Interview with the Yokai

Chapter 8

" Thanks for the warning, once again you saved me," Shoji said, causing Noriko to blush.

" Are you free this Friday night? If you really want to pay me back, do you want to hang out and watch some wrestling with me? Mari-chan watches it with me, but she's always pointing out what she calls plot holes and lack of logic, she's a smark and it be nice to have someone who can just enjoy the matches," Noriko said.

" No problem, it's been awhile since I've seen a wrestling match, but it should be fun watching it with you," Shoji said and once again Noriko blushed. The memory of Mari's hand on Shoji's throat made him start to think about what he had agreed to. In Noriko's eyes was this a date? Was Shoji leading Noriko on? Shoji was doing things because they felt right and natural, but if Noriko was falling for him like Mari said any small gesture could be sending the wrong message to Noriko. Shoji spent the rest of the study session choosing his words with more care.

The next day Shoji woke up feeling a lot less stiff than the night before, though when he looked at himself in the mirror it was clear his black eye wasn't going away anytime soon. Shoji hoped all the interest him had died down, he'd be more than happy to return to his anonymous life, instead of running another gauntlet of a hundred questions at breakfast. Shoji didn't know how a popular people dealt with all the attention. How someone like Yayaka made it through the day knowing that so many people were always looking at her. Then again, that was what all the yokai girls were looking to accomplish, to have people follow them. You really have to be built differently, maybe that was why Shoji wanted to be a journalist and not a playwright. A famous playwright became a celebrity himself, people always wanted to know about the man behind the creation, this was something he had learned from living with his father. A journalist who became more important than the story he was telling though, in Shoji's opinion that wasn't much of a journalist. Shoji floated through breakfast wrapped up in these thoughts, making his way to his shoe locker.

" Hello Shoji-san," Mari said causing Shoji to jump as she snuck up on him again.

" You need to stop doing that," Shoji told her as he turned around.

" It's in my nature, i'm not doing it on purpose so stop being so sensitive. Anyway I brought you the latest news, you're still a journalist right?," Mari asked a mischievous smile on her face.

Shoji almost didn't want to ask, but he knew that Mari would tell him anyway. " The school newspaper doesn't print gossip," Shoji said.

" So you're not interested in the fact that Tanahashi-san sent a bunch of nude photos of himself to the girls in the Performing Arts Club," Mari said and now she had Shoji's attention.

" Tanahashi-san is a bully, but he's not a pervert he wouldn't do that," Shoji said not believing what he heard.

" He did and now it looks like he's going to be expelled, doesn't matter how popular he is, girls are forming a mob," Mari said.

" It doesn't make sense, why would he do something so stupid, that would get him expelled," Shoji said. Tanahashi wasn't that big of an idiot, he always made sure to do all of his bullying away from where anyone would see him.

" I'm not a psychic and this just happened, but since it involves the Performing Arts Club, I would guess that he found himself falling madly in love with one of its members," Mari said aloofly.

" Yayaka-chan, she did this, but why? Was she really that angry about Tanahashi cheating on Benihime-san?," Shoji asked wondering out loud as to what would cause Yayaka to manipulate Tanahashi like that.

" It never ceases to amaze me how someone so smart can be so stupid. Anyway you're bringing snacks for Saturday night right? I like fish sausages," Mari said as she walk off as silently as she had walked up to him. As she walked away, Shoji thought about sneaking being in Mari's nature, she was a cat afterall. She might not have been facetious when she said she wasn't sneaking up on him on purpose, but she certainly enjoyed it.