Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): Monster Academy - Chapter 4.2 Final rehearsal

[Justin OOC]

Three hours later, Everyone was rounded up by either Kyohei, or Yuuki.

Everyone was brought to the Newspaper club meeting room, Including Serena, by dint of sharing a room with Skye.

Miss Nekomone, Ruby, and the Headmaster stood at the front of the room, and nodded. Only Aoi and Asano of the Monster lords were present, the others being left out, for their more reactionary attitudes. Forbesi and Lilith had left to attend to other matters, but would return.

The door closed behind Kyohei, as he was the last one in, and everyone could feel a hum of power as a nigh impenetrable barrier was erected.

"What is said here will not escape, not unless the rest of you speak of it."

The headmaster's tone was harsh, the threat barely veiled. "Now, Yuuki..."

Asano looked at him and he stopped. "Yuuki," his voice was calmer than the headmaster's. "Please tell us what happened to you tonight."

[Karren Gaunt]

Yuuki had grown more and more concerned as this event had snowballed up and up to include every authority figure she owed respect to in the form of the Monster Lords and one she had not in the form of Aoi. The angel made her skin crawl. Where angels went, blood and death followed in their wake, usually monster blood. She felt underdressed, too, wishing she had the time to change into something more formal, that she felt safe going back to her room to change with so much in motion. And why the Newspaper Club? Weren't there more formal guardians in place? That itched at her, too. So the Headmaster's anger hadn't helped the young dryad's fractured composure one bit.

Asano-Sama's more measured response reminded her of the Hina Matriarchs though, and she was able to zone the other distractions out, social mask going still as she tried to relay the facts and just the facts of the evening's events.

"Yes, Asano-Sama. After the Monster Lords and Aoi-Dono revealed themselves at the end of the dress rehersal, I was concerned about what was really happening, doubly so when Aoi-Dono spoke with Kyohei-San who I was instructed to protect and Darrik-Sempai who was upset about something he called Newspaper Club business only weeks ago and then just as suddenly stopped talking about. Darrik-Sempai invited me back to his room to talk and I saw it as an oppurtunity to better protect Kyohei-San."

She inhaled and continued, "The resulting conversation was not as fruitful as I hoped, Darrik-Sempai bound to silence by one he respected, but I did gain clues enough to wish to act further in discovering his secret before it caused harm to Kyohei-San and others. I asked the world to guide my feet to that secret. I was guided to the library, to the general fiction section."

Her features froze for a few hearbeats, raw currents of fear writhing beneath her self-control, echoes of fear and death playing across her mind's eye before she mastered it enough to continue without haste. "Something was watching me and far as I could tell, I was alone save for the librarian at her front desk. So I returned to where I first came out of my trance, announced myself as a member of the Hina Clan, and asked the presense to reveal itself if it meant no harm, told it that if it wished harm to Kyohei-San it would have to go through me."

"It moved a book in front a seat then, 'The Lord of the Rings', and..," the dryad paused, licking her lips before forcing herself to continue in that same even tone, "I was shown things when I opened the book in my hands. A girl, a boy of great power, in love sitting where I sat. The girl alone, dying, as something with the eyes of Kyohei-San and Aoi-Dono's bloodline grasped her escaping soul. The creature seeing me and reaching out towards... The librian woke me up and and I put the book down before seeing her, with the same blue eyes, stareing at me, seeing through my training and remarking how interesting it was that the Lords were here to see the play, sending me on my way."

"I ran to find Kyohei-San in our dormroom." There. That was barely not a lie.

"Something folowed me, the same being I believe, surrounding me in silence, even as I found myself alone in our room with whatever god, ghost, or spirit it was. It terrified my plants, terrified me. I knew it could..," She blanched a littled and forced herself to state, "Could kill me without killing my tree. Then and there if it wanted it to. It broke me and left. Kyohei-san found me when he returned, confirmed he and Aoi-Dono were kin, and started us on path to here."

She fell silent and bowed her head, tone formal and flat as she feel back on Hina tradition to cope with the fear that threatened again to break her mask, "That is what I saw and what I did. Ask you questions and I shall clarify my account to your satisfaction until the truth is found."

[Toby Lupin]

As Darrik heard the line, "The girl alone, dying, as something with the eyes of Kyohei-San and Aoi-Dono's bloodline grasped her escaping soul." He knew what was going on, with sickening certainty. His fist clenched as the tale continued, eyes closing as he tried with difficulty to keep from interrupting Yuuki and let her go through the whole story.

