"Okay, now that we've had a little time to train it is time to put what we learned to the test! I'm going to give you a report on potential phantom activity like how you would be given a mission brief by your Squad Captain, and you all are going to work together to bring down the enemies." As I spoke the class who had just taken off their blindfolds looked suspiciously over the area of the clearing where the five Gashodokuro were kept. There looming forms being completely absent seemed to clue people into to who they may be fighting next, nervous looks growing from the realization.
"Uh...sensei isn't a mission brief kind of silly since we know—!" Takahiro found his lips forcefully closing as [Shadow Puppet] activated using the darkness inside his mouth. His wide eyes looked at me in terror as I began scolding him.
"Never, and I mean never let me catch you trying to ignore a mission brief again! That is the fastest fucking way students die! Look at the fourth-year students, for example, they're down to three recruits because the other ten in their class couldn't be bothered to read up on what type of phantom they would be fighting! If any of you are suicidal just go ahead and tell me so I can put you out of your misery without you killing the rest of my students!" I yelled like how my old Algebra 2 teacher used to yell except for I wasn't throwing markers or erasers at my kids heads while doing it even though I wish I was. We did have another thing in common other than yelling at our students though which was the desire to be balls deep in a few of our students. I wonder if that old bastard is still alive?
"Y-yes Sensei," Takahiro spoke as his jello-like fat rolls jiggled with his shuddering body. How am I going to keep this fat sack of shit alive? As a teacher of the Tokyo Exorcist Academy for each student that makes it through my year alive, I get a bonus. If all fifteen were to make it I would receive somewhere in the conservative estimate of around 22 million yen. That's around 150,000 dollars USD and would be a perfect little nest egg for some projects I want to push through. So despite my urge to kill Takahiro now and make it look like an accident he's worth about 10,000 dollars so I can tolerate his annoying ass for just a year.
"Okay, here's the report. Five days ago a group of four went hiking through the forest here and have not turned up since. The EC was called when police detected anomalous EMF readings from their scanners around where the victims were last seen. It has been determined with additional exorcist investigation that at least five unique ectoplasm signatures could be found around the site, but it cannot be ruled out that there may be more. Another anomaly was rather large patches of burnt grass surrounding the area and when an officer went over to feel it with his hand he suffered severe burns as unbeknownst to him he had just come into contact with orange-colored ectoplasm. Would anyone like to analyze this data other than Akari and give the best plan of action?" Seeing the redheaded girl's hand raise before deflating slightly at my exclusion of her made me feel a little bad, but if I let her act as the only source of brains for the unit the one time they need a plan and she isn't there is the day they'll all be screwed.
"I can Sensei." Chizue raised her long slender arm in the air and I found myself grinning at her. The girl's light brown eyes stared at me with a calculating gleam in them, her other hand began unconsciously rubbing at the Quade Bank card in her shorts pocket. It seems she was taking things seriously.
"Yes, Ms. Chizue if you would please explain your deductions as to what might have happened the class would greatly appreciate it." From the way some of the kids snickered they were just waiting for when she'd fail. I myself was interested in how the girl with probably the least experience when it came to exorcist society believed she had the ability to analyze the brief description I gave her and make a solid theory based off of it.
"I think that if this a missing persons investigation it should immediately be closed and reopened as an extermination or kill request." Chizue spoke, her face showing no outward sign of having heard the clan kids making fun of her.
"Elaborate."
"The police investigators' hand after barely making contact with the charred patches suffered severe burning. What would the fate of the hikers be if they were drenched in orange ectoplasm? Even from your own words the most common fate of normal humans coming into contact with phantoms is death so it would be better if we focused on eliminating the five targets vs getting caught in an ambush looking for survivors." I found myself nodding at her words and so did the rest of the class as none of the students here were unfamiliar with death as the sons and daughters of hardened killers. In fact had it not been for our time in her mindscape I would've assumed Chizue herself would be the only one to object to the heartless proposal she just gave. And even though Fumiko may be a ditzy airhead her less-than-sane mental state means I'm unsure of whether or not killing people is going to even bother her.
"What about the targets themselves, notice anything unusual about them?" I was throwing her a bone but I think she deserved it considering a real field report would have more extensive information and photo reconnaissance of the area compared to my summary meant to stimulate minds.
"Well—Sensei, what sin does the color orange represent?" She seemed to pause before asking me a question that brought a smile to my face. I am glad she's taking this seriously even though she found herself a sugar daddy to take care of her needs. She would be sadly mistaken if she thinks I won't want her to become strong and be capable of defending herself.
"Akari, can you help your fellow recruit out?" Akari's blue eyes gleamed from the dull expression she was making earlier, a small smile tugging at her lips. It was so small that no one else would notice but it was a night and day difference for me as I found her absolutely adorable smiling like that.
