"I was trying to see if I could use my vibration-sensing ability to try to figure out Suiren-sensei's weird office-on-the-ceiling," I said to Yuki.

I stepped forward, shut my eyes, and felt the world lurch as Yuki and I somehow ended up on the ceiling in front of Hina's office door.

Yuki looked interested. "Did it work? Did you figure anything out?"

I shook my head. "No. Every time I use it, it just makes me sick to my stomach."

She nodded. "That's okay. Don't worry about it. We'll figure this out. Before we go in there, promise me something."

I leaned against the doorframe for a second and caught my breath. Between training, an attempted seduction, a dwarven stink-bomb, and Natsumi, I wasn't sure what else Yuki expected.

"What do you need?" I asked.

"Don't let those 'things' touch me, okay? I don't know what they are, but they scare me, Ryu."

How was I supposed to protect a ghost against something I couldn't begin to understand?

I gave her a short nod. "Don't worry. I won't let anything get near you."

She smiled at me, and I saw her shoulders relax.

I opened the door to Hina's office, glad that Yuki didn't ask me how.

Hina Suiren, the most terrifying presence I'd ever encountered, lay like a neglected rag doll. Her head hung, face down, over her plain office desk, arms stretched in front of her as though she were reaching for something she'd never grasp.

Then I heard her voice, and I jumped.

"Andrew? Forgive me, I didn't expect anyone. Give me just a minute, will you?"

She didn't move a muscle.

Her voice came from all around. Not from her crumpled body, but through the air.

"Come in. Have a seat."

Yuki turned towards me. Her expression was uncertain.

Glancing around the room, everything else seemed normal. Hina's office was one of the most mundane rooms in the entire academy, next to Kurogane-sensei's classroom. The student files sat on the left, Hina's desk in the middle, and a cabinet with various office supplies on the right.

I shrugged and cautiously stepped into her office.

Yuki floated beside me, and I took a seat in front of Hina's desk. Yuki sat next to me.

A half a dozen "spiders" dropped from small holes in the ceiling above Hina's desk. I stiffened, feeling my chest tighten as I saw them working their spindly legs, weaving a web of sickly, oil-colored threads until they reached Hina's body.

I heard Yuki gasp as they crawled inside of her, and then Hina jerked like she'd been shocked. Her arms and head spasmed, and then she sat up like someone pulled a string attached to her head.

"You'll have to forgive me for that, Andrew. I wasn't expecting company, and I just returned from an exhausting meeting with Alexander Black. He's giving the school some bad news I'm afraid. You'll hear about it soon enough. How can I help you?"

Yuki didn't take her eyes off the ceiling. Neither did I.

I'd come here to apologize. Now I needed to find my voice again.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry about yesterday," I started. "When I came in yesterday, demanding to know what I was."

I shook my head, still trying to make sense of what I'd just seen, and what I was trying to say. "I don't know why I expected you to tell me what I am. I wrote 'black dragon spirit' on my application without really understanding it. But it's not up to you to explain it, and I shouldn't have expected you to."

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I folded my hands in my lap. "So I'm sorry for coming in and treating you like you were some kind of villain when, really, you're the school provost. Instead of giving me answers, like a good teacher, you told me that I could figure out things on my own. Thank you for that."

Hina carefully lifted one of her hands and placed her elbow on the desk. She rested her veiled head on her hand. It looked like she was studying me.

"You came here to apologize and to thank me?" she asked.

Yuki nodded. "I warned him against it. Your office scares me, Suiren-sensei."

Hina didn't move. "Oh, really? What about you, Andrew? Does my office scare you as well?"

I gripped the chair's padded armrest tightly. "Suiren-sensei, Shin'yume and Crescent Moon Academy have scared me since I've arrived here. Nothing makes sense, nothing's what it appears to be, and no one will give me a straight answer."

She tilted her head slightly.

"But then I thought about it, and the thing is, that's not any different than where I came from originally. It's just in a slightly different flavor. Sakura-flavored. Maybe a month expired. Just enough to hide the rot."

A second after I said that she lowered her hand and sat back up in her chair.

