Beyond The Gates of Halloween

Beyond The Gates Of Halloween
by Deathworks

Two girls were walking down a corridor in the Futaba Elementary School. The one on the right hand side had short hair and glasses, and was wearing a dark blue sailorsuit with yellow stripes at the seams. While both were 10 years old, the girl to her left was visibly shorter, maybe two or three centimeters. Having her medium-length hair gathered in two pigtails, she was wearing a white t-shirt with a big smilie printed onto the front and washed-out blue jeans.

"Thank you for your help, Karin-chan." The girl wearing glasses turned her head slightly so as to view her friend and expressed her gratitude.

"Ah, it was nothing. You could never have carried all those big maps alone, now, could you, Rika-chan?" Her pigtails swinging around, Karin also turned to face her friend.

"Well, yes. But I am the one who has duty this week, not you."

"So, what? We are friends, and it is normal that friends help each other. Besides, Miss Yamada should have asked me to help right from the start on. I simply don't understand what that teacher ..."

"Kyaaaa!" At that moment, a loud cry from a nearby class room interrupted their discussion. Stopping in their tracks, they faced each other completely.

"That was Mai-chan!" Even as Rika put their thought into words, Karin fell into a sprint. Her fast legs had carried her already to their class room door before Rika had even really started to follow her. She didn't need to open the slide door as it was after class and the pupils leaving the classes in small groups did not bother with closing the door. Thus, Karin simply gripped the frame with her right hand and without even stopping flew into the room at full speed.

Inside the class room, only a few groups of pupils remained, most of them looking surprised at Karin bursting into the room, but a few also looking at another group gathered around a desk near the front of the room. The girl sitting at the desk was wearing a simple, pink dress with no decorations except for broad white sleeves. Shivering and with her chest and head lying on the table, she was covering her head with her hands and arms, her eyes closed and her medium-length hair in disarray. Standing in front of her desk was a girl with long hair and a white, voluminous dress with lots of lace on it. She was giggling while looking down at the heap of misery in front of her. Next to her stood another girl with short hair wearing a t-shirt and trousers, all sporting the names of expensive brands. She was laughing at the shivering girl as well.

"Ah, but there is more. When the girl reached home and told her mother about it, her mother asked 'Was it a face like this?' before..."

"Naoko! What are you doing!?" Karin shouted out loud interrupting the tale the girl in the fancy dress was telling before finally reaching the desk. Bending over the intimidated girl, she began petting her and comforting her. "Yoshi, yoshi. It is alright, Mai-chan. I am here. Everything will be fine."

Looking up, Mai recognized her friend and pressed her head against Karin's chest, crying and sobbing into her t-shirt.

"Oh my. Look at the knight saving the princess!" Looking at the two friends, the girl in the brand clothes made a snarky comment. "Isn't that too cute, Naoko-sama?"

"You are definitely right, Tsukasa. But you should not mock true friendship, you know." The words of the girl in the laced dress were contradicted by her hardly suppressed laughter. Karin's face turned flaming red as she looked up at the two.

"Why, I ought ..."

"What is going on here, Naoko-chan?" At that moment, Rika appeared next to the small group, putting her hand on Karin's shoulder interrupting her as she turned to face Naoko and Tsukasa.

"Ah, it is nothing. Given that it is Halloween today, I was just telling a small scary story for my friends to enjoy. And Mai there seemed to take special joy in it - until her violent friend arrived."

"Oh, really? And I assume that it just slipped your mind that Mai-chan does not like scary tales and such things?"

"Now that you mention it, there was something like that. I guess I shouldn't have told her the story then. Sorry." The broad smile and her tone of voice clearly showed that Naoko did not mean a single word of what she was saying. Noticing that, Karin pulled away from Mai and grabbed the sleeves of Naoko's dress with her left hand while raising her right hand.

"Stop it! Please, Karin-chan! Stop it!" With tears in her eyes, Mai spoke for the first time, pleading at her friend not to go on. Stopping in her motion, Karin turned to face her friend, the anger still blushing her cheeks.

