As Tsukune opened the door to the ramshackle house, the creaking of the hinges set his hairs on edge. Despite his best efforts, he could feel Shooting Star practically shudder under his skin, as if it wanted to burst out and punch straight through the next thing to startle him.

Though some rays of sunlight streamed in from holes in the ceiling, the rest of the structure was fairly solid; the ground was dusty, with only a few planks half-buried in the ground to indicate that there had been a wooden floor once. Small patches of sunflowers grew in spots directly exposed to sunlight from the holes above.

"How long has this place been here?" Kurumu said, sticking out her tongue as she looked at a hole in one of the walls. "I'm surprised it hasn't fallen apart by now."

An ominous creaking echoed in the group's ears as a slight breeze pushed at the house, causing everyone to flinch. Tamao recovered first, though, shrugging her shoulders and folding her arms. "It isn't that much cooler here, either. If we can stay here until Miss Nekonome and the bus driver return, it'll be fine, but I'd rather not wait longer than necessary."

Tsukune looked over at Yukari; the young witch was sitting on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest and staring forward blankly. Hesitantly, he knelt down next to her and shook her shoulder. "Hey. Sendou-san. Are you OK?"

Yukari flinched violently at his touch, and he quickly raised his hand. She kept her eyes fixed forward for a moment longer, then blinked slowly and turned to look at him. "There's...another power here. Another two…I think they're both witches. They're not here right now...I think. Those things that were out there in the grass, I can still sense them, kind of, and they're...they're so malevolent. It's hard to concentrate."

"Is that what has your nerves still on edge?" he asked. Some part of him wanted to hug her and reassure her that she'd be all right, but he knew from her violent reaction to being touched that she wouldn't deal well with it.

"Yes," she said. "They were...they were grown here. They're like plants, but they've been twisted and warped into something that I barely recognize as plant life. I can feel the magic of another witch at work, but…whoever they are, they're much more skilled with nature magic than I am." She shivered, and Tsukune could see the tears starting to pool in the corners of her eyes. "And full of hatred."

Moka immediately moved to Yukari's side and wrapped a gentle hand around her shoulders. Instead of violently flinching away like before, the little witch sniffled and leaned into Moka's embrace, still shivering and lethargic. With Yukari's nerves slowly being soothed, Tsukune felt his thoughts turn back to the bus driver, and something that the older man had said earlier, about humans disappearing here.

"Something tells me that either Miss Nekonome or the bus driver knew about what was going on here," he muttered to himself. "The real question is, do they expect us to do something about it? And if they do, then what?"

As he pondered that, Kurumu sighed; she hadn't stopped eyeing their surroundings, and now looked flat-out annoyed. Though she'd thoughtlessly used Satellite Lovers previously, Tamao was in close proximity now and would notice Kurumu's eyes changing, or any attempts Kurumu might make to hide her eyes changing. That meant using spy bats to continue searching for whatever spooked Yukari was out of the question.

Tamao, despite her bored exterior, was internally just as frustrated. Intellectually, she knew better than to doubt Yukari, particularly because the little witch had demonstrated surprising sensitivity to Stands; however, some skeptical part of her didn't know why Yukari was getting so worked up over what was probably an animal. Maybe foaming her with Moon was a bit much, Tamao thought. If it's been bothering her as much as all her little looks my way imply, then maybe her resentment is turning into paranoia. It's annoying, but if I remove the foam, she'll just rat me out to her friends, and I can't have that.

Just then, Yukari perked up again, causing Moka to startle a bit at the way Yukari stared blankly forward. "Yukari-chan, what's the matter?"

"The energy's changed…there are others here, and those plant things are reacting to them," Yukari murmured. She blinked a few times, then swallowed a visible knot in her throat. "There are two of them. Humans. And those things are going straight for them."

Tsukune bit back a swear as he rushed to the front door of the shack. "Then we go for them, too. Human or not, we can't let those things kill defenseless people! They've already done enough of that!"

Kurumu moved to follow Tsukune, but there was a confused frown on her face. "What do you mean by that?"

