Chapter 9: The School Rumor

The weekend is officially over. The peace of Sunday morning, with its grilled mackerel and burnt toast, feels like a distant memory from another lifetime. Now, the reality of the work week sets in.

Hajime leaves for the factory at 6:30 AM, his boots heavy on the genkan floor. Naomi leaves for university at 7:30 AM, rushing out the door with a piece of melon bread in her mouth because she overslept again.

The door clicks shut. The lock turns.

The house settles into silence.

Usually, this is the time we go back to sleep. Cats are crepuscular, technically, but house cats are opportunistic sleepers. If there is a sunbeam, we are legally required to occupy it.

But today, nobody is sleeping.

The air in the living room is thick. It is not the humidity of the Tokyo summer; it is something else. A pressure. A static charge that makes the fur on the back of my neck stand up.

"I cannot take it anymore", Kenuji projects into our minds. He is currently a grey cat sitting on the windowsill, staring out toward the west. His tail is lashing back and forth, hitting the glass with a rhythmic thwack-thwack-thwack.

"Take what?" Muji yawns from under the sofa. "The boredom? I can knock over a plant if you want entertainment".

"The noise", Kenuji hisses. "The signal. It has been drilling into my skull since midnight. Transform. Now".

We do not argue with Kenuji when he gets like this. We gather in the center of the living room rug.

Poof.

Smoke fills the room, smelling of ozone and old magic. We step out of our feline forms and stretch our human limbs.

I crack my back. "Ugh. My spine feels weird today. I think I slept curled too tight".

"Focus", Kenuji snaps.

He is pacing back and forth in front of the window. He is wearing his usual button-down shirt, but he looks disheveled. He is rubbing his temples fiercely, as if trying to massage the pain out of his brain.

"It is getting stronger", Kenuji says, stopping to look out at the city skyline. "The signal I felt before. The one from last week. It was faint then, just a background hum. Now? It is a siren".

"Where is it coming from?" Yoshi asks. He is sitting on the arm of the sofa, peeling an orange he stole from the fruit bowl. "Give me a location and I will go stomp on it".

"Kibougaoka High School", Kenuji says, pointing a shaking finger toward the train station. "The big high school on the hill. The one with the clock tower".

"A school?" Inoe frowns, leaning against the wall. She is examining her fingernails, but I can see the tension in her shoulders. "School spirits are the worst. Teenagers are just big, walking batteries of raw emotion. Angst, fear, lust, jealousy. If a spirit gets in there, it is like an all-you-can-eat buffet. It can grow strong very fast".

"Is it a Grudge Spirit?" I ask, sitting on the floor and starting to braid my long white hair. "Those are common in schools. Usually caused by bullying or academic pressure".

"It feels... organized", Kenuji says slowly, searching for the right words. "Grudge Spirits are usually wild. Chaotic. They lash out at everything. This feels different. It feels like a web. It is spreading through the student body systematically. I sense anxiety, fear, and a strange, heavy lethargy. Like the life is being sucked out of them through a straw".

"A vampire?" Muji asks, perking up. He is shirtless, as usual, wearing loose cargo pants. "I have never fought a vampire. Do I need a stake? Or is that just a movie thing?"

"It is not a vampire", Kenuji sighs. "It is a parasite. A Hive Mind".

The room goes quiet.

"A Hive Mind?" Yoshi stops peeling his orange. "Those are nasty. If it infects the students, they become puppets. We cannot just punch the students".

"Exactly", Kenuji says. "We need a surgical approach".

"So we go in and bust some heads", Yoshi says, punching his open palm. "Simple. We find the main body and crush it".

"Not simple", Kenuji corrects him, adjusting his glasses. "We cannot just walk into a high school. We are not students. Look at us".

He gestures around the room.

"Yoshi looks like a Yakuza enforcer who got lost on his way to a shakedown. Muji looks like a homeless kickboxer. Inoe looks like a runway model. I look like a disgruntled accountant. And Haruka looks like... well, Haruka looks normal, actually".

"Hey!" Yoshi protests. "I have a youthful aura!"

"You have a goatee and a leather jacket", Kenuji points out. "If five random young adults walk onto a high school campus in the middle of a Monday, security will call the police in five minutes. We need to blend in".

"Blend in?" Muji looks down at his bare chest. "I do not own a uniform. And I refuse to wear a tie. Ties are chokers for people who have given up on freedom".

"We don't need to buy uniforms", Inoe suggests, her eyes lighting up with a mischievous glint. "We possess them".

"Excuse me?" I stop braiding my hair.

"Think about it", Inoe says, stepping into the center of the room. She starts acting it out. "We go to the school in cat form. We sneak into the nurse's office or the back of the gym. We find students who are asleep or skipping class. We borrow their bodies for an hour. We find the spirit, destroy it, and leave before they wake up. No harm done. And we blend in perfectly because we literally are the students".

I hesitate. My stomach does a little flip. "I do not like possessing people. It feels rude. It is a violation of their personal space. And it leaves a spiritual residue. They might wake up with a headache or weird cravings for tuna".

"It is an emergency, Haruka", Yoshi says, his voice serious. He tosses a slice of orange into his mouth. "If Kenuji is right and this is a Hive Mind, those kids are already being violated. Their energy is being drained. If we do not stop this, they are going to get hurt permanently. Would you rather be rude or let a demon eat their souls?"

I sigh. He is right. He is always annoyingly pragmatic.

"Fine", I agree. "But we have to be gentle. No forcing our way in. We find willing-or at least unconscious-vessels. And Muji, if you possess someone, do not make them do anything weird. No eating bugs. No jumping off roofs".

