It was a hot and muggy day in Tokyo, and Setsuna was inside, studying.  She
sat at a large desk, with two tomes which were each twice as thick as she
was.  The leather covers were age-stained and dirty, and the pages felt as
if they were made of rice paper.  Sun poured in through the single window,
but she kept out of the light.  Mitsurugi had given her precise instructions
on the handling of the texts, which included not exposing them to direct
sunlight.  She sighed, and turned another page, making the paper crackle
like an old man getting up in the morning.

She took one finger, and ran it down the page, her eyes following, skimming
down a column of text.  When she got to the bottom, she brought her finger
back up next to the first kanji.  She had no idea what three of the words in
this sentence meant.  It was written in an archaic form of Japanese, and a
formal one at that.  She glanced over her shoulder, and through the doorway
that lead into the tiny room she sat in, at Mitsurugi.

He was staring out the great windows that lined the dojo area.  The club
building on campus was ten stories tall, and the Mystery Club had either
the luck, or perhaps the influence, to have the tenth story to themselves.
Mitsurugi was currently staring down on the campus, his emerald eyes
unfocused.  Setsuna's mouth opened slightly, but she shut it again before
any noise came out.  She could translate these books by herself, with a
dictionary, and would not have to disturb Mitsurugi.  She slid her chair
out, and began picking through the books lining the walls.

She found a book on ancient Japanese, and thankfully it was only the size
of a manga book.  She put it down her lap, and paged through to the first
word.  Taking out a notecard from her bookbag, she scribbled the word and
its modern translation down, and went on to the next one.  Behind her, the
floorboards began to creak.  Mitsurugi walked slowly out of the dojo, and
rounded the corner to the elevator.  A moment later, she heard the dinging
of the elevator opening, and the doors sliding shut.  She was alone again.

She shook off the sudden feeling of terror, and put her concentration back
on reading the book.  She was still dealing with the spasms of terror she
occasionally felt when she realized what she had been doing of late.  It was
as if she had been taken from her room that one day, and plunged down into
a black well.  She knew that paranormals existed all around her at all
times, some of them willing to kill her.  She had tried to hang around with
Mitsurugi more often, as he could sense them.  It gave her the sense of
security she had before.  When he wasn't around, she did her best to
concentrate on something else.  But the thought lay at the back of her mind,
gnawing at her cerebrum, infecting the animal instincts with a terror so
cold that her skin itself became clammy on the most humid days.

She was alone on the top floor of the building.  Or was she? She shuddered
again, and went back to the tome.  It was an ancient treatise on ghosts,
written by Buddhist monks during the Heian period.  It had been put in the
Mystery Club library by Ibuki, who claimed to have a library twice as large
as the current one in her house.  But she had claimed that she could only
sneak one or two out at a time, or else her mother would notice.  

Mitsurugi never spoke of his family.  He also never spoke of where he lived,
although Setsuna at times believed he lived here in the Mystery Club
offices.  When he did speak about his experiences, they were of paranormal
encounters.  He was silent most times, even when she followed him around.
The only way Setsuna knew to make him speak was when she asked him about
the paranormals.  That being so, she had made an effort to study more about
them, so she might be able to converse with him regularly sometime.  

She turned her mind back upon the text sitting in front of her.  She
rigorously began the process of reading each sentence, looking up the words
she didn't know.  Her right hand was engaged in both writing translations
and taking notes.  The tome on ghosts was not so easy as the others.  It was
not as organized by far as the ones on the different types of vampires or
oni.  Ghosts could only be grouped together in categories as vague as the
spirits themselves, noted the book.  There were so many varieties of spirit
that individual cases might even be said to have absolutely no connection
to each other.  

Setsuna's head swam with words and sentences as thick as the air outside.
They clogged up her mind, and she felt she could scarcely swallow without
choking on one of them.  