"I am fine! Really! And I am sure Naoko-chan didn't mean any harm."

"But, but, ..."

"Karin-chan, Mai-chan is right. You should calm down." Putting her head close to Karin's ear, Rika also chimed in and tried to calm down her friend.

"... Alright. Alright." Obviously not really convinced, Karin let go of Naoko's dress, pushing her slightly back before turning again to petting Mai who seemed even now as if she would start crying again any moment.

"Violent as always. If only she had more class - but what should you expect from a sports idiot." Gaining her posture, Naoko straightened her ruffled sleeve and let her hand slide through her hair to remove any evidence of Karin manhandling her. But before she could carry on, Rika interrupted her.

"You are right that Karin-chan tends to use violence too often to respond to problems. But do you think it is wise to anger her more? After all, if she really snaps, I don't think Mai-chan or I could stop her. And no matter what else you think of her, you know that she is very strong and agile."

"How dare you talk like that to Naoko-sama!?"

"Easy, easy, Tsukasa. There is no need to get excited. Let's get ready to go home." Leaving no doubt about her feeling of superiority, Naoko floated through the class room towards her desk near the window, followed quickly by Tsukasa.

"Now, we also should get ready to go home. Are you alright, Mai-chan?" Without giving Karin another chance to stir up trouble, Rika turned to their friend and wiped the tears from her face.

"I am fine. Thank you. Rika-chan. Karin-chan." There was still a sobbing undertone to her voice, but the crying had stopped. Satisfied with what she saw, Rika turned to Karin.

"I can understand how you feel. But you really need to keep better control of yourself. One of these days, you may really hurt someone - and you wouldn't want that, would you?"

"Of course not. But they are always toying around with Mai-chan like that. I simply can't stand there and do nothing."

"There is more than one way to handle problems, you know." With a sigh, Rika turned away from her friend and approached her own desk to collect her satchel. Within a few minutes, the three friends were all set to go.

After changing their shoes in the entrance area, they walked out into the autumn afternoon. Although it was autumn, the air was still very warm, allowing the girls to still stick with summer clothing without feeling cold or anything. Mai had seemingly recovered and the girls were chatting away.

"So, we will stick to our original plan. Karin-chan and I will come to your place at six and we will stay for the night. You remembered to ask your parents for permission, Karin-chan?" Taking the initiative once again, Rika addressed the plan for the evening. Today was October 31st, and while Halloween was not a native Japanese holiday, its influence was getting felt strongly as people used it as an excuse to party and the shops and media saw the marketing chances with all the creepy and scary goods.

The girls' sleepover was not really to be a Halloween party, though. Mai was a real scaredy cat who couldn't even stand the most harmless of ghost and monster stories. Her father was working quite successfully as a head of a department in a big company and was abroad for most of the year. At the moment, he was managing a project for a client in Dubai, so he wouldn't be home for another month. Mai's mother was working in a restaurant which has shifted to hosting Halloween parties. Thus, she wouldn't be home until late at night, meaning that Mai would be all by herself for the evening of Halloween. While she was fine with being along like that under normal conditions, with all the stories about monsters and ghosts roaming this special night, Mai was really scared of this night. Without her even asking, her friends had offered to sleep over at her place to give her company and comfort, an offer she had accepted without hesitation but with a lot of gratitude.

"Of course I have asked my parents, Rika-chan. What do you think of me?" Pretending to be angry, Karin answered her friend's question. The tension and anger that had filled her in the class room was gone and forgotten. Rika didn't answer as they continued down the road.

"Anyhow, this is my road, so see you later, Mai-chan, Rika-chan!" Waving goodbye, Karin turned into a side street a few meters later.

Rika and Mai carried on.

"I am really glad to have the two of you for best friends."

"Ah, don't mention it, Mai-chan. Don't worry about tonight, Karin-chan and I will be there for you."

