Not Exactly What the Old Ones had in Mind...

Hey there! My name's Yukio Akagi. Let's see, a little bit about myself... Well, I'm 21 years old, my favorite food is sweet and sour shrimp stir-fry, and I'm currently attending my second year here at Tokyo University. I've been really excited these past few days. With the cultural festival coming up, me and my step sister, Natsumi, (She's the absolute best!) decided to look for a club that we could both join. I would have already joined a club during my first year, but I wanted to wait until my sister started attending so that we could decide on one together. We wanted to join the same club because me and her love to spend time together, but there's also a another reason. Natsumi is very very shy, so she has trouble making new friends. This way, I can keep a better eye on her just in case she ever needs me.

What club did we decide to join? Well that's kind of interesting actually. Out of all the clubs to choose from, we decided to join the Occult club. I've always thought that monsters and the super natural were pretty cool, especially body horror. Natsumi on the other hand, is a little frightened by most scary things. Despite that, one of our favorite things to do is to watch various horror movies. I know she mostly does it because she knows that I love it so much though. (She's so thoughtful like that, she really is the best!) Don't worry though, I always make sure to cut it off when things get a little too intense for her. She was a little hesitant in joining this particular club, but I could tell that she wanted to for my sake so I didn't want to intrude on her kindness. Anyways, to our surprise this was the only club about that kind of stuff in the entire school. Even more surprising, there were only two members. You'd think that at least a few other people would be interested in the supernatural, right? If that didn't stand out enough already, both of those two members have a bit of a reputation on campus. The first one is Yumi Izori, the club president. She's become very infamous for her cryptic method of speaking and for always wearing this big black cloak and hood that conceals her face and figure, which I don't think anyone has ever seen. From what I've heard, some people think she's cool, but a lot also really don't like her at all. Well, when me and my sister met her ourselves when we joined the club, I didn't think she seemed bad at all. Who knows, maybe her and Natsumi can become really good friends! I sure hope that happens. The other member is a teacher and the club's adviser Sumiko Tsukino. Admittedly, I don't know as much about her as I do Yumi, other than the fact that she supposedly also has a unique personality. Me and my sister briefly met her as well when we joined the club, and I think she seemed pretty nice. I wonder though, don't clubs need to have at least two or three members? Do Yumi and Tsukino-sensei have some sort of agreement? That'd be really cool if so!

"Let's see, 209AB, 210AB, 211AB.... Where's 212-oh there it is over there!" Yukio walked down a somewhat out of the way hall to a room marked as 212AB. He had spent the last 20 minutes trying to find it. He wasn't really familiar with this part of the campus yet as none of his classes were around here. He double checked his map just to make sure he had the right place. "212AB, yep this is the place. Took me long enough though. Guess it's a good thing I decided to look for it when I did, I might have been late otherwise. At least Natsumi will have an easier time finding it with Yumi to show her where is" He said to himself. This would be him and his sister's first gathering at the Occult Club. Yumi and Natsumi didn't finish their classes until about an hour after his, and since they were located next to each other, Yumi had agreed to show Natsumi where the club room was when they got out. Meanwhile Yukio went and got a bite to eat to kill some time before finding where the club room was located himself. He checked the time on his phone, they should be arriving pretty soon. He wasn't sure if or when Tsukino-sensei would be there though. Maybe she was already inside? As he entered the door and turned on the lights, Yukio couldn't help but let out and audible "Wooooooaaaaaahhhhh..." To his delight, the room was filled with all manor of cool Occult related objects. Granted this should have been expected, but Yukio's easy to please nature was still pleasantly surprised. "Look at all this cool stuff" he muttered to himself. He decided to busy himself with examining the objects in the room as he waited for Yumi and his sister, and hopefully Tsukino-sensei, to arrive.