"The bus driver told me that humans were going missing around here," Tsukune said, pushing the door open with such force that it nearly flew from its rusted hinges. "He likes to creep me out, so I didn't think anything of it at first, but now...now I'm positive, whatever made those things that Yukari's sensing has something to do with all of this."

With Moka's help, Yukari got to her feet. "I'll try to show you where they are. I'll need someone to carry me, though, my legs feel like jelly."

At that, Moka scooped up Yukari in her hands without a word and caught up to Kurumu without breaking her stride. Yukari blushed slightly, but said nothing, while Tamao made a show of sighing and rolling her eyes before following behind Moka.

I suppose this is just another opportunity to watch them use their Stands, Tamao thought. The more weaknesses I discover, the more firmly I can enact my vengeance.

Youko Kuwashima, despite her small frame and young looks, didn't scare easily, and took to the near-suicidal confidence required of an investigative reporter-in-training/budding environmental activist with gusto. Unlike most people, news of the disappearances at Witch's Hill didn't fill her with apprehension but with curiosity, a desire to know the truth and to protect the land from development.

Her friend, Mirai Iwatani, was no less fearless, and as such, the two of them made frequent trips to Witch's Hill to see the progress of the construction there and think of ways to try to bring it to the public's attention.

They were in the middle of one such trip when things began to go wrong.

Youko and Mirai got out of Mirai's car and started making their way over to Witch's Hill's sunflower field—a rustling, followed by a clicking creak right out of Jurassic Park. Both young women stopped and looked around with arched eyebrows, but Youko broke the silence first. "Did you hear that, Mirai-senapi"

Mirai nodded, rubbing her arm. "Made my skin crawl a little." She surveyed the field and scratched her chin, humming to herself. "Does the Hill seem a little off to you? Feels like there's something in the air...something kinda creepy."

Youko adjusted her hat and put her hands on her hips, looking around. "Nah. I think you're just imagining things." She grinned and sauntered forward, a slight spring in her step. "Let's take a look around and see where might be a good spot to start picketing those jerks."

Mirai shrugged, and fell into step behind her, wading into the flower field. Despite Youko's energy, there was a careful deliberation in her movements as she went into the sunflower field. It was the reason that Mirai was still friends with her, despite how exhausted Youko made her feel sometimes—Youko always gave her best, regardless of the situation, and that made up for a lot of her flaws.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be of much help with what happened next.

The rustling and clicking creak sounded again, and moments later, Mirai felt something clamp around her legs, biting in with incredible force. Despite herself, she shrieked and fell into the sunflower field, causing Youko to whirl around and move toward her.

In the next moment, Youko felt the same things ensnare her legs, and hit the ground with a loud scream, crushing a few sunflowers with her landing. Though her heartbeat intensified, she managed not to hyperventilate and focused on who or what grabbed them.

She immediately wished she hadn't, because the sight of miniature flytraps clamping onto every inch of Mirai's body and drawing something out of her nearly made Youko retch.

Instead, she took a deep breath and screamed as loudly as she could, even as the mild grip transitioned into a mild sting, then into needles that raced up and down her legs as the stems of the very same flytraps began to wind around her. As the pain worsened, she closed her eyes, unable to face what would certainly be her death.

Moments later, her wordless call for help was answered with a single shout.

"TOBE!"

Youko opened her eyes just in time to see two things. First was a giant plant with an even stronger resemblance to a flytrap, save for its incredibly sharp, pointed teeth. It loomed over her with what appeared to be a sickly smile.

The second was a young man in a blue t-shirt and black jeans rushing up to it from behind with his arm outstretched in its direction. The shout that she'd heard didn't seem to come from him, as his mouth was set in a determined grimace, but shortly after it stopped ringing in her ears, the plant's head was blown apart as if a bomb exploded inside of it.

The vines snaring her loosened, and the young man kept running toward her, bending down to lift her up and set her on her feet. He glared angrily in the direction of the other plant monster keeping Mirai pinned down, and that strange shout echoed out again.

"BUTTOBE ORA!"

