"Yes, but only one" Yuuji repeated.
"And the rest?" Risa asked, catching the point. "Could we be in some kind of delinquent meeting spot?"
"Not really, it's just some aliens, an overly strict girl, and a suspicious nurse."
Even though he said it casually, he was actually quite impressed.
'Incredible, I can see them clearly regardless of any obstacles in between' Yuuji thought. If he focused his eyes a bit more, he could even see through their clothes.
'...but I won't.'
"An overly strict girl?"
"Aliens?"
"A suspicious nurse?"
"That would be me" a voice sounded, followed almost instantly by a sharp scream.
"Kyaaaa!"
"Yui? What are you doing here?" Lala asked, recognizing the scream.
Realizing she had been noticed, Yui stepped out of the darkness right behind them, followed by a well-endowed nurse with short reddish hair and a relaxed demeanor.
"I... came to tell you that you can't be here, I heard you talking during class" Yui confessed after taking a deep breath to calm down from the scare, then turned to look at the woman behind her. "Mikado-sensei, how long have you been there? And what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I can be very stealthy" Mikado replied, choosing to act mysterious. "As for what I'm doing here, I suspected the presence of aliens, so I came to check."
After speaking, Mikado approached Yuuji and introduced herself.
"Yuuji Rito, it's our first time meeting, right? A pleasure."
"Likewise" Yuuji nodded before asking curiously, "You seem to be involved with alien matters?"
"You could say that" Mikado smiled. "I'm in charge of any alien interactions in this area. Basically, resolving any problems they might cause."
"I see" Yuuji understood. "So... you work for my family?"
"You're... certainly arrogant, aren't you?" Mikado said with an amused smile upon hearing his words.
"Well, I recently found out my parents have influence in the supernatural world. After looking into it, I discovered they apparently control the entire supernatural world of Japan and half of Europe, isn't that amazing? And since you work in Japan..."
"Yes, yes, good deduction" Mikado interrupted him. "You're right, I work for your family.
Actually, until recently I was just a normal employee under the Yuuji family for the simple reason that we all are. It was thanks to you transferring here that your parents promoted me, turning me into a direct line to the Yuuji. I should thank you for that, my salary went up quite a bit."
"You're welcome then, I'll pass your thanks along" Yuuji nodded, mentally categorizing Mikado as easy to deal with, since her vibe felt similar to his.
"Of course, tell them they can ask me for help whenever they need, I'm an exemplary employee who loves making money" Mikado nodded while rubbing her thumb and index finger together in a money gesture.
"So, what about..."
"Except Europe" Mikado interrupted.
"I didn't even finish talking?"
"Don't joke, kid, those damn vampires have loyalty ingrained in their blood toward Dracula, in my opinion, the Yuuji already dominate half of Europe, there's no need to mess with the king of bloodsuckers just to increase that percentage."
"Isn't that right?" Yuuji nodded in full agreement. "But apparently my parents don't think the same."
"Um... Yuuji?" Rito asked after a while, reminding Yuuji of his presence.
"Right, sorry" Yuuji apologized. "Then let's go see the aliens and the ghost, they're together after all."
"Wait, you can't be here" Yui reminded them.
But Lala grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her along as they followed Yuuji.
"Don't worry, Yui, Yuuji can protect us if something happens, and Mikado-sensei gave us permission."
Yui could only give in to her 'persuasion', deciding to at least follow them to make sure nothing went wrong.
...
"Here they are" Yuuji said after a while when they reached the third floor.
"Here?" Risa asked, not seeing anything around.
"In the last classroom on the right" Yuuji specified.
The reason he said they were here, despite being inside a classroom, became clear seconds later, as eerie noises, whispering voices, and terrifying screams began echoing throughout the floor.
At the same time, floating specters appeared in the air along their path, rushing toward them at full speed.
"Yuuji?! Didn't you say there was only one?" Rito asked, alarmed.
"Don't worry, they're fake, the aliens are probably trying to keep people away" Mikado analyzed the situation.
"So that's how the rumors started" Mio realized.
Knowing they were fake, the group simply ignored them, though a bit nervously.
Fortunately, it worked perfectly, even though the so-called specters looked terrifying and their intentions seemed real, none of them actually got close, they stopped at a distance.
And when something real finally appeared, Mikado stepped forward.
"I'm in charge of any alien contact in this area. Dare to act and I assure you that by tomorrow you'll be expelled from Earth."