Anyone paying attention to him, could see heavily suppressed anger and Delilah could feel the fire building there emotionally. He was not only angry at the Headmaster for forbidding him to continue investigation into Noriega the half-blooded Shinigami, but at himself for obeying.

If Yuuki had died, he would have been culpable, he felt. So when she finished, he directed coldly blazing eyes towards the Headmaster. A tone of voice he picked was not yelling or raised in volume, but the words certainly expressed everything. "You told me not to say anything. You told me you would take care of things. You said that this wasn't our business anymore and that knowledge would be too dangerous for us. And now here we are. Did it take Noriega attacking another student to make this a priority?"

[SalmonMax]

Aria absorbs Yuuki's story as stoically as ever. When Darrik has his spat with the Headmaster, she folds her arms and watches them both expectantly.

"It seems like both of you are over your heads. Maybe if you got more heads involved, we'd all float higher."

[glyde]

Jiren frowned. "Are you okay Yuuki?" he asked gently, the concern evident in his voice. He had only gotten to know her earlier that evening, but even he could tell that the experience had traumatized her.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he glanced around the room, eyes meeting Darrik's for a moment before finally coming to rest on the headmaster. Judging by the warlock's words, it appeared as if somebody had a lot of explaining to do...

[Justin OOC]

"That wasn't Noriega. I sent him onward personally."

Aoi looked at Darrik. "I wish it was him. At least he was predictable even if only in his Hatred."

She seemed to weighing her next words carefully. Finally she spoke.

"Our bloodline is heir to many traditions. Sadly two are most prominent. The women in our family are born to become Angels, if we ever awaken. The Men, every few generations awaken as Shinigami."

"Most of you have never heard of what Shinigami are with good reason. They are a foe to all other living things, for they are the great balancers, their dominion is death itself."

"They hunt Yokai, Celestials, and even humans, culling the world according to a higher design." She sighed and shook her head, "Or they lose their way, and cull to their whim."

A Shinigami's power is directly related to how many souls they moved on, but it can be exponentially increased, by devouring the souls instead.

"This turns them into True Monsters, beyond anything as mundane as any of us who stand here."

She looked at Kyohei. "You show every possible sign of becoming one, and a special kind of Shinigami at that."

Asano's eyes narrowed. "He's your little brother."

"Yes."

"I should have known that the human here had ulterior motives." He looked at the headmaster. "You let a viper in our midst, to learn everything about us.."

"You've no idea what you're talking about."

Kyohei's stern voice shocked Asano. "Don't presume to know me, Lord Asano, or judge me on my family. I've come to feel I belong at the Academy, and I won't be told to leave, or put down without a fight."

Asano looked at him. "It might come to that."

Aoi shook her head. "Attack him as you will Asano, but he is my little brother, though we are at odds, I will defend him."

The siblings shared a momentary glance at each other.

"This isn't conducive. Let's get back to the matter at hand. We can wage war later, once the school and everyone in it is safe."

Kyohei's words seemed to mollify everyone.

The headmaster picked up. "There are twelve active Shinigami, and I know where each one is in the world. The closest is in Beijing, and quite busy."

Aoi nodded. "I know of seven who haven't passed on, and two who could awaken."

Kyohei looked at the headmaster. "We're all thinking it Headmaster, but it's time to be honest. You are a Shinigami aren't you."

"You can think that if you like. Suffice it to say I am someone who knows a great deal about all the various monsters."

"What matters most now is taking down this shinigami."

[SalmonMax]

Aria was quiet for a moment, digesting, then she asked, "Is this the same entity that is responsible for the thefts?"

It would fit with the power that she'd experienced in that room; the power that had killed its agent, and her spider at the same moment. It also explained how it had detected the spider. A 'death god' would have sensed the fragment of her soul that resided within it.

Problematic. She wouldn't be able to hide from this being, and she wasn't sure if any of her abilities could harm it. Perhaps Darrik's sorcery, or Delilah's pyromancy would fare better.

But the real battle was still one of wits. This 'rogue shinigami' was acting with purpose. If they could discover that purpose, and thwart it, then it might defeat the shinigami without ever entering into battle. And, she mused, there were other shinigami...surely they must have means of dealing with rogues, or the balance would be upset.

[Justin OOC]

"It's quite possible. Though normally I'd expect a shinigami to be more circumspect in what they took. Perhaps this one is trying to mislead us." The headmaster warranted.

"It could be unrelated as well, but if anything could slay a vampire in a single blow, it's a shinigami."

