@Bushman501@Hammerman

"Whaaa? Sit under stairs?" Seiko said with a grin. "Please, everyone knows the best place for pictures is the locker rooms. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to sneak a camera in there, heh. Even the guys locker room is easy for moi to get into!~" The redhead turned her gaze towards Ena again as she continued. "Anyways, this is an occult club, isn't it? This place is gonna be great material for my blog. I can already tell, heh! And uh, yeah, we're friends of sorts, Ena...annnnd I was actually wondering..." Seiko took a seat on a desk nearest Ena crossing her legs and, giving the other girl a decidedly friendly, if a little provocative seeming grin.

"Maaaybe we could be friends, hmm?" It was a (mostly) honest offer. She had no desire to do anything bad, of course, not at all!~

---

Ena watched the exchange that Seiko and Iria, and figured that they were indeed friends. Ena couldn't put her finger on it, but the reporter was up to something no doubt. Maybe wanting to score an interview with her or something as a new transfer or member of the club. "Anyways, this is an occult club, isn't it? This place is gonna be great material for my blog. I can already tell, heh! And uh, yeah, we're friends of sorts, Ena...annnnd I was actually wondering..." There was a slight pause as Seiko took a seat, crossing her legs. "Maaaybe we could be friends, hmm?"

The question was not out of the ordinary and her smile seemed friendly enough. Ena happily replied to her with a innocent smile "Sure! I look forward to being your friend! But uhm...." Ena did not know how to put her thoughts into words for a second. "What are you taking pictures of in the locker rooms?"

@Bushman501@Hammerman

@Rune_Alchemist@Bushman501
This girl... truly is shameless! Putting cameras in locker rooms? That's just outright voyeurism. Not to mention she puts cameras in the male locker room too. Truly and utterly shameless! This means that she potentially would have dirty pics of every student in the school! She's even worse than she originally thought!

Such were the thoughts that floated inside Iria's head as she heard Seiko's admission of guilt. Now she wished she hadn't turned down the offer to become student council president. That way, she would have power to confront this... this shameless menace to society!

But now, she can only smile back awkwardly.

"Sure! I look forward to being your friend! But uhm.... What are you taking pictures of in the locker rooms?"

That's it, Ena! That's a great question! Now let's see how Miss Journalist would respond.

Yoshi eagerly snatched the paper that Yamauchi had handed over to her. "By the by..." Watanabe started up as she began to unfurl the crumpled up piece of paper. "...You have a cute little wallet there. Fan of Lions huh? They knew that they were not to mess with Daniel even when he was thrown into their den, for he had His Blessing." Yoshi said as she tapped at her Bible.

Now with the paper unfurled Yoshi glanced at the code to look at it. She stared at the scrambled letters intently. Tilting her head first to the right, and after a few moments, then to the left she continued to stare at the letters. Her lips curled as she began idly twirling her hair. Yoshi blinked before turning towards Ai.

"Hhhhhm." she remarked before waving the paper in front of Ai. "Weeeell I think I'm stumped. What'd you do with this uh..." Yoshi began rubbing the back of her head with her left hand as she chuckled a bit, "Sorry if this sounds mean or anything, gibberish?"

Ai's self-satisfied grin widened a tad, revealing straight (if kind of...brownie stained) teeth. Quickly she snatched the paper back, a snicker moving past her lips as she moved behind Yoshi.

Ai held the paper up to the light, as though doing so would reveal anything - it didn't, and was purely for dramatic effect. "Look, look. It's not that hard." She brought the paper closer to Yoshi's face (perhaps uncomfortably close...) and, pocketing her wallet, pointed towards the seemingly random letters scrawled across the paper.

"It's called a Caesar cipher. They're one of the easiest to learn, as long as you've got the alphabet memorized. They say that Julius Caesar himself devised this to encrypt military messages!" She pointed to the first letter, Z. "All you do is take the letter and go three back in the alphabet. But I encoded this twice. So this Z would really be a W, and, decrypting again, that W would be a T. Neat, right?"

She seemed much more natural now, her voice uplifting slightly in enthusiasm. One could tell she knew quite a bit about this, and could (and would) go on for literal hours about it.

Aika Aramachi

"Well that's an interesting way to live." She said in reply to Yuki's apathy towards gender. However, it was far more interesting to Aika than she let on, as she took this as confirmation that Yuki was deliberately causing confusion surrounding her gender. That meant that she wanted people to act on their assumptions, causing them to act in a way towards Yuki that they wouldn't have if they knew which gender she really was, causing them to question their traditional attitudes and destroying the way society tended to work. It all made sense now!