Sighing, she lay her head down on the edge of the desk, and took a breath
to clear out her mind.  The temperature inside the room was hotter than it
was outside, as there was usually very little ventilation.  Setsuna wondered
idly how the books were kept so dry.  She shut her eyes, and tried to repeat
some of the ideas in the text to herself.  There were so many things to
understand, so complex.  So many books.  Her shoulders sagged, and she could
feel her consciousness draining down her body and out her feet.  She took
another breath, and by the time she exhaled, she was asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Studio Daen Presents...
A work of Improfanfiction...
Mystery Club
"We Cannot Have Mercy on Those Who Threaten Us"
Part 4
Concept by Aaron Peori
This part by Assassin
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Meanwhile, Mitsurugi and Ibuki were sitting at a small table in the
cafeteria.  Between them were various books, and a two cups of steaming tea.
Mitsurugi had his face hidden behind a book entitled "The Walking Dead:
Real Stories of Zombies and the Undead".  Ibuki was swishing a straw around
in her cup.  

"Is Setsuna up in the library again, Mitsu-chan?"  Ibuki's voice was casual,
and she seemed more interested in her tea than in the question.  

"Do not call me 'Mitsu-chan'," Mitsurugi replied.  Continuing, he said, "she
seems to taking quite an interest in the club.  With some work, she will
make an excellent researcher."  Mitsurugi turned a page in his book.  

"She's taken an interesting in something I think," Ibuki mumbled.  Mitsurugi
continued his reading.  Ibuki peered up at him, instead seeing a picture of
a pale-skinned man holding a chunk of uncooked meat in his hands.  "Where do
you get those weird books?"  

Mitsurugi carefully stuck a thin card between the pages, and closed the
book.  "I found this in a shop out in Akihabara.  It was one of those new
shops that specialize in the American 'gothic' style clothes and items," he
noted.  

Ibuki picked up the book, and leafed through a few pages, laughing here and
there.  "Why would you read anything like this? Here, look at this one," she
said, reaching across, and dragging him by the collar.  "I can see where the
mask ends in this photo," she giggled.  Mitsurugi pried her fingers off of
his collar, and sat back up straight in his chair.  

"Perhaps.  However, I have found that occasionally one may find interesting
case studies, which match, and sometimes exceed in detail what we have in
our current library."  He smoothed out his shirt with a brisk motion.  Ibuki
looked up at him with a smirk on her face, and put the book back atop the
small stack on the table.  Mitsurugi regarded the book, and picked up his
tea cup, sipping from it.  His brow creased, and he pivoted his head to gaze
over one shoulder.  

"Good afternoon, Junko-san," he said.  Behind him stood a thin girl with
reddish tints to her hair.  She was up on the balls of her feet, her back
hunched over, and had a look on her face like a child who has just been
caught painting on their father's car.  In one hand dangled Mitsurugi's
bookbag.  Junko took two hesitant steps backwards.  

"Junko-san, please deposit my bag back upon the floor," Mitsurugi
requested.  The girl just looked at him with wide eyes for a moment, then
spun and dashed out.  Both Mystery Club members bolted from their chairs and
chased the girl.  

Behind them, as small figure slid up to their table, paused, and slid away
again.  

Mitsurugi and Ibuki were walkin g back inside the cafeteria within ten more
seconds and, Mitsurugi's backpack recovered, they returned to their table.
Ibuki swished her tea around more, and then took a drink.  

"I wonder what that was about," Ibuki frowned.  

"Kitsune are compulsive tricksters," Mitsurugi cited.  "Junko-san was most
likely expressing this desire by attempting to obtain my notebooks."  

"Or maybe she is upset because we killed one of her friends," Ibuki added
glumly.  "I was in a class with Kuroko last semester," she continued.  "She
was a control freak, but we were friends, and she really helped me out a
lot... until she found out who I really was."  Ibuki drank the rest of her
tea.  Mitsurugi had picked up another book, and was reading it.  

"She was presenting a danger.  I am surprised, Ibuki, to hear someone from a
line of paranormal hunters lamenting the death of such a creature."  He
turned a page.  "I would have thought that someone of your family would
accept the situation based upon its circumstances."  Ibuki frowned.  

"Kuroko wasn't just a 'paranormal threat', she was a girl with a family and
friends, who you shot a crossbow bolt into.  My family has to think about
this, because for us, it isn't just a club, or a sport, its a way of life.
It has to have meaning, and we can't just go around thinking its a game to
kill the most.  These are real people here, and we can't think of them as
anything less.  Sometimes I wonder about you, Mitsu-chan."  