Yumi was standing with a dark aura behind her as she waited for Natsumi to get out of her classroom. All around there were the usual whispers behind her.
"What's Yumi Izori doing standing out here for?"
"She looks like she's waiting for something. Is an eldritch thing going to pop out of that class?"
"She's so weird."
"I bet she's cute under that cloak though."
"Shut up she'll probably sacrifice you. Let's get out of here."
The girl doesn't seem to pay much mind to that as she waits for one of two new members of the occult club. If she wasn't so busy acting mysterious and quiet she'd admit that she was actually surprised and excited. She really didn't have many friends and while that really didn't bother her, it was nice that somebody had interest in something she spent hours reading about or brainstorming about or trying to sacrifice chickens to... but then realizing that the chickens looked cute and releasing them into the school to cause chaos in place of the deities she intended to wake from their eternal dreams.
As she thought on all this, she caught one particular person staring at her. One that was not the girl she intended to escort. As opposed to speaking, she smiled. Her white teeth glowing from under the cloak and being the only thing visible as she slowly lifted her hand, pointing her index finger behind him. As the boy turned she slowly moved right behind him. When he turned around to see her he jumped three feet into the air before running away. This caused Yumi to have to stifle a laugh and fold her hands out in front of her. Today, as far as she knew, was going to be a good day.

Just as Yumi was having her fun, the door to the class opened and a shout of "Urusai!" was hear before a a busty violet haired girl toppeled to the floor in a daze, followed by a short blonde girl with icey eyes, her hair up in pig tails and a butterfly clip on the side. "I said to stop talking that way about onii-chan! I told you again and again too be quiet! He's not some pervert who likes nasty girls like you! Just go away and leave brother alone!" This girl didn't seem anything like the sister Yukio had described, but she fit the physical description. The girl on the ground got up to slap Natsumi but the latter caught her wrist without much effort. She suddenly got a serious look in her eyes and the President of the Occult club could feel something slightly dark from her as the hallway suddenly got chilly. "I said, go!" The violet haired girl squealed and ran. Suddenly all seriousness melted from Natsumi and she turned smiling, then opened her eyes to see Yumi. "KYAAA!" She shrieked, not because Yumi scared her but because she knew who she was, being the shy girl she was she dove to hide, right into the recycling bin which tipped over and rolled down the stairs, taking the screaming pig tailed girl with it, right out into the field stopping in the middle of all the buildings. Natsumi got out twitching and looking very dizzy. She looked at Yumi and stood up wobbling and swaying on her feet. "I'll have what the four of you kind gentleman are having... No Mr. Hippo I don't want anymore licorice tea, I just ate a unicorn..." She fell on her face twitching.

Tsukino-sensei, meanwhile, reclined at her desk in the teacher's office, her fingertips grazing over the page laid out before her. She had an entire stack of papers before her on the desk, but this one in particular had drawn her attention. She reached for her pen and jotted down a few lines before taking another page from the stack, considering it as well briefly before tilting her head back, a blank, almost cynical look spread on her face. She dropped her pen and stretched her arms up over her head, a deep sigh escaping her as she did so. She glanced over at the clock at her desk briefly, noting that the time for her to head over to the occult club had already passed five minutes ago. This did not particularly worry her. She realized that two new club members would be joining that afternoon but even so she did not feel the slightest hint of urgency.

After filing the paperwork she had completed, she rose from her seat and picked up her keys, pocketing them before stepping past her fellow teachers toward the office door. "Thank you for your work today, everyone," Tsukino called out, following her usual routine which her co-workers responded to in kind. A few of the younger male teachers exchanged glances but said nothing in her presence. Tsukino-sensei herself had inspired rumors and theories all her own, none of which could actually be confirmed or dispelled with any amount of certainty as she refused to give clear answers on such subjects as her personal life or out-of-work schedule.

What the school could confirm, both students and staff alike, included her laid-back personality and religious adherence to her own set standards and scheduling. While she never pressured her students verbally to turn in assignments on time, for example, if they failed to do so on their own accord, she would assign additional projects as necessary to encourage compliance. Her single status had been a subject of discussion and theory in many cases. Although she freely admitted her lack of a signficiant other, she refused to speak any more on the subject, leading some students to conclude that she had no interest in relationships.

Whatever the case may have been, she entertained a measure of excitement when she learned one of the two new members was a young man. A slight, almost amused smirk curved her lips as she made her way down the hall, her footsteps carrying her past a long line of doorways. Truth be told, her participation in occult-type activities remained limited to her participation in the club itself, for the most part. She had taken up her position as club advisor before she had developed any real interest in the subject, which made the arrangement between herself and the club president even more unusual. Still, between her odd personality and fasion sense, most of the student body and teaching staff would agree that Tsukino-sensei engaged herself with every task she took up, even if her sense of timing was a bit off from everyone else's perspective.

