I think this is one of my favourite chapters so far, even though nothing action-y happens.

Okay, stay calm Umi. There must be a perfectly logical explanation for why this yokai is here in the school bathroom, and why Rikuo has vanished. All I need to do is ask and not blubber like a school girl in front of her crush. Yeah, just ask the nice yokai boy holding the dangerous katana. Easy.

The sword releases a faint clink as it slides into its wooden sheath, and I blink. What am I doing again?

"Tha...thank you." Kana says shakily, her eyes misted over with confusion and relief. She hasn't even noticed me yet!

The yokai glances over at her with mild interest, "be careful."

Deciding I've been a deer in head lights for long enough, I boldly move across the tiled floor and kneel down beside Kana, blocking out the yokai momentarily as I check on my friend.

"Kana-san, are you alright? Did you get hurt?"

She turns to me, and the mist is shattered.

"K-Katsumi-san?! What are you doing here? Weren't you with the others?"

I shake my head, "no, I left before them. But I felt something and-"

The yokai to our left makes a move to quietly leave the bathroom, content with leaving the two of us alone, and Kana panics.

"Wait! Um," she scrabbles to her feet, cutting me off from what I'd been about to say and tries to jog after the yokai. She trips, unsurprisingly, and before I can make a move to help the yokai does it for me, moving forward with lightning reflexes and catching her around the arms before she can make an impact.

I sigh and pick up Kana's bag of which she has abandoned, stuffing Rikuo's fleece into my own bag before hoisting hers over the top of it. I sure hope Rikuo is okay, wherever he is right now. Maybe he got teleported away when the mirror dimension shattered?

I stand and watch for a moment as Kana is supported by the yokai, expecting him to let her go and then be on his way (even though I would rather he stay and answer by bazillion questions), but instead he questions her;

"Your leg, did you hurt it?"

Kana pouts in embarrassment, and then to my disbelief the yokai takes it upon himself to hoist Kana into his arms and freaking carry her! It's in the classic bridal style too!

Kana releases an 'eep' and flushes a deep red from being in his embrace, while I storm over with intent to inform the yokai that I can take care of Kana perfectly fine and he needn't act the hero.

I'm a step away when Kana's bag vibrates, and we all quieten for a moment as she glances at it in my possession, then freaks out. I sweat drop and hand her the bag, me and the yokai both watching as the girl before us rips through her bag in search of her phone, completely forgetting her current predicament and the yokai holding her.

My eyes widen however when she pulls out the cute doll Kiyotsugu had gifted her, and his voice begins to project from it.

"Hey! What just happened? Are you okay?" The doll speaks in vague static, intriguing me, "Ienaga-san?"

"A-ah! Sorry, kiyotsugu-kun! It's alright! Um... I'm okay. It wasn't really a yokai..."

I deadpan as Kana stutters into the doll like a walkie-talkie, completely tripping over her words. She is such a bad liar.

As Kana tries to find the right words to cover up her situation, I grab the doll from her hand and hold it in front of me.

"Hey Kiyotsugu-san, it's me Katsumi. No need to worry about Kana-san, I'm here with her." I speak into the doll clearly, earning a look of surprise from Kana.

"Eh?! Sylva-san? What are you doing with Ienaga-san? She said she was being attacked by a yokai!"

I glance over at Kana, "yeah, sorry, that was just me giving her a bit of a scare. I didn't mean to worry you guys. Anyway everything's all good over here and I'm walking home with Kana-san." Said girl releases a relieved sigh.

There's silence from the doll as Kiyotsugu pauses from his side, "say...did Ienaga-san happen to bump into that person?"

I'm so surprised I nearly drop the doll, with Kana going rigid.

"What? Um, no. Why would you ask that Kiyotsugu-san?" My eyes flash up to the yokai in question, and for the briefest moment our eyes connect, sending butterflies through my stomach. I clutch the doll tighter and quickly avert my gaze, deciding to focus on the floor instead. Dammit Umi now is not the time to be crushing on a guy!

"Hmm, it's nothing really," Kiyoutsugu continues in a thoughtful tone, "it's just that she's the only one who keeps meeting him... never mind, as long as she's alright that's fine! Oh! And while you're at it let Ienaga-san know that next week I'll be quizzing everyone on their knowledge of yo-"

His voice suddenly clicks off in a buzz of static, and I sweat drop. Guess I found the off button on this thing... wherever it is.

