"We'll simply be contacting the lingering dead in the immediate area of the last disappearance," Tomoko clarified, lowering her staff as she did, "If anyone's seen what was going on, it was probably them."

A smile still on her face, she turned to face the door before immediately being tackled by the oni, yelping as she hit the ground a bit too hard for her liking.

"Owowow..." she rubbed her backside, squirming a little.

"We're just asking them questions, they're not the perpetrators," she said, wincing slightly as she patted the oni carefully on the head, eventually managing to get her to let go. That was that. Well, at least she was fairly certain of the fact that ghosts weren't the perpetrators. Truly dangerous ghosts did indeed exist, but this string of disappearances didn't appear to be the work of such beings. At least, not any that could still be considered the spirits of deceased humans.

The girl paused for a final time, however, when she heard Mikoto's protests. She remained still for a brief moment, before turning entirely to face him.

"Don't worry about any of that," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "I wouldn't make that kind of mistake. Invoking a kami requires a lot more work then just calling up a ghost for a casual chat. Besides, humans who have died and yet linger here are recognized as spirits, aren't they?"

Indeed, ghosts were able to recognize her nature as well.

"You shouldn't be so doubtful of your club president."

Tomoko waved her finger in an admonishing fashion, as if being perfectly comfortable with summoning the ghosts of the dead was the most natural thing in the world. To be fair, to suggest that she had never communicated with the dead before would be rather silly. It was hard for Tomoko to go a week without meeting a ghost.

That being said, most people were not so likely to view the action so casually.

As the door opened, the shape of the girl Tomoko had arrived with in the first place shimmered into view, holding her umbrella over the petite blonde girl, the single eye upon it glancing at the others, the tongue waving back and forth.

"Let's go!"

---

The trip there was a wet one, though as they reached the scene of the crime the rain appeared to be dying down. Tomoko, with her hands-free umbrella, had of course remained completely dry during the whole walk.

Why she had elected to walk there rather then any other method of transport was perhaps mysterious, or perhaps simply because she felt like it. Regardless of the case, by this point in the day there were few people in this area of town.

The most recent disappearance had happened at night, and no-one was certain where it had actually occurred. Therefore, Tomoko had decided to travel to the site of the second-to-last disappearance. Not only was it a shorter walk, but it was also one of the most baffling: It had happened right behind the child's parent's backs.

Makishima Taro's disappearance was among the strangest of them, for certain.

The site of the disappearance was a playground. It seemed as if Tomoko had deliberately targeted both a fairly late point in the day, and a day where there would be very few people in the area, to begin her investigation.

"And now... let's get started!"

The ofuda she drew and tossed into the air was one-hundred-percent necessary, one of many invocation spells she had prepared prior to her arrival.

The pose she struck, drawing the five-pointed star of Abe no Seimei in the air with her cane around it, was almost invariably not. As the shimmering sign faded, the ofuda began to glow...

Tomoko straightened.

For a few moments, nothing in particular seemed to happen... And then...

Lurching out of the shadows, was the gaunt, grey-faced figure of a girl in her teens. She appeared like a dry corpse, her kimono in tatters with the colors faded away, eyes rolled back, hands grasping at the air, fingers curled like claws. Her mouth hung open, a death rattle escaping her throat, dried blood caked over one empty eye socket, a ragged gash across her throat.

When she spoke, her voice was like a whisper.

"Who... dares to-"

The ghost stopped for a moment.

When she spoke again, her voice was completely different.

"Oh, it's you, ojou-sama!"

Almost immediately, her eyes seemed to reappear in the sockets. Her hair neatened considerably, skin fading to a pale, but much less grey flesh tone. Her wounds sealed, her cheeks filled out... in moments, aside from a certain ethereal nature...

The girl who stood before them wasn't threatening at all.

"And some other people! What are all of you here for?" she questioned, tilting her head. "Fufu, if you're here to play karuta again, I won't lose this time!"