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik stared quietly, but then nodded to Aria. "Somehow Noriega is still kicking, because I can assure you the answer to Aria's is hell yes. He's the one who killed Saizo, I recognized the image in my sources. And what I do know is that the Shinigami Auditors are said to be the best way to counter this foe. Wait... sympathetic magic... Champion... the thefts are probably about establishing a sympathetic connection powerful enough to drain a massive amount of souls affecting all the owners of the stolen goods..."

[Justin OOC]

That caught Aoi's attention. "What image, what source?"

Her sapphire blue eyes seemed to blaze like lasers. "I along with three other angels, two dozen Celestial Lions and a trio of human priestesses sealed and bound him, and I personally sent him onward into his next life after that."

"You're telling me you've seen his MASK?"

[Toby Lupin]

If it weren't for the situation, Darrik would have smirked. Instead he answered in simple tones, "Yes, I have. I went into the Book of Secrets searching for the identity of the entity who killed Saizo, and I recognized with absolute certainty that killer's mask in a picture that the book identified as being that of 'Isamu Noriega, deceased.' I should add that this was from among a massive array of similar pictures in a process of a hour."

[SalmonMax]

"I wonder why he let Yuuki live." Aria mused. "So much safer to have killed her."

[Karren Gaunt]

Yuuki, having retreated to a corner gratefully after having the focus of attention taken from her and shaking her head 'no' at Jirren's question, spoke up again, "Because I was no threat. Because it wanted me as it's envoy. Because it enjoyed seeing me in fear too much to kill me yet. Any of those motivations would fit something... like this corupted angelkin depending on what it wants."

Her voice was distracted and listless as her expression, the scale of events weighing down on her.

[SalmonMax]

"You were a threat," Aria denies. "It's gone to great length to protect its identity before. Why show itself now? And if you were to be an envoy, it would surely have more to say besides, 'I can scare dryads.' And while it may enjoy seeing you afraid...would it really risk so much for such a trite amusement?"

She frowns. "I feel there's more to this. We need to learn more. The librarian is a good place to start."

[Justin OOC]

"It is not angelkin, Yuuki, not anymore. It's not celestial, Yokai, or human." Aoi's tone was harsah.

"Calm yourself, Lady Aoi, it is not unheard of for Shinigami to to use the mask of another they've beaten in battle. Saizo had a history here, so whoever it really is is using his mask. This helps us first by narrowing the field abit. Only a handful Shinigami ever managed to beat him in battle. I know 2 or still active, albeit on the other side of the world. One is deceased, and passed on. The other two, I have lost track of."

He looked to Aria. "As for why tip his hand? Both the candidates like to gloat. What it means is they've got almost everything they need. chances are they may try to even get the Lords in this trap."

Asano looked at him. "I'd wager you're all missing an article of clothing."

Asano nodded, and even Aoi did as well. "Adranthean is going to be angrier than hell."

"He's the least of our worries. The good news is that there's no spell large enough to take down this many powerful monsters at once. And no single Shinigami could take down the whole school either. There's too many souls. So either there's two of them, worst case, or there's one, and he's got to try such a spell more than once."

Ruby shook her head. "There are some large enough actually, but I don't think anything alive could cast them, and no spirit would try."

The young witch drew the look of everyone there. "They'd have to set up sigils all around the school. They'd act as circuits and boosters, carrying and amplifying the mana throughout the whole area. And reducing the actual casting cost to something manageable. This takes time though, and the sigil circuits are easily detectable by several means."

The Headmaster looked at her. "Go on."

"The downside is not all of them would be needed to activate the spell, they'd just only get the souls in the area where they were activated."

"You could of course knock the whole thing down by taking out the master sigil, which of course is where the spell would be activated from, meaning the caster would be there too."

[glyde]

"Don't worry Yuuki," Jiren said softly, managing a warm smile despite the tenseness of the situation. He walked up to stand beside her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We'll get through this," he continued, "We all will. I promise."

He couldn't help but empathize with the dryad. It must have been a truly frightening experience for her to have been made to stare her own mortality in the face. Such experiences always were.

He sighed, glancing around at the others in the room. From Serena's worried expression, she was probably thinking the same thing he was.

Why were these shinigami acting now? Something about the timing struck him as odd. If the shinigami were after the souls of the school's students, any other day would have been all the better. It seemed odd that they would choose to set their plans in motion during the festival. Why now, when the six Lords of the Yokai realm were gathered here? It was almost as if somebody wanted them all here for some reason...

"Uhm... Just where exactly are the other Lords?" Jiren asked weakly as the realization hit him. "Have they been informed of the situation?"