"Do not call me 'Mitsu-chan'".  Mitsurugi paused in the middle of turning
another page.  "I understand that we deal with people.  However, when they
make the choice of threatening the life of another, they make the choice to
be hunted down.  I was forced to shoot that girl by her own actions.  I was
merely doing what is my duty in being a part of the Mystery Club, no more."
He finished turning the page, and took a drink of his tea.  "We cannot have
mercy on those who threaten us."  

Ibuki glanced up at him with skepticism in her eyes.  There was a tiny
wrinkle on his forehead.  She looked down into the remains of her tea, and
let herself relax.  She knew that they all had to deal with it in their own
way.  She told herself that Mitsurugi was just coping with the
responsibility they shared in his own way.  She just wished it didn't sound
so cold.  

Shrugging it off, she gathered up her own books, and picked up both of the
now empty teacups.  She waved a bye-bye to Mitsurugi, who raised a hand up
beside his book as a reply.  Putting on a smile, Ibuki brought the cups over
to the moving belt, and set them down on it, letting them be brought around
to the kitchen sinks.  She decided that she would go off to one of her
favorite spots to study.  As she walked along, she suppressed a large yawn.
Ibuki thought it might be nice to go home a little early today, and maybe
take a nap.  The heat must be making her tired.

                        (youarenotalone)

Towards the evening, a thick, unexpected fog rolled in across the campus.
It crept along the ground, enveloping buildings in a haze.  Students
wandered out of the main gates to the connected parking lot and to the bus
station, going home.  The campus security locked up the buildings one by
one.  Finally, they swung shut the main gates, walling off the campus from
the rest of Tokyo.

                        (youarenotalone)

Setsuna jolted awake, her fingers trembling and gripping at the desk.  She
was panting, and she made herself slow her breathing until it was back to
normal.  The nightmare was still vivid, Yohko's face grinning, and her mouth
opening wide, finally engulfing her.  Setsuna was frozen.  She wasn't sure if
she couldn't move, or did not want to move for fear of something seeing
her.  She was rooted to her chair, praying that nothing would see her, hear
her, smell her.  She hardly dared to move her eyes around the room.

It was nighttime.  She was still within the club building.  Finally daring to
twitch a finger, she turned her wrist far enough to see her watch.  It was
11:49 pm.  Setsuna gasped, and jumped to her feet.  Her own little light in
the library room was on, but outside, the floor was pitch black.  The
darkness waited outside her room, pushing against the light to enter.
Setsuna froze again.  There were footsteps.  

The sound came towards her from across the floor, hidden behind walls.
There was only one door leading out of the library room.  Setsuna backed
into a corner, and slid down the wall.  She hugged her knees to her chest,
and hoped she would be invisible.  The footsteps were coming from somewhere
nearer now.  They were not clean brisk steps, but it sounded as if one foot
was being dragged.  

A light clicked on, throwing the darkness back into corners.  

"Setsuna-san..  you're still..  here?"  

"Mitsurugi-san?"

                        (youarenotalone)

Ibuki lifted herself up off the pavement.  Her head ached, and she had a
queasy feeling in her stomach.  It was night, and she was surrounded by a
fog.  She knelt down to gather up her books, and looked around.  To orient
herself, she waved one hand out and found the wall she had been leaning
against.  Looking around, she found that she could not even see ten feet in
any direction.  For a brief moment she wondered if she still remained at her
school, or if she was now somewhere else, perhaps in a dream.  

Ibuki took a pair of steel daggers out from her backpack as a caution.  She
directed herself towards where the front gates were, and started jogging.
Once she took a step, she realized that she had just covered six feet in a
single hop.  Shaking her head once, she took out a steel ruler from her bag,
and bent it with her fingers.  

"Paranormals," she whispered.  "But where?"  She crouched slightly, turning
herself around.  She calmed herself, and opened up her awareness to pick up
any movement or sound.  

There was a scream.  It came from the gate.  

                        (youarenotalone)

Mitsurugi put down his crossbow.  He looked around Mirumoto's office.
Mirumoto-sensei was not around.  Looking out a window, he found that it was
nighttime.  Mitsurugi furrowed his brow, and put his fingers to his temples.
Something wasn't right.  It was night, and there was fog outside.  Perhaps he
had drifted off while reading.  He frowned at the thought.  It was time for
him to return.  He picked up the crossbow again, and left the office,
striding by Ibuki's body, a crossbow bolt sticking through her chest.