But then...was it such a bad thing to change how society worked? Aika didn't really have a problem with homosexuality or non-traditional gender politics...

No, it was a bad thing! The government was involved, it had to be a vile plot against the public! They always want change for their own purposes!

But...was the government involved...?

Of course it was! It had it's fingers in every pie!

Pulling herself out of her own mental detour, Aika followed up with a new line of questioning. "It must get a bit awkward sometimes, right? Like, do you get date offers from both men and women? Cause, I dunno, like, I don't mind people being gay or whatever, but wouldn't you feel awkward letting someone date you under the wrong impression?" This one would be the icing on the cake; if Aika was told that Yuki entered relationships with people without letting them understand what they were getting into, she would be totally utterly convinced there was something afoot with this. Even more totally utterly convinced than she ever had been!

@Polaris North

@Slendy@ZeroCuero

As the paper was moved up, for all intents and purposes, essentially against her own face Yoshi took the time to scoot a bit back on her chair. Watanabe focused her attention on Ai, while looking at the paper, as Ai explained both the fact that the message was a Caesar Cypher and what needed to be done to solve it. Yoshi's eyes slowly went over the message once more.

ZKYZ, ZKYZ...GS O KBKT JUOTM ZNOY XOMNZ? NGNG...O NGBKT'Z YRKVZ OT ZCU JGEY! GTJ O'S JUOTM ZKXXOHRK! Yoshi's eyes looked upwards as she began to mouth how the steps were done as Ai listed them. First she had to go backwards three times from Z to reach W. Then from W she mouthed the letters that led her to T. In total she had to go six step backwards.

"So..." Watanabe Yoshi began as she held out her left index finger and pointed towards the paper that Yamauchi was still holding. "K is next." Yoshi cleared out her throat as she began to go through the steps with a sing-song inflection to her voice. "K J I H. H G F E." Yoshi beamed a triumphant grin as she placed both of her hands on her hips. "So the next letter would be E." Yoshi craned her head back to glance at Ai as she smiled, "Eee! You are right this is neat. I think I should start writing this down, yanno so I don't lose my pace."

And with that Yoshi reached towards her schoolbag which Ai Yamauchi invaded not that long ago. She slowly started to open the bag; however before she would find her bag rummaged through a thought occurred to her. "You know, I think might have forgotten one of my journals today... Hold on let me get some paper! I'll be back in a jiffy."

With that Yoshi proceeded to exit her seat and decided once again to leave her bag hanging from the seat, and the Bible on the table. There were many people she could ask for a spare sheet of paper; but Yoshi realized that she did want to go back to talk to Travis. So she skipped back towards the spot where Travis was seating.

Yoshi waved at Furukawa with her right arm and smiled towards the boy. "Soooo sorry I left the conversation where it was. Eheehee..." Watanabe briefly tapped her two index fingers together before shaking her head. "Anyhow OH!" She snapped her fingers and pointed at Travis, "YEAH!" eagerly declared the girl as a eureka moment appeared in her mind. "Swing is terrible; I can't say for sure, only The Lord could, but I am positive swing was influenced by the devil. But anyhow music aside, I have something I have to ask you."

There was a distinct pause as Yoshi looked around Travis' desk before glancing back up at him. "Would you happen to have any paper I could borrow? OH and uh is there anything you'd want to chat about besides answering me if you happen to have any spare paper or not? School? Friends? Hobbies?"

---

Yuki chuckled. "Yeah it is. It's like taking an insecurity and twisting it into a good thing yeah?" Well, that was what exactly happened in Yuki's case after all. After a childhood of bullying because of her appearance, this seems like more of a dream come true. A time where she was able to freely joke about it with minimal ridicule. Her childhood is now just a distant memory of a bad time long past. Heck, it now just seems like a nightmare she dreamed of every night for the first ten years of her life. It was amazing how vastly different society is between her hometown and this place.

However, she couldn't help but melt into those old days. Her right hand unconsciously gripped her necktie and her look became distant. Insults, isolation - a completely different scene from right now. If her parents didn't decide to move, her interaction right now would probably go downhill. The worst people to talk to back then were the popular kids. Ha, now that she thought about it. It was funny. They were all just children but the bullying was still there. Well, that's what she gets for being different in a traditional type of town. Well, even if she, herself, didn't choose to look like that.