[Justin OOC]

The Headmaster looked at Jiren. "Hell no. Adranthean and the Panther King would have to be sedated. Forbesi has left with Lilith for what I can only surmise is a date."

He shook his head. "I'd rather not have the others involved, because they have no clue how to move discreetly or quietly. They'd both put their full power into it which would end up destroying a good portion of the Academy. Forbesi is more measured in his approach."

He looked to Kuromaru and Kyra. "If you take offense by that statement, understand I've known your parents much longer than you, and speak from experience. I've seen them in their full power, and while it's quite impressive, I do not need such a spectacle here."

Asano nodded. "Agreed. I won't be of too much help, but I can quickly move people around the campus."

"Thank you for being understanding."

Aoi nodded. "I think that until the end, I should do nothing. It would likely only cause problems if I brought my powers to bear. When it comes time though, I will bind this Shinigami."

She looked to the headmaster. "I can help in other ways as well, but I do not know how much you wish me to be active. As such I will put my power at your disposal, Headmaster, until this crisis is averted."

That got Kyohei and Serena's attention. The Lord of all Angels just volunteered to yield authority and control to the Headmaster, someone who very well could be a yokai.

Asano nodded. "I as well, place my power under your discretion headmaster. If it helps save the students, and my alma mater, I'll help however I can."

The threat was very real, if anyone needed more proof, the actions of these two Monster Lords hammered it home.

[Karren Gaunt]

Jiren got a silent nod of thanks from the dryad. "If Ruby-Sempai could inform us what these glyphs would look and feel like, I will do what I can to help find them, provide what distraction I can while the more qualified among us solve this incident," she added softly, certain that helpless as she was, Kyohei would not run away, and she could not run away with him to 'protect him' no matter what she felt.

Aoi's pricked pride made her feel a little better, though. That barb hadn't even been intended to be a barb, historical eniemy of her Clan though the angel Lord was.

[Justin OOC]

Ruby nodded. "I'll show you."

Her left hand index finger began to glow, and she drew the symbol for a mana circuit on the chalkboard. The symbol looked like a small circle with the symbol for Mercury within it, around the circle ancient runic writing was made, Darrik easily recognized it as the incantation for Magical Amplification. That Ruby could make the spell so quickly, which wasn't a low level spell told well trained she was.

Finished the circuit continued to glow, and then she waved her hand and it faded, to the point it could not be seen. "I'm letting you all feel what it's like to be around a hidden one, and not casting other wards on it, but that is largely what we're after. There will likely be twelve sigils. One for each planet, the Sun, and the moon, and a symbol none of you will recognize."

She nodded. "Destroy the sigil however you can, either by undoing it, or breaking up the object it's on."

[z-Skye Angelus]

There was a moment of silence. "Alright then," Skye said, her chin rising. "We need to break up into teams and search the grounds." The others looked at her. "We don't want to split into too small of groups," she pointed out. "More than three, probably. And we we'll want the split to make sense to anyone who might watching our actions. They have to be suspicious that we're all gathering here, so late at night anyway. There will be questions. Our enemy will have to wonder. And if we start searching the campus, they'll be sure to get wary. That might mean they'll attack, or they might hide the sigils.

"So... two groups. Kuromaro, Delilah, Kyohei and I at least in one. Is anyone else dating anyone here, or willing to pretend they're dating? Anyway, then we can be some couples goofing around," Skye suggested. "Then everyone else can form a group. We'll need some alcohol," she added to the headmaster, "and we'll need to remember that we're some kids blowing off steam - a lot of whispering about not getting caught, pretending to get drunk and so on. Then the adults can form their own group and pretend to look for the other two. I think that you guys can manage to believably not find us, eh?" The last was added with a smirk to the Headmaster.

[SalmonMax]

"I'll work best on my own," Aria said. "I can cover a great deal more ground that way than I can if I'm with others."

[glyde]

"Break? That sounds simple enough." Jiren said as Ruby finished explaining what had to be done. He cracked the knuckles of his left hand and grinned. "I'm game. Just... Don't go throwing us into detention or anything if some school property gets destroyed in the process ."

The yokai breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing that his father was safe had already put him somewhat at ease. The idea that the shinigami might be targeting the Yokai Lords themselves still bothered him however, and he couldn't help but wonder if he and the others were just a little in over their heads.

He turned his attention to Skye as the latter discussed her plan of action. It all seemed sound. There was however, one little thing...