"Yes, Sensei." Her eyes turned to the tall girl before she spoke. "Orange is the color associated with gluttony." With mechanical ease her head returned back to it's original position, and her eyes locked onto mine. That tiny smile grew even more prominent as a pink dusting covered her cheeks. She reacted like I'd made some big romantic gesture and all I'd actually done is let her answer a question. It was honestly pretty cute.
"Sensei, what're the normal behavior patterns of phantoms created from the sin of gluttony? Because I highly doubt all five of them would work together when it would cut into the amount of 'food' they could eat if they just hunted alone." Chizue gave a grin and a thumbs up to Akari as she looked over at her. The stiff nod she received in return didn't seem to dampen her spirits as she took it in stride before turning towards me.
"You're correct that it is strange for phantoms with the same sin aspect to work together unless it is a colony-type phantom where there is a central hive-mind. So what do you think is causing them to work together?" I asked as I looked out over the crowd of students. They seemed to be following along with us except for Takahiro but my hopes for him were never really that high in the first place so I just shrugged it off.
"If it is unusual to their nature and overriding their instincts I would assume they are being controlled by some form of intelligence. I don't know who is controlling them but whoever it is they don't have the same instinctual drive that the phantoms do making them more dangerous." I clapped my hands in applause at her answers, a sigh of relief escaping under my breath as I realized Akari wasn't the only brain in this fifteen-man operation. We had two strategists and Tsukasa could definitely help with the more practical side of planning along with Fumiko and Yuzuki meaning we wouldn't be lacking in terms of battle strategy. Now's time to test my belief out though.
"Yep, kids today you're going to be hunting something exorcists on this side of the world will very rarely ever be confronted with, a witch." By the widened eyes and fearful gasps, I could tell this was a surprising turn of events, my grin widened at the thought of the 'witch' herself and how embarrassed she was going to be at having the whole class see her like that.
***
(Katō Nozomi POV):
"D-do I really have to wear this?" I looked at the blond little she devil always attached to Garridan's hip with a pleading look. Why am I forced to wear this—thing? I looked down at the 'robe' of my costume and realized that this thing wasn't anything like a traditional witches robe. This was something you'd find in the mundane world during Halloween when young girls and women who think they're young have free reign for the night to dress as sluttily as possible and call it a costume. I was wearing such a thing as I looked down at the creamy pale skin of my thigh revealed by the slit in my dress.
My breasts strained at the black fabric of the dress like it was a size too small and with the smug smirk plastered on Charlotte's face I'd assume it was an intentional decision on her part. The amount of cleavage it revealed was ridiculous as all it took to reveal my areola and nipples was for you to be slightly taller and be looking down at my dress. And don't get me started on the way it hugged my midriff, the pudgy fat I had never gotten rid of after my pregnancy with Fumiko was revealed as the fabric clung to my stomach. I hated it and the smug bitch who made me wear it!
"Darling wanted a witch so I gave him a witch, and it's not like you won't benefit from this Nozomi." Her casual dismissal of me was followed by her looking at her nails even though they weren't chipped or even dirty. The sound of my teeth grinding together filled the inside of my mouth, my fists clenching. I was really tempted to bring out my [Phantom Tool].
"How will I benefit from a bunch of horny brats staring at me Charlotte?" I snapped, one of my hands coming up to catch the floppy witch hat on my head as a stiff breeze filled the forest clearing we were in. As the breeze blew past me I smelt a familiar bleachy smell coming from the girl. My eyes narrowed behind my glasses and I felt my blood pressure spike, this girl has been fucking him during school hours!
"Well if Darling sees you actually putting any effort in dressing up instead of wearing the same 4 dresses everyday maybe he'll bend you over and fuck you. Heaven knows you could use it with how whiny you've gotten." The black opera gloves of my [Phantom Tool] formed over my hands and I was on her in an instant. My hand reared back and the sight of green earth aura leaking from my fist seemed to get Charlotte to actually take me seriously as she flared her own geist to life. Just as I was about to make contact though he arrived.
"Hey, Char did you—holy shit what are you two doing!?" Rising from my shadow which happened to be right in between me and the blond-headed girl was Garridan. His fast reflexes meant he caught my punch before it could unintentionally strike him. On the other side, he raised Charlotte's hand in the air and my eyes widened as a glowing beam of light sailed into the air harmlessly. She was going to kill me, the sudden realization of that fact made me feel weak in the knees.
"Okay we need to talk now." His words brokered no argument and me and the little she-devil found ourselves nodding. I felt like a teenager again being scolded by my father. It didn't really incline me to listen to him but it did command my respect as even though my father was adamant about not marrying that man he still cared for me when I was at my lowest. If Garridan could show even a fraction of the care that man did he will go from being the perfect lover to someone I will want to marry as a husband. The thought brought a blush to my cheeks as I forced the floppy brim of the witch's hat down over my face. Did I really have the same daddy complex, as my daughter did?