More bits and chunks of plant life went flying, and a group of young women came over to where he and Youko were standing. One of them, pink-haired, was carrying a brown-haired girl with a witch's hat and a school uniform. The others were a busty girl with cyan hair and a ponytail, who immediately came over to the boy and hugged him, and an older girl with dark blue, almost black hair, who bent down to check Mirai's pulse.

The brown haired girl looked over the remains of the plant monsters with a frown on her face, then looked at the young man. "Aono-kun, these are Garigarious plants. They hide amongst other plants and eat people that wander too close, usually after draining their body fluids." She looked at Mirai, then a still-bewildered Youko. "I think these two will be all right, but in a field this size, there's no way there's only—"

A loud rustling cut her off, and the newcomers all tensed as thirty or forty more Garigarii popped up around them, waving around their vines and baring their teeth. The young man sighed, then rolled his shoulders as the cyan-hair girl peeled off of him and the pink-haired girl frowned and stared them down. "Moka-san, get the ones behind us. I'll clear the ones in front, and Kurumu-san will take the sides."

Youko finally found her voice as the girls nodded in agreement. "W-wait. I don't know how you got rid of the other two before, but…the three of you taking these things on, that's absurd! And what's with that little witch girl there, and these plants in the first place!? Who are you all and what the hell's going on?"

The young man blinked, as if realizing that Youko was there for the first time, then offered a sheepish smile. "Well, I'm Tsukune Aono." He pointed to the pink-haired girl, then her brown-haired bundle, then the cyan-haired ponytailed girl, then the girl with dark blue hair. "In order: Moka Akashiya, Yukari Sendou, Kurumu Kurono, and Tamao Ichinose. We're a Newspaper Club investigating the disappearances at Witch's Hill, and, well…three of us are psychic, basically. Sendou-san isn't, but, uh, that thing about her being a witch isn't too far off." His expression became slightly more apologetic. "That's a really bad introduction and I know none of it makes sense to you, but I'm afraid it'll have to do for now. We have to clear things up here."

His face settled into a frown. So did Kurumu's and Moka's. Shortly after that, three more shouts rang out at the same time even though their mouths stayed closed.

"TOBE!"

"MYAAAAH!"

"MERO!"

And with that holy trinity of voices, the Garigarii were blasted apart, either as messy chunks or as solid pieces with giant, clean holes in them.

Much like Tsukune admitted earlier, Youko Kuwashima didn't understand any of what was going on, even though she was grateful to be spared death by mutated Venus flytrap, but there was one thing she knew for sure.

She'd stumbled into one hell of a bizarre adventure.

Once all of the Garigarii plants were disposed of, Tsukune ran a hand through his hair, looking at their remains with a grimace. As he looked them over, Tamao finished inspecting Mirai and stood up. Youko, for her part, stood apart from them, staring blankly at Mirai and at the pulped-up plants surrounding them.

"We came for them just in time, Aono-kun," Tamao said. "This one's lost some blood and her pulse is a little irregular, but from what I can tell she'll be fine in a little bit." She looked at Yukari, and Tsukune noticed the little witch flinch in Moka's arms upon making eye contact with Tamao. "Sendou-san, do these Garigarii have other paralytics or toxins we should be aware of?"

"These seemed to be the normal height and weight of a standard Garigarious, so I don't think so," Yukari said. "If they'd been cross-bred for any other purpose they'd be bigger. Garigarii can't assimilate traits from other plants without having a strong expression in their phenotype." She looked at the pulped remains of one of the nearest plants, and her frown deepened. "That's not the real issue here, though. If Garigarii are here, then that means two things: one, monsters are definitely involved in this matter, and two, the witches that are here are most certainly aiming to kill any humans that appear here. Garigarii tend to be vicious as a rule, but they're most interested in consuming human flesh. So those 'disappearances' that have been happening here...are actually 'murders'."

Tsukune paled slightly and clenched his fist, remembering the bus driver's words to him earlier in the day, while Moka and Kurumu watched him with concern.

