Rosario and Joestar

Tsukune woke gradually, in what seemed to him like a large conference room. Although his only point of reference were the candles on the wall, and that their distance from him and between each other seemed to indicate that he wasn't in a standard classroom. The rope used to keep him bound in his chair, however, might well have come from anywhere in this crazy school.

"Mister Aono," a deep and cultured-sounding voice called from the darkness.

"Y-yes?!" Tsukune yelped, before flinching at how loud he sounded to his own ears.

And while there were a lot of good reasons for him to be fearful -- attending a school run by a psychotic and predatory collective student body and the seemingly-incompetent teachers who let them get away with it, currently isolated from any of the close friends who would fight to the death defending his squishy human self if needed, and currently he didn't even know where the hell he was, having been knocked out with what he assumed was chloroform.

However! Even in this dire and potentially fatal situation, Tsukune still didn't succumb to despair! For if there was one thing his many experiences of fearing for his life and being rescued by girls had taught him, it was the ability to always think of something positive!

At least no one I know was around to hear the way my voice cracked just now, so if even I do get killed I'll at least have that much dignity left...

As Tsukune realized that he'd just tried to think optimistically about dying, a tall upperclassman strode into view, coming around from behind him. As he did so, the candles along the walls slowly and dramatically increased in brightness, allowing Tsukune to see his presumed captor in detail.

From his angle bound to the chair, the upperclassman actually looked a little taller than Jotaro-senpai, though certainly slimmer and less muscular-looking than said delinquent. His long, blonde hair was quite possibly the straightest Tsukune had ever seen, and it fell past his shoulders; the man, for with such intimidating presence Tsukune couldn't possibly call him a boy, had a sharp, angular face.

"Mister Aono," he repeated while sounding slightly less like a possible serial killer, "do you know why you're here?"

Either because I'm in the Newspaper Club and you found me defenseless, or because you figured out I'm a human and found me defenseless, the picture-perfect ordinary boy guessed to himself.

"No," he said instead. "I don't even know where 'here' is."

The upperclassman nodded, before walking to Tsukune's right -- ah, there's a table there -- and taking a seat across from him. "In that case, let me first inform you that I am Kuyo, chairman of Youkai Academy's Student Protection Committee. Does that explain why you're here?"

"Not really," Tsukune honestly replied. "I mean, I know the SPC has some kind of beef with the Newspaper Club, and obviously I'm a part of that club, but I don't know anything about its history. Gin-senpai wouldn't tell the rest of us anything, and frankly I never even heard of you guys until the last week or so."

Closing his eyes, Kuyo leaned back in his chair. "I see... yes, there were... internal problems during the first semester that precluded our usual peacekeeping duties, so unfortunately there were many more violent incidents in the school than in the last two years."

Tsukune knew better than anyone that he was utterly helpless, but he couldn't help lowering his guard a little bit on seeing a lack of hostility in Kuyo's expression.

"Our beef, as you put it, is that in previous years the Newspaper Club published articles to turn the student population against us, in some cases inciting violence and even threatening the lives of SPC officers. Last year things came to a head, and to defend ourselves...."

Kuyo shrugged. "Well, we left the Newspaper Club pretty much the way you found it."

Meaning Gin-senpai's the only survivor, after they slaughtered everyone else. It certainly explained a few things, like how Gin had kept insisting on shutting the club down the very moment the SPC had shown up, and how he'd tried ordering the underclassmen to leave the issue alone. That perverted scumbag might've been trying to save us, Tsukune abruptly realized.

There was a brief silence, before Tsukune found his courage -- and with it, his voice. "...Kuyo-senpai," he cautiously asked, "can I speak honestly?"

The question seemed to get a chuckle out of the SPC Chairman, who nodded. "For your sake, I'd hope for nothing else."

Tsukune knew he was already hosed. He was tied up pretty tightly, and even if he weren't, he didn't have any kind of supernatural powers. He'd be hard pressed to fight his way out of a paper bag, much less the schoolyard yakuza's headquarters.

Indeed, there was only one thing he could possibly attempt to do in this situation, unless Moka or Jotaro or both and/or their other friends showed up to save him.

"My friends and I never heard of you guys until you came to us, so obviously we haven't written anything about you this year. You just said you guys weren't even busy in the first semester, so it's not like you did anything we could've reported positively on either. But since the SPC have come back around, everyone I ask about it is terrified or hates you. Students and teachers alike call you gangsters and thugs, and they say that the only thing you're 'protecting' are your finances. If this is true," and Tsukune made sure to emphasize the 'if', "then wouldn't it be in everyone's best interests for an entity like the Newspaper Club to get the word out? I'm not saying you're a bad guy, but if there are... corrupt elements in your organization, then why is it so bad to have an external body expose them so you can deal with them? What's the harm in keeping you guys honest?"

A split-second later, Tsukune remembered that his life was in danger. "Hypothetically speaking, I mean."