"Thank you."

"Well, I have to turn right here, so see you at six!"

With both Karin and Rika gone, Mai continued until she arrived at the small single family home her father had bought. Unlike her friends, thanks to the good salary of her father, she wasn't living in an apartment block but in a little house surrounded by a small garden with some flowers and even a swing in the back. She did not even try ringing the doorbell as she knew her mother was already at the restaurant helping with the preparations of the party. Her heart sank a little bit as she turned the key opening the door to the empty house. But then she thought of her friends and that she was not alone. Straightening up, she entered and closed the door behind herself.

-*-

"And this is the reason why the spread of the belief in Halloween has actually made life so much easier for us. Any questions, class?" Putting down the piece of chalk, the blonde girl turned away from the blackboard. Her black, velvet dress floated a little bit in the air, revealing white lace beneath it - and shining, red tentacles. She seemed to be in her mid-teens, although the conservative gothic dress she was wearing added a rather strict note to her appearance. She wasn't an extraordinary beauty nor was she ugly, and she would probably be able to get a date on an average weekend - provided he wouldn't notice or care about her having a mass of tentacles instead of legs. For she was a scylla, a monster girl right out of mythology.

The class room she was in was actually part of a private mansion in the world of monsters. Outside the window, crooked, dead trees tried to reach for the black clouds in the red sky above, shaking whenever a breeze went through them. The window panes shuddered loudly at every gust of wind, but none of her students took notice of that. Kaori was working as a private teacher for the mansion's single daughter, Kohime, and her four friends, all of them being age 10, and a very lively bunch. While enjoying working with the young ones, Kaori was sometimes rather frustrated about their lack of discipline.

In the middle in the front, Kohime was looking up to her from her desk. Her green eyes were burning with a bright fire under her black, long hair. Her dress was also conservative, but in a crimson red, and her folded bat wings formed a black cape on its back. Kohime's father was a demon lord, a really scary person. Kaori had seen him only once and was really glad that all things that needed to be discussed with the family were handled via Kohime's mother Ai, who was a very endearing succubus. Kohime was also a succubus, but it was obvious that she had benefited from the strength and magical powers of her father. Like most succubi, she was a rather daring type and Kaori had to stop her from getting herself into trouble with some new mischief. Unfortunately, she was not really prone to directing her energy towards her studies.

On the left hand side, near the windows, Minako had her seat. She was wearing a white kimono which seemed to melt into her pale, white skin and her white, long hair. Neither of this was really surprising, given that she was a young yukionna. Kaori liked Minako a lot as she never caused any trouble. However, her passiveness also led to her getting involved in Kohime's plots far too often.

On the right hand side, the naga Ruri had her desk. Her dark blue dress was not as fancy as those of Kohime or Kaori, but she made up for it with her long and mighty snake's tail on whose shining green scales she rested. Her hair was blonde and her eyes yellow and vertically slit. Just like Minako, she was giving Kaori relatively little trouble, but when she did get involved, anything was possible.

Behind Ruri, there was no desk or chair, but rather a huge aquarium. Inside it, Satoko was following the lessons. A green-haired mermaid, Satoko was wearing a light blue dress which was even lighter than Ruri's so as not to hinder her in the water. When Kaori had first started her work with Kohime and her friends, she had been quite surprised to see a mermaid in the class. Usually, mermaids stayed inside their lakes, rivers, or the ocean and attended school there with other water- dwelling monsters. But somehow, Kohime had become friends with Satoko and had insisted on her presence so long until her father had created that magical aquarium for them. The aquarium itself was heavily enchanted, not only providing fresh water for the mermaid and protecting her from any harm, but also moving around at her command, thus allowing her to accompany Kohime wherever she went. However, despite the powerful enchantments, Satoko preferred to keep away from Minako whose body was draining the warmth from her surroundings.

