Diabolo

[amdreams]

"A couple decided to drive up to a remote location for a little romance. But just as they were getting started, the girl heard a strange noise in the woods surrounding them. Since she was now too scared to continue, her boyfriend volunteered to go check out the situation. He told her to lock the doors just in case and soon disappeared in the darkness. Minutes had passed and her boyfriend had not come back. The girl was starting to get worried. She then heard someone knocking on the window next to her. She turned her head to see the face of a madman staring down at her. He lifted up his hand to reveal her boyfriend's detached head. The girl's eyes widened as she tried to stifle a scream. The killer grinned at her with an evil smile. Then he raised his other hand to reveal . . . her boyfriend's car keys."


"GAHHHHH!" Mashiro's scream had cut through the quiet of the club room. The members were in the middle of telling stories with the lights out and the curtains drawn. The latest story had been Miki's. The blonde was now clinging to his childhood friend in fear. Apparently the story had been too much for him. "Mi-chan, why'd you have to tell such a scary story?"


Miki grabbed Mashi's arm and twisted it behind his back. "Idiot, weren't you the one who suggested that we do this? Don't complain about something you brought on yourself."


With his eyes tearing up a bit, Mashi tried to appeal to Ryuu, their club adviser who was currently napping on the small couch in the corner. "Hani. Miki's bullying me."


The chemistry teacher opened one eye and glared at the club president. "And who said you could call me that! That's 'sensei' to you." He then waved over to Miki. "Mi-chan~ Why don't you join me? It's getting awfully cold over here.~"


Miki was overlooking some folders with the club's budget on them. She didn't even turn to acknowledge Ryuu in any way. "Then go freeze to death you useless yakuza meathead." She closed the folder a bit satisfied. There was plenty of money left in the budget after Mashi had accidentally set the old curtains on fire last week. How he did so with a kettle of cold water, she would never know.


Mashi smiled. The club was so lively today. It looked like everyone was getting along. He looked around the room. Things were so much better with so many members.


First there was Haku. She was super nice, even if she got a bit awkward during their meetings. And she was really good at writing stories. Then there was Donovan, Do-chan as Mashi had oh so cleverly nicknamed him. He was a bit of a loner and clumsy. But he was capable with tasks and he's trying hard to get along with the others. There was Sakura, whose bubbly personality really lit up a room. And then Satoshi, their secretary. He was a bit cold and he never laughs but he works harder than any of them. And of course, Miki, their vice president and his childhood friend. She may seem mean but Mashi knew that she was nice in her own way.


Mashi was having fun and even if no one else was admitting it, he knew the others were too.


*****


(A few notes before you start: 1. Right now, the rp starts one week after everyone joined the club, September 23. Everyone is aware of each other's powers and that somehow your powers have been getting a little stronger, but Mashi has yet to suggest becoming some sort of ghostbusters group. And 2. The club itself is very unpopular but the members themselves can be fairly popular. Mashi is popular with the girls since he's half french and fairly innocent and funloving. Ryuu is popular for being laid back and such. Looking over your characters, each could be popular within a certain group. Don could be popular for being a foreigner. Sakura could be popular for being bubbly, a typical cute personality. Haku has the appeal of a literary girl. Satoshi would be the one with all the fangirls if this were a manga, especially if he wore glasses. And Miki could be popular among masochists or something. Anyway, it's up to you guys to decide. Just don't be too popular, okay?)

 

[Legendless]

Haku listened intently to the story. It was a bit creepy in the dark room but it only made the stories better. If the room was lit, they wouldn't have been half as scary, although Haku wasn't really one for scary stories.


She jumped when Mashiro screamed, having seated herself near to him and Miki. She would never admit to it, but she had gained a small crush on the club president. If anyone found out, she could only imagine the embarrassment. Even now she covered her face with her hands, her short black hair brushing against them as she shook her head slightly.


"Jeez Mashiro-kun. You made me jump," she said, frowning. She then looked back down at her desk. Papers covered it. Sometimes she would start writing things when her mind trailed off and she wasn't focusing on the club. Right now there was half a page written and she couldn't tell what she was writing. It seemed like a good start, but whatever she had originally had in mind was gone. She guessed she got too caught up in the story telling. Oh well. Oral story telling was fun as well.