"..."
"..."
At her words, the white ghost that looked like, and was, a person with a sheet over their head, if people were green and had multiple tentacles on their head, immediately froze mid-act, quickly retreating into the classroom and returning seconds later with other different aliens.
It was a diverse group of aliens straight out of cliché sci-fi stories and even some from fantasy.
The one who seemed to be the leader, a male humanoid cat-like alien, stepped forward and spoke.
"Excuse me, are you really the...?"
"I am" Mikado interrupted coldly. "You have five seconds to explain what you're doing on Earth, why you're pretending to be a ghost scaring students, and why I shouldn't have you expelled from my planet."
"I'm sorry!" he immediately apologized, with the others following his example behind him.
"Please forgive us, we are simply refugees from conquered planets who ended up gathering along the way, we've been fleeing across the galaxy for a long time until we found Earth and decided to stay here.
We have no bad intentions, we only kept humans away because we feared being discovered and expelled for entering the planet illegally."
"That makes sense, I've encountered similar situations before" Mikado nodded before turning to the group. "I'll take care of them, you can continue your ghost-hunting."
With that, Mikado signaled to the aliens, who followed her trembling about their fate.
After they left and silence returned, Yui broke it with a question.
"They... will be okay?"
"They'll be fine" Yuuji replied confidently. "Mikado doesn't plan anything bad, she'll probably help them."
"How are you so sure?"
Yuuji just laughed and pointed his thumb at the pink-haired girl beside him. "Did you forget who she is? Her father is the highest authority in the galaxy. If Mikado wanted to make things difficult for them or get something from them, she just had to reveal Lala's identity, they'd start apologizing immediately while offering anything so her father wouldn't find out they almost attacked her."
"That makes sense" Yui nodded.
"A galactic princess? That sounds amazing," a female voice said right beside them.
"Waaah!" causing Rito, who was right next to her, to fall backward in fright.
Yuuji quickly placed some crystals, preventing him from doing anything inappropriate as he fell, something he had already gotten used to doing, and looked at the ghost that had just appeared.
"Incredible. A ghost! It's real!" Mio was the first to react, circling the ghost and looking at it like a rare specimen, followed by Risa, who did exactly the same.
"Yuuji, it's a ghost! This is crazy! Yui, what do you thi... Yui?!"
Lala turned toward Yui and tapped her shoulder, only to be surprised when she saw her faint with her eyes rolled back.
"It's fine, she just fainted from the shock, she'll wake up later" Yuuji reassured her before asking, "By the way, from your earlier attitude, it seems like you've already seen a ghost before, right? Why are you acting so impressed?"
"But seeing something amazing once doesn't make seeing it a second time boring, right?" she replied with complete conviction.
"..." Yuuji stayed silent for a second.
"By the way, who are you?" the ghost asked while everyone was busy with their own things.
"Shouldn't you be telling us that?" Rito muttered, still nervous and surprised by the appearance, fortunately, his resistance to strange events had increased, so despite his nerves, he could handle it.
"Ah, you're right, forgive my rudeness. I am Oshizu, I passed away 400 years ago in this place" the ghost said, bowing politely.
"I'm Lala!"
"Yuuji."
"Mio!"
"I'm Risa!"
"U-um, I'm Rito. No, wait, why are we introducing ourselves to a ghost?!"
"Didn't you ask me to introduce myself?" Oshizu asked, placing her index finger on her cheek in confusion.
"Yes, but..."
"Rito, we came here looking for a ghost, right? Don't be rude" Lala corrected him.
"I'm... sorry?" Rito no longer knew if he was wrong or the world was wrong, so he just went along with the others.
"You were looking for me? For what?" Oshizu asked.
Yuuji looked at the ghost while activating his Six Eyes at full power, or something like that, in reality, Yuuji simply focused.
"...I see" he murmured after a while.
"Yuuji, Yuuji, how is it? What happened?" Lala asked, shaking him by the shoulders impatiently.
"Just as I thought..." Yuuji began under Lala's expectant gaze. "There's nothing."
"Huh? Nothing?" Lala said in disappointment.
"Well, I can feel some kind of strange energy coming from her, but it's not the cursed energy I mentioned before nor something I can control" Yuuji shrugged, having expected it.
"But then..." Lala said, "this trip..."
"That's right, it was completely useless" Yuuji concluded.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)