Youko, however, had the most dramatic response, as the mention of the word "murder" drew her out of her blank shock. "Wait wait wait wait, what did you just say!?" she shouted, waving her arms up and down. "OK, what with the weird ghost voices and all I can buy that you're not normal tourists. But what's all this talk about monsters and witches and murders!?"

The volume of her voice caused the first-year Youkai students to wince and look at each other sheepishly. They hadn't really talked about what to do if their cover was blown with humans, but at the time that Tsukune had given his little introduction he was mostly running on an adrenaline high. Tamao, however, didn't share in their chagrin, and walked over to Youko, looking her up and down with a hum.

"Well, I suppose since Aono-kun blew it, we might as well make a proper explanation out of it," Tamao said. "You see, we're students at a school called Youkai Academy. We attend the school in order to understand how to fit in with humans. I am a mermaid, Akashiya-san is a vampire, Kurono-san is a succubus, and Sendou-san is a witch." She gave an odd little smile and looked at Tsukune. "Aono-kun hasn't divulged his own species to us, but you may rest assured that he is not human." She looked back at Youko, then nodded. "Now, Miss…?"

"Kuwashima," Youko said, shaking her head slightly to clear her thoughts. "Youko Kuwashima."

"Right, Kuwashima-san." Tamao made a show of looking her over once again; years of experience with effectively playing the snooty high-society girl was really useful for intimidating people, putting them on the back foot. "At the moment, you've wound up in a rather sensitive position. Strictly speaking, Aono-kun was supposed to keep his mouth shut and not really talk about any of this, but circumstances forced his hand, so I can understand a little bit." The odd little smile came back to her face. "Regarding your other question, it's relatively simple. We're a part of our school's Newspaper Club, and we came out here for a little camp-out during school break. Our bus driver mentioned a few disappearances happening around here, but at the time we didn't really think much of it. With the appearance of those lovely plants, though...well, given what nearly happened to you, I'm sure you can imagine what we suspect really happened."

Though Tamao maintained a pleasant, unassuming tone during all of this talk, there was still a hint of menace underplaying it. A slight teal haze seemed to play over her skin, invisible to Youko but clearly visible to the other Youkai students. Noticing that Youko was beginning to show more than a little discomfort, Tamao allowed her smile to stretch the barest hint more, and sidled up beside her, standing apart by a few inches and utilizing her slight height advantage to loom all the more impressively.

"Now, Kuwashima-san, you've stumbled across something dangerous, but so long as you're inclined not to share too much about it, it should be quite alright." For a moment, Tamao felt an itch, a stirring of Shining Moon within her, but suppressed it; 'foaming' Youko would serve the purpose of keeping her quiet, but would also expose Tamao as a Stand user. "Monsters do not have a vested interest in fighting against humans; the fact of the matter is that you all have done an excellent job at overcoming your limitations with technology and tools, and that a prolonged conflict with you is no good for us." Here, she let her smile twist slightly, and leaned down, speaking almost directly into Youko's ear. "If you decide to talk, though...one more disappearance on Witch's Hill isn't too odd, right?"

Now Youko looked like she was about to faint again, and Tsukune took this moment to interject, stepping forward and giving Tamao a look that would make water run backward. "Ichinose-senpai, how about we stop traumatizing the woman that nearly got eaten by the killer plants? I don't think she'll be trying to tell anyone about any of this anytime soon."

"Discretion is not a watchword for most humans, Aono-kun," Tamao replied, looking completely unruffled by Tsukune's stare. "Sometimes you have to be direct in order for them to understand why keeping their mouth shut serves their immediate concerns a lot better than trying to break the story of the century."

Feeling emboldened by Tsukune's repsonse, Moka shook her head. "Most humans would laugh her off. The very idea that monsters are real is even more than a joke to them. It's on the level of the kind of things little kids say to get adults to pay attention to them. She wouldn't even bother." Here, she looked directly at Youko, and the young woman relaxed visibly at the way Moka regarded her. "Isn't that right, Kuwashima-san?"

"Yes," Youko replied. "No reporter worth a damn would want to get busted out for reporting on monster plants eating people, or being rescued by teenage monsters." She looked over to Mirai, who moaned slightly and stirred, but didn't wake up. "Both me and Mirai-senpai will keep quiet about this. Your secret's safe with both of us."

