Chapter 13: Ayane Probably Loves And Hates The Clubroom.
Tired of walking, I put down the half-full bucket (there is no pipe around the occult clubroom, so I have to fill it up in the students' restroom and carry it here) and mop on the grassy ground. I stretch my arm as if the bucket was heavy. It is. But not in Ayane's eyes. She gives me a look of 'Are you kidding me? Weren't you a Master before all this? The things you can do to Hell's Creature? What of a half-filled bucket to you?'
And I give her the look of, 'just give me some rest.'
Ayane gives me a look of, 'Did you see this guitar case on my back? This is a lot heavier than ten bags of rice, and I'm a girl.'
I look at her. 'Okay, let's stop talking as if we have telepathy or something.'
It's almost as if we have telepathy or something when she nods.
We finally use our mouths for words.
"So… This is the club?" Ayane studies the grim look of the Occult Clubroom. She frowns. That could be from the sun, but pretty sure she doesn't like the sound of Occult Clubroom. "How would even the school approve of this place as a clubroom? This is more like a place to be demolished, if I have to say."
I can only shrug at that. "Well, Black Book believes anything is a potential for whatever. I say that, but, well, that's more like just our principal way."
"This? Potential? Might as well create a ramen club."
"Apparently," I sigh, "and ramen is not something to have a club for, but a restaurant."
"But it's a lot better than…" A thought seems to cut herself, "Didn't you say this is an occult clubroom? Does the principal believe there's a ghost or something?
"Potentially?" she adds.
"Well, we know that there is. Ghost, or whatever they call it." I think the Exorcist call ghost as Wanderer.
"We," she stressed her word, "not them. The club only made the Stabilizer's job more difficult. It's already hard for them to keep it together."
Ayane is an excellent model of a warrior for the Exorcist. I'm proud as her former master.
I scratch my head. "Hm, whatever I guess. It's not like there are any members in there," I say and feel that it is a mistake. There's, of course, no member, only if we don't count the vampire who's living in there.
My eyes glance at the curious eyes of Ayane rounding the old storeroom.
Speaking of that… I wonder what would happen. I'm not afraid to use anything to protect Ayane. Even the power I loathe inside me. And I hope that will not happen. I wouldn't like it.
Ayane lets out her final point. "It's ugly."
I chuckle, "What I said. But there's a lot more on the inside."
"More disappointment?"
"What I thought." I shake my grin away. "It's weird that we have the same thought process and first impression."
She snickers, "I am… I mean, I was your student."
"That could be the case."
We walk closer to the entrance.
Ayane notices the cross around the knob,
"This is an artifact."
I say nothing.
After a few seconds of checking, she shrugs. "A real weak one. Even a girl's spirit can make this as a house play thing."
Oh no, that's not just it. In fact, this weak artifact is the one that is trapping the vampire inside. Weak artifact but somehow stronger than a Dracula. How, you ask me. I wouldn't know. It's almost as if it's the work of the world. What the world wants. You can't wrap anything around what the world wants, it's just not possible. So I gave up figuring days ago.
Ayane's white hand touches the knob.
"Ayane…" Concern tone out of my throat.
She turns around with a tilted head, "Hm, what's wrong, Sensei?"
I decide to use this opportunity to convince her to stop walking into the vampire's lair.
"You know I can do this myself, right? I--"
She turns back and twists the knob.
Opening the door.
Creaking the door.
I can feel her eyes grazing the room.
And see something.
Something out of this world for her.
Ayane gasps.
"What the hell!"
Her wide eyes flash on me.
Does she already realize? That was fast. Even I couldn't feel the vampire the first time I went in. She really has bested me.
Thousand words of explanation come to my mind. I have to tell her it's not my intention to keep a Hell Creature, especially a vampire, safe. It'd be hard because no matter how you look at it, I am keeping the vampire.
I push away my palm. "Ayane. I can explain."
"You should!" Her finger points at the room.
I look at where she points at, expecting someone napping. But none. The vampire is not there.
Ayane continues, "Why does this room look like a witch's room?"
"I--"
"It's fucking cool!"
"..." Well, that's what I thought too. I can only force myself to smile and nod slowly. "It sure is."
My eyes go around the room. The things are here. But not the vampire. Where is she, anyway? Does she know an exorcist is coming here and keeps herself hidden? If that's the case, then it's a good thing. Her hiding means staying away from conflict.
I just hope she tries nothing like a jump scare.
Ayane pushes herself in and checks everything out. She's smiling while going around with this style of room.
"Look at all of this." She picks up a chess piece. "It's all in high quality. Does this come from a castle or something?"
She puts the piece back, ever so tenderly.
And dives into the couch. Her body bounces.
"Oh!" She hugs the huge bleeding couch. "It's so comfortable. I can sleep in here for centuries!"
Someone did.
She gets up from the couch… and dives in back to feel the bounce.
I shake my head, "Ayane, Stop playing around."
She gets up from the couch… and dives in back to feel the bounce. Again.
"Ayane," I say, "Remember what we came here for?"
She stops and looks at me weirdly. "You know… I could use some ramen now. Imagine, the most wonderful couch in the world and a ramen. That's a paradise!"
Sometimes I forget that this girl who can decapitate ten ghouls at a second is just still a teenager.
I point at the dead mosquitoes on the floor. "Does this look like a paradise to you?"
She shrieks, "Holy! When the hell did all of that get in there?"
"From the very beginning. You just stomp at not one, probably ten of them."
Ayane checks her shoes... and bites her lips. "I never liked these guys, anyway."
"How even…" She finally rounds her head to check the thousand dead mosquitoes on the floor. "How can this happen?"
A vampire eats them
A vampire eats them.
A vampire eats them.
I shrug. Well, it seems 'A vampire eats them' is not something that my tongue could roll into.
"I may or may not have sprayed too much," I say.
Her thin eyebrows arched up. "You sprayed how much?"
I look at all the dead mosquitoes. "You can imagine."
She gets up from the couch… And grabs the sweep. "Well, I will not enjoy this room if there's an entire population of mosquitoes dead under my feet."
"Sounds like you're going to stay longer than I thought."
She smiles, "You're right. Maybe after one ramen is finished."
"I wouldn't let you eat in here."
"I'll still try."
We move. Time to get clean.
Objective one: Clean the whole room.
Objective two: Apologized to Ayane.
And Hidden mission: Don't let Ayane find the vampire.
Hidden mission 2: Where the hell is the vampire?
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone