Note: I have nothing to do with Haunted Junction and its characters except to be a fan who enjoys the series a lot. This story is my extrapolation of the storylines as seen in Bandai's subtitled release of the series. I apologize if the subject matter is inconsistent with the original intent of the creators or the original Japanese. Note: episodes during which specific events took place are identified in brackets.
Haruto watched horrified as the thing that had once been Himeko, the girl he'd shown around the school, drew ever closer. In this other, hideous form, she was much taller than he was, as well as much wider and larger. There was really no comparison between the two of them, since she was built on an entirely different scale.
She reached for the gates eagerly, as though they belonged to her. Suddenly, a blinding white light flared up from them. Haruto squinted through the glare and saw the monster stumbling back, her huge scaly arm shielding her green, slitted, reptilian eyes.
"What's going on?" Kazumi asked.
"This school is not without its protective barriers," the Chairman said. "The closing of the school gates completes the circuit of a shield. Closed as they are, nothing with evil intent may enter the grounds."
"You called her any ogre," Asahina said.
The Chairman nodded. "That, children, is an ogre. They are savage, ruthless creatures whose favorite foods are the blood and flesh of humans, and the pain and despair and suffering of those they feed on."
Asahina shuddered. "Now that we know about them, what can we do about her?"
The Chairman shook his head. "Nothing. For now, anyway."
Haruto whirled around. "Well, then what about later?" he demanded.
"The only way to stop an ogre is to kill it," the Chairman said.
All three of them gasped. "You want us to kill her?" Haruto cried.
"Can't Asahina just...you know..." Kazumi gestured as though he were waving a gohei around.
Asahina glared at him, whipping out her wand and shaking it in his face. "Stick to your nenju," she snapped. "You don't know what you're talking about."
Kazumi glowered back at her, lifting his rosary beads.
"Asahina's right," the Chairman said. "You can't exorcise an ogre like a spirit, and you can't banish it the way you do a demon. And you can't seal them away in a box like we did with Yocho. [Ep. 12] An ogre is a creature from this world, so trying to banish it back to its own world would be utterly useless."
"Well, then what can we do?" Haruto demanded.
"For now, nothing," the Chairman said calmly. "But while we're waiting for later to get here, why don't you go and ask her what she wants?"
Haruto blinked. "Me?" he stammered.
"You're the president," Kazumi pointed out. "Besides, I thought you knew her."
"You did call her name earlier," Asahina added.
Haruto swallowed. "I...I guess I could do it," he said slowly. He took a deep breath and turned around. He moved cautiously but steadily towards the front gates.
"Be careful, Haruto," the Chairman warned.
Haruto nodded, then forced himself to gaze directly at the ogre before him. "Himeko!" he shouted in a loud voice. "Why have you come here?" Then he got the shock of his life as the ogre's mouth dropped open in amazement.
"You?" she cried. "You are the President of the Holy Student Council of Saito High?" She started to laugh. "The very fool who led me around the school and showed me everything I wanted to see is the leader of the mortals who would try to oppose me?"
Haruto found himself spun around by the shoulder.
"You showed her around the school?" Asahina demanded. "Are you crazy?"
Haruto shook off her hand. "She said she was moving into the area and was thinking of enrolling!" he complained. "How was I to know she wasn't a human?"
"You're the president of the Holy Student Council," Asahina snapped.
"Not by choice!" Haruto retorted. "We all know I have no special powers. And if you're so smart, how come you didn't sense her when she first visited? Were you too busy chasing Nino-kun around the school?"
"Um...excuse me," a gravelly voice put in. They ignored it.
"I'm not the one who's the sensitive," Asahina said. She pointed at Kazumi. "Why don't you ask him why he didn't sense her?"
"Hey," Kazumi said, "I'm a spirit medium. I get possessed by spirits. Getting rid of them is your job."
"I'm over here," the gravelly voice tried again.
"Well, she's not a spirit or a demon, so how am I supposed to sense her myself if you don't?" Asahina said. "But it's still the president's fault for--"
"I'm neither a medium or an exorcist!" Haruto objected. "You two are the powerful ones. Between the two of you, one of you should have noticed something."
"Hey..."
The three of them whirled around. "Keep out of this!" they shouted.
"THAT'S IT!" the ogre roared. "I WILL NOT BE IGNORED!"
Haruto swallowed and stepped back. He felt his two friends retreating also.
"Prepare yourself if you can," the ogre snarled. "It will do you know good. When I return here tonight with my people, we will overrun this school as the shadow overcomes the moon, and we will take the power of this place for our own!" She laughed again.