@Rune_Alchemist@TheHangedMan@RolePlayerRoxas@Crab Bane@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99

Nothing seemed natural about calling the spirit of the dead! But... Well... She wasn't exactly normal to humans was she? Mugi pondered it as she climbed off of the spider and stood. Mugi stood strong. S-she wouldn't be scared of such a thing. She looked tough, though her legs said otherwise as they were shaking slightly. At Tomoko's insistence they go, the Yuki-Onna swallowed. "Y-yea! G-ghosts are... not scary...?" She didn't seem very convinced. Still... Tomoko seemed to go so she... joined. To her own dismay.

---

Rain didn't seem to bother her much at all. It froze before it touched her and she just used her power to push it aside to hit the ground where it would quickly melt back into it's liquid for. She was just lucky there was hardly anyone in this side of town. Either way, the rain made it feel cooler for her, so it felt nice. As they approached the playground, Mugi seemed somewhat confused. This wasn't what she expected from a "Ghost Story". She put a finger to her lips in thoughts. "Hmm, a... What? Playground?" She asked aloud to the few people near her.

She just stood and watched with ostensible courage. Swallowing with her knees quivering, she stood and tried to fight her fears. Tomoko did some motions, this and that... Then she stopped! Mugi braced herself for... Something. But it seemed... Like there was nothing? How odd? She relaxed for a second and started to ask, "Did it not...?" She came to a slow stop as she saw... something move from the corner of her eye.

A girl. A dead seeming girl! Every instinct told her she shouldn't... But... Then backpedaled. She gave out a frightened scream one would expect from a teen girl watching a scary movie, "GYEEEEEHHH!?" Mugi's body instinctively reached for the nearest body which just so happened to be the spider girl. Her arms went around Kaori's arm tightly and hid behind her practically shaking like some sort of turned on machine.

Despite the ghost becoming a more normal human form, Mugi still hid from her, expecting some monsterous transformation to bite all of their heads off. It was nowhere rational, of course but what did she really expect? "G-g-g-g-g-ghost..." She meekly whispered.

---

---

Yuuto chuckled and followed their taskmaster along. Naturally he knew how spirit invocation worked - it was the basics of the basics for onmyoji, next to cleansing and divination - but it wasn't something he was well practiced with. He simply never had the need to call on his particular skill in that field before, much preferring to rely on his other abilities.

He was fairly sure of what their president was planning to do, but it wouldn't be the first time she exceeded his expectations.

"Not to mention," he added in to their presidents explanation, "You'll find that most spirits tend to be chatty anyway. The ones left behind, anyway. They get quite bored you know?" Until they weren't, and then they stopped being bored and started getting resentful instead, but that was a topic for another day.

Rising from his seat, Yuuto approached Asahi, and took her up on the offer of sharing an umbrella. He was fairly certain the girl was just being polite, just like he was fairly certain the girl most certainly did not want to share said umbrella with Tomoko - an here was the problem: Tomoko wouldn't really care, and might actually just join her for the fun of it. He figured he'd be doing Asahi a favor by preempting that.

"It just so happens that I left my umbrella at home. Woe's me for being a clutz," he said her.

---

Upon arrival, Yuuto felt like he had to ask:

"Asahi, if... well, why are you sticking around, exactly?"

He was watching the president perform her invocation. "So flashy..." he thought. Kind of like a magical girl. Still, he felt a little wistful upon noticing the five-pointed star that she had drawn across the air - even if said drawing had absolutely nothing to do with the invocation itself.

The spirit summoned was juvenile, a teenage girl with black hair and round eyes. The form that she appeared in at first had little affect on him - there were much more ghastly spirits loitering near his uncle's shrine. Much more malevolent too. Yuuto didn't think that he'd ever been invited to play card games with a spirit before.

Huh, looks like this one was already familiar with Tomoko, judging by how she addressed her.

The spider simply followed along, not particularly minding the way things were going. Mostly, because this Yuki-Onna was the definition of adorable and she was fairly certain she had made a good impression! Fufu, this was good. All she'd need to do now is just invite her to her den and play with her a bit.