                        (youarenotalone)

Setsuna took one of Mitsurugi's arms, and put it around her shoulder,
helping him to walk into the room.  She set him down in one of the chairs,
and examined the cut on his forehead.  

"Wait here," Setsuna hurried over to the first aid box in the dojo, and
opened it.  She took a large bandage from inside, and ran back to Mitsurugi,
who was slumped in his chair.  Setsuna took the bandage out, and gingerly
put it on his forehead, covering up the cut.  

"Thank you, Setsuna-san," Mitsurugi said.  "I am feeling better now."  He
straightened up, and touched the bandage lightly.  "My senses are returning,
and the headache is fading."  He rested his head in his hands.  

"Why are you still around?"  Setsuna's voice was concerned.  But she felt
relief that he was around as well, by fate.  She clutched her hands behind
her back, feeling silly that she had thought of such a sentiment.  He
brought his head back up to face her, and those thoughts left.  

"It was Ibuki," Mitsurugi said.  "She has become possessed."

                        (youarenotalone)

At that very moment, Ibuki was walking in the general direction of the
gate.  The campus was small, but in the fog, she kept redirecting, and
finding the tall wall which surrounded the main part of the campus.  She
could go over the fence on the other side, but that route would make her
walk a few more blocks, and have to make several turns.  In this fog she was
unsure as to whether or not she would be able to.  

She found the main gate, its wrist-thick steel bars extending up into the
fog.  She grasped one and crouched to jump over it.  The bar was wet as she
grabbed it, probably from the condensation.  She was unsure still as to what
paranormal was around her, but it was following her, and being
unaggressive, so she had decided to take advantage of the fact.  Recording
the evidence was Mirumoto's interest, and studying was Mitsurugi's.  She was
interested in helping people, and keeping them from becoming victims.  

She paused before she leapt, to shake the moisture off her hands, so she
would not slip.  The one problem with having increased strength was the
inability to control it at times.  Some of the moisture didn't shake off, so
she rubbed her hand down her pant leg, leaving a thick red smear behind it
from the water.  

A red smear from water? For the first time, Ibuki looked up to the top of
the gate.  She could clearly see an arm hanging limply down towards her.  The
rest of the forms were unclear in the fog.  She tested the bars and found
blood running down three of them.  Inwardly cursing, she turned around.  Best
to take the long route.  She turned towards the opposite side of the campus,
and began the walk back.  

Behind her, a small green flame flared into existence, making no noise.  It
floated slowly after her.  After a few more steps, another blinked in, and
then another.  Ibuki, unnoticing, continued.

                        (youarenotalone)

Mitsurugi strode out of the science building, and into the fog.  The
dampness of the air caressed his cheek, and he grimaced.  Leveling his
crossbow, he turned in a slow circle, until he looked back out into the
whiteness.  They were out there somewhere, and he had to destroy them.

First he would need the extra equipment from the dojo.  He pointed himself
in a direction towards that area, and began walking briskly.  His weapon
pointed back forth in the mist, and his finger was tense on the trigger.

                        (youarenotalone)

Setsuna picked out a wakizashi from the closet, and a length of nylon cord.
She wrapped the cord several times around her waist, and shoved the sword
through at her side.  Mitsurugi was still in the chair outside the dojo, his
head still hanging down in his hands.  Looking around in the closet, Setsuna
picked out several types of bolts, in case he needed them, and closed the
doors.  

Going out again, she rehearsed the situation in her head.  Ibuki was
possessed, and needed to be detained.  Mitsurugi said that the ghost would
not be as able fighter as Ibuki normally was, and that Mitsurugi could
defeat her.  He would fight her, and wrestle her to the ground, at which
time Setsuna would tie her up with the cord.  That way they could get her to
a Shinto priest for an exorcism.  

"Its the night of 100 ghosts," said Mitsurugi.  "We will not get out of this
undisturbed, Setsuna-san.  It is best you are prepared."  Setsuna blinked
with astonishment.  

"Ghosts? I thought it was demons," she said.  Mitsurugi shook his head.  

