The host club was boisterous as usual, and while I sat with Honey and Mori today because they begged me too, I kept my mouth shut for the most part and waited for the club to be done so I could go home with the twins.

"Jessi-chan, would you like some cake?" I sighed and smiled happily at the teenager who was looking at me with puppy dog eyes, this was the third time he had asked me in ten minutes and every time I answered him the same way.

"Honey, I already had one slice of cake, I don't need any more, thanks though." His pout deepened, and I patted his head, "Why do you want me to eat with you so bad? You have other customers to entertain, I'm perfectly fine just listening."

"But you're ignoring me, Jessi-chan, I want to talk to you but every time I try, you're staring off into space and don't hear me." When I heard that this was his problem, I couldn't help but laugh, "I'm sorry Honey, I swear I didn't realize I was doing that, call it a hazard of being around me, I just got absorbed in something else." I swiped a candy from the dish at my table and popped it in my mouth as he looked at me curiously.

"What were you thinking about?" When he said that, I did my best to fight back the embarrassed blush that tried to rise on my face, thank heavens the current round of customers had just left so not as many people would see me like this.

"Oh, you know, just normal teenager stuff..." I faded off awkwardly and Honey easily picked up on my lie.

"That sounds cool, what was it?"

"I may have been narrating my own anime fight scene between Mori and I" I mumbled out quietly, hoping that neither Honey nor Mori wouldn't be able to hear me; sadly, luck was not on my side at that moment.

Two sets of arms slipped around my shoulders and I could practically feel the twin's mischievousness grow, "Does somebody have a crush on Mori-senpai here?" The one with the deeper voice (Hikaru?) said.

"I don't know, but that certainly seems like it is the case; maybe when she's our maid, we can have her do embarrassing things for Mori-senpai" A lighter voice (Kaoru?) said, then together they said, "You will be the best toy."

I jumped up when they said that and glared at them, now I had even more incentive to win, I didn't even want to think about some of the things that they would make me do. "Like that's going to happen, isn't that right Hikaru?" I said looking at the one with the deeper voice, it had only been two days, but I was fairly confident, and this new threat also made me desperate.

"What's your reasoning?" They asked, once again in unison.

"The tenor of your voice is deeper than your brother's, and you tend to always speak first, so even if you are Kauro, I'll still be able to win, because I can tell you apart from your voices alone." I smiled smugly, I was confident now that I had said my thoughts aloud and saw that they actually made sense

"Man, she's good." Hikaru said, and while that was probably a relatively good thing, something about the way he said it made me nervous.

"Yeah, but she isn't good enough, is she?" Kaoru echoed and that just about made me run for cover.

"I mean, she certainly won't be able to tell us apart when we do this." They linked arms and began spinning around fast enough that my eye couldn't follow who was who; when they stopped, their poses mirrored each other, and they had somehow put on tweed hats that covered their parts. "Now which one's Hikaru?" They chimed and I panicked internally, I had only known them for two days, there was no way that I could tell them apart just yet like this.

I studied them frantically for a few seconds, trying to find any difference, but the adrenaline was not doing my deductive skills any favors. If I wanted to win this, I would have to be thinking clearly, so I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, "Do you give up?" They were taunting me, so I cracked one eye open and glared at them, daring them to keep talking. My mind flew through the encounters we had had, and while I couldn't pick up any major differences, I could tell that Kaoru acted almost subservient to Hikaru, so I started with that. When I opened my eyes again I studied them closely and grinned, they thought they could beat me, did they?

"Well, I can't tell you which one is Hikaru right now, sorry, but I can tell you two apart," I pointed to the one on the left, "You have slightly narrower eyes and there isn't as much mischief in them." I smiled triumphantly, "I still have five days to be able to tell you two apart fluidly and I'm already pretty close, this contest is in the bag." I laughed in victory before I remembered what the initial argument was about, "Oh, and I don't have a crush on Mori, I just was going off the fact that he is amazing with a Kanata, and one thing led to another and then we were fighting dramatically; don't try too hard to question what goes on in my mind, I get confused by it as well." My blush from earlier sprung back into existence and I started walking to the door, desperate to find and escape before the next wave of girls came in.

The twins called out to me before I left, "We'll text you when we're done, meet us by our limo!" Oh great, I was going to spend the rest of the evening with them while they helped me with Japanese, this would be great...

***

Wandering through the halls here was always an interesting experience; between the bright pink walls, the opulent architecture, and the plethora of decorations, there was always something to be looking at, and today was no different. I looked at the paintings that probably cost more than I could ever make in a year, and grumbled about how wasteful rich people were; to be fair though, this school was so much better than my last school, which was a public school built in the 70's when everyone was terrified of a possible nuclear war. It had the ability to be converted into a bomb shelter, so there were very few windows. That was one nice thing about this place, it was so open and bright, and if the communists attacked, we had enough money and influence in the building to bring several armies to our aid.