"You don't have to force yourself, dear." Kaori said as she stood to follow along behind the Yuki-Onna, a bit sad that Yuuto had beaten her to Asahi's offer. She'd have very much liked too, but alas, she had her own umbrella anyways and three was a crowd. "Hmm, if anyone wants to share with me too, even if you have one, by all means." Kaori offered with a smile and headed out after the others.

---

Kaori followed along, humming a quiet song to herself as they traveled through the rain, keeping a close eye on the surroundings herself. Even if they didn't see anything, knowing what was currently happening was always a benefit, and soon, they arrived at their destination. A playground. They were summoning a spirit here? Hm, that made her feel somewhat conflicted. Not that she had any room to talk, but really what sort of spirit was haunting a playground?

And as expected, the adorable Yuki-Onna was scared witless. Kaori had to suppress a laugh as she was clung to. She patted Mugi's head, using one arm to pull her in closer.

"Fufu, don't worry my precious little ice-woman. I said I wouldn't let anyone lay a fuzzy little hand on you." Kaori smiled, glancing towards the spirit girl. Hm. "A friend of yours Tomoko?" She gave a light bow of her head towards the ghost. "I am Kaori Shimizu, and my, aren't you quite the adorably scary thing." Still...a playground? How distressing. Why was she even haunting this place? She looked fairly young. "We are merely here looking into some disappearances that happened in the area. Tomo-chan thought you might have seen something."

Mikoto accepted the club president's words. Begrudgingly, but accepted nonetheless. His eyebrow twitched in irritation as Suzuki wagged her finger at him like he was an ignorant child. Mikoto held his tongue, though, if one was close enough to him, they could feel his displeasure as static electricity radiating from his body. However, once outside in the rain, he calmed down. Unlike most of the others, he forwent an umbrella, though he wore his jacket.

By the time the rain started to die down, his hair was drenched, but Mikoto felt better. Mikoto almost snarked at Suzuki when the spirit didn't seem to show, but a frightening spectre materialized out of the shadows. His blood ran cold for a moment before the spirit abruptly changed appearance. If Mikoto hadn't watched the transformation himself, he wouldn't have thought they were the same individual. And she seemed familiar with the club president. Mikoto kept his tone formal as he spoke. "No karuta," he said. "Maybe another time. However, our club president wishes to ask some questions. Questions that may be a tad difficult for you, emotionally speaking."

@VitaVitaAR

Asahi was a little surprised that Yuuto was going to borrow her umbrella, though she hid it behind her pleasant, charming smile. She didn't know him too well, but he seemed a nice enough guy, though Asahi felt he had a presence quite distinct from most other humans at school. Given he was part of this club, that had pretty much confirmed it. Luckily, as far as Asahi knew, he was blissfully unaware of her true nature.

"How unfortunate! Luckily, I'm here to help," Asahi replied brightly, opening her umbrella once they stepped outside. Making sure both herself and Yuuto were sufficiently protected, they headed for Tomoko's destination.

-----------

At the playground, Asahi was folding her umbrella back down due to the lessening rain, and tilted her head at Yuuto's surprise question. Why was she sticking around? What an odd thing to ask of her. Had he known that Tomoko basically tricked her into joining? Hopefully not, that would be way too humiliating! Maybe he had picked up on her well-hidden and extra subtle disdain towards their esteemed club leader?! It was a bit awkward to answer without sounding like some sort of indebted troublemaker, though. A simple lie would be easy enough to state, but this guy seemed rather sharp.

Luckily, for lack of a more fitting word, Tomoko's invocation had summoned a spirit, and when she glanced over briefly to look, was met with... a rather shocking, gruesome image. With impressive speed, Asahi had hidden herself behind Yuuto, gripping her umbrella like a club and fearfully peering around him to watch for hostile movement. Luckily, the spirit had switched to a less frightening form, but the fox was still leering at her warily, pouting slightly.