"That looks like it could work to avoid drawing attention from most of the others," Jiren replied, nodding his agreement with the plan. "But what about the Shinigami?" he asked, folding his arms in front of him as he frowned slightly. "Yuuki's already caught their attention. We can bet that the shinigami are going to be mighty suspicious of her movements, at least. And once we start taking out those sigils, they're probably going to come after us as well." He threw a concerned glance at the dryad before turning to the headmaster. "Headmaster, how exactly are we supposed to fight these Shinigami? Is there anything we can do to keep them at bay?"

"If it comes down to it. I'd like to be prepared." Jiren added, slamming his clenched fist into the palm of his other hand.

[Justin OOC]

"I have a plan to draw the Shinigami, at least for a time."

"I'll allow such teams, but there will be NO booze passed out Skye. Aside from that I'd wager only Darrik among you even know how to really find these sigils. Though each of us do. No one will go alone."

I'll approve that first group, but add Ruby to your group."

"Aria, you, Darrik, Jiren, Serena, and Asano will be another group."

He looked to the Vampires. "Kozakura, Kozue, Rica, Krag, You'll be going with Miss Nekomone."

Yuuki, Kyra, You will stay with Aoi and I, and we will prepare to take down our foe."

He looked at the others. Stay in touch. There are phones all over the school, dial 138 and it will reach me and relay where you are. If the Shinigami attacks, call immediately, we will be there. Do NOT attempt to directly engage, he's a foe beyond you."

He sighed. "This isn't a perfect fix, but it is what we have without causing a panic. Do your best, and do not tell anyone else what's going on."

[Karren Gaunt]

Yuuki closed her eyes and nodded compliance, resigning herself to probable death without regeneration as the Headmaster and Aoi's bait for their opponent. The Hina training in her couldn't disagree with the wisdom of using her thusly. It was this or use her to draw the shinigami's gaze away as an open distraction from the real party of attackers. And at least this way, it might be too distracted with the other fighters to consume her soul, allow her to reform at the Valley when she fell.

So she sat, quiet and waiting with a subdued expression, whispering a final report to some of the seeds in her pocket, seeds she'd hand off to one of her classmates when this meeting broke up to give to her Sisters. Just in case she couldn't. This whole situation was *wrong*. To kill a dryad, you killed her tree first. That was the arrangement, the informal pact between herself, her kind, and the worlds.

[z-Skye Angelus]

“If you want to maintain the appearance that we’re not looking for the sigils, then we have to be smarter about this,” Skye argued, setting her chin. A second later, she realized how that sounded and she amended, “With all due respect, sending groups that don’t make sense only makes the shinigami realize what we’re up to. If I were it, I’d go after the searching groups, kill them and then go for combat team last, when there’s no chance of backup arriving. I’m fine with including Ruby, just send another male with us to round out the pairs. Mixing adults with students also ruins our guise. To keep our true purpose secret. Otherwise, the shinigami may be the one surprising us. And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I intend to be doing the surprising tonight.”

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik nodded quietly, agreeing with the setup for his team and Ruby's... though he doubted Ms. Nekomone or anyone else in her group had the power to credibly find the sigils. Nothing worked better than a warlock's innate ability to sense magic. Still he had disagreements with Skye on her points. "It's not as if we can maintain our efforts secret for too long anyway. For that matter, if nothing else, that fact that your group has two couples makes it more credible. Looking for a private place, since your own rooms have... roommates, you know. I suppose Ruby has been having illicit relations with... probably Delilah. As for my group, with all respect, Asano is a dead giveaway..."

[Justin OOC]

"The second the first Sigil is smashed Skye, they'll know."

He looked to them. "Ruby is a student as well, just one who largely requires supervision more than many others."

"She serves as my secretary as her extra curricular activity. It has all been worked out with the Council of Magic, and I do not interfere with her school work."

Serena looked at them. "She's a Senior, that's why none of you knew that."

"The teams have a purpose as they stand, That is how they'll be." Aoi looked to Skye. "There's no time for something that would fool a shinigami. The instant we move towards the sigils, he will move to intercept one team. Since there are only three of us here capable of binding him, putting two in the same group will draw him to us and allow you all to find the sigils. That two students must be in that group as well is unfortunate. I will do all within my power to keep any Yokai from dying. If the headmaster could afford to concentrate all of us adults in one place and send you students out, that would be wonderful, but there are not enough of you who can find the sigils."

Asano looked to Krag, Aria, and Yuuki. "I know the three of you won't fail in this."