"Hmm?" Yukio was playing around with an Ouija board that he found before he noticed a small crowd gathering outside the window. He stood up and walked over, trying to spy what was so interesting. After scanning the scene a bit, he let out and audible gasp when he recognized that it was none other than his sister who was the center of attention. "Oh no! Natsumi, what happened!?" He exclaimed to the empty room. "Don't worry, Nii-san is coming to help!" He bolted towards the door, nearly tripping over himself in the process. As he flung it open, he frantically looked left and right, unsure which way would take him outside fastest. "Umm, Ummm... Eeeny meeny miny screw it I'm going this way!" He continued his sprint in a random direction which he could only hope was the right way. "Hang in there Natsumi, big bro is on his-OUFFF!"

In his panicked running, Yukio payed little mind to his surroundings and as he rounded a corner he collided head first into Sumiko of all people, toppling both of them onto the floor. He fell right on top of her, his face landing firmly between between her breasts. He lay there for a moment, briefly stunned by the impact, before coming back to his senses. He tried to speak, only to find his words muffled and incoherent. He pushed himself off the ground, trying to regain awareness of his surroundings, only to look down and see it was Sumiko he had bumped into and was currently laying on top of. "Ow geeze, I'm so sorry! I was in a hurry and I wasn't really looking where I was going, I didn't mean to- Oh hey Tsukino-sensei!" His voice turned back to it's usually chipper tone as soon as he recognized her as the adviser of the Occult club whom he'd met a few days ago. He didn't however, think to actually get off of her and merely kept speaking. "How have you been? I wasn't sure if you'd be coming to the club room today. Were you on your way just now?"

Yumi's visible grin only became wider as she looked over to Natsumi. Her bright purple eyes also seemed to pierce through the shroud of darkness that covered her facial features. She did not seem to walk as she went up to Natsumi. Her movements were so fluid it almost appeared as though she were floating as she approached the other girl. "You must be Natsumi.... I suppose I've already met you before but now it's a lot more official. Come with me and I will show you things you've never seen in your entire life. Scary things, great things, things that are sure to get slutty girls like that off your brother immediately." The cloaked girl's voice, has likely been never heard by a majority of the people around her. Some looked pale when they heard her speak, some seemed surprised, and some even blushed. Her voice held a certain lazy property, one that is surprising for an aura such as her's. It seemed tired but still very flowing, very direct in the way she said things. It was difficult to interpret her words in any way than what she had meant. Perhaps it was from her definitive time not speaking and instead observing and doing that had caused her to become so good at explaining herself.

Almost before Natsumi could respond, Yumi was off through the crowd. Although she was much younger than most students, she was a year ahead of her age, signalling a certain intelligence that perhaps only the teachers knew the extent of. Yes, Yumi Izori was not to be trifled with for nobody knew entirely what she was capable of. Although some ways the cloak would fall upon her visage would indicate that perhaps she had a pretty shape, Yumi had never been asked out by another individual before, mainly out of fear of the unknown. What she was really like, what sort of monsters she would ramble about, and of course, what she actually looked like underneath her hood. Nobody knew the color of her hair or the contours of her face accept perhaps her parents whom she never brought up.

As Yumi weaved her way through the corridors it would not be hard for the other girl to keep up considering she was very easy to find in a crowd. Upon further examination, one would be able to see that she did, in fact have feet that carried her. Rumors of her actually being a ghost were easily expelled by a kick to the face if she so desired, but where was the fun in that? She marveled at the idea of her classmates thinking she was a ghost, reveled in the idea that she's used classmate's blood in rituals... and the sheer idea that under her cloak she was covered in symbols from the Necronomicon itself? well that idea practically made her swoon.

Yumi scared her at first but she listened anyway, however when the dark girl proposed teaching her ways to keep the floozies away from her precious Yukio, a sick grin split her face in two, but only for a few seconds before she bolted after the girl. She kept good pace and followed her quite easily. Once they got to the right hallway Natsumi got a drink then continued to follow Yumi to the classroom. Once inside she shivered a bit, the place was creepy, but not quite as cultish as she had imagined, but what she'd brought to prove she could be an asset might change that. She looked at the mysterious girl and nervously tapped her tow on the ground, then walked over to the table setting her school bag on it. "So, I know you're supposed to prove to the president that you're somehow... Useful to the club at least that's what the school brochure on clubs said. Anyway, I brought these to keep in here while me and Yukio attend this school." She reached in the bag, and pulled out a thick stack of old leather bound books. "These were given to me by one of our relatives, I guess an interest in the occult runs in our family... " She set the books down in front of Yumi, there were quite a few but some of the most prominent ones were the biggest. The, Book of white, Book of Black, Encyclopedia Demonica, Viscous Voodoo, Heinous Hexes, Sickening Spells, and last but not least, a large ebony book who's title started with Nec, but the rest was unreadable thanks to the toll of aging. "I mean we will have to take these home eventually but they can probably stay until I graduate."

