For OhMiLowd

The sun above Yokai Academy shone warm and bright as wispy tufts of clouds drifted lazily across the blue sky. It was a stark contrast to the usually dark and gloomy days at the school, but a welcome change nonetheless.

Having their afternoon classes off, a group of friends sat comfortably on the front lawn of Yokai Academy, under the shade of one of the few trees that was actually green and leafy instead of dead and gray.

Tsukune Aono and Moka Akashiya sat back against the wide trunk of the tree, puzzling together over their homework and trying to coax the smartest member of the group into helping them with the answers.

But the smartest member, Yukari Sendo, had insisted that Moka and Tsukune try all the problems on their own before she helped them, and resigned herself to laying back on the grass and gently twirling a ladybug in the air with the tip of her magic wand.

The last member of the group, however, looked anything but calm and relaxed as she sat up on her knees and anxiously scanned the faces of the other Yokai students enjoying the day around them. Kurumu Kurono had a worried frown on her face as she looked around and around, searching for someone in particular.

Tsukune noticed her anxious expression as he looked up from his notebook, and set his pencil on the grass beside him before he sent a friendly smile in his friend's direction.

"Relax, Kurumu. She'll be here," he said encouragingly.

The sudden sound of his voice startled the succubus, and she jumped a little before looking over her shoulder at him.

"We've been out here for 20 minutes though, I'm wondering if she forgot we were going to meet up today," Kurumu explained to him.

Yukari, still watching the magically enchanted ladybug floating above her eyes, absentmindedly waved off Kurumu.

"Don't worry about it, desu desu! You know what your girlfriend is like!"

"And what exactly am I like?"

The Yokai gang practically jumped out of their shoes as Mizore Shirayuki's voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere and she stepped out from behind the other side of the tree where she had apparently been hiding.

"...You're a stalker who likes to hide behind TREES, that's what you're like!" the little witch said angrily as she put her hand to her chest to make sure her heart was still beating.

"Mizore, you scared us," Moka said with a nervous laugh.

"It's what I'm good at," the Ice Queen shrugged. Then she spotted Kurumu and moved to sit down next to her on the grass.

Kurumu gave a relieved smile as Mizore sat down and leaned over to give the yuki-onna a hug.

"Where were you?" the blue haired girl asked. "I thought you had forgotten we were going to hang out here this afternoon."

"I stopped by my room for a little bit," Mizore answered as she shifted herself so she could lay in Kurumu's lap.

"You've been in your room a lot lately," Kurumu teased evilly. "You don't have someone hiding in there, do you?"

Mizore didn't say anything, but looked up at Kurumu and gave her a mischievous grin.

It had been almost a month since the unlikely monster couple had gotten together. During the fiasco with Lilith's Mirror, the pair had realized that they had feelings for each other that were stronger than their rivalry over Tsukune. So now they were officially together, and Tsukune was more than a little relieved to have 2 less girls fighting viciously over him.

And so the afternoon passed by peacefully. Moka and Tsukune sat wracking their brains and giving Yukari dumbfounded looks as she attempted to help with their homework, and Kurumu and Mizore spent the afternoon taunting and harassing each other in the way that counted as their definition of flirting.

It wasn't until the sun was starting to set that the group broke out of their bubble and started getting ready to return to the Yokai dorms.

"C'mon stalker, it's time to go," Kurumu stood up and said to Mizore, who was lying comfortably on the grass.

"I don't feel like getting up," she answered matter-of-factly.

"Still as lazy as ever, I see."

The unfamiliar voice took the Yokai gang by surprise, and the startled youngsters swiveled their heads all around to find out who it came from. Even Mizore, who couldn't be bothered to follow her friends back to the dorms, suddenly sat bolt upright.

"That voice..." she muttered, frowning in thought. "That sounds like..."

Tsukune turned his head. A girl he had never seen before had casually strolled over to them. She was wearing the Yokai uniform, but none of the gang recognized her. She must have been new, because they definitely would have remembered her if they had seen her before.

She had long, white hair, whiter than even Vampire Moka's hair. It was straight for the most part but spiked out at the ends and the bangs, much like Mizore's did. Her eyes were a dark, icy blue, and they twinkled with amusement as she looked over the group.

Mizore finally caught sight of the girl, and her eyes went wide as she rose to her feet.