As she glanced quickly at Mashiro, then to the other members, she slightly tapped her pencil against the desk. It was a nervous habit of her. "Um...so are we going to continue? I mean it's fine if we don't." She shrugged. She was never good at these kind of words.

 

[amdreams]

Mashi turned to Haku and scratched the back of his neck. "Heh. Sorry about that. But it's Mi-chan's fault for telling such a scary story." When Haku asked if they were going to continue, Mashi's violet eyes teared up. He clung to Haku, shaking her slightly. "Why? Why would you suggest we continue? It's too scary! The killer is going to get us all!" At that moment, a book flew across the room and hit the president in the head, knocking him to the floor.


"No sexual harassment," Miki said, pushing up the thick plastic frame of her glasses. Of course the glasses were fake. Miki had good eyesight. She wore the glasses so that she would get a better reputation than the queen of the delinquents . . . it didn't work.


The blond boy was now face down on the floor with his blood slowly staining the rug. He lifted up a feeble hand before letting it fall again.


Ryuu then walked over to Haku and gave her a hug from behind. "Oh, are you scared? If it helps, you can find comfort in my arms. I'll protect you from the gho-gah!" Another book had hit Ryuu in the head, this time from above. The chemistry teacher looked up to see a tiny white cloud with a cute face on it. It was one of Miki's summons. A weird creature no one could really explain through science. Not that the man never tried. He made several attempts to capture the little cloud babies and test them to see what they were. But Miki had always caught him.


The cloud flew back to its master who was now glaring at Ryuu. "And who is going to protect her from you?"


Ryuu quickly pulled away from Haku and sighed. So many cute girls and he couldn't touch a single one. He watched as Miki took the unconscious president's hand to sign some forms with his fingerprint. He'd often wondered why he became the faculty adviser for this club. And then he remembered how the vice president had obtained information of his family and threatened the poor teacher with it. He really didn't want the school to know about him being a yakuza. After all, yakuza don't get chicks like they do in movies. Girls don't like mafia men.

 

[Nivrad00]

Satoshi, to tell the truth, hadn't really been listening to the story. After the first little bit, his mind had wandered onto other subjects; he'd agreed to join the Supernatural Research Club just because he thought he needed a little more time to relax- well, also because Mashiro had been yelling enthusiastically at him. When the club met, however, he ended up being restless instead. Satoshi always liked to have a purpose. There was always some goal to work to, and set times and steps necessary to meet it. Here, though, the only objective was to have fun- and that wasn't working out too well.


Ghost stories? Satoshi didn't put much worth on works of fiction. The "Research" in the club name had lent its purpose some credit, but the meetings had mostly just comprised of goofing off so far. Silliness, Satoshi told himself; but it sort of was a refreshing change. He could do whatever and no one would mind.


The boy jumped when Mashi suddenly screamed, one hand flying out to brace himself against a desk- but seeing what had happened, his surprise settled into irritation. Rolling his eyes, Satoshi rose from his seat. "Come on, Mashi."


The stories seemed to be at a halt so far. Ryuu had awoken, everyone had gotten up, and Miki had moved on to look on official business. Well, as official as this group was going to get, which was a couple of manila folders. Speaking of which.... Satoshi opened his bag, took a couple of papers from inside, and walked over to the counter where Miki had shut the budget folder; "I got some receipts from the school," he explained in a flat tone, placing the sheets in with the others. It wasn't really anything necessitating a response, but he was drowned out by Mashiro's complaints from where Haku sat anyways- and then thump as a book nailed Mashiro in the back of the head.


"It's just a story, Mashi," Satoshi said, even as the president lied on the floor. "Fiction." A few moments of silence indicated that the boy- having blacked out- hadn't heard him. Satoshi was nonplussed.


Mikika took the president's body- not before she hit Ryuu as well, of course- leaving the small stain of blood on the tiles. Satoshi scratched his neck and reached over on the counter, subtly shifting the roll of paper towels to his hand instead of leaning over to reach it. Picking up the books on the way, he went to wipe up the spilled blood.