Sumiko had just reached the last corner before the clubroom, having traversed the entire distance to the southern wing of the school without much trouble. There seemed to be some sort of commotion outside, judging from the students gathered in the courtyard below, but the teacher paid little attention to it. Without notice, however, someone plowed straight into her, knocking her onto her back, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling as she collected her thoughts. She turned her gaze down slowly as she felt the student's weight bearing down on her, a fact that became even more clear when the student attempted to speak. When he finally turned his head upward she returned his gaze, a calm almost dismissive look as he remained atop her.

"Good afternoon, Yukio-kun..." Sumiko blinked, "I thought I should drop by to greet the new members today so I cleared some time in my schedule. I appreciate your eagerness, but it seems to have gotten the better of you." She made no effort to push him off, instead propping herself up on her elbows in order to lift her head up from the hard wood flooring. "Perhaps I have misjudged the situation and you push all your teachers down to the floor when you greet them?" Her tone lacked hostility, however, and she continued to observe her student's reactions. True to form, Sumiko proved quite difficult if not outright impossible to unnerve.

Yukio giggled a bit at his own embarrassment. "Ah ha, no" He said. "Although sometimes when I haven't seen my sister in a really long time I run into her and tackle her with a hug. They should have a word for this, huh?" He shifted his weight a little trying to make it more comfortable for both him and Sumiko, as if laying on the ground on top of her was a normal position for people to chat. "I was running to find her just now actually. I saw her outside on the ground and wanted to make sure she was okay. Sorry for running into you, you're not hurt are you? I could take you to the infirmary if so" He let out a soft gasp as a thought came to his mind. "Hey this is just like a romance manga where the guy runs into the girl! Tsukino-sensei, do you think that this means we're going to fall in love!? Though this isn't the first time we've met, and I didn't have any toast in my mouth either so that might be a deal breaker"

Before he could entertain that thought any further, he was struck by a sense of urgency again. "Ahh! My sister!" He blurted out. "I need to make sure she's okay!" He swiftly rolled off of Sumiko and jumped to his feet, rushing to the a hallway window. "Oh She's not there any more, maybe she went to the club room! Come on Tsukino-sensei!" Without checking to see if Sumiko was following him or not, Yukio darted back the way he came. As he burst into the room, his eyes immediately lay upon his sister, safe and sound. "Oh there you are Natsumi-chan!" He rushed over and gave her a big hug from behind, letting out a sigh of relief before going on. "I saw you on the ground outside, are you okay? What happened?"

Yumi was far too fascinated by one book in particular. Her imposing appearance almost completely vanished. While her face remained to be seen she seemed incredibly excited about the old book with "nec" on the cover and the rest of the letters faded away. She giggled wildly, spinning around in a circle, lifting her knees up as she did so, "I have been searching for this since I was ten. What mysteries are held within this beautiful gift. Oh, Natsumi you wonderful and potential-filled girl! How wonderful it is that you have fallen into my life!" She shouts out to the heavens, leaping up onto a desk. A catface is somehow seen through the shroud of her hood as she goes to look through the ancient texts... or what should be the ancient texts.

"Yes it's just as horrible and great as Lovecraft had described." She mutters as she looks through the arcane symbols and the information of cultists long-since past. After a good minute of looking enthusiastically through the book she paused and closed it with a loud and attention-demanding THUD. She then looked over to the new members of her club, "But I suppose that's for another time. I suppose it's best we go through the formalities of this club." She says as she sits down on top of the desk.

"As you both know, I am Yumi Izori, president of the Occult Club. I've never had other members so I suppose I'll explain to you what I do. Generally I look through the texts we have, perform rituals, theorize the explanations of some of the madness-filled ramblings of cultists long since passed... now I have somebody to discuss these things with. A few of my ancestors have reportedly been members of various cults across the world, we've had some of the Yellow Sign, Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth... my family still has a great fascination of them. Aside from that there isn't too much to me. I'm a Capricorn whose favorite Old One is the Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep."