She was thankfully pulled out of her thoughts by Aika questioning further. She finally noticed how tightly she was gripping her necktie so she let go and placed it in her pockets. She scratched her cheek with her left hand. "Well, yeah, I get asked out by some guys and girls... usually the latter really." She let out a chuckle. "And I'm actually interested in both genders so it's fine by me. But of course I tell them the truth about my gender first before I answer them, to make sure that they actually want to date me. It'd be horrible of me to lead them on that I'm what they think I am you know?" She then placed her left hand on the chair she was leaning on. "After that, I give them time if they're okay with that."

Hopefully that answers her question. Aika was an interesting one for sure. She only had a few people question about this kind of thing. It usually ended after the 'it's up to you what gender I am' and then lead to another topic. Yuki was glad she decided to talk to her. She looked back momentarily to see how Iria was doing. Oh, Seiko joined in on the conversation! She was glad that Iria was making more friends by the minute. That was good! Besides, they all look like they were having fun (in her eyes at least). She'd have to talk to Iria later to see if it really did go well. But it was without a doubt that the interaction was going to be good for her. Once done observing them, she looked back at Aika.

Ai's grin shrank down to a decent, natural smile at Yoshi's enthusiasm. Maybe this is what Ai ought to be doing in her spare time; not whatever the hell Occult Club is going to be, but some kind of Cryptography Club. Maybe they could exchange self-made codes, or learn the history of the study - man, that sounded much more interesting than this right about now.

When Yoshi reaches towards her bag, another sheen of sweat renewed itself against Ai's forehead. Eaugh. The baby blue button-down shirt she was wearing at the moment was quite constricting against her arms - which was not helping the whole sweating situation. But as soon as Yoshi retreats, beginning to skip happily towards the Travis boy again, it's gone and she feels secure again.

Well... she thought, licking her lips, she probably wouldn't be able to tell that it was me, anyway...

Ai folded the paper once more and set it into her pockets for safe keeping. She decided she'd watch Yoshi and Travis interact for a bit, and if things got interesting then perhaps she'd come over.

@Pleek

Travis laid slumped over on his desk in defeat. He swore that if he had another verbal encounter with the opposite sex he'd try his hardest to not fall into his introvert state again. For some reason it seemed like his wants were put to the test. As he raised his head from his desk to yawn he could see Yoshi walking back in his direction. At that moment all Travis could squeeze out of his mouth was one word, shit. He whispered the word to himself everytime Yoshi took a closer step.

He took a deep breathe, smiled​ and waved at Yoshi as she became close enough to commence a conversation with himself. She apologized for leaving and Travis, while rubbing his head chuckling, responded with, "N-no....it's okay...no need to apologize." This was going somewhat well in his eyes. Even if it was just the start of their interaction.

Well it was going well until Yoshi said she had a question. Travis was about to sweat a lake by the sheer mention of the word question. He let out a low. "...Yes." And awaited the question. Luckily it was just for a piece of paper. If she had asked​ bout his current relationship status he would of died on the spot. "Oh! Uhh yeah... Wait a second I'll get u one."

Travis got up and kneeled next to his seat to reach under it. As he grabbed some loose sleeve papers from under his desk he unconsciously said aloud, "I would be fine with just getting to know you more outside of your religious aspects...." Travis stood and smiled unaware of his previous statement and pointed over towards AI. "I....uh I mean...if you're​ willing to tell...me then I'd like to know...I-if that's okay with you that is...I could go back with you to Ai s-so you wouldn't have to commute here and back..." Travis was having a hard time saying whole sentences but he kept his composure. He didn't technically answer Yoshi's question about the specific things he wanted to know about her but he hope that he gave a somewhat fitted response. Travis extended his right arm out to hand Yoshi the loose sleeves of paper. There was a bit more than she had asked for. He sorta avoided​ eye contact as he waited for Yoshi to take the paper.

"Oh cool thanks!" remarked Watanabe Yoshi as she took the sheets of paper from Travis. She gave a thumbs up with her free hand at the boy, "Yeah sure just get your stuff and bring your stuff to the front; I'm sure you can find a seat there." Yoshi nodded towards Travis and gave a small wave, "We can discuss when we get there kay?"