"There are things that live in this school that would feast on your uncertainty. You've learned to mask it. That will serve you well."

She raised one of her hands, placing it carefully on her desk.

The way she moved, alien, but different than Shion.

Shion reminded me of an apex predator; every move she made slow, deliberate, and precise.

Hina moved more like an insect, or like a puppet whose hand needed guiding.

"However, you haven't resolved your dispute with Ken. It's worse than before, even though you have everything you need to fix it. I told you to try to understand him. You haven't."

Why'd she always make such a big deal out of Ken?

I huffed. "He's the one with the problem."

She tapped her desk with one finger.

"Andrew, you and I both know Ken's unwilling to see past himself, unlike you, which you've just demonstrated by coming in here to apologize. You are Ken's problem. You need to fix it before he decides to fix you. I won't be able to stop him regardless of the academy's rules."

Her voice softened. "So I suggest you make peace. Or make yourself ready."

"Now, if you please, I have an entire academy to run. An academy, mind you, that is filled with monsters. I'm busy," she said, not cruelly, but dismissively.

It felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. Somewhere, in this same building, Ken was out there with a vendetta, and I had no clue what Hina meant.

And she wanted me to leave, except I wasn't done.

Not yet.

"No," I said. "There's just one more thing."

Hina didn't move at all. "No?"

I sat up a little straighter. "I want Yuki to go here. Officially."

Yuki gasped. "Ryu? Oh, really? You never told me! Oh, I'd love official enrollment!"

But Hina remained motionless. "If only it were as simple as that. For zombies, vampires, wights, even ghouls, but ghosts are another matter entirely."

I bit my lip before speaking. "I don't see what the big deal is. Yuki's right here.

Then, I heard Hina sigh. It reminded me of someone crumpling up notebook paper before throwing it away. "You don't have to convince me, Andrew. Yuki, I would welcome you here with open arms if my hands weren't tied… But perhaps…"

Hina thought for a moment. She carefully brought her hands to her chin and rested her head in her hands.

"Yuki, when did you die?"

Yuki jumped a little, still excited about the possibility of enrollment.

"Oh, um, it was right before the summer of 1968," she said.

Hina nodded carefully.

"I don't understand. What are you thinking?" I asked.

Hina slowly put her gloved hands on her desk, one on top of the other.

"I realize that it's important for you that Yuki attend as a student. However, Andrew, that would require a great push against the entire culture of not only the institution, but our society. In that regard, Yuki doesn't have a ghost of a chance."

I narrowed my eyes as Hina continued.

"But that doesn't mean all is lost, yet. I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, I'm very busy. Mr. Black has decided to cut funding to the clubs while still insisting they're mandatory. If that's all, Andrew, good day."

Before I could say anything, Hina fell lifeless to her desk. Her head made a loud, sickening "THWUMP" as it smacked her desk.

Yuki jumped and gasped.

But both of us watched, motionless, as spiders, dozens of them, reached out of Hina's qipao, and began to climb the threads leading from her to the ceiling where they disappeared into innumerable holes.

My hand felt cold, and I looked over and saw Yuki's hand through mine where she had tried to hold it.

"Let's get out of here," I said.

Yuki floated immediately. "You don't have to tell me twice."

We made it to just outside my first period when I remembered who sat behind me in Literature class.

And the sickly-sweet scene of her lemon/ginger perfume. I stopped outside the classroom door and thought about what Hina had said when she recommended I try to understand Ken.

"Yuki, I'm going to skip Literature class today. I don't want to sit near Murasaki right now."

She considered this for a moment. "Normally, I'd say you should never skip class, but I think you have a good reason, Ryu. What are you going to do instead?"

I grinned. I already had an idea. "Let's go to the library. Hina said I should try to understand Ken. I bet they've got books on orcs. Maybe I can learn about their weaknesses."

Yuki floated beside me as I walked towards the Crescent Moon Academy library.

"That's a good idea. Or maybe you'll learn what makes him so dangerous in the first place. Either way, you'd better hurry. There's no telling when he might decide you're no longer worth his time."

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