Tamao gave Youko one more disbelieving look, but subsided when Tsukune glowered a bit more at her, enough so that Shooting Star manifested its arm over Tsukune's for a brief moment. Though Tamao made sure her face stayed neutral, giving away no understanding of what she'd seen, internally, she felt a spike of irritation.

That Stand...someday, I'll crush it. I'll crush it to pieces beyond recognition.

Tsukune sighed and ruffled his hair. "The real problem now is staying here…If we camp out like we planned, we'll probably wind up getting eaten by whatever other surprises might've been left out here, Garigarii or otherwise. How're we supposed to find somewhere to stay? Good grief."

Youko rubbed her chin, looking at Mirai once again. "Well, if you really don't wanna rough it...I have an idea. It'll have to wait till Mirai-senpai comes around, but...if it's her, I think she can help us out."

Kurumu blinked at that, folding her arms with a skeptical huff. "And how's that exactly?"

Somehow, Youko managed a confident smile, and nodded. "You'll see. But, uh, those Gari-whatevers, if there are more of them around, can we maybe find somewhere out in the open that isn't this sunflower field? So, you know, we don't get hunted by them like what you all were so worried about?"

Moka turned back to where the bus dropped them off, and nodded. "It's in the sun, but I think over there will do fine. It's out of the sunflowers, and there's enough view of the field that we can see everything. We'll make do until Miss Nekonome comes back, and until your friend wakes up, Kuwashima-san."

Youko nodded. "Sounds good to me."

After another twenty minutes or so, Mirai finally woke up, groaning slightly. As she sat up, she realized that she'd been resting on Youko's lap, and that a bunch of students she didn't recognize were milling around. Confused, she looked to Youko, blinking a few times. "Youko...what happened? What's with these kids?"

For her part, Youko barely managed a grimacing smile. "Well, ah…heh. Put bluntly...well, this really is a Witch's Hill, Mirai-senpai. We got bushwhacked by literal man-eating plants, and those kids saved our asses."

Mirai arched an eyebrow and gave Youko a Look. This Look, when used in the past, made babies cry, rivers flow backward, and grown men pee themselves. In this case, it made Youko squirm a bit, but she managed not to lose her nerve.

"I'm not kidding. Somehow we managed to fall in with a vampire, a succubus, a mermaid, a witch, and, uh...well, we don't know about Aono-kun, but he's not normal either." As she named each one, Youko pointed them out to Mirai. Moka and Yukari were watching the sunflower field together with identical thoughtful frowns, while Kurumu was looking at the tire tracks left by the bus and Tamao was looking off somewhere else entirely. Tsukune was closest to them, sitting with his knees pulled to his chest and his eyes on the horizon. "They blew the plants to bits and dragged you outta the field after that. They're here to investigate all the weird disappearances, but, uh...considering the plants and all, maybe it'd be more accurate to say that they're 'weird murders' instead?"

Mirai forced the Look to intensify. "Youko Kuwashima, you'd better start making sense in the next two minutes or I'm going to use my knuckles to dig straight into your skull."

Tsukune heard the conversation, and eased himself up with a grunt, walking over to where Youko and Mirai were resting. With a rueful smile, he looked at a rock within hand's reach of Mirai, and called out Shooting Star, using it to grab the rock and bring it in front of him; to Mirai's eyes, the rock lifted itself up.

"Split," Tsukune said, and the rock came apart directly in the middle. With a few waves of his index finger, the halves of the rock flew around freely for a while until he clenched his fist and joined it back together. "If you can imagine me doing something like that to a good eight or ten giant man-eating plants, except mostly by tearing them apart with a bunch of invisible punches, then you have an idea of what it looks when I'm going all out. Everyone except Sendou-san and Ichinose-senpai can do something similar."

Mirai continued to stare at the rock with wide eyes, and even poked it where it continued to float in the air. When it didn't move, she went pale and shifted her gaze over to Tsukune, her eyes still wide open and bewildered. "What the hell, kid?"