With that said Yoshi skipped back towards the front as she returned to her seat. She moved her Bible forward on the desk to give a space for her new papers. Assembling the papers on the desk Yoshi focused her attention back towards Ai.

"Can I get that sheet back now?" Yoshi remarked as she removed the bag from simply hanging on the chair and positioned it in her lap. "Oh and Travis said he'd come up here; could you make sure there is a chair near for him?"

@Slendy @ZeroCuero

...this, uh.

This had gotten a bit out of hand, hadn't it?

Mitsuko had only intended on the introductions taking the better part of a couple of minutes, and then getting into the meat of the meeting, but it seemed that she had underestimated her new club members' collective propensity for small talk. Truly, the bane of her existence. She had to wrest back control over the meeting from these banal conversations, before it progressed any further into a force she no longer had any sway over.

Well that, and because she didn't have this room booked for very long. Mainly that one, honestly.

"Ahem." She coughed sharply in an attempt to get the attention of everyone else, striding over to her backpack and pulling out a thick stack of papers that she then set down on a desk near the front of the classroom. "Now then, since you all have gotten acquainted in some regard, let's discuss the club, shall we?" She spoke up, not able to disguise the tint of irritation that now laced her tone. After leveling this out, she continued. "The purpose of this club is twofold. The first is to discuss matters of the occult, whether they be theories one has, experiences one has had, or otherwise. However, this discussion is meant to be grounded in rationality and fact. I assure you that this being an occult club does not mean that we will disregard science or perpetuate baseless theories. Conjecture and theory are fine and are welcome, but throwing baseless ideas at a wall to see what sticks is not."

"The second purpose of this club is one that I am sure will help the skeptics of this room: interaction with the occult. I do not expect many of you to simply take me at my word when I assert the existence of ghosts, nor should you. At the same time, it's only reasonable for this club to have some actual hands-on interaction with our subject matter. The Halloween Extravaganza will be our first of such experiences, in which we will enter the school after-hours. I've been monitoring spiritual output, and have good reason to believe that a very weak ghost, in other words a soul lacking a proper container, will be capable of some minor physical manifestation on that night; this shouldn't be anything more than being able to see and converse with it, though, so do not worry. Make sure that you take a waiver, and either that your parents or yourself if you're eighteen sign it and get it to me at or prior to the event." She said, gesturing to the stack of papers.

"Now then, since I've explained the basics, are there any questions?"

In the time between Yoshi's brief interaction with Travis and the Occult Club president's announcement, Ai had re-positioned herself on her chair in waiting. She let one leg cross over the other, boxlike, keeping her folded hands balanced on a bouncing knee as she watched the two interact. That Travis boy seemed incredibly awkward around Yoshi. It would be adorable, if he wasn't so hapless.

She was too far to hear the content of their interaction, but based on what she could see Travis handed the other girl way too many pieces of paper for it to not be at least a little comical before that aforementioned other girl began making her way back to Ai's chair.

Already expecting Yoshi to want to continue their little decoding session, she began to retrieve the cipher paper from her pocket. Yoshi sits down, seems to make herself comfortable; Ai keeps her composure to the best of her ability when she reaches for her bag, heart stopping for the most fleeting of moments before she simply places it in her lap. The papers she got from Travis were spread across the table, and Ai brought her legs down once more so she had room to lean forward, examining.

Ai let the paper unfold against the table as she laid it adjacent to the scratch; she cleared her throat, but before she could go off on another tangent Yoshi mentioned Travis's desire to join them at their table. Well - she supposed that was okay...as long as Travis could stop being such an antisocial beta.

"Of course he can join us. Maybe he could come out of his shell a little in the company of like-minded individuals!" Briefly, she turned towards where Travis was sitting and gave him a wave.

"Aaaaaaalright, so to pick up on where we left off-"

And of course Matsushima Mitsuko had to spoil it. Upon hearing the club president clear her throat, Ai turned herself towards the desk where she was standing. Ai couldn't force herself to dislike her; there remained something integrally other about her character, something alluring...and intimidating.

So Ai listened, obedient for this one moment, taking in all of the information that she could in case a question did decide to bubble into her consciousness. So far, so good; scientific reasoning and fact, and a distaste for baseless ideas? Maybe there was a method to this madness-

And then she started talking about the "spiritual output" stuff and completely lost her.

Hmm.

