Note: I have nothing to do with Here is Greenwood and its characters except to be a fan who enjoys the OVAs a lot. This story is my extrapolation of the storylines as seen in the OVAs. I apologize if this story doesn't quite fit in with the manga.

"I suppose congratulations are in order," Father Ichinose muttered. "But I still don't think it was wise of you to use the book at all."

"We've been through this before," Priest Jinbo said wearily. "It had to be used, and it must be used again."

"And again," Reverend Tomikawa added.

"And it will be," Mitsuru said, "just as soon as we figure out how to use it."

Kazuya sighed. He turned in his seat and gazed out the window. It was becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate on anything. Having the three holy men arguing wasn't helping, either.

It was the afternoon of the day after the night they'd freed the mummy from his physical remains and released him back to the Egyptian afterlife. Believing that the priests needed reassuring, Shinobu-sempai had decided to meet with them, again at the Christian priest's church. This time, though, Mitsuru had come with them, determined not to be left out of the loop again. Kazuya wasn't sure why he'd come this time, except that it had been one way of getting out of Greenwood.

Every moment since he'd awakened that morning he'd been nervous and edgy. Despite the promise Shinobu-sempai had extracted from their fellow dorm mates not to say anything about Haru, Kazuya couldn't help worrying that someone would make a mistake and reveal the whole thing. It would just take one slip-up, one person mentioning in passing that they'd seen a real live mummy, to bring the whole thing to light.

True, there was no such thing as a "real live mummy" and a number of the residents of Greenwood would immediately scold him for using such a contradiction in terms, but there would be those who would understand what he was talking about, and of those there would be some who would actually believe him. And his fear of that happening had almost started several panic attacks. Only the suspiciously convenient distractions provided by Mitsuru and Shinobu-sempai had kept them from getting out of hand.

Now, away from Greenwood, he continued to worry about it, but the arguing priests were doing a good job of interrupting any of his thoughts before they could develop. Sighing again, he tried to focus on the discussion again.

"You realize I shouldn't be admitting the possibility that a mummy came to life," Father Ichinose was grumbling. "I shouldn't even allow myself to accept that there are powers capable of bringing it to life!"

"Yet you did," Reverend Tomikawa snapped. "So stop grousing and let's help these boys already."

"Now, Mr. Tezuka," Priest Jinbo said, "tell us again how you freed the Egyptian priest's soul."

"My friend, Hasukawa Kazuya, was the one who actually did it."

Kazuya straightened in his chair. "But you were the one who decided which spell to use!" he protested.

"You were the one who actually read it," Shinobu-sempai said. "You are the one ended up speaking ancient Egyptian."

"But--"

"Just tell them," Mitsuru said impatiently.

Kazuya swallowed.

He told them all that he remembered, which was a lot. He avoided mentioning Misako or Haru when he told them how they'd discovered that the mummy had been a priest of the Egyptian god of the heavens in his lifetime, attributing it to a pendant they'd seen around its neck that a friend had then identified. He did his best to remember and recite the words of the spell he'd read, but though he could remember understanding them at the time, all he saw in his memory were a collection of strange symbols which he couldn't translate now.

Finally, the three priests nodded and turned their attention away. Kazuya heaved a sigh of relief. He felt Mitsuru grip his shoulder, and smiled briefly at him.

"Tell us how you found the spell," Reverend Tomikawa asked Shinobu-sempai. Kazuya glanced at his friend, wondering how he'd answer it.

"Logic," Shinobu-sempai said, shrugging. "When our friend first used the book, he read spells he thought would banish evil spirits, including an Egyptian spirit who had risen as a mummy. I assumed that whoever actually wrote the book would follow the same pattern with spells designed to summon good spirits. Therefore, a spell summoning a good Egyptian spirit would actually banish it instead. Since in life the mummy had actually been a good priest, I hypothesized that the a spell to summon a good spirit would release him instead."

"You took a dangerous risk!" Father Ichinose said. "You could have summoned up something that wasn't a good priest in life."

"It was a calculated risk," Mitsuru told him. Then he grinned. "Besides, we were operating on faith. You should be familiar with that, Father."

The Christian priest scowled at him. "Do you mind?" he said acidly.

Kazuya suppressed a nervous grin. "It's true," he said. "The three of you told us about the dream you'd had, where we use the book five times before it crumbles. We'd used the book twice before last night, so that left three more times to use it. Since nothing happened the first two times, using it last night would have been the first time we used its power against itself."