The last member of the class was Kuro sitting right behind Minako. Unlike the other girls, she wore her black hair cut shot, giving even more emphasis to her huge cat's ears. Her twin tails clearly marked her as a nekomata as they swished behind her from left to right to left again. Unlike the others, she was wearing short, black jeans and a red t-shirt with a silver skull on its front. She wasn't really a problematic student, but the times when she was sitting still were far too rare. It was not that she didn't like the class, but there was simply so much energy in her that she couldn't sit still.

Looking over her protegees, Kaori smiled to herself.

"Kaori-san, can we go to the other side tonight? After all, it is Halloween!" As expected, it was Kohime who brought up the inevitable question. The scylla moved closer to her students before giving out a sigh.

"You are still too young. Maybe in two years if you do a good job at studying."

"But I want to see the human world now!"

"You need to know much more about the world before you can go there. It is too dangerous otherwise."

"But I want to go!"

"You can't. And you and the rest of the class will be writing an essay about the history of Samhain this evening. I will check it tomorrow morning and make sure that each one of you has written their own version. You will not have enough time to visit the human world."

"But. But."

"No 'but'! If there are no further questions, then class is over for today. I expect you to come to the library on the second floor after dinner where I will hand out the exact essay assignments to you. Class dismissed."

Not waiting for any further rebuttal by Kohime, Kaori slid out of the class room. She knew that the girls were likely to try to do something about this decision - after all, some of her tentacles still ached from the trick they played on her the day before yesterday. But Kaori knew she could not allow Kohime and her friends to visit the human world as of yet. There were too many dangers the girls didn't know about yet and which could get them into a lot of trouble. And Kaori did not wish to disappoint the trust Ai had invested in her by making her the tutor of her only daughter.

"Yay! Class is over!" With a shout of joy, Kuro jumped right over her desk and took Kohime's hands. Water splashed out of the aquarium as Satoko moved away startled.

"What shall we play, Kohime-chan?"

"Whoa, Kuro-chan, calm down. It's time for us to eat dinner and then we have to go to the library. Have you not heard what Kaori-san had said?"

"So, no playing?"

"Well, I didn't say that. I will make sure this will be a fine night for us." A smile formed on Kohime's face. Unfolding her wings behind her back, she made herself loom over her friend booming "Trust me."

"Hooray! You are the greatest!"

The creaking of the door pulled Kohime out of her revelry. Looking up, she saw that Ruri was already in the process of leaving the room, obviously ignoring the going-ons inside.

"Ruri-chan..."

"I am going to dinner. I suggest you do the same." Without betraying any emotion, Ruri replied to her unspoken question and left the room for good.

With a sigh, Kohime got ready herself. The lack of interest Ruri had shown had been sufficient to dry up her own enthusiasm. But she was not going to give in so easily.

Dinner was a rather dull affair. Kohime was pondering her next steps, talking to herself quietly while Ruri, Minako, and Satoko watched her interestedly. Only Kuro didn't notice the tension in the air and enjoyed her meal. Finally, Kohime seemed satisfied with her plans and turned to eating herself, leaving her audience wondering about her results.

The library was definitely one of the most impressive rooms inside the mansion. Tall mahogany shelves reached from the wooden floor to the distant ceiling, filled with leather-bound tomes from over the ages. Since the room took up an entire side of the building, there were tall windows in three of its walls, allowing somber light to creep in between the rows of shelves. The fourth wall was dominated by a fireplace in front of which several chairs and sofas surrounded a table inviting the guest to rest and read. It was here that Kaori had awaited her pupils having had her own dinner in her private room in the attic.

"Now that I have told each of you what to write about, I want you to read up and start writing those essays. Oh, and since this is such a wonderful night, I am sure you will finish those essays before leaving this room. Either Mari or I will be outside to collect your finished essays, so don't worry about a thing and give it your best."

Kaori waited a moment to see if there were any questions and then went to the door leading out of the room. She knew she should stay inside and supervise the girls, but given that this was Halloween and Kohime's personality, she did not really wish to be an easy target for some spontaneous prank. Thus, she decided to rather wait in the safety of the anteroom and only check occasionally on the girls' progress.