 

[Legendless]

"Oh come on Ma-kun," Haku said, feeling a bit silly. She had small moments of thought where she began to question her crush on the guy, but she normally found his actions to be endearing and not annoying like most people. Then again, Haku didn't interact so well despite being a friendly and nice person. So maybe that was it. Still she thought that Mashiro was overreacting to the story. It was fake after all. When he clung to her, she blushed deeply and tried to push him away. "I'm-I'm sorry," she said, before Miki hit him with a book.


Haku looked down at Mashiro with a concern look and was tempted to go down and check on him. But this seemed like a normal event and so she stayed seated. Just another reason not to upset Miki.


"Ootori-san was that really necessary?" Haku really only referred to Miki by the honorfic san, but she always felt it was necessary. Really Haku wasn't impersonal with many people, but she never saw this as a problem. "He might get brain damage one day."


The girl looked over at Satoshi. He was almost another one she referred to by the honorfic san. "Fiction can be powerful," she said in a quiet voice. Then of course she let out a small shriek as Ryuu gave her a hug. She almost threw herself off the seat, but once again Miki came to her rescue. This time she felt a little less bad about what happened. Still she gave him a sympathetic smile. Haku didn't really like being hit on by him, but she felt sorry for anyone who got in the way of Miki's wrath.


"So what shall we do now," she asked in a quiet voice. It looked like they had moved on to club things and away from stories.

 

[amdreams]

(Okay, big news announcement for Diabolo. Lost had dropped the rp, so @Raevum shall be taking her place. I'm still on the fence about Donny so I'll give him another week to respond before I announce him gone as well. Having six kids is an important plot point in the story. Luckily, we haven't reached that point yet so we can continue without the sixth for a while. If Donny has indeed dropped the rp or he takes too long to respond, I shall open the sign ups to hopefully get our sixth, unless someone wants to take on another character or something. Another note, you are allowed to also create side characters if you want. For now, let's pretend Rae was absent for this club meeting and just move on. Okay? Okay.)


Miki never raised her eyes from the paperwork in front of her. She took the receipts in silence. More of the president's reckless spending and damages it seemed. She still couldn't wrap her brain as to why they needed a karaoke machine for the club. Still Mashi bought one. She heard Haku's concern about Mashi's head. "With his thick skull, there's nothing I can do that could give him any brain damage. Plus, the guy could stand to lose a few IQ points." It was true. Despite how he acted, Mashi was a bit of a genius, always acing his exams. Although most of this was contributed to a photographic memory. After about another half hour of doing pretty much nothing, Miki had suggested calling this the "Do Nothing" club rather than Supernatural Research club, their "meeting" ended and everyone had to go home. Miki had to drag Mashi's unconscious form all the way to his house. Thankfully it was not on a hill like hers was.


One of Mashiro's younger brothers, Sou, answered the door. He took one look at his still unconscious brother and sighed, taking the boy off of Miki's back. This was rather routine. All of the Kuromizus knew of Miki's ruthlessness. And Mashi had come home with worse before. Miki said her goodbyes and left the Kuromizu estate.


On the way home, she couldn't help but wonder why she even joined the club. At first it was to help Mashi but now the club only meant more paperwork for her. Still, it seemed like she was supposed to be there. Miki stretched a hand out to the sky. A tiny white puff came out with a "Hello ". What a strange power. She had come across it when she was six, the same age when Mashiro discovered his powers. The same went for each of the club members as well. Each of them had a unique power and each one was discovered when the user was six years old. This had to be more than just a coincidence. Miki had never been able to prove it since that was the only factor that seemed to connect the five of them. She pushed the thought out of her mind and continued home.


That night, Miki had a dream . . .


She was being chased by a clown down a hallway. She wasn't alone. She had been running with about six other kids, ranging from five to ten years old. In an attempt to get rid of it, Miki would throw lamps, books, tables and anything in that hallway at the painted face that came charging at them. The clown merely ate the furniture as if they were skittles. Every now and then, a child would trip and the clown would then eat the poor kid. Each time he did, he would count up. "One . . . Two . . . Three . . . " Soon, all six children were gone, an eight year old boy was the last to go, and it was only Miki who continued running. Then Miki tripped as well, and as the clown opened its gaping mouth to swallow her . . . she woke up.


