Interview with the Yokai

Chapter 4

" Yea saving you has become such a habit for Noriko-chan, that she doesn't even think about it. I thought you human males were suppose to be the ones that defend females not the otherway around," Mari said materializing out of the bushes.

" Don't tease him Mari-chan, it wasn't even a fair fight," Noriko said.

" Yea Noriko-chan, because he would have so won a fair fight," Mari said rolling her eyes.

Noriko was about to say something, but Shoji interrupted," she's right Noriko-san, I'm not much of a fighter, you definitely saved me from a beating. That makes it twice in four days, I owe you, is there anything I can do for you?,"

" No that's.... Aaaw," Noriko was stopped mid sentence by Mari who jammed her elbow into her side.

" Well I could use your help in studying, mostly writing, I'm guessing you're really good in that subject," Noriko said rubbing her side.

"Hopeless," Mari muttered under her breath.

" Sure we can set up regular study sessions if you want, do homework together," Shoji said. He wondered why Noriko didn't ask Mari to help her, afterall Mari was the top student in the year, but he'd said he owed her.

" We have to go, I'll talk to you later Shoji-san," Noriko said and her and Mari walked off. When they were out of earshot, it looked like Mari started arguing with Noriko.

Shoji decided to follow the girls example and head towards his dorm room, it was already getting late, he had homework he wanted to get done before going to dinner. Shoji made his way to the dormitory, it was one of the larger buildings on campus as it housed all the students of every year, along with staff, some of the teachers, and student teachers. The building was made of precast concrete, it had three four story towers topped with a red zinc roof styled after traditional japanese roof. The three towers were divided into a tower for girls, a tower for boys, and a tower for staff. The three towers were all connected on the first floor and arranged in an equilateral triangle, one point facing north, the other two east and west. You entered the building through the connection between the east and west tower, a pair of large glass doors serving as an entrance. The first floor had a pitch roof that connected the three sides and formed a low hollow pyramid, that was capped off at the center with a huge glass pyramid that served as a skylight for the central courtyard below. The exterior of the building was punctured with windows, each of which had a red zinc frame, and three red zinch louvers on the outside.

Shoji entered through the front entrance swiping his student badge to be let in. On his way to the boys tower, he passed Kurasawa-sama's apartment, it was located on the first floor, right next to the main entrance, a very visible deterrent to any student trying to break curfew. Shoji thought about knocking on the door and seeing if Kurasawa-sama was in and giving her a good piece of his mind and when he was done with that he'd go on a tour of the underworld. Shoji moved on to the boys tower and took the elevator to the fourth floor. Shoji entered his room feeling tired, so much had been happening recently he was just exhausted.

" What happened to you?," Ichin, his roommate asked. Shoji hadn't even noticed he was in the room, Shoji just sat down on his bed.

" I had a run in with Tanahashi-san and his crew," Shoji said by way of explanation.

" Looks like they worked you over, you alright? You don't look too bruised," Ichin asked, giving him a good look.

" Luckily Noriko-san came by and scared them off," Shoji said not wanting to get too much into the details.

" So you call Kojima-san Noriko-san now, you two are getting to know each other pretty well," Ichin said no longer carrying much about Shoji's dust up with Tanahashi.