"What if those first two times weren't the instances we saw in our dream?" Father Ichinose countered.

"But you did see them in your dream," Mitsuru said. "We didn't have the book before. We believed that your dream meant that the next time we used the book would be the first time in your dream."

"But that's--"

"Faith," Priest Jinbo said.

The Christian turned and glared at him. "Don't you start, too!"

"Let us consider the dream as being divinely inspired, Father," Shinobu-sempai said, a warning note in his voice, "and leave it at that. We don't have time to discuss religious dogma."

Kazuya glanced at his friend. He hoped the priests had noticed how irritated their guest was becoming.

"Mr. Tezuka is right," Reverend Tomikawa said. "We have other, more important things to discuss right now."

"Yes," Priest Jinbo said. "You came today for more than just to tell us that the dream is coming true."

Shinobu-sempai nodded. "If we can all agree to ignore the dream for now, we can get started." He glanced at Father Ichinose. "Father?"

The Christian priest sank back in his chair. "All right," he muttered.

"Then this is our dilemma."

* * *

"Four spirits?" Reverend Tomikawa repeated.

Mitsuru nodded. "Our friend read four different spells from the book. He was on the verge of reading a fifth one when I stopped him."

"Thank God!" Father Ichinose said. "Four spirits! There's no telling what else he might have called up!"

"'Thank God' indeed," Shinobu said. "He was about to read a spell to banish Tiamat from the world, and knowing what the spells were actually doing, that means he was about to summon Tiamat the Destroyer to Tokyo. Accidentally, of course, but he was about to do it all the same."

The three priests paled. "You're not serious!"

Mitsuru nodded. "But that's not important," he said. "It didn't happen, so it doesn't matter."

"Thank God!" Father Ichinose said again.

"Can we move past that?" Priest Jinbo muttered.

"Basically," Mitsuru said loudly, drawing the priests' attention off of each other and back to himself, "our friend called up four spirits. We know definitely that two of the four have been released from their summons, and we've...encountered...the other two. Now we need your advice on how to free them."

"Two released already?" Reverend Tomikawa asked. "The mummy and what?"

"A succubus," Shinobu said. "One of the other spirits destroyed her the first night."

"A succubus?" Father Ichinose said. "Then she was European?"

"The spell our friend read was in Dutch," Kazuya said.

The priest sighed.

"You've accounted for all four spirits?" Priest Jinbo asked. "And two dealt with already?"

Mitsuru nodded.

"What are the other two?" Reverend Tomikawa asked.

Mitsuru hesitated before answering. If he told the truth, he might be endangering Haru, not to mention the three of them if any of the priests--Father Ichinose especially--suspected the nature of their relationship with Haru. Still, they had a right to know at least what they'd called up. It would not, however, be up to them to decide how to handle the situation. That was for Shinobu, Kazuya, himself, and Haru to decide.

He glanced to either side of him and noted with some irritation that Shinobu and Kazuya seemed content to let him answer. Kazuya looked just as uncomfortable as he himself felt, so it was only natural. Shinobu, though...Mitsuru had a nasty feeling that Shinobu already knew how he'd answer it but was content to lay the burden of it on him. Mitsuru gritted his teeth.

"One of them," he said finally, "is a rusalka. She wound up in a koi pond near our dormitory."

"Rusalka?" Priest Jinbo repeated. "That would be a Russian drowning ghost, I think?"

"More correctly," Shinobu said, "it is the ghost of one who drowned in a pond or lake through foul play. Because of the unnatural aspect of the person's death, he or she is forced to remain at the lake or pond, desperate for contact with living humans but unable to avoid drowning human visitors."

The priest shivered. "How did you encounter her?" he asked.

"We found her," Mitsuru said. "Or, Shinobu led us to her. We didn't get close enough for her to catch us, but we were able to talk to her. She wasn't evil, only irritated at being displaced from where she belongs."

"What's the last one?" Reverend Tomikawa asked.

Mitsuru hesitated again. Could he actually do this? He took a deep breath.

"The other one...is a vampire."

* * *

"That went well," Shinobu said. They had just left the church and were walking down to the train station.

"Well?" Kazuya shouted. "How can you possibly call that 'well'?"

"He's right, Shinobu," Mitsuru said. "That wasn't exactly the most productive plan you've come up with."

"On the contrary," Shinobu said calmly. "It went more or less as I expected."

"Huh?"

