Interview with the Yokai

Chapter 4

" It's like that with all the girls running for Student Council President, they've all just asked me to be less formal," Shoji said. Shoji couldn't deny though that Noriko seemed to have a particular interest in him, he wasn't sure if it was a crush or if the girl was mesmerized by him being the reincarnation of this supposedly legendary Monk. Shoji just knew the girl had become very bashful around him.

" Man lucky you, to be that close to Hanzo-san, she seems to have taken a liking to you to. If I had known being on the school newspaper would get you so close to so many hot girls I would have joined," Ichin said obvious dirty thoughts going through his head.

" Yea and then you'd have Tanahashi-san trying to beat you up," Shoji said.

" So the fight had to do with Toyama-san. People were talking about how she was giving you dirty looks, though we thought it was because of Hanzo-san getting close to you. Did Tanahashi-san take offense at her jealousy," Ichin asked.

" She wasn't jealousy, there was a misunderstanding between us, I tried to explain that to Tanahashi-san and he wasn't in much of a listening mood," Shoji said.

" Yea Tanahashi-san is and idiot, you would think a guy who cheats on his girlfriend wouldn't be so touchy," Ichin said.

" What do you mean cheats on his girlfriend?," Shoji asked now paying full attention to Ichin.

" He has another girlfriend or something at Sasayama High School. He leaves every Friday to go see his "cousin," that's when he sees her. Well they could actually be cousins, but if they are, from what I heard, they must be a pretty affectionate family," Ichin said. Ichin would know if Tanahashi was dating a Sasayama High School girl he was a local and still had plenty of friends that went there.

" You never thought of telling her?" Shoji asked, starting to get a little angry.

" And have Tanahashi-san coming after me, no thanks. Toyama-san is a nice girl and she would almost be worth it, but she probably wouldn't believe it anyway. Other girls have told her that Tanahashi-san is no good, that he's a bully, but Toyama-san won't listen, she likes bad boys and has made a project out of Tanahashi-san. Anyway you didn't hear any of this from me ok," Ichin said.

" Yea don't have to worry, I wouldn't spread it around," Shoji said. Shoji couldn't believe what he had heard though. Tanahashi didn't understand the type of fire he was playing with, if Benihime ever found out that he was cheating on her, well the jerk deserved it. Shoji wished he could just think that, but he couldn't stand the thought of Benihime being played for a fool or even worse of Benihime falling in love with such a low life. If she did fall in love, things would only get worse. No, Shoji had to step in and do something before Benihime's affection for Tanahashi grew to the point that the only outcome would be death.

. . . . .

It was Friday and Shoji was starting to adjust himself to the new normal that was his life. Yayaka, Mari, and Noriko had all taken up the habit of eating with him during lunch that week. Yayaka was still enjoying herself flirting and trying to get Shoji worked up, but Mari usually cooled her off with some smart remark. Noriko's bashfulness seemed to continue to grow, Shoji was almost convinced that the oni girl did in fact have a crush on him, that had nothing to do with the whole legendary monk business. It was during lunch Friday that Mari brought up the fact that Shoji had promised to help Noriko with her writing assignments, but had yet to follow through. Shoji promised to help her on Saturday saying he had something to do that night.

When classes were over Shoji rushed back to his room. When he got there he changed out of his school uniform and put on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, a hoodie, a baseball cap, and a pair of sunglasses. Shoji looked at himself in the mirror, yea he looked pretty inconspicuous, he doubted that Tanahashi would be able to recognize him. Shoji made his way to the train station, but something felt off from the moment he left the dorms. Once again Shoji couldn't help but feel he was being followed. He kept looking over his shoulder, but saw nothing out of the ordinary, was it his conscience that was troubling him? Shoji was doing something underhanded and while he had the best intentions in what he was doing, there was no denying that he was sticking himself into Benihime's and Tanahashi's love live, without either one's permission. Sure Tanahashi was cheating on Benihime, but who was he to make it his crusade to expose Tanahashi? Benihime didn't even consider him a friend and here he was going to interject himself into the most intimate part of her life. Even if Shoji believed he was doing all of this for altruistic reasons, he couldn't deny that a part of him would enjoy breaking up Tanahashi and Benihime, leaving her open to date someone better.

Shoji kept having an internal struggle as he waited for the train to arrive that would take him into the city. Shoji's resolve steeled itself though when he saw Tanahashi get on the train as it pulled up, Shoji was going to do this. Shoji chose a seat towards the back of the train compartment that Tanahashi was in, his heart was beating fast, and he kept imagining that he had done something to give himself away. It was all Shoji's imagination though, Tanahashi was too obsessed with his cell phone to pay any attention to anyone around him. The train reached the Sasayama Station and Shoji got off and went straight to Sasayama High School, he knew where it was and he was less likely to be spotted by Tanahashi if he waited at the entrance to the school and blended in. Shoji waited a bit off to the side of the entrance. Shoji spotted Tanahashi a few minutes latter, he went directly to a girl wearing a Sasayama High School uniform and kissed her right on the lips. Shoji had his phone out, pretending to be texting while taking photos. After a couple of minutes Shoji had all the evidence he needed and Tanahashi was none the wiser.

Now Shoji had the evidence he needed, but it struck him that he had a much bigger problem. Benihime wasn't a regular girl, she was a yuki-onna, she might kill Tanahashi and while Shoji thought he was a scumbag, he didn't want blood on his or Benihime's hands. There was also the option of using the photos to blackmail Tanahashi into breaking up with Benihime, but that could go wrong in so many ways. Shoji also didn't like the idea of Tanahashi being the one to dump Benihime, something about that didn't sit right with Shoji.