Now at first, the girl dismissed it as another nightmare. She did her morning routine and went down to the kitchen for a piece of toast. The entire house was silent except for a maid or two who were gossiping while they cleaned the hallway. Miki's uncle was already at work like he always seemed to be so she was used to eating alone. She decided to turn on the news to check the weather for today. She soon went wide eyed. Apparently an eight year old boy was murdered last night. It was the same boy as in her dream last night. And as they interviewed the parents at the scene of the crime, Miki's eyes fell on a clown doll in the background. It was the same face as the one who tried to eat her last night. It was a creepy doll, with a wide evil grin across its face and holding up six fingers.


Now Miki tried to push the whole clown business out of her mind. And she would've succeeded if it weren't for one thing. Apparently Mashi had seen the news story as well. Her normal school day had come to an end the minute she walked into the club room. Mashi had several papers scattered on the small table they usually put snacks on. She didn't know why. The desk was much bigger. But there were copies of articles of child murders, six of them including the one from last night. There were printed out forum chats discussing a cursed clown doll. And there were pictures of varying resolutions, all depicting the same clown doll with varied numbers of fingers up.


The president's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas Day. He was obviously excited about this. When the members all made their way into the clubroom for today's meeting, Mashi made everyone sit on the small couch they had. It was getting cramped so Miki opted to standing. The blond pres stood in front of them with a huge grin on his face. "You guys! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. A real live cursed doll in Tokyo. We've got to find it! This is a huge step for the club! So what do you guys think? Should we contact the family first to see if they'll give it to us or-"


Mashi would've continued but one of Miki's cloud babies flew into his mouth, successfully gagging him. The tiny face peered from his mouth and waved to the other members. "Hello "

 

[Raevum]

Reyn was looking into his journal, reading his entries he thought wouldn't make sense when he read over them the second time. He was listening to about the 'cursed' doll until he heard Mashi get gagged. Curious Reyn looked up and was a little confused to see a cloud baby thing in the presidents mouth. Reyn's eyes darted to Miki since they seemed to be her companion but looked back at the creature. "Uhh...Hi?" He wasn't sure it addressed him since he hadn't been paying much attention, aside listening to what was being talked about until recently.


He felt bad for missing what happened at the last meet, maybe they were looking up superstitious activity so they could actually start to do stuff in this group besides dilly dally and destroy one another. He closed his journal and placed it in a custom leather pouch he had gotten to keep his journal in so he wouldn't have to carry it all the time. It made him feel like a cowboy or woodsman to have some kind've pouch holding his stuff at his hip, but he knew better. "Did I miss something? It sounds like were actually going to look into something that's going on in the city..." He sounded curious, trying to make sure that who didn't notice he wasn't there last time would fill him in since he wasn't at the last meet.


He sat up and scooted back into his seat, his attention was gotten but he was too nervous to continue the topic since he was expecting them to fill him in. He felt bad for the president being gagged, but he doubted it would be for long. It sounded like they had a real motive in the group finally, at least as long as Miki decided it was important enough to bring up.

 

[Nivrad00]

Satoshi gave a wary glance at the creature stopping up Mashiro's mouth. It was hard to get used to seeing the cloud babies, so blatantly impossible, just floating around real life. He shifted on the couch, uncomfortably sandwiched between Haku and Reyn; he was studying the pictures their president had brought in.


"Ghosts aren't real, Mashi," he said, reflexively. Satoshi had to admit to himself the silliness of that sentence, however. Cloud babies were real. So were all their powers. Besides- this was the Supernatural Research Club. He'd just... Never thought it would actually amount to anything.


The logical side of his brain continued to win over, however. "There's been hundreds of hoaxes like this. Or even if it's real, maybe it's just some sort of twisted game on the murderer's part." How hard would it be? One finger for each kill....


Cursed dolls, really? Just because their club members had supernatural powers didn't mean every rumor in Japan was true. He looked left and right, wondering if anyone would back him up. Probably not. They were nice enough, but- in his opinion- sort of foolish. He'd clawed himself into Crowley with a force of will; but it had been prearranged for all the others.

 

[amdreams]

Miki crossed her arms and glared at Mashi. "Did I not hit you hard enough yesterday? Because I can fix that." She took a book from the shelf behind her and posed her arm to throw. Mashi reacted by waving his arms in front of him, like he could block it with the erratic movement. "N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n . . . no. No more throwing books at me. I've still got a bump from yesterday and-No! No pencils either! Or rulers or anything."


Miki put down the handful of pencils she had brought out when Mashi said no books. At least he was learning. Now if only he'd learn to put this silly occult stuff behind him. It's not like Miki didn't believe in that stuff, she did. Her family, along with their health professions, also ran a shrine by their house. She grew up learning about demons, ghosts and stuff. She had been the one to introduce Mashi to that world when they were little. Miki's own powers were proof enough that there were some things they could not explain. But Mashi needed to know that they were just students and did not need to dive into random cases only to get ridiculed, chased out, or punished. In middle school, he had managed to piss off soooo many people with his ghost hunting trips. The time he punctured a major water pipeline. The time he broke the main support beam of a three story apartment. And of course the time, his "ghost detector" led him to accidentally break into the women's side of a public bath house. Each time, Miki had to be the one to bail him out of jail since his mother was dead, and his father was always working. It was tiring.


Mashiro's eyes lit up again when Reyn asked what they were doing. "Why yes Reyn, we are." He held up a fuzzy picture of the latest version of the clown doll, the one with six fingers raised. "We're going to stop this cursed clown before he can kill again. We'll be like the Ghostbusters. I know where we can get some jumpsuits but the vacuum thingy is going to be a bit harde-" Mashi was once again muffled as a swarm of cloud babies tackled him down. The silence was filled with "Hello " "Hello " "Hello "


They didn't gag him this time, so he was able to answer Satoshi. "Ghosts are real. I may have been wrong every single time before but I've got a hunch about this one. Plus, if it ends up not being a curse, we'll still catch a murderer. We'll be heroes. Like Superman. I wonder if I can get some tights custom made soon enough. Maybe something in red."


"Mashiro. Why don't you put this nonsense behind you? You're just going to get arrested again."


Mashiro glanced over at Miki and gave a goofy grin. "But it's fun. And you guys can't deny that you've been bored, right? Well now we have something to do as a club."


"But really? This is just some sicko on a rampage. There's no way that dream could be true?"


The blond's ear perked up. "Dream?" He practically jumped up, making all the little cloud babies vanish. "Miki, did you have a vision?" "No, it was just some stupid dream. And it was so weird there's no way it could mean anything." "But you dreamed about this clown? Did you see these kids?" He held up the pictures of the victims as well as the clown. "Well, yes but-" "That settles it! We are so doing this! We leave at dawn." Mashi had gotten excited. Miki had a dream about this, so it must be something important. Of course, her prophetic dreams only came like one in a thousand so there was a slight (like 99.9%) chance this might be nothing. But there was also a chance this could actually be the work of supernatural forces.


"Dawn's too early for me." The two turned towards the sound of a yawn as they watch Ryuu stretch. Had he been sleeping there the entire time? No one even noticed him. The chem teacher rubbed his eyes. "Plus there's a bit of a problem with that plan. You do know that you're going to these parents who have lost a child and then bringing up their death again. That's not very nice, is it? Plus, you're saying that their kids were killed by a curse. No one is going to want to talk to you. Plus what if they donated the doll or something? So what do plan to do?"

 

[Legendless]

Haku was a bit sad to leave yesterday. She wanted to stay and check on Mashiro and make sure he was okay. She knew enough that Miki's attacks on him didn't really leave that much damage, but she still felt concerned for him. But the thought of being with Mashiro alone was enough to make her go instead. She was sure she had been blushing half of the way home.


She hummed softly as she listened to Mashiro. She shifted nervously on the couch, not use to the close contact with the other club members. She was put between the arm of the couch and Satoshi. She would glance to him once in a while, feeling nervous about being so close to him. She wondered if he was uncomfortable as well.She wanted to ask, but she didn't think it would be right. So she just put her attention on what the president was saying. Like normal.


For Haku, this actually interested her. She wasn't so sure if it was actually real, but she would humor Mashiro anyways. No it interested her on another level. The way it sounded, she could already imagine the scenes of kids running from a possessed doll. Of others investigating it. The investigation leading to uncover hidden things and the closer the group got to solving it and stopping, the more they were in danger. It made her smile in thought. It sounded like a lovely story.