She blushed as her brother hugged her. "Y-yes nii-chan I'm fine. I just tripped, and rolled down a few flights of stairs in a garbage can, but I'm okay. I think my knee may be bleeding a little, that's all." She blushed and let him hug her to his heart's content. "A-anyway, I'm Natsumi, I don't know a lot about all this occult stuff, but me and Yukio did have a grandma w-who claimed to be a witch her entire life, she'd make charms to protect the house, o-or perform rituals to help her garden grow. When this one girl pushed me down at school and I came home crying she said she'd placed a hex on her, but I never got to verify it. S-she used to read the tarot every morning we were at her house to tell us what kind of day we would have, and I-I guess It was pretty accurate. She also believed males' bodies couldn't handle witchcraft and most magic, so when she passed she left all her witchy stuff to me, but I share with Yukio of course. Anyway, I guess some of my occult likes, are, u-ummm, I like reading Edgar Alan Poe... Grandmother taught me how to read Tarot and make those creepy black flame candles... I can also read a lot of the old texts in odd languages, she was determined to make me a witch too I suppose. Umm, I guess my favorite occult figure would be the nine-shiner Astarael The Sorrowful? Anyway I just wa- Natsumi's brow furrowed and she looked at a bunch of recipes hung on a bulletin board... " Those are wrong... You can't use a regular newt's eye, it's the wrong size, you need a black newt's eye, an you can't mix Dragon's Claw and Deadly Nightshade together, they cancel each other out... She walked over to the bulletin board pulling a pen out of her pocket and started to edit the recipes, unaware that she'd probably startled a couple of them.

"Hm... I think I have heard such an action referred to as a 'glomp' which resides somewhere between a loving embrace and a tackle," Sumiko replied, reaching up to adjust her glasses which had fallen slightly out of place. She listened intently to his explanation, shaking her head when he finished, "No, I am fine. I am more durable than I look, so something like this wouldn't harm me, but I do appreciate the concern."

"Falling in love depends more on the individuals involved and less on a strict set of circumstances. There is no sure fire way to fall in love, and the means by which it occurs tends to differ from one instance to another, therefore I would conclude that it is not outside the realm of possibility," Sumiko propped herself up with her left arm while reaching out with her right to adjust his hair a bit, smoothing it out from a slightly disheveled state due to the collision.

Before she could continue, however, Yukio removed himself from atop the teacher before bolting down the hallway back toward the clubroom. She watched him run down the hall, a slight sigh escaping her as she stood up and brushed off her clothes with her hands before making her way over as well. By the time she reached the room, there was already a great deal of commotion, with Yukio making a fuss over his sister while Natsumi and Yumi had struck up a somewhat lively discussion. She made her through the door and closed it securely after herself, taking her usual seat on the far side of the room.

Before, it had only been Yumi and herself during club activities, and the lively shift had certainly changed the club's dynamics. She welcomed the change, although she found it easier to simply observe how things would play out on their own for now before involving herself directly. Doubtless Yukio and Natsumi both had many things they wished to share or discuss with Yumi concerning how the club would function and how Yumi as the club president would lead the club's activities, so for now her intervention would be unnecessary... Still, she could not shake off the lingering warmth Yukio had given her while laying atop her earlier in the hallway.

Yukio relinquished Natsumi from his hug as she called the bulletin board of recipes to attention. "Well let's see..." He said as he turned to face Yumi. "My name's Yukio Akagi!" He pointed to himself with his thumb energetically as he spoke his name. "Admittedly, I don't remember the finer details of grandmothers teachings as well as Natsumi does, but I still very much enjoy supernatural and horror topics. I especially love body horror though, I think playing around with the human anatomy is really interesting. I'm actually hoping that I can become a horror writer and artist in the future. Oh! In fact, I have a few sketches that I can show you right now"

He reached into his bag and pulled out a sketch book and handed it to Yumi. The page it was opened to featured a creature which appeared to be a disembodied human head. However, out of the mouth emerged two hands, with the arms they were attached to just barely able to be seen. The creature stood upon the hands, using all the fingers like insect legs. The next page consisted of a creature which appeared to be a human head and torso, however both arms and legs were amputated from the body. In their place were additional human heads protruding from the shoulders and thighs. Out of all 5 heads, emerged massive and lengthy tongues, giving the whole thing a sort of likeness to a starfish. Finally, coming from out of the torso's chest was a large beak like appendage, similar to that of a squid's. The rest of the pages were filled with similarly gruesome creatures of mixed and matched human body parts, with the occasional animal part thrown in.