Unlike Tomoko, Akari had an umbrella of her own. However, the design of the umbrella that had become a karakasa was one to ward off evil spirits... and completely missing the irony in her actions, the oni had squeezed in next to Tomoko and the umbrella youkai, not wanting to be potentially possessed or assaulted by some evil ghost.

It also meant that she was cowering behind both Tomoko and the no doubt put-out karakasa, reacting... appropriately to the initial terrifying appearance. Though with the girl's sudden shift in demeanour... were you supposed to offer ghosts something? Or was that gods? These weren't things that an oni needed to know! And giving up some of her sake would be really annoying...

"Satou-san is right, no karuta," Tomoko added, smiling as she did.

"Mumumumuuuu..." the ghost seemed to fume for a few moments, hands clenched into fists at her sides, "And I was sure I was going to win this time!"

Tomoko simply kept smiling.

She'd never lost a single game.

"Your frightening form was good enough to scare both an oni and a yuki-onna, by the way," commented the blonde girl, "So at least you can count that as a win."

The karakasa did not look impressed by the fact that Akari was using her as a shield, glancing back over her shoulder with a disapproving look.

"Heeeeh?! Really?! An oni and a yuki-onna!? Wow!" the ghost exclaimed, clearly excited at the fact that she'd managed to frighten a pair of youkai. Tomoko declined to mention the fact that on both accounts they were irrationally scared of ghosts to begin with. There was no need to spoil the ghost's mood, at least not at the moment. After all, they wanted to ask her some questions, and making her upset wouldn't have helped in that goal at all. "Fufufu, I'm really impressive, aren't I?"

At the compliment from Kaori, the ghost's aura of smugness seemed to grow in power. But with it came some concern.

"Disappearances...?" asked the kimono-clad phantom, a frown coming across her lips. "Does she mean disappearances, ojou-sama? Like, the kind you might deal with?!"

"That's right," Tomoko said, unable to help but be mildly amused at the fact the ghost felt the need to clarify this to herself, "Seven children have vanished in the surrounding area this month alone, and one of them was last Friday in this very park. Since you haunt this playground, we were wondering if you might know anything. Did you see anything strange last Friday afternoon?"

The ghost looked thoughtful for a few moments. Perhaps some people would think it odd to ask a ghost if she saw anything strange, but what Tomoko was looking for was anything that the ghost felt did not match up to ordinary events. After all, if she haunted this location and saw the usual routine day in and day out, something that did not match that would naturally stand out. Even if she hadn't directly seen the disappearance...

"Well, a few kids noticed me, so I was playing hide and seek with them!" declared the ghost, clearly considering this to be a happy memory, "But when I got done with that... I remember there was a woman I'd never seen around before."

"A woman that you'd never seen before?" Tomoko asked. At first glance, there was nothing particularly unusual about that. Surely new people showed up to the playground all the time, bringing their children with them. But the fact that it had specifically stood out to the ghost...

"That's right! She didn't have any children with her or anything," continued the girl phantom, "And I remember thinking that was strange because adults don't normally show up to the playground on their own, at least not the good kind of adults. So I decided I was going to keep an eye on her, and spook her if she tried anything with the kids! But then I noticed that no-one else seemed to see her... so I think she must have been a ghost like me."

A phantom woman who appeared the same day as Makishima Taro disappeared, at the same time? Tomoko had long since concluded coincidences were a rarity, and this didn't sound like one.

"Then what happened?" she asked.

"Well, I was going to keep an eye on her... but then the kids wanted to play hide and seek again, and I couldn't say no! But after that, I think I remember hearing some of the parents calling for their child... Taro-kun, I think it was? I thought he'd just gotten lost and they'd find him soon enough... but do you think..."

@Rune_Alchemist@TheHangedMan@RolePlayerRoxas@Crab Bane@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99

She was starting to get an idea of what was going on here. A woman kidnapping children? That ruled out quite a few of the youkai previously discussed. In fact, that only left a handful that could be responsible. Perhaps she was being a bit quick to judge here, but she liked to think she knew her way around happenings such as this. She had been around awhile, after all, even if she might have normally been the culprit of such things.