"Do your best, humans! I will enjoy feasting on your flesh!" With that, she turned and disappeared into a strange fog that had suddenly risen up to surround the school.
Haruto stared after her. "Now what?" he whispered.
"Now we prepare."
Haruto turned to the Chairman. "What? How? How are we supposed to fight something like that?"
"Somethings," Asahina corrected. "She's going to bring more of her people with her."
"Any way we can," the Chairman said. "The only way to kill an ogre is with an enchanted weapon, of which we have many. However, there's more going on here than just a bunch of ogres attacking the school. They want this place because of its great spiritual power."
Kazumi groaned. "Thanks to our homes again."
The Chairman nodded. "And tonight she plans to take that power for herself."
"What did she mean, 'as the shadow overcomes the moon'?" Asahina asked.
"Tonight is the night of the full moon," the Chairman said. "However, there will also be a total lunar eclipse. If the ogres can enter into the school grounds and perform a certain ritual, they will be able to summon forth great evil magic to do their bidding. They are creatures of night and the darkness, and the eclipse will only increase their power."
"Well, won't it make you stronger, too?" Haruto asked.
The Chairman shook his head. "Darkness powers evil, and the spirits at this school aren't evil. No matter what you or Exorcist Joe may have thought, school spirits are never evil."
Haruto remembered how he'd felt when he'd realized that all the "torment" the spirits had been putting him through had actually been helping him to escape from the "normalcy" that he thought he'd wanted. [Ep. 12]
"We may play some nasty pranks," the Chairman continued, "with some nasty results, but we're never truly evil. So while we may seem stronger during the night, and while we do become stronger ourselves during the full moon, this eclipse will actually weaken us."
"And not just you," Asahina said suddenly. "All the barriers, all the spirits that guard this school, everything that protects the school from true evil...it will all be weakened, won't it?"
The Chairman nodded. "We'll be able to hold out for a while against the ogres," he said, "perhaps even long enough for you to use the enchanted weapons against them. But unless we can draw power from another source, the barriers will fail and the ogres will be able to summon forth their evil."
"Power from another source?" Kazumi asked.
"A source of goodness," the Chairman said. "If the demons break through the barriers, we'll have only one chance to stop them. If we can contain them the way we contained Yocho, then we can banish them to another world. However, it will only work if we can tap into that other power. Otherwise, not even all the spirits of the school working together will be able to save the world."
No one said anything.
"If only I'd been able to find the legendary Onikirimaru," the Chairman said. "Then we might have a strong chance of stopping the ogres even before they can start."
Asahina blinked. "The 'Ogre-Slayer'? I thought that was just a myth!"
"That's why it's called 'legendary,'?" Kazumi said, rolling his eyes.
Asahina started to retort, but Haruto stepped between them and faced the Chairman. "So what can we do now?"
"We wait," the Chairman said softly, "and we prepare. And you may want to pray as well." He hesitated. "These ogres will be like nothing you've fought before. Haruto, you suffered greatly when Yocho escaped from its box, but the torments it inflicted on you were all in your mind, and you've already recognized that the future is not set in stone. You recovered from that accident. These ogres are flesh and blood. They can hurt you in ways that not even the demons who possessed Kazumi could, and they are more powerful than the shikigami demons that Asahina destroyed."
"What are you saying, Mr. Chairman?" Haruto asked.
"I don't want to alarm you," the spirit said quietly, "but perhaps you'd better make peace with yourself, your guardian deities, and anyone else you feel you need to speak to."
No one said anything for a long moment.
"It's that serious, then?" Kazumi asked.
The Chairman said nothing.
* * *
Haruto was alone in the Holy Student Council Room again.
After their sobering discussion at the front of the school, they had all gone their separate ways. Kazumi, Haruto knew, was going around the school, calling out to all the Hanakos that visited the boys' restrooms. Asahina he wasn't sure about, but knowing her, she was probably back up on the roof, trying to get some last peeks at the cute little boys at the closest elementary schools.
Now, Haruto had only one thing to do, one thing that would remove at least one weight from his heart.
He closed his eyes and held up the red badge.
"Red Mantle," he said quietly, "please come to the Holy Student Council room. Welcome!"
A moment later, he felt the sudden presence of his friend in the room.
"Is something wrong, Haruto?" Red Mantle asked.
Haruto opened his eyes and gazed up at the masked figure before him. He felt tears building up in his eyes, and he quickly turned away.
"Haruto?" Red Mantle repeated. Haruto felt the spirit's hand touch his shoulder, and he couldn't contain himself any longer. He turned around and buried his face in the spirit's cloak, desperately clinging to Red Mantle. He felt the spirit's arms wrap hesitantly around him, and then the tears came.