"I might not be quite as knowledgeable as you two, but I'm confident that I will still be able to contribute to any projects that we might work on" His tone of voice as he spoke this was proud and determined. It wasn't hard to tell that the boy was suitably excited for whatever activities the club would take part in. "Speaking of which, we have the cultural festival coming up right? Will that be the occult club's first official project?" Before he could inquire anything else, he remembered his sister's minor wound and reached back into his bag. "Oh right, let me see your knee Natsumi I have some bandages with me" He walked over to her and crouched down. He intently inspected her legs, making sure there weren't any scratches or cuts aside from the one on her knee. From his angle, he could see up his sisters skirt very clearly, a fact that he payed almost zero mind to.

"Yes. Very unfortunately our first project is the culture festival. I have some ideas but unfortunately... I must admit something." She gives a heavy sigh as she sets down the tome as well as the sketches from Yukio. "I... absolutely despise humans. Perhaps it's the realization how insignificant we truly are in the grand scope of things as Lovecraft has awoken me to do so... or perhaps I just never had a true fondness for them." She sighs and shakes her head.

"Anyways. That is our project. The difficulty is finding something... digestible for the general public so I don't get written up and this club isn't terminated. I'm sorry to bring you two in during such a... crucial time. I suppose the chicken incident is still getting me in trouble." She says with a heavy sigh. "Anyways. We should be fine. This is the first episode after all. Nothing terrible happens in the first episode of a slice of life anime after all. That's left for after I reveal my tragic backstory and we all become friends... or whatever." She says as she paces back and forth in the room, "So... any ideas? I'd love to hear them and then give my own input."

Natsumi was busy fixing the recipe when she suddenly noticed her brother get down on his knees and start tending to her. She squeaked and grabbed handfuls of her skirt so it hugged her legs blushing. "Nii-chan it's just a scratch, it's fine really!" She however made no move to stop him and avoided eye contact with the others blushing as he went about his business lifting her one leg a bit for ease of access. She listened to Yumi thoughtfully thinking of what would be occultish, yet appropriate... She thought for a moment, "What if we had a little shop type thing, we could build an altar and use it to sell charms and potions, and candles, maybe make some ouija boards? Hey nii-ku- umm Nii-chan, maybe we could dress Sloth up as like, a supernatural creature or something?" Just then Natsumi lost her balance and she fell forward squeaking loudly and falling right into her brother knocking him over, she lay there dazed a moment not realizing she'd landed face first right into his crotch, she grumbled and groaned for a minute, none of it translatable.

"I could secure some space to set up a stall if you need it," Sumiko spoke up, "Typically you'd need to reserve a spot months in advance, but I'm sure I can find a suitable location." A subtle smile crept onto her face, "I also hapen to have some supplies for making charms and potions of various kinds. Granted, not all of them will have quite the intended effect, but that's part of the fun, isn't it?" She leaned back in her seat slightly, waving her right forefinger in the air, "I propose that we each take part in preparing something for the festival. I could provide the necessary supplies, while Yukio procures a table to turn into our altar and Natsumi and Yumi can make the sale products. Simple enough, wouldn't you agree?"

Before any of the others had an opportunity to reply to her suggestion, however, Natsumi had accidently planted her face in Yukio's crotch, leading the teacher to glance in their direction. It appeared that such emberassing situations often befell Yukio, if the earlier incident in the hall was any indication of his usual scedule. It would certainly explain the almost casual approach he had toward such occurances as they befell him. In any case, she allowed them to sort out the problem on their own. Doubtless this was not the first time, and likely not the last.