I chuckled to myself at the path my brain had gone down and then actually began to pay attention to where I was going, probably should have done that sooner seeing as how I had really wandered a long way. I guessed that I was in one of the basements and by the looks of things, this is where a group of Halloween lovers based themselves. The candles had taken on a more gothic old look, and the lights were dimmer, giving the entire place a rather spooky look; I will be the first to admit that I was a major chicken, scary things and I do not get along well, so I was just about ready to turn tail and run, but the sound of Latin chanting stopped me. For those of you who are wondering why that didn't give me even more incentive to get out before I ended up the stereotypical stupid main character in a slasher movie; well, it's because I recognized what they were chanting, and it was the last thing I would've expected in this environment. They were chanting the 47th psalm, which is all about rejoicing and praising God through song and dance.

I approached a door near the end of a hall and murmured to myself, "As long as I get a sarcastic comment out before they kill me, I'll be happy." The door opened as soon as I touched it and a group of people in long black robes with hoods stood in a circle around a skull. The oxymoron of the situation was too much for me, a snort made it's way out and the whole room quieted.

"Anata wa daredesuka, naze anata wa watashitachi no kurai gishiki o chūdan shimashita ka? (Who are you and why have you come to interrupt our dark rites?)" One of the cloaked people said and I smiled apologetically, I understood most of that, and anyone who thought that that chant was a dark rite couldn't be that much of a threat.

"Watashinonamaeha Jessica Parrik; chūdan shite mōshiwakearimasen, anata ga itte ita koto o anata wa shitte imasu ka? (My name is Jessica Parrik; I'm sorry to interrupt you, but do you know what you were saying?)" I was proud to have gotten that whole phrase out without any stuttering or needing to stop.

"I've heard of you, you are the transfer student who doesn't speak Japanese well!" A girl shouted out and I nodded, grateful for the language switch.

"That I am, it seems as though you have an edge on me, you know my name, but I have no idea what any of yours is." I said with a quick bow, that was one thing that I was learning well, when in doubt, you should probably bow.

The person who first spoke stepped forward and pulled off his hood, showing a black-haired boy, whose hair seemed to not fit him well, was it a wig?

"Our apologies, I am Nekozawa Umehito, founder and president of the Black Magic club, as for the answer to your question, we were simply reciting our prayer to the dark gods who we worship."

"It's wonderful to meet you, I had no idea this school had a black magic club, that is so fascinating!" I was ecstatic because things like this were so intriguing to me, just like serial killer were (no judgements okay, it's not like I researched them to become one.), "Nekozawa, I hate to tell you this, but what you were chanting was pretty much the opposite of a prayer to dark gods, it was actually a Latin psalm that praises the God of the Old Testament. Do you really say that every day?" Everyone in the room shifted awkwardly and there were some mumbled responses that I couldn't make out until the girl stepped forward and jerked down her hood, showing a girl with dark hair and eyes and almost gothic makeup.

"How do you know that that's what we are saying, why should we believe you?"

I nodded gently, "That's a totally valid question, I know because I recognized the words you were using, I sang the 47th psalm last year for my school choir, and we always had to research what we were saying. I don't expect you to just believe me though, you can look up the words if you know the spelling, that might be useful."

There was a moment of silence before Nekozawa hesitantly asked, "Why are you here though, Parrik-san?"

"You know, I'm not entirely sure. I was wandering around waiting for the clubs to be done, and I must have wandered clear across the school." I laughed in a self-depreciating way and then my curiosity came back, "So, what do you do here? DO you curse people, or is it more like a support group type of thing?"

"We are practitioners of the art, this is a place for us to learn and grow in darkness." One of the people who still had their hoods on stepped forward, and as fascinating as this was, I was just a little creeped out, though I still had more questions to ask; thankfully, my phone buzzed at that moment, my escape route had opened up.

"I would love to stay and chat, but I have to be going now, is it okay if I come back again to learn more about this later?" I gave everyone a smile and Nekozawa once again was the one who spoke.

"We would like nothing more, you are always welcome to come and immerse yourself in our darkness." I left as quickly as I could and through much trial and error, I finally found my way to an exit and met the twins who were laughing at something I hadn't heard.

"Do you always get lost? Is this a normal thing for you?" They said, almost mockingly and I stuck my tongue out at them.

"At least I found my way on my own this time; and no, I'm usually very good with directions, this school throws me off."

"Mmhhmm." Kaoru said slightly, condescendingly, "Just like Mori throws you off?"

"Are you kidding me? The only thing about him that throws me off is why he has so many fan girls; some of the girls in our class swoon when he walks in, it's ridiculous." I rolled my eyes, though if I were to be honest with myself, I actually thought that he was a cool guy, I just didn't know how to get close to many people. "Should we get going, or are we going to sit out here and keep talking like old ladies?" They laughed and we climbed in their limo, once again, I was doing something that would be typically considered really stupid, a.k.a, climbing into the car of someone that I've just met; if I kept this up, this really could end up being a slasher fanfic.