I hand Kana her doll back, reluctantly might I add, and she gives me a grateful smile, "thanks, Katsumi-san. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to tell Kiyotsugu-san."

"It's fine, really. But we should probably start heading home, my br-wah!"

Before I even know what's happening my feet are no longer touching the ground, and I'm suddenly perched on one of the yokai boys arms, having swiftly shifted Kana onto his other with little to no effort. Me and Kana both grab at his blue haori in panic at the sudden movement, our eyes wide.

"H-hey! Put me dow-" My words get stuck in my throat as I turn to glare at him, only to realise that he's staring at me; not just me, but my face. His deep red eyes are all but intoxicating, reminding me of fresh blood as they clash with my powder-blue ones.

All my anger is converted to scepticism under his studious stare, my backbone turned to jelly. "W-w-what are you looking at?" I splutter red-faced, gripping his cloak tight enough to drive my finger bones through, should I suddenly lose my power to unstable emotions. Something of which I haven't done in years.

"You're lighter than I thought you would be." He states simply after another heart-wrenching moment of silence.

My mind goes blank, the embarrassment suddenly gone like the flick of a switch. I genuinely don't know how to respond, was that a compliment?

I look across to Kana for help, but she looks just as baffled as I feel. Guess she's never had a guy say that to her either.

Kana seems to open her mouth to say something, but apparently the yokai has other plans as without warning he leaps up and steps out onto the sill of the boys window, then all but glides over to perch on top of a nearby telephone pole.

Kana yelps, and my eyes grow to saucers as I stare down at the school grounds a good twenty feet below us. My grip on his clothing is now as hard as rock, and you'd have to physically rip the fabric to detach me from him. Don't get me wrong, I'm not technically afraid of heights, I actually think the feeling of being high up is amazing. It's more to do with the prospect of falling and going crunch, since by the time I'd have reached the ground I would already be a skeleton.

But aside from dying, the night breeze is actually cool on my face and bare legs, reminding me of the weather in London on a good day, gently tussling through my long hair. With the sight of the dotted lights in the distance making up numerous house windows, I actually begin to ease into the idea of being stuck on top of a telephone pole with a yokai and school friend. Ha! If my dad could see me now he'd probably be reminiscing of times he spent with my mum when he was younger. They had an extreme honeymoon.

My stomach jolts as the glow of lights shift in the distance, the yokai having jumped from his perch to the next pole over.

Kana says something about how we're flying, which I'm pretty sure isn't too far off from what we're doing, but that all just feels like background noise. I'm in heaven right now, and I don't ever want to wake up. Maybe if I give Kubinashi my special puppy-dog eyes he'll give me a night tour of Ukiyoe via the sky, since there's no way in hell I'd trust Hiiro carrying me around through the air. Last time he pulled a stunt like that we gave the whole of London an hour long black-out.

"I'm taking you two home," the yokai's words manage to penetrate through my mist, and suddenly I'm paying closer attention to the conversation. I don't want to go home yet...

Kana has the same thoughts as me, as she snaps her head up in panic and grips him tighter, "no... please..." he gives her a questioning look, not breaking pace as we travel across roofs. Kana glances at me for confirmation, to which I'm sure my bright eyes are enough of an encouragement. "Could we, um, spend more time with you? Please, I want you to tell me more about yourself."

The look Kana is giving him makes my heart heavy, her eyes are filled with such obvious attraction for him, and her cheeks are glowing even in the dark. She clearly likes this yokai, and although my brain says she should pursue her feelings, I can't help the small attraction that I feel for him myself. B-but what I feel doesn't matter! It's only because he's good looking that I feel this way, I don't even know him that well! Heck, I don't even know his name!

The yokai remains silent for a moment, the only sound coming from the wind rushing through our ears. When he does answer, it's barely a whisper, and directed specifically at Kana.

"Even if I scare you, you won't mind, right?"

There's a moment of hesitation before she nods her head fervently, her brown eyes showing determination. With a quick look in my direction from the yokai, reading my steely blue eyes, he takes that as a go-ahead from me too.

If only I had known what kind of world we were about to be thrust into, then I would've worn my hair up.