Shinobu hid his smile at their surprise. It was true, though. He'd known perfectly well that, of the three holy men, Father Ichinose would be the most vehement in his belief that Haru and the rusalka were evil and had to be destroyed, hence his repeated suggestions of exorcising the rusalka and simply staking Haru through the heart. It was the last the irritated Mitsuru and Kazuya the most, but what else could they expect?

Priest Jinbo and Reverend Tomikawa had offered more helpful suggestions. Of course, vampires and rusalka--and mummies and succubae--didn't appear in Japanese mythology, so they hadn't suggested the more "traditional" ways of dealing with them. Besides, Father Ichinose had done that all on his own.

"You can't blame Father Ichinose for being so nervous about it all," Shinobu said, stopping and turning to face his friends. "I'm sure he believed the book could only be used for evil. The fact that we succeeded in freeing the mummy--and that the mummy was actually a good priest during his lifetime--disturbed and confused him. As a result, he hid his discomfort by taking refuge in all the techniques for destroying vampires that Hollywood made so popular."

"Well, did he have to be so graphic about it all?" Kazuya complained, shuddering.

Shinobu reached out and squeezed Kazuya's shoulder. "You couldn't expect him to be delicate about it, could you? After all, he doesn't have the same relationship with Haru that we do."

Mitsuru snorted. "If he knew about it, he'd probably have us tied down in front of the altar with wreaths of garlic draped over us and splashing holy water all over our clothes."

Shinobu smiled. "You're probably right," he said. "But I didn't really plan on listening to what any of the priests said about vampires. We had to, of course, if we wanted their feedback on how to free the rusalka."

A man who had come up while they were halted gave them a strange look as he passed, then continued on with quicker steps.

"You weren't listening?" Kazuya asked. "Could we just have told them we knew how to deal with the vampire and only wanted advice about the rusalka?"

Shinobu shrugged. "Possibly," he said. "However, I don't think they would have believed us. Besides, as Reverend Tomikawa pointed out, we couldn't use any of the traditional methods to deal with either Haru or the rusalka since we had to use the book in such a way as to turn its power against itself."

"I get it," Mitsuru said, nodding. "So we couldn't stake Haru even if we wanted to. Which we don't."

Two women walking past them edged as far from them as the sidewalk permitted, whispering to one another.

Shinobu nodded. "I already have an idea about what to do about Haru," he said, "but I was at a loss about what to do about the rusalka."

"And now you have an idea?" Kazuya asked.

"Actually, yes," Shinobu said.

"Well?" Mitsuru demanded. "Are you going to tell us about it?"

Shinobu suppressed a grin. "Not right now," he said, keeping his voice calm and level. He held up his hand to forestall their protests. "We're attracting too much attention as it is," he said. "I'll tell you back at Greenwood before we go to the pond." He turned and started towards the station again. He heard Mitsuru and Kazuya hurrying to catch up.

"We're going to do it today?" Kazuya asked.

Shinobu nodded. "The sooner the better," he said. "I don't want that book in Greenwood any longer than absolutely necessary."

"But what about Haru?" Kazuya asked.

"Let's deal with the rusalka first," Mitsuru said firmly. "Besides, we have to wait until sunset anyway."

Shinobu nodded again. "The rusalka first," he said. "Haru later."

* * *

Kazuya shivered.

He didn't want to be here, at the koi pond, while the rusalka was still in residence. With his notorious bad luck, the bridge would break under his feet, he'd fall in the water, and the rusalka would drown him simply because she couldn't help herself.

But his aniki were there, and he had to be there with them. They'd started this whole thing together, and now it was up to them to finish it all.

That still didn't make him feel any safer.

"Rusalka, I call you forth!" Shinobu-sempai said in a loud voice. "Appear here before me!"

"Aniki," Kazuya whispered. "Is it wise to use that tone of voice with her again? Remember what happened last time?"

"It's too late now," Mitsuru said quietly. "Look." He pointed. Kazuya turned and looked.

Just as before, the light seemed to condense in a single circular patch on the pond's surface. Then, mist rose and gathered in that spot, gradually tumbling and folding in upon itself until it was a column of mist roughly the height of a grown human. In a few moments, the mist coalesced into the same bedraggled young woman they'd seen before. And she seemed no more pleased to be summoned up now than she had been before.

Kazuya prudently took a step back and hid behind Mitsuru.

The rusalka started to say something in Russian, then her eyes narrowed. She waved her hand, just as she had done before. "Oh, it's you again." She didn't sound particularly pleased to see them. "What do you want now?"