Once Mitsuko had allowed the time for questions, Ai quickly shot her hand into the air before anyone else could - that seemed to attract enough attention, so she began, "Ah, yes, one question: how exactly are you measuring this... she raised her hands in double air-quotes, "spiritual output? And what constitutes a "proper" container for a soul?"

"Oh Ai..." Yoshi began as she once again moved the bag. Again her bag straps were left to hang on the chair. Yoshi scooted out of her chair to stand up as she grabbed her Bible. The girl took a brief moment to make sure the papers didn't get too shuffled from these actions. They did not, and it appeared the code was back down so she could use it later. "The proper container for the soul is the human body, the form God designed us with." Now that she was up Watanabe Yoshi walked around to the side of her desk as she stared at Matsushima.

"I have no question for you Matsushima. However I have informative statements I must share with you." passionately stated. For a brief moment it appeared that there were flickers of flames in Watanabe's Yoshi as she quickly flipped open the Bible. Without even looking at it Yoshi began to enthusiastically declare.

"And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." Yoshi declared as she swung her left hand upwards as she kept her bible in hand with the right one. She began to engage in some dramatic blocking to find the best spot for everyone to see her, but to not get in the way of any other actors. She continued on, "Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."

Staring at Mitsuko her eyes narrowed; "Two Corinthians Eleven lines fourteen and fifteen. This passage explains us not only the dangers that Satan and his legions present but it establishes a most important fact. Ghosts are not real; those things you speak of are demons!" Yoshi raised her left index finger as she began wagging it around.

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Hebrews Nine line twenty seven. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. Matthew Twenty Five line forty-six. These two passages assure us that when the race of man die; their spirits do not and cannot linger on Earth. However, there are demons which will attempt horrific trickery and guises to attempt you to think that they are something lesser, such as the 'ghost' which you speak about!"

"Do not take these creatures lightly; but if you allow the LORD into your heart you will be protected from such evil!" She dramatically swung her left fist in the air and shook it. Yoshi slowly returned the Bible back to her desk as she gave a small curtsy. "Remember this information well, take it into your heart."

She breathed out as she swung the bag back on her lap. Yoshi glanced towards Ai, "Oh thanks for being cool with him; now I should get back to this code..." And with that Watanabe Yoshi finally opened up her bag. And as she gazed in it she noticed things out of place. Watanabe quickly slammed both of her hands on the back as her face grew red and her face contorted into a grimace. As her pupils dilated a bit she quickly began shutting the bag before anyone else could notice the uniform on top.

Hopefully no one noticed.

Yoshi took a breather as she slowly turned to face Ai. She stared at Yamauchi for an uncomfortably long time just to observe and note things. "Sooo... Uhm. Yeaaah. Maybe I'll just uh, keep the pace in my head for now."

Aika Aramachi

"Oh, that's fair enough." She remarked at Yuki's explanation. Her words and face did not betray it, but that was not the reply she had been seeking. She had been hoping to hear a covert confession as to Yuki's true purpose in leading people astray, but apparently she did the only decent thing and explained things to people so as not to lead them on. Could Aika have been wrong in her assumptions...? No, of course not! She was probably just saying that to sound all reasonable while she did the opposite. Of course that was it! Aika had been foolish to expect to be told the truth. She would just have to see the truth of it for herself when the situation inevitably came up.

Before she could probe any deeper, the club president decided to interrupt the socialising to bring people back on topic about the occult. "We'd better hush up for now, huh?" She whispered to Yuki as the president continued talking. Even though there was plenty Aika still wanted to pick at about Yuki, she was equally interested in hearing more about the intent behind the club. Of course, she would have to guess the intent, because she doubted the president was about to spill the beans about any hidden connections she had to everyone. She started off with the obvious, explaining the purposes of the club, or what she wanted them to think the purposes of the club were. The stuff about rationality sounded all very well and good, but to Aika's ears, it sounded like an excuse to involve them in a drafty debate about the technicalities of the occult; something that would be likely to drive away those that were less enthusiastic about the subject. It was a boring, tedious, yet diabolical means of ensuring people would lose interest in investigating the occult themselves.

However, she then claimed they were going to go on what might just be an authentic ghost hunt. That was something that actually sounded exciting. If it were true, then Aika's initial assumptions about the club would be incorrect. Of course, Aika was sure that even if they did go on a ghost hunt it would turn out to be a crummy fake out designed to deflate their interest further. The president even said it was a particularly weak ghost, so goodness knew it might be just some guy in a sheet going "OOOOO!" at them. Aika was certain she would be proven correct on the night of the Halloween Extravaganza.