"I don't see the harm in it," Haku said. She said it quietly. Then she spoke it again louder, trying hard not to just stay out of it. "I mean what is the harm in just asking about it? Besides I find it fascinating." As she moved Haku's eyes changed from dark blue to a light green then to a muddy brown and back. That happened most often when she was uncomfortable, but Haku did have times where she intentionally changed it. She always said it was contacts.

 

[amdreams]

Mashi's eyes lit up as Haku supported him. He thrust a fist into the air in excitement. "Okay! That settles it. Cancel your weekend plans because we're having a field trip!" Mashiro found himself staring at Haku's eyes as they put on their little color show. He always loved to watch them as they did that. It reminded him of the color changing light shows from his nightlight as a kid.


Miki rolled her eyes as Haku fed Mashi's insane idea. "You're spoiling him too much. And God knows he's already been spoiled enough by his father. The chairman even let him start this 'Do Nothing' club." She noticed Haku's eye color change. At first it had been a bit unsettling but she had gotten used to it, like how the others got used to her little cloud babies.


"We're not a 'Do Nothing' club," Mashiro protested. "Too bad. I already had the t-shirts made." "T-shirts?!" Miki kicked a cardboard box out from behind the couch. Inside were a few black t-shirts of varying size. The blond president picked one up. It was a rather simple design. The front had a pentagram on it in red, with the blood like color fading into white at the edges, making a glowing or burning visual effect. There also seemed to be a pair of yellow eyes that stared through the pentagram. Mashiro's violet eyes sparkled at the t-shirt . . . until he flipped the shirt over and saw "The Do-Nothing Club" scrawled over the back in large bolded white letters. He threw the shirt back into the box like a child throwing a tantrum. "We are not the 'Do-Nothing' club," he mumbled under his breath.

 

[Raevum]

Reyn liked Mashiro's childlike attitude, it was pretty entertaining to see someone view to world so eagerly still. He wouldn't say that of course, he was thinking about what they were going to do this weekend first. "Well if it is some murderer, or possibly worse, a cursed murdering doll then what will we do when we confront it? Strike a conversation or will we have to fight it? I think we need a plan of some sort at least, a plan b or back up plan." Reyn suggested out of mostly worry for the others. Not that he was anything special, he just didn't want us walking into a fight we weren't ready for.


Reyn looked at the t-shirts, he thought she just wanted to insult him or maybe make us never forget we didn't really do anything. But by the sound of it, it was likely to change this weekend, maybe they would destroy someone else's stuff for a change. Either way, it'd be good to get out of here and actually test out our abilities. His vision had never been better as far as he was concerned, he just found it odd that being around other people with their own power had made it that way somehow.

 

[Nivrad00]

Field trip?


Satoshi rolled his eyes and stood from the crouch, leaving more space for the other two members seated on it. He felt like flinging his arms in the air, but he'd never invested much in dramatic flair. "I'm not going chasing after some urban myth. You others do what you want, but I'm staying home."


Haku and Reyn seemed convinced already. They were making plans, as if what Miki had dreamed actually meant something. They ought to realize. Dreams were blurry and indistinct, and slipped from your mind moments after you woke up. How could anyone identify a boy in a dream as a stranger in real life? Power or not, Mikika's dreams weren't always right.


Satoshi walked across the room, snatching up one of the forum printouts on the way. It looked just like any other Internet squabble to him.


He turned around to see what the others were talking about, just in time to see the black T-shirt turned around. Satoshi regarded it coolly, snickering inside. Great timing on Mikika's part.

 

[Legendless]

"I am not spoiling him," Haku said, looking down at the floor in embarrassment. "I just said I don't see the harm in it. It's not like I have much else to do with my weekend anyways."


She was sort of happy that Reyn seemed to like the idea of going as well. She didn't want to be alone in this. She looked up for a quick moment to stare at Mashiro. Then she looked away again. Of course she wanted to go and investigate it. Not only did it sound interesting and fascinating, but Haku had a weakness for the boy. Why she had to gain a crush on him was beyond her understanding.


She could see that some of the others weren't in agreement. She could hear Satoshi dismissing the notion, but she had a feeling that he would. Maybe if this thing turned out to be true, he would be more accepting next time something happened. That did depend on if this doll thing was actually happening or not. As much as Haku liked the idea and the story it could tell, she was a bit skeptical herself. Haku looked up again at the t-shirts Miki made and frowned. Well that was sort of true as well. Haku looked back towards Mashiro.


