Spider

"You're rather bad at this, Chisato."

"The hell do you expect, I've never played this before."

"Not elegant."

"Damn it!"

"Relax Akutenshi. I already told you it's impossible to beat me."

Currently at a senior gym, 4 individuals are indulging themselves in the fierce game known as table tennis. They're key vampires apart of the Slayers. A quick meeting was put together by Hanako to briefly go over their plans for the coming months.

"Just us 4 will do. Let's get this short meeting started."

The vampires continue to play as Hanako begins the briefing, he's the one responsible for kidnapping Chifuyu and Iris the previous year. Hanako is the 2nd in command of the Slayers, being the brain while still having the power to back him up.

"I've organized a few hundred vampires in the 3rd district, where we'll be raiding the Hunter Academy this October."

"Gah... It's still a few months away. Can't we push this forward?"

"No, October will be the best time to execute this. October 31st to be more precise."

"Halloween."

"The Hunter Academy has a big event that day every 3 years, including not just the students but also hundreds, possibly even thousands of guests."

"So we dress up and enter inconspicuously."

"Yeah. Security'll be tight and they'll be IDing everyone. That won't be a problem since we'll have fake IDs made. But they know what Akutenshi and I look like, so we'll have to change our looks a little."

"What I'm hearing is we'll have no problem killing all the humans there, right?"

"Yeah, we'll split up into different areas of the Academy, but we'll go over that later."

"....."

"What's the matter, Chisato? Not feeling so good?"

"I'm fine."

"Cool. The humans of this world will come to know they've taken their more or less false peace for granted. This raid will act as a prelude to chaos."

"So, what comes after?"

"We'll use the Hidden District to get rid of Shoyo."

"Haha. He won't go that easily. Besides, we still have some unfinished business."

"You've taken a real liking to him, huh?"

"You bet. He's the toughest foe I've had in ages."

"In any case... No matter how it happens, Shoyo will have to die by next year."

"Augh!"

Chisato throws her table tennis racket at the wall as she's still unable to land a point against Patrick.

"Hanako. If you don't mind, I'm going to entertain myself until the raid."

"You're finally going to pay him a visit, Patrick?"

"That's right," he replies with a malicious grin.

"We're done for now, right? I'm leaving."

"Bye-bye."

Patrick leaves the gym with an irritated Chisato behind him. Hanako and Akutenshi continue to play table tennis, until the hold-blooded vampire breaks the racket that is.

"Looks like I have to pay for another thing you broke."

Ignoring Hanako's statement, Akutenshi smiles menacingly from ear to ear with veins popping out of his face due to how eager he is to fight Shoyo again.

"This is getting interesting now."

***

"Delivery again?"

"Yeah?"

"We've done that for the past few days..."

Odd Jobs is facing a current predicament, Shinatsu isn't delighted with them ordering out 3 days in a row.

"You guys know how to cook, right?"

"...."

Silence from all 4 of them.

"We've been ordering out for the past few months," Kagura confesses.

"You're joking, you have to be."

"...."

More silence. Ariel doesn't feel guilty about anything, but Chifuyu, Iris, and Kagura realize how much of a slouch they've been for getting food delivered to them this whole time.

"You guys run a cafe, and don't know how to cook? No.. You're living on your own and can't even cook?"

"Teehee."

Kagura tries to play innocent. But it's ineffective against Shinatsu. A flame hotter than the depths of hell surrounds her as she looks at them with fury. Shinatsu's about to whip them into shape.

"Chifuyu, give that to me."

"Huh?"

"Give me that burger!"

She snatches the bacon cheeseburger out of Chifuyu's hand and eats it right in front of his face.

"Nooooooooo!"

"All of you, forfeit your food to me! None of you louts are allowed to eat anything until you can cook at least 3 meals."

"Hey, you can't do this," cries Ariel.

"Y-yeah," Iris meagerly agrees.

"Oh, I will. Because the one in charge here will relinquish their rights to me," she states as she stares down Kagura.

Dripping with sweat, Kagura falls in line.

"We'll follow your orders until you deem us worthy."

"Kagura?!"

She feels responsible. She's supposed to be the leader here, yet has been letting her members order food out for 3 months straight. It's definitely not a good lifestyle, which is why this change must be effective immediately. She's truly happy someone like Shinatsu joined them.

"I'm gonna whip you maggots into shape."

A new tyrant has taken rule of Odd Jobs.

Thus, a hellish 2 weeks of training in the kitchen commenced. Out of it, would come newly competent young adults living by themselves who know how to cook. During this, Shinatsu regretted that she didn't include a cooking challenge against her competition with Iris.

***

"Oh, Ms. Nailah's here."

"Good evening, Chifuyu."

"Good evening."

Chifuyu bows while greeting her. He has been very respectful toward Nailah, to earn her trust and respect. She checks in once or twice a week to see how they're doing and to brief them on any Hunter-related news they need to hear. Shoyo has been doing the same.

"Round up everybody for me."

"You got it."