"Tomomi?" She questioned. Apparently the resident Ice Princess and the Snow-haired Stranger knew each other.

"No duh, Shirayuki," the girl laughed.

Suddenly, the two of them were laughing and hugging, and the Yokai gang let out a collective gasp of surprise. Mizore was not a big hugger. Sweet little Moka, who had recently made a few attempts to hug the girl in greeting, had had her efforts met with an icy glare and an equally icy layer of frost around her hands, courtesy of the unwilling yuki-onna. Even Kurumu, who was the only one who managed to regularly give out hugs to the Snow Queen, had never received one back herself. And now here she was, hugging the complete stranger without hesitation.

"What's with the harem?" Tomomi teased as she and Mizore separated, gesturing towards Moka & Co. Mizore suddenly seemed to be in a very good mood; she smiled a little and looked cheerful as she pointed out each member of the group.

"These are my friends: Moka, Tsukune, Kurumu, and Yukari."

Kurumu stiffened where she stood; she had just been referred to as Mizore's "friend". It felt like it had been forever since that happened. Though far from being part of the popular crowd, they were all pretty well known at Yokai Academy, and the news that Mizore and Kurumu were dating didn't stay a secret for long. So the pair had never really felt the need to hide it by referring to each other as "friends", but Kurumu imagined it wasn't Tomomi's business to know what Mizore did with her spare time, so she let herself relax a little at the Snow Queen's apparent slip of the tongue.

"Who's this?" Moka asked with a polite smile, but still a little wary of Mizore's very un-Mizore like behavior.

"This is Tomomi Shion," Mizore answered. Tomomi held out her hand to shake Moka's.

"Mizore and I were best friends growing up, but we haven't seen each other in years since she started going to school here," Tomomi said.

Kurumu was looking Tomomi up and down with the intensity of a tiger stalking its prey.

"I've never heard you mention her before," the succubus said warily; her possessive streak was starting to kick in and she wasn't sure how long Tomomi would survive if she didn't stop standing so close to Mizore.

Tsukune knew that first sign of jealousy well, and he hastily stepped in before Kurumu started a full-scale monster mash right in front of them.

"It's okay Kurumu, she doesn't need to tell us every little detail about herself," he smiled nervously, hoping the blue-haired girl wouldn't turn on him. Mizore didn't pay attention to them.

"Did you just get here? This is your first day, right? I can show you around," she offered.

Tomomi smiled at her friend.

"Sounds great! Oh, by the way, I got you a present."

She held out her hand, and as the group watched a small flurry of snowflakes appeared above her palm, swirling and spiraling together until they crystallized into a solid piece of ice in the shape of a lotus. Mizore's eyes lit up.

"Whoa! You've gotten good at that!"

The rest of the gang stood dumbstruck. There was another Snow Woman at Yokai. The only other one they had met was Mizore's mother, and they never thought to think that Mizore might know more. Tomomi grinned.

"I've been practicing for you. I knew you'd like to see it when we finally met again," she held out her hand, and Mizore took the ice flower.

"C'mon, it's getting dark. I'll show you to the dorms," she said, already starting to head back towards the school.

Tomomi followed, and the two of them headed off without another word to the gang. They stood there and watched the yuki-onnas get smaller and smaller in the distance. Cautiously, as if afraid of being mauled at the slightest movement, Tsukune, Moka, and Yukari turned their heads to glance at Kurumu. She had gone slightly deer-in-the-headlights.

"...Kurumu? You okay?" The little witch timidly asked, still feeling like she was treading on thin ice.

It took a few seconds, but the succubus came to her senses and shook herself out of her daze.

"What? Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?" She laughed and put on what looked like a very fake and forced smile.

"Now Kurumu, there's no need to overreact..." Moka advised, seeing the jealousy practically float off of the girl like steam.

"Overreact? Who's overreacting? I'm perfectly fine!" Kurumu's voice rose in the style of someone who was rather the opposite of fine. "So Mizore's got a friend outside of us, no big deal! Maybe I'VE got a few friends that none of you know about, who knows?"

With that, she took off in the direction of the Yokai dorms too, ranting and rambling to herself, waving her arms like a maniac as she assured herself that "it was all good" and there was "no problem, no problem." The human, vampire, and witch trio anxiously watched her leave, knowing that Tomomi Shion's arrival may have signaled the start of some potentially troublesome times ahead for Kurumu and Mizore.