She then opened the floor to questions. Aika wondered if that was wise, given she clearly seemed irritated by the chaotic discussion that erupted before. The first question came from Ai, and it was a sensible one, merely asking for a clarification of the terms the president had used. Truth be told, while Aika had looked into the occult plenty herself, she had no idea which of the myriad ideas and theories were even true. If they actually encountered occult phenomena, Aika wouldn't know what to expect until she experienced it for herself. But the next "question" came from Yoshi. Even without knowing what she was about to say, Aika had a feeling it was going to be a whopper. She was swiftly vindicated by her declaration that whatever they were dealing with had to be a demon trying to trick them. While Aika was uncertain what to believe about demons, she was sure that all the words coming out of Yoshi's mouth were just ploys to convert everyone to Christianity. In fact, if all her other theories fell through, she was sure that Yoshi might actually try scaremongering them with a fake demon threat to try and convert the people in the club.

For now, Aika decided she was just going watch events unfold with a vacant expression. She didn't have any questions, or at least none she expected an authentic answer to, and she was more interested to see how people would react to Yoshi's Christian babbling.

@Polaris North

---

It would seem that Aika wanted to say something more but the President seemed to want their attention. She smiled at Aika and gave a nod before scurrying to take her proper seat. As Mitsuko continued to speak, she resigned to leaning back on her chair. Mitsuko sounded irritated. Well, she guessed that having the classroom start to boom with interaction when they were only asked to introduce themselves was quite annoying... Oh well, sorry prez. So apparently there were two reasons for this club. The first one was so they could discuss the occult itself. And it was intelligent discussion where it's just some people forcing their beliefs on another. She can appreciate that but she guessed she won't be able to participate all that much on that matter.

The second one was much more up her alley. Okay maybe interacting with said occult things weren't her area of expertise but running around and 'speaking' with them fits her much more than having debates about whether they're real or not. Hearing about how they'll be looking for a supposed weak ghost on the Halloween Extravaganza. This made her grin. While she wasn't exactly a huge believer on the whole supernatural thing, a little exploration of the school grounds at night seemed like a wonderful idea. They always say that places look different at night. She wondered if the school was the same. The latest she's been here was until the clubs were out. Looked like they were staying a little bit past that. Her eyes shifted to the papers behind her on the table. Waivers huh? Well, she guessed she had to let her parents know somewhat even at her age.

And now, the questions began.

Ai was the first one to speak up, questioning how Mitsuko was measuring the so-called spiritual output. Hm, now that she mentioned it, how did Mitsuko do it? And how were they sure it was accurate... or if it existed at all. And then Yoshi was up, preaching about something. She claimed that what Mitsuko thinks is a ghost is a demon, as ghosts do not exist... or something like that. She was citing some lines from the bible, Yuki assumed, considering she had the holy book out and all. As Yoshi continued to ramble on about her beliefs, Yuki raised her right leg so it was on the chair and leaned her head there so she could continue looking at the Christian devotee. Huh, sounded more like her trying to convert everyone to following this Lord she was talking about. Yuki had a wild feeling it wouldn't work on everyone.

Then Yoshi sat down and continued conversation with Ai. With that done, she changed the position of her head so her chin was resting on her knee as she looked at Mitsuko. She raised her hand for a bit and when Mitsuko's eyes were on her, she would begin to speak but it doesn't seem like she had any intention of standing up. "I'm only just wondering... if we supposedly meet a ghost, and that's a pretty big if, what would you do? And if there are supernatural forces, or demons as Yoshi claimed, do you have any protection in your arsenal that could help us?" This was all on the off chance that ghosts and everything supernatural was actually real. She was quite curious on what kind of precautions she had since she does believe in the occult. Certainly she knows that there are dangerous supernatural beings out there.

Unfortunately, Iria didn't get to hear Seiko's answer as right afterwards the club president continued her speech. Quickly, she returned to her seat.

"The purpose of this club is twofold. The first is to discuss matters of the occult, whether they be theories one has, experiences one has had, or otherwise. However, this discussion is meant to be grounded in rationality and fact. I assure you that this being an occult club does not mean that we will disregard science or perpetuate baseless theories. Conjecture and theory are fine and are welcome, but throwing baseless ideas at a wall to see what sticks is not."