Kagura and Ariel had just gotten back from their patrol not too long, and the other 3 had a busy day at the cafe so they're all a bit tired. Nothing different from their usual day though so they manage just fine. Everyone is gathered in the living room for Nailah's briefing. Ariel and Shinatsu were already there playing connect 4.

"Ha! Eat it!"

"What the... I demand a rematch."

"Ms. Nailah's here guys."

Shinatsu had lost dozens of times, beating Ariel seemed impossible. But it was done. Seeing Shinatsu energetic wasn't something Nailah thought she'd see.

"So she's still able to smile like that," Nailah whispers to herself. Kagura heard her but chose not to ask her what she meant.

"I'll get straight to the point, the vampire imposter continues to claim more victims each week."

"He hasn't been caught yet?"

"No. He's getting bolder while still managing to not get caught. Nobody who's seen his face is still alive. Not a single Hunter has gotten a profile on this guy. But he's recently started leaving something at the scenes of his victims."

"What is it?"

"His name. He's going by Charlatan. This imposter is making a mockery of the Hunter Agency, so we're upping the surveillance 10-fold in this district. He's a high-priority threat."

"Should we be on guard for him?"

"All of his attacks are during the night, since you have patrol during the day I'd say you shouldn't have to worry too much. But still, be wary."

"Got it."

"Yes ma'am."

They all respond to her warning. This human claiming himself as Charlatan will make an appearance soon. With that, Nailah takes her leave

"Hey, you think Ms. Nailah was looking more serious than usual?" asks Chifuyu.

Kagura agrees, "Yeah, actually."

"She always looks serious, but something else must be up."

Something else is going on. An entirely different case.

"You think this guy could be with the Slayers, Ariel?"

"No way, he's human after all."

***

It's a rainy night, an omen for the coming days. Odd Jobs has been infiltrated by a super-threat level wanted all across Shioto. It's one of many of its kind and feared by all. It's a spider.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Shoyo who had visited today gets jump scared by the gruesome spider and leaps into Chifuyu's arms who's also scared of the spider. Thus causing a chain reaction of jumping into Kagura's arms, then into Shinatsu's who can't catch them because of the weight and tumbles onto the floor.

"What the hell are you idiots doing?!"

"It's a spider! Get rid of it!"

"Kill it with fire!"

"You guys are all idiots. You fight against vampires, why are you scared of a spider."

"These things are more terrifying than a vampire.."

Hearing all the commotion, Iris walk into the living room.

"Iris, help us!"

"Huh? What's going on?"

Turning her eyes to where everyone's looking, she sees a spider crawling on the floor toward her. She crouches down and extends her arm out, allowing the spider to climb on her hand.

"She-Iris tamed it?!"

"This is crazy."

"That's my disciple," Shoyo states with a smirk even though he's still sweating with fear.

"Why are you guys scared of this little guy? It's harmless."

"Thank god you're not scared of it, you wouldn't be my rival otherwise."

"Hehe."

The compliments get straight to Iris's head.

"Do you think spiders have feelings?"

"Of course they do!"

Chifuyu asks a question that's outlandish to Iris which invokes a prompt reply unlike her. She then goes on a ridiculous tangent that nobody could've expected.

"Imagine a Shioto that was ruled by spiders and humans were the insects. Where they would ruthlessly crush us under their feet anytime they laid eyes on us. If the roles were reversed, we would just be helplessly crushed even though we have feelings. Look at this spider in the palm of my hand, he has feelings just like the rest of us. So please, stop killing spiders!"

It was a beautiful speech, Chifuyu, Shoyo, Kagura, and even Ariel all shed tears. No longer would they kill spiders. It was the start of a journey of self-improvement. Moral of the story: Everyone has feelings. They will strive to be like Iris.

***

During the same time, Nailah was out and about with a few Hunters who are under her authority. The rain was pouring down the hardest it's been in months. Nevertheless, they walked down a street with Nailah having one of the Hunters hold an umbrella over her. There is only one word to describe her current countenance.

Wrathful.

"So, they're finally making their move again?" asks Nailah.

"Yes. We have evidence of Hidden District activity not only here, but in the 5 districts surrounding us. Multiple Hunters have lost their lives in the past couple of days."

"The society that may have connections to the Slayers."

"I trust you know who killed them."

"Yes. There was no evidence within a several-mile perimeter of the areas they were all killed in, but there was something beyond that."

Another Hunter continues the report.

"There were freakishly long webs in unusual places found outside those perimeters. Such as secluded alleyways, abandoned buildings, and even down in the sewers."

"The Spider Vamp is back."

"The one who cursed me."

Nailah's face is twisted with wrath. She had a feeling, but now she has confirmation. The vampire who inflicted a curse on Nailah, causing her to be unable to wield a weapon and enter hiatus as a Hunter is making her presence known again.

"Find her, no matter what. Get Soru on this immediately."

"Yes ma'am."

Two of the Hunters disperse, leaving the one holding the umbrella over Nailah.

The prelude to chaos is slowly, but surely coming.