Even after Kaori had left the room, none of the girls had approached the shelves. Everyone was looking at the young succubus expecting her to describe her plans for the night. Clearing her voice, she took center stage.

"My friends! Listen. As we all know, this here is the special night where anyone could cross into the human world. But instead of allowing us to go and witness that wondrous realm ourselves, they lock us here in this room and ..."

"Could you come to the point? What do you have in mind." Her voice showing some impatience, Ruri interrupted Kohime's lengthy speech. At first, the self-acclaimed leader of the group was perplexed by having been interrupted like that, but then she smiled.

"Of course, my dear friend. I propose that we leave this room through one of the windows, head for the nearby graveyard and cross over to the human world for some fun."

"Kohime-chan! This window is locked! And this one as well!" Not waiting for any further instructions, Kuro had leaped towards the nearest windows and started checking whether she could open them.

"Of course they are locked. No one would one uninvited guests in their library. And I assume our leader was well-aware of this."

"Of course, Ruri-chan. As Kuro-chan has validated, the windows here in this room are all kept locked. But this also means that Kaori-san would never think we would try to leave through there. But this is only because she does not know yet about my latest advances in magic. Allow me to demonstrate!" Striding with her wings raised, Kohime walked towards the windows. She obviously enjoyed being at the center of attention and was making as much a show of it as possible. Minako followed right behind her with Ruri slowly coming after her. Since Kuro was already standing at the window, the aquarium made up the end of the procession, changing its width so as to fit in between the shelves.

Having reached the wall, the succubus made her friends make a circle so that everyone could see what she was doing. Then she pointed at one of the windows and murmured something softly. At first, there was no obvious reaction, but then the window shivered and began to shrink. The smaller it got, the faster it shrunk until it was only as tall as a pinkie, leaving behind a tall opening in the wall through which the outside wind blew inside. As the monster girl's magic stopped affecting the window, it gave in to the wind and toppled forward, only to be saved by Ruri's quick hand.

"A neat trick you have learned that. But it would have been in vain had the window broken. I assume you can change it back to its normal size once we are outside, right?"

"Of course. So, let's go everyone." Not waiting for a reply, Kohime jumped through the opening. Her wings easily carried her up in the air allowing her to watch comfortably as the others followed. The next was Kuro. The nekomata did not think much about things and simply jumped out of the window. After a graceful somersault, she landed safely and calmly on all fours. The next was Satoko. Obeying her wishes, her aquarium grew thinner and thinner until it was barely offering enough space for her. Finally, it was thin enough to fit through the window, and floating slowly forward, it passed the frame before descending slowly towards the ground. Then, Ruri made her descent, simply relying on her long tail as she slowly sank towards the ground outside. And being the last of the party to leave, Minako created a set of ice stairs out of thin air and walked down that way before the ice melt away into nothingness again.

With everyone safely outside, their leader also descended to the ground. Ruri slithered up to her and handed the shrunken window to her. "Here. You should not forget about this one."

Leaping again into the air, Kohime flew back to the opening where the window had been and put back in its place. Pointing at it and murmuring some more, she caused it to slowly grow. When she was finished. the window was back as it had been before, with nothing betraying their means of escape. Satisfied with her work, the young succubus turned around and led her friends towards adventure.

-*-

Mai put her futon down in a corner of the living room. Whenever her friends came for a sleepover, all of them slept there as her room was not quite big enough. Besides featuring the big tv set of the family, its back front was dominated by large windows and a glass door into the backyard. Usually, Mai liked the view, but now that transparent wall felt like a vulnerable spot to her, a place through which the horrors of Halloween could creep in.

Shaking her head, the little girl tried to chase away those ugly thoughts. Her friends would arrive soon, and she would be alright. Slowly, she was calming down. But when the doorbell rang, she was immediately startled. She nearly dropped the glass she had been putting on the table. After setting it down with what seemed like a thunderous crash, she quickly went to the front door. A glance to the clock hanging on the wall in the corridor confirmed that it was six o'clock sharp.