"Well you have me and Reyn-kun Mashiro-kun. So we three could check it out." She was glad again for Reyn's inclusion. She couldn't imagine being with Mashiro alone. Her face got hot and she dropped her gaze to the ground again.

 

[amdreams]

(Okay, so Dinny's deadline has expired and it seems we're going to have to replace him. I'll start looking for a final member when we're almost done with the clown episode because it might be awkward having them pop in right now unless we can somehow connect them with this case. I hope we get a girl because we've got a 4:2 boy girl ratio. I also hope we get a rather talkative one because we've also got a 4:2 ratio of relatively quiet to loud people. And those two talkative ones are both mine . . . Anyway, so our little clown mission is going to start with the remaining members kidnapping Satoshi. Okay? Okay.)


Mashiro pouted at Satoshi's behavior. The guy had a pole stuck so far up his butt, Mashi wondered if was part of his skeleton. But he supposed he had to comply with the boy's answer . . . for now . . . The president's smile was back when Haku assured him that he at least had her and Reyn with him. He also knew that Miki would go along with his whims like she always did. He was once again pumped up. "Okay! It's settled! We meet at in front of the XX station at 8 am sharp! Club dismissed!"


** time skip: Saturday 8:00 AM **


Miki had been the first to arrive and was know leaning against a streetlamp with her hat pulled over her eyes. Her arms and legs were crossed as she stood there motionless. Mashiro was the second to arrive. His backpack was filled with all sorts of ghost hunting junk, from tape recorders to emf detectors. He even brought exorcism charms he bought off the internet. They probably wouldn't work but a certain childhood friend was too cheap to bring some of the charms from her family's shrine. He spotted Miki nearby and ran to her waving his hands to get her attention. "Miiiii-chaaaan!!!"


As he got withing two feet of her, he was met with a fist to his face. Miki had punched him. He rubbed his nose to check if it was broken. Didn't seem like it though it hurt a lot. "Mi-chan, what was that for?" The black haired girl grabbed him by the collar and pulled his face to her own. Her icy blue eyes were especially cold as they glared at the blond. "It's way too early for this sh*t." She threw him back on the ground.


Ah. That's right. Miki was not a morning person. Mashi remembered how he slept over at her house once when they were ten. She stayed up til around three in the morning and when he tried to wake her up the next morning, it was like trying to summon the Devil. He ended up with a fractured rib and a broken arm. Maybe doing this early on a weekend was not a good idea . . . Oh well, too late to change it now.

 

[Legendless]

Haku was a morning person. She tended to go to bed earlier than most people her age. She liked waking up early enough to watch the sunrise. After getting into a small spat with her mother, she was able to get out of the house. She had not expected her mother to be home, much less hanging around the small kitchen area. They usually took their meals in the dining area.


The smell of coffee was not that surprising. Her mother always made a pot before she left for work. Usually it was half-way gone when Haku tore herself out of her room to head downstairs. Haku tried to remember if her mom was off today or something, but she couldn't remember. She smiled meekly to her mother's cold stare.


"Going out today?"


"Yes ma'am. I am spending time with some friends."


"Not that stupid boy right? What was his name?" Haku knew her mother didn't approve of Mashiro. They had never met, but Haku had talked about him fairly often enough to catch her mother's interest. She didn't really like anyone Haku liked, but then again she didn't seem to like anyone. So when she heard Haku had a crush on the boy, she gave her a lecture on choosing a better boy to date.


"No of course not. Just some from my writing club."


Her mother nodded, already finished with the conversation. Without another word she walked out of the kitchen. Haku licked her lips and got herself something to eat and drink before heading out. Forget her mom. She was going to have some fun today.


When she got to the station she spotted Miki and Mashiro. She waved at them as she drew closer. "Morning Mashiro-kun. Ootori-san. How are you guys this morning? Excited?"