Sounds fine, she thought. She liked how the club had a vision on how it would operate. It showed that it was more than just a hangout for people who loved the occult.

"The second purpose of this club is one that I am sure will help the skeptics of this room: interaction with the occult. I do not expect many of you to simply take me at my word when I assert the existence of ghosts, nor should you. At the same time, it's only reasonable for this club to have some actual hands-on interaction with our subject matter. The Halloween Extravaganza will be our first of such experiences, in which we will enter the school after-hours. I've been monitoring spiritual output, and have good reason to believe that a very weak ghost, in other words a soul lacking a proper container, will be capable of some minor physical manifestation on that night; this shouldn't be anything more than being able to see and converse with it, though, so do not worry. Make sure that you take a waiver, and either that your parents or yourself if you're eighteen sign it and get it to me at or prior to the event."

Now this, this is interesting. It seemed the president truly believed that she had found a real ghost, albeit a really weak one. If she was not mistaken, this could be a really big deal. She could truly prove to the scientific world that ghosts really did exist. And that would pretty much turn the current scientific theories upside down.

...But of course, she doubted it would ever come to that. The farthest it would go would probably be some creepy figures from a distance, voices out of nowhere, and other questionable stuff like that. You couldn't parade them to the scientific world for sure.

"Ah, yes, one question: how exactly are you measuring this spiritual output? And what constitutes a "proper" container for a soul?" Ai asked. Ah, that was a good question. She was also curious about those.

Ignoring the religious ramblings of Yoshi, she couldn't understand most of them anyways, she continued hearing the next question, which was asked by her friend Yuki.

"I'm only just wondering... if we supposedly meet a ghost, and that's a pretty big if, what would you do? And if there are supernatural forces, or demons as Yoshi claimed, do you have any protection in your arsenal that could help us?" Yuki asked.

...Hmm, she didn't expect Yuki to ask a question like that. Could it be that she was scared of ghosts? She certainly didn't seem like the type. From all the times she had known her, she had always been a brave one. Well, everyone had their weakness, she supposed.

"Could it be that you're scared of ghosts, Yuki?" she whispered to her with a slightly mischievous smile.

@Polaris North

---

Ena never got an answer for the question she asked Seiko, for Matsushima Mitsuko called for them all to stop chatting and listen to her. At least, that is what Ena thought was the essence of her words as everyone returned to their seat. Ena watched, though not stopping her snacking on the brownies she liberated, as the president of the occult club pulled out a stack of papers. Undoubtedly those papers will serve some kind of purpose. That was when Mitsuko started laying down the rules and the purpose of the club.

For the first purpose, Mitsuko explained that they were to look into the occult and discuss the matters of such. This did not include the possibly endless baseless facts that Ena could think of that could be thrown. The second purpose was to interact with the occult. Now that was exciting to Ena! Combine these two purposes together, as Mitsuko just did, and Ena could barely hold her excitement. It was then explained that they would have to get waivers. That may be a problem for her if she had to get a waiver every single time but for now her father was stationed nearby. She could just go over to the JSDF base and ask to see her dad. This may not be the case every single time, but she was sure that her father could arrange something with the school.

"Now then, since I've explained the basics, are there any questions?"

Ena could not think of any questions at this time, however it was clear that the other students could. "Ah, yes, one question: how exactly are you measuring this...spiritual output? And what constitutes a "proper" container for a soul?" That was a good question, but Yoshi began to preach. The preaching and the droning went on and on and on! As a Shinto believer, Ena could not stand it but Ena did not want to call attention to herself, and so instead just closed her eyes briefly and released a sigh of disbelief. There was literally nothing that could prove what Yoshi just said besides that book, religious or not!

Yuki's question, whatever sex they were, proved to be a good one as well. "I'm only just wondering... if we supposedly meet a ghost, and that's a pretty big if, what would you do? And if there are supernatural forces, or demons as Yoshi claimed, do you have any protection in your arsenal that could help us?" Her father always told her to think of her own defense all the time no matter where she may be, so Ena was greatly curious about the answer to that one. She noticed Ira leaning toward Yuki but could not hear what was being said and Ena did not bother trying to find out.

However, Ena just now thought of a question. She was nervous to ask and call attention to herself, but she felt the need."Uh..Uhm... W-What if something happens after school? Do we have a plan in case someone gets hurt?" Ena asked gently. The president may have said not to worry, but other things could happen besides the occult.