"Hm, in cases like this coincidences are unlikely." She replied to the spirit, releasing her grip on Mugi now that she probably understood she wasn't in any danger of being eaten by the ghost. "Tomo-chan, this doesn't sound like something like me." Taking everything into account, it couldn't be. Someone, though, had made a suggestion that could be something of a similar nature. "Something a little more recent. Something from what you might call an Urban Legend."

Kaori sighed, frowning lightly.

"I do hope she hasn't harmed them. I might be angry if she did." Despite the languid tone with which that was said, there was a certain edge to the words. "But to confirm...was there anything odd about this woman? Maybe her height, or the way she was dressed?"

---

---

"You can add whatever Asahi is to that list president," thought Yuuto, resisting the urge to chuckle as the young woman hid behind him, much like Tomoko and Akari. It was also fairly embarrassing since she was really close but pointing that out would embarrass her in turn. Anyway, they had more important matters to discuss.

Th information provided by the spirit was worrying. At the very least it provided confirmation that the incident they were investigating was supernatural in nature. The information she had given that was invaluable - a woman spirit was here at the scene of the kidnappings. That was a huge lead, and something they'd have to follow up on quickly.

Yuuto's fist clenched and he took a shaky breath as the girl painted the scenario of that day. He could just imagine it. A child simply enjoying themselves, playing games, while blissfully unaware of the danger they were in. The child disappears and the parents look around, at first exasperate that their child had gotten lost, until that exasperation quickly turns to fear as their child fails to show any sign of himself, and no trace of them would be found for days and days.

This scenario had played out seven times now, he thought, and for a brief instant he saw red. His viewpoint overlapped with another's from a time long ago, carrying with it the emotions of that time.

The teen smiled at the ghost, trying to put on what he hoped was a reassuring smile. It felt so, so brittle to him. "Don't worry. We'll get to the bottom of this. P-president is reliable after all, and I'm rather handy myself."

First things first. They had to find that woman. It was likely that she was the culprit, but also a big chance that she wasn't, and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. If she wasn't the culprit, then at least they would have another potential witness. If she was...

The sooner they resolve this incident, the better.

Mugi was practically hiding behind Kaori still, somewhat feeling safer due to her words of protection. She skitted her eyes over everyone present. The... G-ghost.... Tomoko.... Kaori, Abe, Mikoto, Asahi... ahh, then there was the other youkai doing the same thing she was. Her vision laid on the Oni for a couple of seconds before darting to the ghost-girl and carefully studying her. She didn't seem to be as scary as when she first appeared... She didn't seem to be one of those "poltergeists" that the Elder told her a scary story about one time. They made houses implode into other dimensions! How terrifying! Could even a youkai combat that!? How scary was America if that was something that happened!?

Mugi calmed her thoughts a bit. No, this ghost didn't seem to make portals to other realms or dimensions so it was most probably safe to talk to her. Still, her grip on Kaori tightened slightly. The spider would feel a stronger cold on her arm as the Yuki-Onna pulled closer, listening to the Kaori's question.

Mugi's head was wracking. This story seemed familiar to her somehow. It was... Hmmm... Something.... Something.... She swallowed hard and pulled forward a head of Kaori a slight bit to ask her own question. "O-o-oh! A-and! Question! Question!" Mugi stated as if asking for permission like she learned she needed to have in school. Still, she didn't wait long as she gave just long enough to take a breath. "Did the woman say anything!?" She exclaimed, nervous talking to a ghost like this.

Disappearing children... whilst the apparent need to hide behind the karakasa had abated, Akari had yet to move from the spot, and was trying to remember what advice was given to children just in case there was something spelled out in such common advice they all ought to know and help with. Unfortunately, now that it came down to it... the only such advice that she remembered being given was "If anybody does something weird, break both of their legs and come home". That... probably wasn't the case here and no doubt wouldn't have worked on some kind of disappearing ghostly figure anyway...