"That is how it was depicted."  He took the bolts from out of her hand.
"However, the depiction was a twist off old peasant legends.  The woodblock
prints were made as demons to have more effect.  These are ghosts, many
types of them, and they will all be all around."  Setsuna stared down at the
floor, with a mix of shame and fear that she had not finished the book this
afternoon so she might have known all this.  Mitsurugi stood up, and walked
towards the staircase next to the elevator.  Setsuna walked slightly behind
him.  

They descended the stairs without talking.  At each floor there were sounds.
Moaning and cries echoed up the staircase from somewhere.  Setsuna stared
firmly at the steps, and did not look into the rooms.  Finally they came to
the ground floor.  Just above them came an infernal cacophony of clanking
metal and inhuman voices.  

Setsuna was about to go through the doorway, when she ran into Mitsurugi's
arm.  Startled, she jumped slightly, and the sword rattled in it's scabbard.
She looked up and realized why he had stopped her.  

The floor was a shifting mass of ghosts.  They were human, or had been at
one time.  They overlapped each other, moving slightly enough to create the
illusion of rippling.  Setsuna thought she saw a couple of ancient school
uniforms, when they still had existed at the college.  Their faces were
dark, especially around their eyes.  Several of them had their mouths left
agape, purple tongues lolling out of their mouths.  

"Student suicides," said Mitsurugi.  "All of them."  Setsuna gasped.  

"They don't seem angry," she whispered.  "Maybe we should say a prayer for
their souls or something."  Mitsurugi smirked.  

"No, I'm afraid that will not aid them now.  But they are no problem... look
at the doorway out," he said.  Setsuna peered at it through the mass of
translucent forms.  The door to the outside was open, but aside from that
she saw nothing.  Until she looked at the frame itself.  It would be hard to
see up close, but the top of it was lined with spikes.  

"That will snap down on us if we try to escape," Mitsurugi observed.  "We
need to take another way."  He grabbed onto Setsuna's arm, and lead her back
up the stairs.  They stopped at the second floor, in front of the doorway
in.  Mitsurugi checked it, and got on one side of it.  The plaque by the door
read "Fitness Club".  

"When I open this door, you run through to the window," he said.  "Don't
stop, I'll be right behind you.  We're going to jump out."  Setsuna looked up
at Mitsurugi with hesitation.  "Its alright," he assured her, "I will aid
you."  Setsuna nodded, and got ready.  Mitsurugi threw open the door.  "Run!"  

Setsuna launched herself into the room, barely taking in her surroundings.
It smelled like a butcher's market, and the sound of crashing metal was
deafening.  She ran through the room.  There were things all around her,
human things, lifting weights? One form stood up dead in front of her, and
she ran straight into it.  She slammed into it, and fell to her knees.  A
giant hand grasped her collar, and pulled her a into the air without
effort.  It was a human, a man maybe.  But he was missing his skin.  

Setsuna opened her mouth to scream, and the figure smiled at her.  With the
motion, blood ran down its raw face muscles.  It opened its mouth, and a
male voice came out.  

"Hey baby..  don't you love my build?"  It grinned again, and lifted up an
arm packed with muscle.  Setsuna looked at it.  It was dripping with crimson.
There was a thick tan strip of what looked like skin that ran off it, and
connected to something across the room.  It had to be a tendon.  The creature
grinned, and raised its arm.  Across the room, a stack of iron weights
lifted up in a machine.  Setsuna screamed.  

Mitsurugi leapt forward from behind her, and the creature grabbed him with
it's other arm.  It grasped him around the throat, and brought Mitsurugi
into the air until his feet dangled below him.  The skinless creature
laughed, blood bubbling out of its mouth.

                        (youarenotalone)

Mitsurugi approached the club building, still holding his crossbow at the
ready.  He had not seen anything yet, until he reached the doorway.  He
paused outside the entrance, and put his fingers to his temples, rubbing at
them.  He stared inside at the faces, picking out one or two of them.
Mitsurugi took one step towards entering.  

The glass above him shattered, and spread across the ground.  Mitsurugi spun
around, aiming the crossbow.  Two figures hit the ground, and ran.  One of
them was Setsuna.  The other was... 

Mitsurugi ran after them, his weapon held straight in front of him.