For his part, Tsukune remained totally calm. "I know we've just met, miss, but whatever Kuwashima-san told you is the truth. If you'd like I can demonstrate my splitting ability on something else." With a thought, Shooting Star touched his wrist, and his hand popped off. Under Shooting Star's direction, it flew to rest on his shoulder; while both Mirai and Youko went pale at this, only Mirai had the nerve to actually wave her hand over the stump where his hand had been attached. Upon feeling nothing, and seeing nothing, Mirai slowly shook her head and withdrew her hand. Shortly after that, Tsukune's hand flew back to its place, and he flexed it with a flick and turn of his wrist.

"For the record, I don't do that a lot," he said, grinning a bit. "I hope I didn't gross you out."

Not wanting to look even more gobsmacked in front of a kid, Mirai covered her confused unease with a wry grin and a shake of her head. "Well, you didn't, but that weird story you're trying to sell me on is a hell of a lot less implausible now." She looked at the other Youkai students, then at the sunflower field. "So, those plants that tried to kill us, they probably killed all those people too? Is that why you all are out here, to find the ones responsible and make them pay for it?"

"Not exactly. We're here just for a school trip," Tsukune said, scratching his head as his grin faded. "We were going to camp out here, but considering that we stumbled onto a terrarium/murderhouse, we need another option, I think."

That caused Youko to blink, then nod. "Right, Mirai-senpai, I, uh, have a favor to ask. Seeing as how these kids kept us from getting mulched, do you think you could let them stay at your place for a while?"

Mirai raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. "Good grief, Youko-chan. You're just dumping surprises on me today, aren't you?" Despite that, she smiled. "Well, we've got the room, I don't see why not. But if you're here for a school trip, where's your teacher?"

At that exact moment, the person in question's voice broke across the field. "Aono-kun! Everyone! I'm back!"

Her announcement brought everyone over to center on Tsukune, Youko, and Mirai as she approached. Though she didn't exactly glare at Youko or Mirai, they could all feel an intense curiosity in the way she surveyed the group once she stood in front of them.

"Who are these young ladies, Aono-kun?" Miss Nekonome asked, her voice unusually calm.

Before Tsukune could try to formulate a response, Mirai spoke first. "My name is Mirai Iwatani, and this is my friend Youko Kuwashima. There was an incident earlier and your students helped us out. They said you were planning on staying out here for your school trip, but given the disappearances that have been happening around here, I think it's better that you all stay somewhere in town."

Miss Nekonome shifted her gaze to Tsukune. "What do they know, Aono-kun?"

The specific phrasing of that question caused Tsukune to grimace. "Well, uh…there are, or were, Garigarous plants in the sunflower field. We had to intervene, and, uh…."

"Aono-kun blabbered on about Youkai and our monster forms," Tamao added idly, smirking slightly as Moka, Kurumu, and Yukari glared daggers at her. Tsukune just winced, unwilling to countermand her since she was telling the truth. Youko couldn't help a loud gulp, while Mirai's hands twitched once or twice. "It was almost cute, but it of course made our situation a little sensitive. I...informed Iwatani-san and Kuwashima-san that there would be consequences for speaking too liberally about the matter."

Miss Nekonome's face remained oddly thoughtful during the whole exchange, but eventually she nodded. "I should have spoken more about this in class, nya," she said, losing some of her unusual seriousness. "First off, Iwatani-san, Kuwashima-san, take a breath. I can smell you two sweating like pigs from over here, and I promise that you won't be hurt. Ichinose-kun jumped the gun a little bit, we don't deal in making humans disappear if they find out about a monster's identity due to unavoidable circumstances. That said, if you do talk, there will be measures taken to keep things quiet."

Mirai nodded, exhaling slightly, and Youko managed a shaky smile. That let Miss Nekonome turn her attention to Tsukune and the others. "Aono-kun, the problem here, if you're curious, isn't that you used your power to help out Iwatani-san and Kuwashima-san. If their lives were in danger and that was the most expedient way to help them, then that's fine, nya. But try to give out as little information about the monster world as you can. The less they know, the less the Moderators will have to plan for, nya."