Yukio pondered Yumi's remark about her disdain for humans. 'Despised humans? What does that mean exactly?' He thought to himself. It almost seemed like she felt she was burdening him and Natsumi. That wouldn't do at all. "Don't worry Yumi" He stated with a warm smile. "I'm glad that the cultural festival will be our first project together as a club, I bet we'll have lots of fun! I'm really looking forward to it"

As he listened to his sister's suggestion, his face beamed with anticipation. Not so much for the shop itself, but rather her idea about dressing up their dog in a goofy costume. "Oh! Oh! Oh!" He exclaimed. "I-Instead of dressing up Sloth, do, do you think that maybe I could dress up instead?" His face turned a little red. "I-I've always wanted to dress up in a big dumb costume. It's been on my bucket list for about as long as I can remember" Before he could continue his plea any further, Natsumi tripped over herself and landed on him in a rather risque position. Just like the two instances before however, the suggestiveness of this situation was most entirely lost on him yet again. He merely lifted her up and repositioned her so that her head lay upon his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and embraced her in a tender hug. He blushed a little as he did so. Being close to his sister like this was one of his favorite things in this whole world.

He turned his head to listen to Sumiko as she chimed in her own input. "Good idea Tsukino-sensei, we'll probably finish much faster if we divide the work like that, especially with it coming up so soon. In fact, if we spent tomorrow night here in the club room, I bet we could finish up almost all of the work by the next day. Sound like a plan to you guys?"

Internally, Yumi somewhat wanted to kill the siblings. She hated seeing people doing obvious almost-couple shit. Externally her face wasn't visible so however much she fumed they would not know. Truth be told, she was actually lonely no matter how much she tried to convince herself that she was above normal human interaction. The cloaked girl nodded slowly and turned around to look over some of her more personal items. Her first tarot deck, an old amethyst pendulum, incense, her first ritual dagger. It was all there. "Yes. Might as well get it over as quickly as possible. It might be the best way for us all to know each other too. A little slumber party with readings from our favorite authors as well once we're all done. I can even make a cake for us if we'd like a late night treat." She suggests, her creepy, toothy grin shining through the shadow of the hood once more.

Yumi had to hide her irritation and her actual feelings, a task much easier with her hood and much easier when people didn't get to know her. She wondered, honestly, if she could survive being with them for that amount of time without popping off, showing her humanity, or worse, making them leave.

Natsumi turned red and blushes as her brother pulled her into a hug and held her there. "I like all of your ideas and I think we have somewhat of a game plan. Sumiko Sensei are you sure they'll let us stay here?" She snuggled into Yukio smiling. "Should we go out and get snacks, maybe a movie?" She suddenly sat up and looked around. "So were we gonna stay here tonight or go home and plan? I think we forgot to let out Sloth... Oh god I hope mom got home to let him out in time..." She calmed down a bit and looked at them all. "What else did we need to discuss?

She was secretly worried that the other two girls in the club might think she was weird for being close to her brother, the truth h was that they'd always been that way. Ever since they were children her and her brother had always been close. Natsumi wasn't really that great at making friends or hanging out with people but with Yukio she had always felt safe. She suddenly got up and stretched yawning loudly.

"I don't see why not," Sumiko nodded, then shrugged, "I'll doctument it as an official club activity in preparation for the upcoming cultural festival." The waved her hand in the air, "I spend the night here on occasion myself, to catch up on paperwork or what have you... I even have several futons and bedding sets stored away in inconspicuous locations around the clubroom." She reached over and opened one of the cabinets along the wall, pulling out a pink pillow to demonstrate. Exactly how she managed to smuggle all this onto the school premisis without drawing any undue attention was left to their imagination. Given that this seemed to be a regular activity for her, washing said futons would also have been a problem for an ordinary person to pull off. Sumiko spoke calmly, however, and she gave no indication whatsoever that she had any difficulty at all.

"Oh, and you should probably let your parents know you'll be spending the night," Sumiko placed the pillow back into the cabinet, "Otherwise it will be bothersome answering all the voicemails and text messages tomorrow morning." She rested her head on her left hand, "In any case, it would probably be best to decide what we will be doing before making arrangements to spend the night. Otherwise, we might just spend the entire night fooling around... Not that fooling around is bad, but it doesn't help us get ready for the cultural festival."