Opening the door, Mai stood face to face with Rika and Karin, both carrying backpacks and shopping bags.

"Good evening, Mai-chan."

"Good evening, Rika-chan, Karin-chan. I am so glad you came. Come in, come in." Stepping backward, Mai made room for her friends to enter. After closing the door and taking off their shoes, they entered the house proper. Rika raised the shopping bag she was carrying.

"My mother has prepared some fish and a little bit of chicken."

"And mine has made some salads, so if you prepare some rice, we can eat dinner right away."

"That is too kind. Thank you. I will get the rice cooker ready right away. Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable in the living room." Accepting the bags with the food from her friends, Mai turned into the kitchen while the others went straight on for the living room. After setting up the rice cooker, Mai joined them, and the girls began to chat about various things.

The three girls were in the middle of dinner, when the doorbell rang again. Surprised, they looked at each other, each having the same question written all over her face. Then, the doorbell rang again. Instinctively, Mai cowered low. It was far too early for her mother to return. Her father was far away and no guests had been invited. It was getting close to seven already, and the sky had already turned dark outside.

Seeing that Mai was not going to answer the door, Rika sighed and got up. Quickly she approached the door and then opened it slightly, asking "Who is there?"

A skeletal hand reached through the slit and grabbed her hand. Seeing that, she opened the door completely revealing Naoko and Tsukasa, the latter holding a large package while Naoko was still pushing the plastic arm at Rika.

"I suppose you came here to scare Mai-chan? Too bad, but that will not happen."

"Ah, come now, Rika. This was just a little joke among friends. I heard you were having a small Halloween party here, so Tsukasa and I came all the way here to join you. We have also brought you some sushi." As Naoko finished her explanation, Tsukasa raised the package, obviously a large sushi set.

"So, can we come in or will you turn as away at the door?"

"Well, I don't know ..."

"Please come in." Rika was a bit startled out of her hesitation as Mai shouted out from behind her. She hadn't noticed that Mai and Karin had walked up to her while she was talking to Naoko. Looking sadly at her friend, she moved aside to allow the new guests to join them inside.

"Are you really sure about this, Mai-chan?" Karin was also worried. With outright hostility, she watched as Naoko and Tsukasa took off their shoes. But Mai didn't notice.

"But they have come here to visit. It would be rude to turn them away. So let's have a merry evening together."

"That's the spirit, Mai." Smiling broadly at Karin and Rika, Naoko stepped forward but then stopped, looking around. Noticing this, Mai quickly pointed along the corridor. "The living room is straight ahead."

Thus, the small company once more moved to the living room to pass the evening away. While Mai was seemingly grateful to have everyone there, Karin and Rika kept a close eye on the newcomers, knowing they couldn't be trusted.

-*-

The small group finally reached the clearing in front of the forest graveyard. While there was also a graveyard right behind Kohime's home, they had been too afraid of getting caught there. Besides, by using a different graveyard, they would also buy some extra time once their flight had been noticed. This graveyard was in the heart of the forest south of the mansion, about an hour away from it. Usually, no one came here as the inhabitants of the forest for the most part had no interest in it or the world that lay beyond it. And the people living in town or in the mansion had other graveyards near their dwellings, so no one bothered coming here.

But that was the situation on a normal night. Tonight was anything but normal. It was Halloween, the night where the gates at the graveyards were open for everyone to pass. No need for powerful spells, no need to push your will on reality. You just had to visit a graveyard and pick a tombstone to walk through. The rules were different tonight, and the girls approached the graveyard slowly and carefully, listening and watching for any signs that may betray others being there.

"Ssshhh!" Kohime pressed tightly against one of the tall stone pillars holding up the iron gates while waving her hand to keep her friends at the edge of the clearing. The graveyard was surrounded by a fence of black iron bars with finely decorated points at the top and only one gate of the same black iron bars allowing entrance. Pushing against the moss-covered stone, the young succubus moved a bit forward and carefully peeked inside.