"I make no promises", Muji grins. "But I will try to be a good pilot".

"Gentle is my middle name", Muji adds.

"Your middle name is Destruction", I retort.

"Same thing", Muji shrugs. " destruction of evil is gentle to the good".

"That was surprisingly philosophical", Kenuji notes. "But yes. The plan is set. We wait until the lunch break when the campus is chaotic. We infiltrate, we locate the source, and we neutralize it. Everyone ready?"

"Ready", Yoshi says, standing up. He wipes orange juice off his hands onto his jeans.

"Wait", Inoe says. "We need a signal. If we get separated in the school, we cannot exactly shout 'Hey, magical cat spirit!' across the hallway".

"Telepathy still works when we are possessing humans", Kenuji explains. "Our spiritual link is tied to our souls, not our bodies. But the range might be shorter because the human flesh acts as an insulator. So stay within one hundred meters of each other".

"Got it", Muji says. He grabs a shirt from the pile of laundry on the chair and puts it on reluctantly. "Let's go. I hate school. I want to get this over with".

"You never went to school", I remind him. "You are a cat from the Sengoku period".

"I have watched anime", Muji says. "School looks terrifying. Exams? Homework? Social hierarchies? Give me a battlefield any day".

We transform back into cats.

Poof.

The world gets bigger. The furniture towers over us.

"Let's go to school", Yoshi projects.

We slip out the back window, which we keep unlocked for exactly this reason. We drop into the garden, landing silently in the soft earth of the flowerbed.

We move through the neighborhood in a pack. We stick to the shadows of the walls, avoiding the main roads. The sun is high now, beating down on the asphalt.

"Hot", Muji complains. "My paws are burning".

"Stop whining", Inoe says. "Think cool thoughts".

We reach the hill leading up to Kibougaoka High School. It is a steep climb. We can hear the faint sound of a bell ringing in the distance.

As we get closer, the air changes.

Kenuji was right. Even from outside the gates, I can feel it. It is a sticky, heavy sensation. It feels like walking through spiderwebs. The air tastes metallic.

"It is thick", Yoshi says, stopping by a telephone pole. "The barrier around the school is compromised. The spirit has already established a domain".

"Look at the students", Kenuji directs our attention to the sports field visible through the fence.

A P.E. class is running laps. But they are not running normally. They are shuffling. Their heads are down. They are not talking to each other. They look like zombies.

"That is not normal teenage fatigue", I say, shuddering. "That is spiritual draining. They are being fed on".

"We need to hurry", Muji growls. "I want to claw this thing's face off".

"Stealth first", Kenuji reminds him. "Violence later".

We find a gap in the fence near the gymnasium. It is small, hidden behind a bush, probably used by students sneaking out to buy snacks. We squeeze through.

We are in.

The school grounds are massive. Concrete buildings, manicured trees, and the constant hum of ventilation units. We creep along the side of the main building, looking for an open window.

"Target acquired", Kenuji projects. "First floor. Nurse's office. I sense five distinct heat signatures. Stationary. Unconscious. They are sleeping off fevers or injuries".

"Perfect vessels", Yoshi says. "Let's borrow them".

We reach the window. It is cracked open slightly. Yoshi jumps up to the sill, pulling himself up with his claws. He peeks inside.

"Coast is clear", he signals. "Nurse is in the front room. The beds are in the back".

We follow him inside. The room smells of antiseptic and lemon. We drop to the floor, our paws making soft pads on the linoleum.

We creep under the curtains separating the beds. Five students. Three boys, two girls. They are sound asleep.

"I take the big guy", Muji claims, looking at a muscular boy with a bandaged knee.

"I will take the one with the glasses", Kenuji says, looking at a boy who is drooling slightly on his pillow. "He looks smart".

"I got the delinquent", Yoshi nods toward a boy with messy hair and an earring.

"I guess I will take pigtails", Inoe sighs, looking at a girl with elaborate hair. "At least she has style".

"And I will take her", I say, looking at a quiet girl with long dark hair. She looks peaceful.

"Remember", Kenuji warns one last time. "Sync your breathing. Do not force the soul out. Just... suppress it gently. Like putting a blanket over a bird cage".

"We know, mom", Yoshi rolls his eyes.

"On three", Kenuji counts down. "One. Two. Three".

We close our eyes. We focus our energy. We dissolve.

The sensation of possession is always disorienting. It is like falling backward into a pool of warm water. The world spins. Colors invert. Then, suddenly, gravity returns.

I open my eyes.

I am not Haruka the cat. I am a human girl.

I sit up. My body feels heavy. My limbs feel long and clumsy. I look at my hands. They are pale, with a small ink stain on the thumb.

"Ugh", a voice groans from the next bed. "This body is stiff. Does this kid ever stretch?"

It is Yoshi. He is sitting up, cracking the neck of his new vessel.

"Be quiet", Kenuji hisses from the third bed. He is adjusting the glasses on his new face. "The nurse will hear us".

We all sit up. We look at each other. It is strange to see my siblings wearing strangers' faces. But I can see them—their true selves—shining in their eyes.

"Okay", Yoshi says, standing up and testing his legs. "We are in. We are human. Now let's go hunt a ghost".

"And maybe get some lunch", Muji adds, patting his human stomach. "This kid skipped breakfast. I am starving".

"Focus, Tiger", Inoe says, smoothing down her skirt. "Let's go save the school".

We slip out of the nurse's office and into the hallway. The bell rings for lunch break. The hunt begins.