[Delilah Synn]

"They're not illicit relations, they're explicit," Delilah countered, sticking her tongue out at Darrik. Her eyes fell on Ruby, and the succubus gave her a slow smile. "I'd be willing to demonstrate."

Throughout all the talk and revelations and debate, Delilah had been uncharacteristically quiet, standing by Kyohei's side in resolute and unconditional support, her hand gripping his tightly. Beneath lowered brows, her purple eyes were shadowed. She was off-put and more than a little hurt by some she called friends keeping things that directly concerned Kyohei from him, and consequently, as he was her Mate of Fate, from her as well.

Now, there was some Shinigami-spirit thing that wanted to do Hells-know-what, and that had already almost killed Yuuki. She sympathized with the dryad - one of Kyohei's angelic sisters had almost killed her when they first met too. She gave Aoi a sharp look, still not forgiving her for their first meeting. Still, she couldn't help but feel a trace of suspicion. Why did Yuuki's Matriarchs want her to protect Kyohei - someone they had no reason to know except for what Yuuki may have told them? And was Yuuki an obedient but unwitting servant, or one in the know? And Darrik! He had known about Noriega, at least something, and had told nobody! Sure, she could taste his anger, but it was a little late. Delilah couldn't help but wonder how long he would have kept it secret if the shinigami hadn't ended up being more... direct.

And now, everyone was dithering, second-guessing each other and nothing was getting done.

"Enough guys, let's get started instead of talking and talking and talking, otherwise, he'll be done his ritual before we even leave the room," Delilah said in exasperation. She was eager to move forward, so her growing fear couldn't catch her. "This Shinigami thing can't be everywhere, can it? It can't, right?" she repeated, looking at the Headmaster and various Lords. "And I think you guys are over-analyzing this. Aoi said the Shinigami isn't angel, monster, or human - stop thinking it thinks the way we do. It might not have the slightest clue what we're doing... until we get to close to it, at the Master Sigil or whatever, I guess."

Delilah wiped her hands on her thighs, took a deep, shirt-taxing breath, then straightened her shoulders. "I should be to sense if anyone is getting attacked... assuming your emotions spike in a life and death situation," Delilah said, her grin wry and worried. "I can taste emotions almost all the way across the school now. If something happens, we'll at least know one of the groups is on the right trail and where."

[SalmonMax]

Aria sighed. "All right. I'll move with the group, but I'll still search most effectively if I...disperse while I do it. I'll keep myself more or less centered on the group though, so I can let you know when I find something quickly."

She nodded to Asano. "Whenever you're ready, Lord."

[Justin OOC]

""Asano" works fine Aria. We're all in this situation together. i don't stand on formalities like some when things are like this."

[Karren Gaunt]

Yuuki stood up and stated with every ounce of the practised calm she could muster, the fatalistic resolve of someone who didn't expect and who didn't require her own survival under her brittle social mask, "I am ready to perform as required to assist the success of Headmaster-Sensi, Aoi-Dono, and Kyra-Sempai's portion of the plan."

The messenger seeds were clutched tightly in one hand at her side, the young dryad looking for someone to be isolated from the group in the chaos of departure so she could hand them over. She could bury the fear gnawing at her gut, not curl up in a corner and hide until this was over, but only if she could hand them over, pass on one last message just in case.

[glyde]

Jiren was silent as the others deliberated over there course of action, the smile on his face masking his anxiety.

He couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the dryad. She had just gotten through one traumatic and terrifying experience only to be thrust into another one immediately after. Yuuki was doing an admirable job maintaining a calm and brave front, but he knew that the experience had shaken her to the core. From personal experience, exposure to mortal peril tended to have that kind of effect on people.

The greater demon prince sighed. He didn't envy her position at all. It seemed clear what Aoi's and the headmaster's intentions were regarding the dryad. It was the only plausible explanation why she had been assigned to their team, even after the terror she had to endure earlier.

In any case, they weren't going to get anything done by dilly-dallying.

"The succubus is right," he said, nodding in agreement with Delilah. "We can't really afford to delay much longer. Headmaster, would you have any suggestions where we should begin looking?"

[Justin OOC]

"I do. The Primary Gymnasium, for your team Jiren, I'm willing to bet there's one there. Fore Delilah and Skye's team, You're going to The Dorms. I'm willing to bet there's one in each of them."

He looked to Shizuka. "I'd like you to take your team to the school store."

The three selections were all at cardinal ends of the campus.

He looked to his teammates, "There's likely one in the Administration building. "We will get that one, then enact my plan."

(OOC 10 cp)