To his relief and agitation, Red Mantle said nothing. Instead, he simply held him, stroking his hair and just being there. After a few minutes, Haruto finally got himself back under control. He slowly turned his face and rested his cheek against Red Mantle's chest.
"Haruto," the spirit said softly, "are you all right now?"
Haruto sighed. "No," he said. "Not really. Do you know what's going to happen tonight?"
"The Chairman told us all about the ogres."
Haruto nodded. "He also said--though not in so many words--that Kazumi, Asahina, and I might not survive this mission. Everything that we can do may not be enough to stop the ogres from destroying the world."
"You know we'll all be here to protect you," Red Mantle said.
"I know," Haruto said. "But there's something else. There's something I have to do...here...now...just in case."
"What is it?" Red Mantle asked.
Haruto took a deep breath and stepped away. He didn't want to leave the spirit's embrace, but he didn't think he could bear it if Red Mantle suddenly shoved him away, so he moved away himself. He turned towards the window, unable to look at his friend.
"Red Mantle," he said softly.
"Yes?"
"I love you."
Haruto wasn't certain what he expected to happen, but what he had feared most--that Red Mantle would laugh at him, or shout and him, or just simply vanish--did not come to pass. Instead, he felt himself drawn back against the spirit as Red Mantle's arms reached around him.
"Are you sure?" Red Mantle asked. "You haven't seen my face for several weeks now."
"I'm sure," Haruto sighed. "Yesterday and last night I was trying to imagine the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I tried to picture her hair, her favorite colors, her favorite clothes, her eyes...I tried to imagine what she was like inside and out. But when I put everything together, I saw you."
Haruto closed his eyes, feeling new tears well up. "I know in the beginning I wanted to leave the school because I could get away from all the spirits and enjoy a normal life. Now, I don't even want to think about graduating, because it means I'll be leaving all of you behind. And when I think about that--think about never seeing Miss Hanako, or Nino-kun, or even Bones Suzuki and Haruo Sato again--it hurts. Here," he said, reaching up to lay his hand on his chest. "And it hurts the most when I think about never seeing you again."
"You're a very special young man," Red Mantle said gently. "You have a generous, responsible, loyal heart, and I'm honored that you've given such a large part of it to me. But you know it can't work out."
Haruto nodded. "I know. You don't like boys and--"
"No, Haruto," Red Mantle said softly. "Because you're a living being and I'm a spirit. You have your whole life ahead of you yet--well, maybe--and if fortune is with us, you'll have the chance to find the normal girl you yearn to meet and the normal life you dream of. I'm a school spirit, and my place will always be here at Saito High."
Haruto sighed. He'd expected to be rejected, but not on these grounds. It was still painful, though.
"But in my own way," Red Mantle continued, "I love you, too."
Haruto's eyes flew open. He turned to look over his shoulder. Red Mantle was smiling at him.
"And maybe," the spirit added, his smiling growing wider, "if we were both alive, we could have some fun together."
Haruto felt himself blushing furiously.
"You know, though," Red Mantle said, his smile fading, "that eventually the love you feel for me will abate."
Haruto shook his head. "No, I know it will never do that," he said. "I know I'll love others as well, but the part of my heart that belongs to you will always belong to you and only you." He sighed. "If only there were some way for me to prove how much I love you."
"Haruto," Red Mantle said softly, "I believe you. I'm sorry I doubted you."
"It's all right," Haruto said, leaning back against the spirit. "I don't mind. But..."
"Yes?"
"Would you mind staying with me until night falls? I don't want to spend what may be my last day alive alone."
"Of course I'll stay," Red Mantle said. "I won't leave you until it's time."
Haruto sighed again, a brief smile touching his face.
They stood together, gazing out the windows. Haruto felt safe, wrapped in the folds of Red Mantle's cloak and in the spirit's strong yet gentle embrace. While he was here, in this room with this spirit, his fears of what the night would bring seemed distant, banished by the warmth and comfort of the tall spirit.
Together they watched as the sun sank behind the western trees. They watched as the stars began emerging from out of the sun's glare. They watched as the moon gradually rose, full and round, up into the sky.
A bright light suddenly flared before him, and Haruto flinched away, ducking beneath Red Mantle's cloak. "What is it?" he cried.
"Look," Red Mantle said, his voice neutral and controlled. "It's time."
Haruto peeked out, squinting against the glare that shone in through the windows. His eyes abruptly widened.
Beyond the front gate stood a line of ogres, all shorter than Himeko but no less ugly. Behind them was another line, and then another, and another. Haruto wasn't counting, but there had to be several hundreds of ogres massing before the front gates.
"Oh, my God," he whispered.
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