"To free you," Shinobu-sempai said.

The ghost straightened. "Really?" she said, a note of hopefulness coloring her previously irritated voice. "Do you know how to send me back to my lake?"

Shinobu shook his head. "I don't know for certain if it will actually work," he said. "But I'd like to give it a try."

Kazuya's eyes widened. "Sempai," he hissed, "I thought you had a plan!"

"Shinobu, what are you doing?" Mitsuru demanded.

"If you'll all calm down," Shinobu-sempai said quietly, "we can get on with this."

Kazuya bit his lip, a strange eerie feeling creeping over him. It was the same feeling he felt every time his two aniki pushed him into something he didn't want to do.

Shinobu-sempai turned around. "Kazuya," he said, holding out the book, "it's all up to you now."

Kazuya closed his eyes and swallowed. As he'd feared, they were going to make him do all the hard work.

He swallowed again and opened his eyes. "Okay," he said slowly, "what do I do?"

He felt his friends close in on him from either side, each one reaching an arm around his back and squeezing his shoulder. The closeness helped ease his nervousness somewhat, but he still felt the awful burden they were placing on him.

"Concentrate," Shinobu-sempai said quietly. "Remember the spell you used to free the priest of Horus. This time we need a spell to summon a Russian spirit from heaven to protect us from drowning."

Kazuya frowned. "A spirit to protect us from drowning? I don't understand."

"We'll discuss it later," Mitsuru snapped. "Just concentrate!"

Kazuya closed his eyes. "Concentrate," he whispered. In his mind he thought only about one thing: the spell to summon a spirit to protect them from drowning. Blindly he opened the book and flipped through the pages. Then, the pages in his hand seemed unwilling to turn. Puzzled, he opened his eyes and looked.

"It did it again," he whispered.

"Get on with it," Mitsuru ordered.

Kazuya took a deep breath.

"Spirit drawn from your rightful place, held in the mortal coil by powers unknown, depart! Let fall the vile fetters that bind you here, ending your unnecessary imprisonment in the land of mortals. Be free to return to that place where you deserve most to be. Go!"

The moment he finished reading, Kazuya shut the book and looked up at the rusalka.

"What have you done?" she whispered, her voice tense and frightened.

Strange lights had begun circling her. They spiraled up and down her bedraggled form, until they suddenly gathered at her feet. There was a sudden flare of light, forcing Kazuya to close his eyes and look away. Blinking furiously to clear the spots from his vision, Kazuya looked back at the rusalka.

Her face shone with joy. Before, her misty form had remained connected in some way with the water of the pond. Now, she floated freely above it, her head twisting from side to side as she looked down at the pond's surface.

"I'm free!" she said, wonder plain in her voice. "After all these years, I'm free!" She turned towards him. "How--"

Kazuya shook his head. "I don't know," he told her. He looked over at Shinobu-sempai. "Aniki?"

"It's simple," Shinobu said serenely. "Your rightful place, according to some Christian denominations, is in the presence of God. However, as the victim of a deliberate drowning, you were denied that opportunity because other forces held you and bound you to your lake. The spell I told Kazuya to look for broke those bonds."

"You're now no longer a rusalka," Mitsuru said. "You're just a plain ghost who's free to move on whenever you're ready to go."

"How can I ever thank you?" the ghost whispered. "I can feel myself going...I'm going! I'm going!"

Kazuya watched as her ghostly form brightened and rose up into the air. There was another flare of light, but this time he forced himself to watch. One moment she was there; the next instant she had vanished completely.

"That was incredible," he whispered.

"Yeah," Mitsuru said softly. "Now if only Misako would do that!"

Kazuya started to laugh. He couldn't help it. "If Misako knew you said that," he said, shaking his finger at his friend.

Mitsuru glared at him, but he couldn't stop laughing. A few moments later he heard him start to laugh as well.

"Three down," Shinobu said softly. "One to go."

That sobered Kazuya up immediately. It was true. Now only Haru remained.

Before he could think more about that, the book in his hands began to tremble. Startled, he looked down.

The crack that had formed before along the spine's length was glowing again, and now a new crack had formed. This new crack cut sideways across the spine of the book, almost perfectly bisecting the first crack. Gradually, the light faded.

"One more spell to read," Mitsuru said quietly. "One more time to break the book's power."

Kazuya nodded.

He didn't trust himself to speak. How could he, when using the book the last time meant losing one of his dearest friends?

He just remained silent.

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