"Moderators?" Moka asked. "I haven't heard you mention them before, Miss Nekonome."

"They're what you might call 'black-ops risk management'," Miss Nekonome said. "They're directed by some of the most prominent families or organizations in monster society to erase or cover up monster involvement in human world affairs, if it becomes necessary. They prefer not to use anything worse than permanent memory modification, but if the target knows too much about the monster world or is willing to act on that information at a high-risk level…." She paused, then looked guiltily at Mirai and Youko. "That's when threats like Ichinose-kun's become more credible."

"No worries here, Nekonome-san," Mirai said, shaking her head quickly. "I'm not telling anyone and neither is Youko-chan. I don't know how much you all study the human world, but we're not exactly ones to believe that monsters still exist." Youko eagerly nodded her agreement at this as Mirai continued. "Look, we're getting off topic. You all are monsters, I get that, but that doesn't mean those Gari-whatever plants are going to find you less tasty than all the people they've...they've eaten. So, in exchange for me and Youko-chan keeping quiet, you get to stay at my place in the city. My family's been living in this area for years, and my dad left the family a nice house with more than enough room for all of you when he died. If you do decide to figure out what's going on or report it or whatever, then you get a safe place to stay that isn't more than a half-hour away from here at worst."

Miss Nekonome tilted her head for a moment, humming in thought, then nodded. "All right, nya. We'll accept your offer, Iwatani-san." She smiled. "Thank you for being so gracious, nya."

Mirai returned the nod, then rolled her shoulders, looking at the sunflower field with a grimace. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather get going. Again, those murder plants? A little unnerving, you know?"

Miss Nekonome reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a cellphone. "Good point, nya. I'll call our bus driver and let him know what's going on."

As she did so, neither she, her students, nor Mirai and Youko noticed the young, dark-haired woman in a white corset and a black dress watching them from a nearby treetop. She held a staff in one hand; it appeared to be made of white bone, with a red core surrounded by a semicircular arc with spines growing off of it. Her eyes were an orange-reddish color, and narrowed as she observed them.

"To think that I would get to see Stand users myself, let alone see monster Stand users," she murmured. "A treat, indeed...except that they've destroyed our Garigarii...Lady Oyakata, I won't accept this result, not even from such a rare group of visitors." She focused on Yukari, and curled one of her hands into a fist. "Especially not if they see nothing wrong with carting around one of our sisters like a pet."

"If you wish to deal with them, Ruby, I've no intention of stopping you," an older woman's voice replied. "If you even wish to liberate the other witch you mentioned, then by all means do. Be careful, though. Stand users are unpredictable, and their powers can be much broader than appearances suggest."

"Of course, Lady Oyakata," Ruby replied, allowing a sneer to cross her face. "You taught me better than to play with my prey."

With that, she closed her eyes and her staff's crystal glowed; moments later, she became a raven, holding a much shrunken version of her staff in her beak as she continued to survey the Youkai group, Mirai, and Youko.

Thirteenth Spirit: Vacation Plus Stand, Part 2

I swear I didn't mean for nearly a year to go by on this, life kind of kept happening to me. Good things mostly, but they were still a pretty big block.

I'm revising my previous statement on the length of the Witch's Hill arc; this will probably take another two chapters based on my current pacing style, maybe three more, especially because of the changes I made with regards to the way the summer trip was supposed to work. I know I'm drawing out the whole thing with Tamao and Yukari, but it will definitely be addressed before the story ends.

In response to a review I got, I'd like to remind everyone that this story (and any potential sequel) is following the manga, not the anime, so Mizore won't be showing up any time soon since I intend to stop this part after the incident with the Barrier.

I'll be getting to work on the next chapter of Second Semester in a day or two, but I don't know when it'll be done, I'm currently in the middle of a big work project and it takes a lot of my mental energy on a daily basis. I will shoot for the end of November but I may manage to do it faster if I get the right motivation.

Anyway, see you all next time.

~ZS