Asahi couldn't help but glare a little suspiciously at the cute ghost, still. Although she'd stepped away from her hiding spot behind Yuuto, the young kitsune couldn't bring herself to trust something that could switch between terrifying and adorable so easily! Still, even the vindictive vixen had trouble maintaining any kind of animosity by the time the ghost had given her testimony. Another spirit being the probable culprit of these disappearances? It certainly made sense, though Asahi wondered how much help she could be against that. Several other club members were surely more suited to dealing with the incorporeal, even putting Tomoko aside.

With nothing to add to the questions already given, Asahi could only wait ofr some sort of answer, and they could get onto... somehow apprehending the ghost or whatever it was doing this.

Tomoko considered the information that the ghost had provided thus far. A female apparition that no-one else seemed to see... and yet she didn't anticipate that the perpetrator was a ghost. A wandering ghost was unlikely to possess the power to cause children to simply vanish, something like that would demand far more power then the average disembodied soul without a concrete location to anchor itself would be capable of mustering. Even a ghost like the one they were speaking to now, fully capable of interacting with children, would not have the capability to simply cause those children to vanish.

Kaori, however, had hit upon a line of questioning that Tomoko had wanted to pursue almost from the outset.

"Her height? How she dressed?" the ghost asked, cocking her head.

"Specifically, I think Kaori-san wants to know... if she was perhaps exceptionally tall, and wearing a white sundress and matching hat," Tomoko said, waiving her hand as she did.

She was certain now, but she wanted confirmation.

"Oh... how did you know?! That's exactly what she was wearing! ... Is that bad or good?" the ghost immediately seemed uncertain. "She was also making a weird sound... I think... po...?"

"You've confirmed my suspicions, good work!" declared Tomoko brightly, flashing a thumbs up towards the ghost, who seemed surprised for the moment that what she's said was enough to confirm anything.

"I was already suspecting we might be dealing with something like this," she said, as she turned to her club members, "But now I know for sure. We're not dealing with an ancient mountain hag, a displaced kappa, or anything like that. We're dealing with something quite a bit more urban!"

The blonde girl tapped the tip of her walking stick against the ground.

"Our perpetrator is Hasshaku-sama!"

She paused for a moment, for dramatic effect.

"Oh! I've heard children talk about that, what is it?" asked the ghost. It was only natural she didn't know, having died before the internet existed.

"She's a ghost, or a yokai depending on who you ask," Tomoko explained, "Who focuses largely on children. She takes them away, in most tellings, which is something I'm counting on. But the important thing to know is this: Hasshaku-sama is entirely fictional."

The ghost stared blankly.

"Eeeh? Then how is she the culprit...?"

Tomoko brushed the question off.

"What we need to do now is figure out how we're going to lure her out!"

@RolePlayerRoxas@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99@TheHangedMan@Rune_Alchemist

Perhaps she should explain? But seeing Tomoko so excited was adorable.

hmm.

No, better not. She'll let her explain later.

"Fufu, well, if its something we're hunting, then wouldn't a trap be the best thing?" Kaori suggested. They could spend days or weeks actively hunting this. The only clue they had would be possibly those who went missing friends, but they couldn't watch every single one of them. She might have had her spiders, but they could only do things so fast. "I doubt a weak youkai like her could break my threads."

She reached over, pulling Mugi close again and wrapping an arm around her shoulder, the Yuki-Onna's face conveniently resting against her chest. It'd be rude to say no to a still cowering maiden. She could endure a bit of cold for this, yes.

"Hm...we'd just need something like...bait? Tomo-chan? Or maybe Akari-chan?" While they responded, Mugi would suddenly feel a slight poke on her butt. Conveniently, at the same time, a few spider legs appeared behind Kaori.

Purely coincidence.

Hasshaku-sama sounded familiar! Or, the story did. Mugi was pretty much happy with herself! But... Lure her out? Other than a kid she might like or something? She had no idea. In fact, this isn't what she imagined she'd be doing with this club in the first place... Though... What was she expecting really? She didn't know. Another thing she didn't exactly expect was the spider pulling her close and then something poking her butt.