                        (youarenotalone)

Ibuki reached the other side of campus, and walked along the fence until
she reached the gate out into the city.  Something whispered behind her, and
she whipped around, daggers at the ready.  She was surrounded by green
illumination.  She cursed, and the first fire shimmered.  It began changing,
until it solidified into a humanoid form.  A thick man-sized creature stood
there, with rough hair covering it, and a pair of small horns emerged from
its forehead.  It was clothed only in a fur, and carried a cudgel at its
side.  A baritone laugh rasped out of its thick chest.  

"So," the creature said, "you are the new Kusanagi."  Behind it, the rest of
the flames began shimmering and reforming.  Ibuki paled.  The creature was
the oni of Kagoshima, a famous monster.  It had been killed centuries ago by
one of her ancestors.  

Monsters now surrounded her.  She could see more oni, demons, giant spiders
and goblins.  She knew some of them from Kusanagi family legends.  The oni
before her laughed again.  

"Finally," it said, "a chance for revenge."  The monsters charged her as a
group.  

                        (youarenotalone)

"Don't look behind us," Mitsurugi commanded Setsuna.  "Its one of them."
Setsuna continued running next to Mitsurugi.  The footsteps behind them
seemed as close a shadow.  Mitsurugi still had her by the arm, and was
leading her.  Suddenly a building emerged out of the fog.  Mitsurugi leapt,
opening the door, and she ran through.  He followed, slamming the door
immediately behind them.  

"Follow me," he said, and ran down the empty hallway.  

                        (youarenotalone)

Mitsurugi hit the glass door, and bounced.  He fell to the ground, head
reeling.  After a moment of pain and nausea, he managed to raise his head
again.  In front of him was the science building.  He walked and back in
front of the entrance, his legs still unsteady.  The door was shut, but he
had to get inside there, and get Setsuna.  He paused outside a window.  With
a single punch, the glass crashed inwards.  Mitsurugi winced, and tore a
strip off of his shirt, wrapping it around his bloodied hand.  

Carefully he climbed up through the window, and into the room.  He was
greeted by wailing, crying from hundreds of mouths.  Mitsurugi looked
around, and shuddered.  

"mizugo..."  he whispered to himself.  They were all around him.  He pressed
his palms together in front of him.  "Namu Amida Butsu," he said quietly,
and leapt over the mass, to the door outside.  Opening it, he paused for a
moment, then turned to the right, and ran down the hallway.  

He found a staircase, and ran up it, two steps at a time.  He was on the
second floor.  Turning again, he started running.  

"Mitsurugi..."  He slid to a halt, and brought his crossbow up to eye level.
He spun his head left, then right.  Then he blinked, and spun completely
around, aiming at the shadowy figure approaching him.  

"Mitsurugi..."  It's voice faded in and out, like a breeze.  He put his
finger on the trigger.  How did he know that voice? The figure floated
closer, and he noticed that where its legs would be was just a dark mist.  

"Taro-sama...."  Mitsurugi froze.  Another figure coalesced in front of him.
It was a woman, with long black hair, but a face as smooth as an egg.
"Taro-sama," she said, her voice sensual, yet pleading.  A third figure
appeared, a child.  

"You killed me!"  The child's shout was high pitched, and icy cold.  A fourth
figure came, and then a fifth.  Mitsurugi knew them all.  

The child was from a broken down house in the slums.  Mirumoto had found
that it was haunted by his former mother, who would come at night to see
him.  They had set up the equipment to monitor, but when the mother came,
she saw them.  She had flown right at Mitsurugi, and he brought his bow up
to take the shot.  But the child, seeing his motion, had thrown himself in
between the bolt and his ghost mother.  

Mitsurugi's crossbow hand froze.  The woman with the black hair had been a
vampire, preying on beautiful young boys.  Mitsurugi had lured it into a
love hotel, when he staked her.  Blood had spouted out of her mouth when she
died, splattering all over him and the walls.  

There were ten figures now.  Mitsurugi counted the specters.  There was that
girl Yohko, and Akaikawa, and Kuroko.  They drifted slowly towards him.  His
body was frozen now, and he had broken into a cold sweat.  He could not move
as they surrounded him, circling him, growing ever closer.  

"Mitsurugi... Mitsurugi Taro..."  

                        (youarenotalone)

Mitsurugi slammed the door behind them.  Setsuna knelt down, out of breath.
Her shoulders heaved for half a moment while she breathed.  She tilted her
head up, looking at the room she was in.  