Like Yumi, Yukio also couldn't help but grin at the idea of staying up eating snacks and having fun together. He was very much a child at heart, and it wasn't uncommon for him to share a similar mindset with one. "Sounds good to me!" He replied. But before he could get carried away, he was reminded by Sumiko about the task at hand. "Ah right. Well I already have an idea about how I might go about building the alter. I might want to grab a few things at home and from the store first though, so don't worry sis, I can let out Sloth and let Ma know where we'll be tonight if she's home" Just then, an idea popped into his mind. "Actually, now that I think about it maybe Yumi should come with me, I might need some help carrying stuff back to the club room. While we do that, Natsumi and Tsukino-sensei could run to the convenience store and grab some snacks and a movie"

Though Yukio seemed like an almost perpetual air-head, he could actually be quite clever at times. He realized that this would be a good opportunity to be alone with Yumi and maybe get to know her a little better. She seemed a little troubled, and if they were going to be in the same club together, Yukio would want to do anything I could to help his new friend. Meanwhile, Natsumi always had trouble socializing with others. By spending some time with Sumiko during a casual outing, she might open up a bit. He had only known her for a little bit, but somehow Yukio felt that Tsukino-sensei was the kind of person who could help his sister come out of her shell.

Yumi blinked back surprise which could be seen through the shadow of her cloak. "Very well. I can help with that. I also have some spending money for any other extra things we might want to bring with." She replied before folding her hands out in front of herself. Despite how dirty and old her cloak appeared it was apparent that her pale hands were regularly manicured. They seemed professionally done too. Must be funny, being the person at a nail salon having to do Yumi's nails. Hearing her speak of old ones and witchcraft and ultimately bursting into a giggle fit when she gets her toes done and they start to use the pumice stone on the bottom of her feet.

"I definitely need a certain soda and I'll get Mochi for us if we'd like too." She just finds the mochi too damn good. They're a sort of weakness of her's. Sumiko would know this more than anybody. In fact, there was a fake tome that was hallowed out just to hide more of them somewhere for her own convenience.

Natsumi looked over at the older teacher and blushed a bit, she wasn't used to being around people without her brother by her side. Something about Sumiko bugged her, it wasn't that she didn't like Sumiko, she just didn't trust the big busted, attractive older lady around her precious Onii-Chan, and if that were a crime may god strike her down now. "Ummm, I mean I suppose we could, but I'm not very good and picking out snacks and things, I don't usually eat very much. Of course, I know what Nii-chan likes but that's about it." She thought a moment. . "Hey brother,if you're going to go by the house could you grab Pumpkin for me??" She didn't bother to mention what she was talking about, but in reality Pumpkin was the teddy bear she never left home without as a child. Even now she had kept it all this time and wouldn't dare get rid of it.

"Alright Sumiko Sensei, I'm ready to go when you are." She looked at the teacher.

Sumiko blinked, "We are going right now?" She certainly appreciated the enthusiasm from the students, especially given the fact that Natsumi forwarded the momentum on her own without much prodding. At the same time, however, she had intended on waiting around a bit longer, taking everything in stride until an opportune moment presented itself for her to slip out without appearing too unnatural. When Natsumi drew the attention back around to herself, it more or less made such a course of action all but impossible.

"I see..." Sumiko nodded, even without presenting a viable explanation of what exactly she had concluded, "Let us be going then." She stood up and stepped over to the door, stepping through it without further notice as she trusted Natsumi would follow. The teacher took a casual pace, neither lax nor hurried, as she stepped down the hallway, heading toward the rear stairwell which happened to be the most convienent one to reach the parking lot.

Once they reached the first floor, she glanced back at Natsumi, "Let's not keep them waiting long."

Yukio pumped his fist in the air as he watched his plan unravel. He was confident that it would help, at least a little. But if not, it's not like it would do any harm... Right? Either way he was excited by the opportunity to get to know his new club president a little more. He looked over to Natsumi and gave her a knowing wink, before saying "Don't worry Natsumi, I've got you covered". He quickly turned back to face Yumi and exclaimed. "Come on Yumi-San, let's get going!" Then without warning, Yukio grabbed a hold of Yumi's hand and took off into the hallway leading her along the way. "My truck is parked just on the other side of the adjacent building. We'll stop by my house first, I need to grab my tools and a few other things".

He came to a stop as soon as they had reached the stairs leading down to the building's exit where his car was parked outside. There was one incident in the past when he was younger where he had injured his poor sister Natsumi when he was dragging her along while running in a similar fashion and tried to go down some stairs, and he certainly didn't want to repeat that. Though it didn't stop him from hopping up onto the railway and sliding down it, just one of many childish habits that he never outgrew. He headed outside and over to his truck, waving to Yumi to follow. As she approached he held open the passenger door for her, a gentlemanly action that somewhat contradicted his kiddish behavior just moments ago.