First Evening at Yokai Academy

"Oh... Uh, yes, I want to go with you guys!!" She says, cheerily. "No way I'm not hanging out with friends now that I have them!!" She says, brightly.

As for Luna, she says. "Oh, indeed! I've saw lots of people using their monster powers today!" She says, counting on her mind. Then a grin sprouts on her face. "Hey... Why don't you reveal you tail and ears too, eh?? I'm sure they're so fluffy!! Oh, and white! Like fluffy snow!!"

---

Thus the girls go, finding an opening through the forest, a trail it seemed, joining with the chapel. Sumeryu could see the trail was used recently, with footprints still visible to her, looking like leather shoes, number 9, with wooden soles and rubber-lined heels, old-fashioned stuff. The individual also seemed to wear a long-hemmed dress, judging by how lowly bushes and thickets were swept and dragged. Overall, he seamed taller than the average Japanese adult, but seemed to move with lots of grace and dexterity.

Despite that, she could also still see the chapel behind, along with the school grounds through the murk, helping her guide the group, as the Earth now sank in darkness.

---

"Hello?!! Who's there??" The group suddenly hears, the voice from a male adult it seems, though it had a light, pleasant tone, even in distress. They also find a hat lying on the ground. The hat is all black, very wide brimmed, lined with a velvety material and with a round top, a chord tied around it, with a pompom of black thread in its end.

"Oh dear, I hope, whatever you are, that you came to help, not to uh... Devour me... hick." He adds.

As the party turns at a curve, they finally see it, Sumeryu first, of course, but the oil lamp at his feet helped everyone else at that:
Wearing a long black cassock with a black sash, stood a man with long dark hair and green, there were a pair of glasses thrown at the ground next to his feet, as he was tied around a tree trunk by eerie looking vines, releasing a dark miasma, just like the mushrooms and trees the girls fought before. They seemed to coil around him, tightening their grasp little by little.

"Oh... A-are you students?? A-am I saved? Oh, good heavens, I can't see a thing..." He says, his voice still whimsical despite his predicament.

"Gaah!! F-father Tsuji?!! W-what are you doing here?? Aren't you too old to clim trees??" She asks, full of genuine worry.

"Ah! M-miss Momochichi??, is that you?? Phew... What a relief!! I thought it was another monster! Oh... Can you help me here? I was here, gathering herbs and then, alas! I was attack by these vines! Hmm... I'm afraid they're an inch away from crushing my bones..." He says, calmly.

On closer inspection, he seemed to be the author to those footprints, there was a basket full of herbs next to the tree, and he had a rosario fastened on his wrist.

"Oh, uh... Thank you, young miss..." He says, trying to hide his startlement at the deadly claws cutting through the previously impenetrable vines.

As Hanami pulls the cast saw he loses it though. "Gah! Uh... Be careful with that, okay?" He says, chuckling nervously.

The two of them make quick work of the vines, quickly freeing him.

After he dusts and straightens his cassock, he let's out a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank you very much! As I said, I came to pick herbs at sundown, but was instead picked by them!" He laughs loudly at his own pun, grabbing the casket with herbs.

"Uh... Were you girls looking for something around here? Coincidence? What do you mean?" He asks, his curiosity peacked.

"Oh, and where's my manners! I'm Father Rhuohan Tsuji, Yokai Academy's chaplain, among other things..." He adds, with an amused tone.

---

Meanwhile, Luna exerts her mystic sense, her eyes glowing eerily as she can clearly see the source of the corruption now, just ahead, from where the vines retreated when were cut. She can clearly distinguish the dark aura coming from a wet place, maybe a pond or small lake up ahead. Also, that it was growing stronger as the twilight sun rays quickly vanished.

---

Then, Ling Jing appears from the shadows, in the company of some guy!
"Uh?" He looks around, studying everyone with keen and charming eyes, despite the darkness, it seemed to glow around him.

He approaches the group, arms linked with Ling Jing's, chivalrously.

But then quickly detaches, "Tell, o priest, if I'm not in heaven, surrounded by all these angels?" He says, dancing around, trying to osculate every girl's hand he can (his grasp strangely lacked the agility and firmness to be expected from such a figure).

"Oh, Café Céleste, eh?" He repeats, chuckling childishly while covering his mouth with his fist. "I see... Well, you may as well go check it, who knows? Everything has a meaning!"

He returns the bow on Luna. "Nice to meet your bunch! Though I already knew good Katsuya, of course! Such a wonderful soul!"

He approaches Sumeryu, being quite a tall man himself, he doesn't stand that much below her, but his slightly frail appearance certainly contrasts with hers. "Unfortunately I have some... commitments I must attend right now, so best of luck to you young people!" He produces a golden metal cylinder from a previously hidden pocket on his cassock. "Have this at least, it's filled with holy water, may be useful!"

If Sumeryu picks it, she notices it's actually plastic coated with gold paint, the lad being but a bottle-cap.

---

The boy answers Hanami's hostility with a warm smile. "Oh, my precious Hanami, can't you recognize me?" He says, adjusting his glasses.

"My, my... You're so cute when you're confused, Hanami-chan!" He says, slowly savoring every syllable of her name.

"I'm Rikishi, of course!"

---

"Uch! Look at the hour!!" He says, by only looking up at the starred sky. "Anyways, I must be going now, good luck to you guys!"