It was a biology lab, filled with large black-topped table.  But where one
wall had been, there was a swirling darkness.  It was then that Setsuna saw
Ibuki.  Ibuki had been tied up, and lay on top of a table near the dark
portal.  She bore several noticeable bruises, and a rivulet of blood ran
down her cheek.  Her eyes were shut and blackened.  Steel glistened around
her, dissection tools lay on the table as well.  

"Ibuki?"  Setsuna's voice was hesitant.  If they had just gotten here, who
had tied up Ibuki already? Was it just a trick? Setsuna took a couple
cautious steps toward Ibuki.  Behind her, she heard a click.  Mitsurugi was
pointing his crossbow at Ibuki.  

"Mitsurugi-san, is everything ok?"  Setsuna looked at him, unsure.  "It looks
like she's already been taken care of," Setsuna touched her hand to the
wakizashi at her side.  

"No," said Mitsurugi, "but she will be in a moment."  He grinned evilly, and
his face distorted for a moment, then reshaped.  Setsuna's mouth fell open.  

"You... you're the possessed one, aren't you?" Setsuna gasped.  She pulled
out the sword.  

"Not quite, Fume Setsuna, but it doesn't really matter anymore."  Mitsurugi
glared at her with a look of pure hate, and shot a bolt at her.  It went
through her blazer, and pulled her back.  She fell, the bolt nailing her to
the floor.  Mitsurugi laughed spitefully.  "Now I have you as well.  This will
make a glorious night."  Setsuna stared at him, eyes wide and puzzled.  She
watched as Mitsurugi crossed the room, and picked up a scalpel from the
table with Ibuki on it.  

He cackled, as he raised up the knife above his head.  Setsuna struggled,
but could do no more.  She could see Ibuki moving her head.  She opened her
gray eyes, and looked up at the figure towering over her.  

"What's going on... Mitsu-chan?"  He voice was weary.  

"Do not call him 'Mitsu-chan'," a voice spoke.  There was a twang, and
Mitsurugi fell with a bolt sticking through his chest.  The scalpel
clattered to the floor.  A dark figure stepped out of the doorway.  

"Mitsurugi?"  Setsuna's head spun.  Mitsurugi, standing over his own corpse
nodded to her.  Setsuna's vision drained out to black.  

                            (youarenotalone)

Setsuna awoke later, laid out on a bench.  They were in the hallway right
inside the science building.  She could see the fog through the glass door.
Ibuki and Mitsurugi were sitting across the hall from her.  Setsuna noticed
one of Mitsurugi's hands was covered with a makeshift bandage, and was
stained with blood.  The were talking quietly.  They both stopped when
Setsuna sat up.  

"What..  happened?"  Ibuki walked over, and lightly helped Setsuna to her
feet.  

"They were doubles," Mitsurugi spoke.  "There was one double of both Ibuki
and I, created by the fog.  Ibuki's double was near me when I awoke.
Luckily, I sensed it was a paranormal.  You were not so lucky."  His voice
was grim.  

"We found a kitsune named Junko up there in the room where I was," Ibuki
continued.  "She had been convinced by someone earlier to distract us.  While
she did so, whoever it was slipped something in our tea to make us sleep."
Setsuna frowned.  

"Someone?"  Setsuna asked.  

"The kitsune would not speak of it, and vanished as soon as we had untied
her.  We believe she was seeking to trick us for disposing of Kuroko, and
was used by whoever this was."  Mitsurugi frowned.  "The fog outside was
summoned.  When I walk outside, I sense paranormals all around."  Ibuki
nodded.  

"It isn't natural," she said.  "Its like a passageway to the world of the
dead."  Setsuna nodded slowly.  

"So," said Setsuna, "what do we do now?"  

"It would seem that this is the Night of 100 Demons," Mitsurugi stated.  "I
have read ancient accounts of the legend that dealt with ghosts instead.  It
seems that the modern woodblock prints we have were a corruption of an
ancient paranormal manifestation."  

Setsuna looked thoughtful.  "That is what the fake Mitsurugi told me.  He
said that the woodblock prints had been changed for effect."  

