normal?”

“Of course it is, dumbass.” Mei scoffs. “Demons act purely on emotion. If you make them angry, they attack.”

“But then, isn't the whole school in danger?” I ask. “Especially with the rumor.”

“Rumor?”

“Yeah, it's the reason I got attacked in the first place. You wait until night in the school then you tell your reflection your name, age, and why you want a...” I suddenly realise what I'm about to say, and falter “uh, well, let it be known I was only trying to disprove the rumor, not actually use it, but, you see, the 'ritual', so to speak, is a means of getting a...uh...romantic partner, of sorts.”

While most of the girls take my report at face value, Mei looks at me like I'm garbage, which, to be fair, isn't that much of a departure from how she normally looks at me. Just what is this girl's damage?

“How romantic...” Konishi muses, before her expression turns sour as well. “Wait, no! How dare that demon pray on the hearts of lonely, innocent people!” Whoa... talk about an attitude change. I guess everyone's got that one thing that sets them off, huh? Come to think of it, her personality when she was fighting the demon to protect me was clearly different from the airheaded high school girl I've come to know her as. Maybe Konishi just takes demon hunting really seriously. “I won't stand for this sort of thing!”

“Wahaha! Of course, Konishi! We, as the Kitaminami Demon Hunting Club, shall do as our name suggests!” Date announces.

“Um, Date-san, that's all well and good, but we don't even know where to begin.” Mei complains, before turning to me. “You. Where exactly did you hear this rumor?”

“Well, actually, it was...” I get the feeling Mei already knows the answer, but I also know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she'll get mad when she actually hears it. “Nishida. Your brother.”

“That little runt!” Well, what do you know, I'm a clairvoyant.

~~~

“Huh?” Nishida gasps when I finally get around to asking him about the rumor. “Hey, hey, hey now! You've already bagged the hottest girl in our year, and now you want to get another girlfriend!?”

“Hey, quiet down!” I make shove Nishida into the corridor. “Don't go yelling stuff like that, you'll make me school's public enemy number one! Besides, Konishi-san and I are just friends. And also, I'm not interested in the actual rumor, just where you heard it.”

“Sure, sure.” Nishida looks at me suspiciously. “Well, even if I did believe any of those excuses, I dunno who started the rumor in the first place. It just kinda spread around the school.”

“So you don't know anything?” I ask.

“Nope.” He shrugs. “Sorry, dude. Why are you so interested, anyway? Some business with the Hotties (and my sister) Club?”

“Dude, what's even wrong with you?” I ask, before deciding to get some teasing of my own in. “And, you do realise I'm in that club, now. Can I assume that I'm-”

“Nah, but hotties (and my sister and Sekigahara) club doesn't roll off the tongue.” Nishida jabs as he returns to the classroom. “Good luck with you investigation, though. Maybe Date-senpai'll give you a reward if you work hard.”

I don't even want to imagine what kind of thing an oddball like her would consider a reward. Probably something along the lines of “Wahaha! For your most excellent contributions to our cause, I shall now explain to you the full lineage of the Date bloodline, from my glorious ancestor Masamune, all the way to my fabulous self!” Just the thought is enough to make my skin crawl.

But now I'm back to square one. And even if I try to summon that demon girl again, I doubt she'd appear if I had a full squad of Demon Hunters at my side. As I'm about to return to class, I feel a light tapping on my shoulder, and turn to see Fukada looking (or, rather, staring) at me through her long bangs.

“Found something.” She says. “Follow.”

“I have to get to class, Fukada-san.” I tell her, but she just grabs my hand and drags me away. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Nishida glaring at us, and on the verge of popping a blood vessel.

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