At first, she didn't notice anything unusual and was about to call the others, but then she heard a rustling sound. Bending around the corner of the pillar, she saw a group of dancing heads - ghosts consisting only of severed heads gathering around a tombstone. Holding her breath, she watched as the biggest of them, a fearsome man's face with a wild beard looked over his followers, nodded, and then hit the tomb stone. In response, small streaks of blue light crawled across the stone forming wild and meaningless patterns that grew in intensity until there was an explosion of light and a hole was ripped into reality. The hole had replaced the tombstone and air was rushing into its gaping, black mouth whistling as it disappeared. Even Kohime, who was standing a little apart, felt the tug.

One after the other, the dancing heads jumped into the air and allowed themselves to be pulled into the hole. After the last of them had disappeared, the hole remained open for a little while and then disappeared. Nothing gave any hint of the dancing heads or the hole in reality, save for a few dry leaves slowly floating to the ground as the wind supporting them had stopped.

Seeing that there were no other visitors, Kohime waved at her friends to join her.

"Who had it been?" Ruri let Kohime know that she had noticed the light and its significance.

"Ah, a group of dancing heads used the tombstone over there to cross over," Kohime said, pointing at the tombstone whose surroundings had completely settled down by now.

"Dancing heads? So, we will use the same tomb stone?" Kuro jumped forward in anticipation, obviously hoping for an exciting time.

"Don't be silly. Dancing heads are quite dangerous. Just how foolish are you?" Ruri snapped at Kuro in an unusually harsh manner.

Kuro jumped up a little bit, surprised by the aggression in Ruri's voice. Satoko held a hand before her mouth in surprise and also Kohime was a bit dumb founded.

"Now, now, Ruri-chan. There is no need to be so hard on Kuro-chan." Only Minako spoke up in response. "Kuro-chan, Ruri-chan is right. Dancing heads are usually something you should avoid. There are many among them caught in anger and agony and they will cause you great harm."

"What was that, Ruri-chan? Why ... ?" Having recovered, Kohime started to question Ruri but then hesitated.

"... It is nothing. Let's get going." Not looking at her friends, Ruri instead turned away. The others fell silent and Satoko had her aquarium quietly move over to Ruri's side. Lowering the walls a little bit, she leaned over and tried to embrace the naga, but was pushed away.

"Well. Alright. Then I say we will take that tombstone." Finally ending the painful silence, Kohime pointed to a tombstone a little bit away from the one the dancing heads had used. The girls all knew that even that little distance was enough as each tombstone linked to a completely different location, and tombstones which are neighbors in the monster world may lead to locations hundred of kilometers apart in the human world. At least that is what they had been taught.

In depressed silence, the young monster girls entered the grave yard and gathered in front of the tombstone Kohime had suggested. Even Kuro kept quiet, her two tails moving nervously from side to side.

"Alright. Everyone ready?" Kohime stretched out her hand but stopped just before touching the tombstone. Looking around, she waited until all the others had nodded in agreement. Without speaking any further word, she put her hand on the stone.

A tingling sensation went through Kohime's hand and blue lightning flew across the stone. Mesmerized by its turbulent patterns, Kohime kept her eyes locked on the stone as the light grew brighter and brighter. Then there was a flash and the succubus felt her hand being pulled forward towards the black hole that had replaced the tombstone.

"Let's go!" With a shout to encourage herself and the others, she jumped forward. She felt her body first pulled forward, then pressed together and stretched out at the same time. Excitement welled up in her over these new sensations, making her forget the uneasiness Ruri's outburst had caused.

Ruri was the first to follow Kohime, then came Minako and Kuro, arm in arm. Finally, Satoko's aquarium was sucked into the starless void. The hole in reality remained for a few seconds and then disappeared, leaving behind the quiet and empty graveyard.