Mitsurugi nodded again.  "It is not the first time that I have discovered
such flaws in the ancient record.  Such things were somewhat common, as
talented artists searched more and more for interesting subjects to depict.
Perhaps ghosts were too commonplace.  Despite this, it is possible for the
detail of the paranormals vanishing with the touch of sunlight will be
accurate.  This is a common phenomena among many types of paranormals."  

"Then I guess we'll wait," Setsuna said.  

"Mitsu-chan," Ibuki started.  

"Do not call me 'Mitsu-chan'," he replied.  

"You said you were attacked by some ghosts before you got here.  What saved
you?"  Ibuki peered at him.  

"It was a woman," he replied.  "She looked like a gaijin, and was moved
twice as fast as you do, Ibuki-san."  

"A paranormal?" Setsuna asked quietly.  

"Yes," replied Mitsurugi.  "She vanished before I got a chance to look at
her."  

                        (youarenotalone)

Sunrise.  The rays of light reached their fingers across Japan, to Tokyo.  As
the light spread forward, the first rays touched the fog.  There was a high
pitched squealing noise, and the fog rolled in on itself, vanishing.  The
three members of the Mystery Club watched as it left.  They did not see the
shadowy form slipping away.

Mystery Club Episode Four: End?

Author's notes:

My apologies on this being late, for all the readers of MC.  I had been
working on it, but the due date was also the final day of school for my
college career, and some of it got pushed back till then.  Next, I sent out
copies to be preread, and when I got back to check, just in time to revise
and make the due date, I found that emails stating that the mails had not
been sent for the past x hours due to errors, and it would keep trying.  So
finally, I talked to Dan Wood, got out the chapters on a web email account,
and revised it later.  So thanks to Epsilon and Myth for prereading and
patience, and especial thanks to Dan Wood for giving me the extra time.  

Chapter notes: 

Night of 100 Demons, (or ghosts): This worked out being more a vehicle of
my plot for this chapter rather than anything really cultural.  The Night of
100 Demons Parade is an old belief in Japan where 100, (which was really
just a number which meant 'a lot') of demons would parade down the street
at night, and vanish when the sun came up.  A parade wouldn't quite work
here, and I used ghosts instead for the spooky factor, but oh well.  There
were many woodblock prints made of this legend in old Japan.  

Namu Amida Butsu - "Praise to Amida Buddha" This is a prayer of the Jodoshu
and Jodoshinshu religions.  Amida is a Buddha of compassion, and people who
say this prayer are thought to be transported immediatly after death to a
created paradise in the West.  It is also said as a prayer of mercy for the
souls of the dead, as in here.  

Mizugo - uhm..  you probably don't want to know honestly..  I should
translate it, but I will let someone post it on the board for fear of
offense 

The club building is something I took liberties with.  Club buildings do
exist on Japanese campuses.  When I went there last year, I was in the Kendo
club, and they had the top floor of that one.  They're just buildings which
have floors for the organizations to use, as club business is a good deal
more serious in Japan than it is over here.  I know it is a bit opulent for
the mystery club to have, but I figure Mirumoto has to have some
connections, because of the reference to the police leaving them alone in
the first chapter.  

Horror is not easy to write well, and I really hope I pulled off a decent
job of it.  It is easy to write somewhat spooky stuff, but the real test is
whether or not you can scare the reader, which is hard.  I've worked at
horror before in some rpg adventures, and I'm thinking maybe I have more of
a sense of it now.  Thanks go to Epsilon for starting the impro, to the
various sources I read for ghost information, and to "Don't Be Afraid" by
Information Society, and the Resident Evil Remix soundtrack for providing
music to write by.  Also thanks to the creators of Silent Hill, and the Lum
movie, (or was it the OVA?), #2, "Beautiful Dreamer", for providing
inspiration.  Also to "Japanese Ghosts & Demons", a good book, and the
article within by Midori Deguchi, for introducing me to the concept that I
warped.  Lastly thanks to Japanese TV for the idea of really annoying breaks
that STOP JUST AS THE BIG DRAMATIC MOMENT IS GOING TO HAPPEN! ARGH! 

Anyway, gotta wrap this up and run.  Thanks a lot, and I'd love to hear
reviews or comments on this chapter, either on the IFF message board, or
sent to mthrall@gac.edu.  Hope I raised the hairs at the back of your neck
somewhat.  

Assassin