 

[amdreams]

When Haku greeted them, Mashiro threw his hands up and began jumping up and down. "Haku!!! Good morning!" The goofy grin on his face was bigger than usual, filled to the brim with excitement. "I'm good. Fantastic really. I'm fired up. Reyn is coming later so it gives us just enough time to go 'pick up' Sato-chan." He uttered an almost evil laugh as his eyes beamed with mischief. He grabbed Haku's hand and began pulling her away from the train station. Miki followed in silence. Despite having her eyes open and walking along fine, she was still technically asleep, which described how she was rather submissive to Mashi's whims at the moment.


The blond had led them to an apartment complex close to the school. By this time, Miki had fully woken up, unsure of how she got there exactly. "Mi-chan. This is where Sato-chi* lives, right?" The black haired girl took a bit to fully assess her situation before pulling a folder out of her bag. Thanks to Mashi's connection to the school, they were able to gain access to each member's personal files. It was nothing to big. They looked into simple things like home addresses and phone numbers, even a birthday but no extremely personal information was known. "Uh . . . yeah. Fourth floor apartment 6."


"Good." He smiled devilishly and went to a tree that was close to the wall of the complex. Miki followed closely and both began climbing the tree. As Miki continued onto the higher branches, Mashi stayed on the first one and held his hand out to Haku. "Need some help? Or would you rather wait for Mi-chan to lower the ladder?"


Miki went up the tree. It only went as high as the third floor so she had to use the gutter to make it all the way to Satoshi's bedroom window. From there she opened his window, climbed inside, attached a rope ladder to the window sill, letting it down. Mashi smiled at Haku as the ladder came down. "We would make awesome burglars!" As Mashi went through the window, he spotted Satoshi still sleeping. With a nod, he signaled Miki to block the bedroom door with a desk chair, sitting in it as well for an extra safety precaution. The president then slowly tiptoed to the sleeping secretary. He lied down beside the boy, over the covers but their faces were a mere inches apart. He waited for Satoshi to wake up before speaking. "Good morning. You know, you should really lock your window. You never know what freaks or weirdos can sneak into your room at night."


(Hm . . . I just realized Miki is a shrine maiden kind of, more like a monk in terms of skills. Anyone want to be a ninja or samurai? Might be fun. *For thise who don't know "chi" is just another honorific like "chan" or "san". It doesn't mean anything and Mashi will make full use of a bunch of them. Just pay no heed to what he does to your name.)

 

[Nivrad00]

On the list of things he'd never thought he'd wake up beside, Mashiro ranked somewhere up with giraffes and the emperor of Japan.


Satoshi gave a wordless yelp and scrambled backwards, falling off the side of the bed and bringing most of his blanket with him. He popped back up, wearing his nightclothes. "Mashi- what?" the boy stumbled back to the corner of his room, where his door was; he gave another start when he noticed Mikika sitting in front of it. His plans of retreat foiled, the secretary rubbed his eyes, waking up from sleep and making sure he was seeing correctly. "Miki? What the heck are you two doing in my bedroom?! It's the middle of night!"


He frowned, noticing the rope ladder attached to his window. "Just because you don't know what to do with your stupid club doesn't mean you can become cat burglers!"


Mikika didn't seem too happy to be there either, but Mashiro looked positively ecstatic. Satoshi collapsed into a chair by the wall, glaring at the president. He couldn't believe it. It was ridiculous- even for Mashi. Every new day a new end to his craziness was revealed.

 

[Legendless]

Haku was happy to see Mashiro so excited. She giggled at his enthusiasm, although she had a feeling that things might not go as well as he assumed. She nodded when he said they were going to get Satoshi first and blushed deeply when he took her by the hand. Haku knew that he didn't mean anything by it, but it didn't stop her heart from pouding. She gripped tightly to his hand and allowed herself to be taken along with him.


Haku looked around once they reached Satoshi's place. She didn't really like the idea of breaking into his house and for a moment her eyes turned a dark purple before going back to their original color. Well what did she really expect from Mashiro? By the time she realized his intention, he and Miki were already climbing up. She bit her lip nervously as Mashiro extended a hand to help her, but then Miki lowered a ladder. She smiled at Mashiro and climbed up the ladder.


"That's not something we should be proud of," Haku said with a small laugh. She glanced into Satoshi's room feeling like she was evading his privacy. She stood by the windowstill as Mashiro went to wake up the boy. She smiled when Satoshi spoke.


"We aren't stealing anything. Well unless you count yourself."