She was still in a partial fight or flight mental state and jumped away when she felt that something poke her butt. "Yaaah!!" Mugi screamed as she jumped forward and landed next to the fox girl and wrapped her arms around Asahi's. "W-w-w-what was that!?" The Yuki-Onna questioned, looking back at her friend who didn't seem to move. "S-s-spider-legs?" She questioned, looking the girl up and down. Was that the type of Youkai Kaori was? Wait, was it a spider leg that poked her? She tightened her grip on the fox's and realized she did it not long after. "Ah! S-sorry... Ummm.... M-my apologies!" She stuttered out finally, not seeming to let go of the fox's arm.

"B-Bait?" Akari asked, looking... well, vaguely horrified at the insinuation of pretending to be a child and being offered up as a sacrifice to a youkai that apparently didn't exist. However that worked, it wasn't the sort of thing that her mother had ever explained a ton. Surely there was someone better...? Tomo might have been too obvious, but Akari was still an oni and that might be realised and who would want to abduct an oni?

Too many people, probably, she still didn't seem that strong, but...

"C-Couldn't Shimamaru do it? She's a fox!"

Hasshaku-sama? The name was vaguely familiar to Asahi, but it wasn't a creature she was overly-familiar with. If it were supposed to be a fictional being, then Asahi had probably not bothered to learn anything about it. She was certainly regretting that choice now, but at least they knew what they were dealing with now!

As for baiting this thing out... as much fun as it would be to have Tomoko play that role, it would be far more feasible to have the tiny oni act like a cute child, right? BEfore Asahi could voice this opinion, her mouth made a strange, high-pitched yelp when a loud yell sounded nearby, and a cold body suddenly clung to her arm, Cheeks flushed slightly, Asahi looked down at Mugi, then at the strange spider girl showing off her legs, quickly putting together what seemed to happen. Ugh, that darn arachnid had to go and embarrass her like that! Now wasn't the time to enact vengeance though, so she forced a wavering smile onto her face. It was a good thing she could blame her shaking on Mugi's frozen air.

"D-don't worry about that, you just st-startled me a little," Asahi chuckled, "anyway... about the b-"

Hold up. Hold up. Did that bratty little terror just suggest she be the bait instead?!

"Wa-wait a minute, wh-what does me being a fox have to d-do with anything?!" the class president stammered, completely missing the most obvious reason why a kitsune would be suggested to put on an act, "y-you're the small and cute one, Ibaraki-san! You'd be far more effective as bait!"

---

---

As his clubmates fought over who had the honor of being bate, Yuuto nodded, smiling pleasantly as he took note of something that he'd been curious about for awhile.

"Ah, so a Kitsune and a Jorogumo. I guessed as much." Well that was one minor mystery solved, now on to the bigger one. Hasshaku-sama. He was familiar with the urban legend, and he chided himself for not thinking of it sooner. In that regard, Kaori's experience shone through. It was an recent enough legend, and it was one you'd hear about even in the countryside, but Hasshaku-sama was a fictional spirit - the irony of that statement was not lost to him - so therefore, if what their esteemed club leader was saying was true, they were pursuing something that didn't exist.

He wrapped his mind around that. He didn't consider himself an inflexible person, quite the opposite in fact, but it wouldn't do to simply assume that this 'Hasshaku' was the culprit. There could be any number of explanations for what Kaori had witnessed. He voiced his opinions to Tomoko.

"I'm not saying you're wrong, Prez, but I feel we're jumping to conclusions a bit to fast," he said. "I usually agree with your decisions and you're instincts haven't failed us yet, so I'll go along with anything you have planned. I just feel it'd be safer if we consider other angles beforehand."

He paused, considering something.

"Although if we're pushing through with the lure plan, I also nominate Asahi as bait." He turned to her. "You're a Kitsune. You can create illusions can't you? You don't even have to be the actual bait, just make it look like there is one."

For a few moments, Tomoko simply watched as the yokai girls began to fight over who was going to be bait. Of course, she had her own suggestions in mind, but it was a little entertaining to see her club members attempt to figure it out on their own. Especially amusing was Mugi's reaction to being prodded, though Tomoko did remind herself to perhaps talk to Kaori later. It wouldn't do if she started getting... overly frisky again.

But for now...

"You're right, Abe-san," she began, "There's plenty of other possibilities to consider. Indeed, it's not as if a fictional spirit could be the most likely perpetrator, right? There must be plenty of other potential culprits to consider first."

A smile crossed the girl's lips as she took a deep breath.

This was it.

"Or are there?" she asked, rhetorically, "Certainly, it's possible there's others who might want to kidnap a child. But there's a few things that struck me as odd about this case. The park was packed the day Taro-kun disappeared, wasn't it?"

The ghost, who had been watching the bickering herself, nodded swiftly.

"There were a lot of people. It wasn't like there were too many for the kids to have fun, but it would have been hard for anyone to move around without being seen," she replied.

"That's right. We have a kidnapping done in broad daylight, in the middle of a crowded playground, with no witnesses, no signs of a struggle, and not even a cry for help," Tomoko continued, "Taro-kun disappeared without a trace in an instant. Certainly, there's other yokai who exhibit a disturbing interest in children, but there's a reason they're often used as stories to keep children from wandering off alone."

Kappa would attack those who approached water, but there was no water here. And a yamaoba coming down into such a crowded place, in broad daylight...

"They're not known for attacking crowds for a reason. The most likely perpetrator aside from that is a human, which I will admit might seem more likely. However..."

There was no reason to pause like this other than for dramatic effect.

"Would a human kidnapper really be able to make Taro-kun disappear so quickly? Would a human kidnapper then be able to do the same to the other children? Taro-kun isn't the only one who disappeared in broad daylight in a public place. But all of that's simply guesswork. It's not impossible for a human kidnapper, just highly unlikely," she added, "It's Chiba-san's testimony about the tall woman that confirmed my suspicions."

"But... how can a fictional spirit hurt anyone? If she's fictional, she's not real, right?" asked the ghost, Chiba-san.

"Just because something is fictional doesn't mean it's not real," Tomoko answered, still smiling as she explained, "We can trace Hasshaku-sama's origins back to a thread on a certain internet discussion board. It was just a ghost story, with no basis in reality. That ghost story has spread, over and over, between more and more people. The idea that 'Hasshaku-sama is a tall woman who causes children to disappear' has been spread far beyond the original readers."

Tomoko paused for a moment.

"It's not even a particularly frightening story, I never got the appeal, so I can't fathom why anyone would start taking it so seriously! It's a little silly, isn't it?" she commented. "But regardless, Hasshaku-sama spread. It spread to the point where there were plenty of people who didn't even know where it originated. Where some people began to believe it could be true. Human belief sustains gods, and human belief can sustain monsters as well."

The blonde girl gestured idly with her walking stick.

"If, as I believe, Hasshaku-sama is our culprit, she's a monster of human belief. A yokai born from the fact that people believed she could exist. She'd hardly be the first. Kuchisake-onna, Aka Manto, Teke-teke, just to name a few. Mythological yokai are born from nature, or magic. But those from urban legends are formed from belief."

Her walking stick tapped against the ground.

"Regardless, we need to set a trap, don't we?" she asked, her smile turning into something of a smirk, "So who's going to be the bait? If we're going to have a chance at saving those children, we need to draw our perpetrator out!"

She clapped her hands together.

"If I had to make a suggestion... hmmm... Shimamaru-san! You can make yourself appear younger, right? I'm afraid Hasshaku-sama might see through an illusion!" she simply hadn't stopped smiling, even as she suggested one of her club members throw themselves into danger, "Aside from that, Ibaraki-san is strong enough to get away if something goes wrong. Not that it will."

@RolePlayerRoxas@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99@TheHangedMan@Rune_Alchemist