Kuyo was silent for several seconds, and for the first time in that meeting, there was a flicker of emotion across his face. Tsukune could've been mistaken, but he almost thought it was... regret?

"I'm not sure if you've noticed, but a significant majority of the incidents in the first semester were caused by first-year students, or by older students that transferred in from other schools -- in other words, by students that did not attend Youkai Academy in either of the last two years. Saizou Komiya, Kurumu Kurono, Yukari Sendo... these are just a few of the culprits central to high-profile incidents, or strings of incidents, earlier this year."

Tsukune considered that, and in hindsight realized that the times he or his friends had been attacked by upperclassmen or teachers were... not exactly rare, but certainly less frequent than attacks by students their own age. "I guess?"

"What that means," Kuyo explained, "is that anyone who remembers the two previous years at this school would remember the Student Protection Committee, and many do still fear us. So if you thought for even a moment that the school year had been chaotic so far," he said while leaning forward, and his next words sent a chill down Tsukune's spine:

"Imagine if there had never been any kind of Student Protection Committee at all. No force of any kind to rein in monsterkind's destructive or predatory impulses on campus."

And the worst part was that Tsukune could imagine it, quite easily. "It'd be total anarchy," he whispered in wide-eyed dread. "Youkai Academy wouldn't be so much a school as it would a jungle."

"That's right," Kuyo agreed. "When I first came to Youkai Academy two years ago, 'jungle' was exactly the word to describe it. And before my freshman year was over, I had established a group to create and enforce order in this school."

Tsukune nodded hesitantly. "...I'm listening, but that didn't really answer my question."

"...you're right," the SPC chair admitted. "From what I've gathered, it seems you were raised in human society."

Tsukune noticed the venom in the upperclassman's tone on naming his species, and tried to suppress a flinch. Fortunately, Kuyo had closed his eyes in contemplation, so he may not have noticed.

"It may not be obvious to you, then," he continued, "but there are two traits generally common across all races of monster: they are both fiercely tribalistic and insular. Unless it's for someone they have a strong personal attachment to, monsters as a general rule do not stick their neck out for others. The only way I could gather enough manpower to enforce order over the entire school was by appealing to our mutual classmates' fear... or to their greed. Only with overwhelming force and widespread fear, was I able to turn this so-called school into a legitimate learning environment."

Hence the protection racket and fierce retaliation against critics, Tsukune realized. "That may explain the situation," he allowed, "but even if your intentions are supposed to be good, it still doesn't justify or excuse your organization committing extortion, brutality, or terrorism against the student body."

Kuyo raised an eyebrow. "The Student Protection Committee may not be as noble as anyone would like, but surely you can agree that our presence and ironclad enforcement practices make the school safer than Darwinistic anarchy?"

"I was force-fed a chloroform rag," Tsukune drily replied, "and when I woke up I was tied to a chair. 'Safe' and 'protected' are some of the last words I'd use for how I feel right now. If your goons think it's okay to kidnap people who haven't even done anything, like you're some kind of Gestapo or something, then who's gonna protect me or anyone else from them?"

Kuyo sighed in apparent exasperation, but by his silence seemed to concede the point. "Mister Aono... tell me something," he began instead. "What do you think about -- "

Tsukune tried to brace himself, ready for any number of words that might suggest the jig was up and his secret uncovered...

"-- dolphins?"

The Newspaper boy's eyes damn near bugged out of his head. "...Dolphins?!"

"Yes," Kuyo said with a nod. "As a journalist, certainly you at least know what dolphins are, don't you?"

"Well, yeah," Tsukune muttered, "but that doesn't mean I'm an expert on them."

Kuyo casually waved a hand through the air. "I don't need a marine biology essay, I'm just curious of whatever comes to mind when you think of dolphins."

Utterly taken off guard, Tsukune mulled over the prompt. "Well, I guess they seem like cute, fun-loving creatures. Or at least, I say that based on the few times I've gone to an aquarium with my family."

Kuyo nodded, hmming in understanding. "I see. If your primary experience with them is seeing them do tricks in captivity, then it makes sense you'd feel that way."

"At the same time, though," Tsukune cut in, "aren't there are a lot of stories about dolphins having rescued sailors at sea and even fighting off sharks to protect them? So if that's true, then that would make them strong and brave too, wouldn't it?"

Kuyo smiled. Despite his looking in many ways like a serial killer, it surprisingly didn't hold much menace behind it. "You're not wrong. And when you put it that way, dolphins sound like a noble, heroic sort of animal, don't they?"

"Sure, I guess so." Why did I just imagine a dolphin wearing Jotaro-senpai's hat and beating up other dolphins?

"But are you aware," Kuyo asked while leaning forward, "that dolphins -- just like humans -- have been observed in the wild to murder, and indeed attack each other in cold blood in what seems like torture?"

To prove his point, Kuyo produced a copy of the Newspaper Club's very own Youkai Gazette that had just been published.

Moka and Yukari worked on that article, didn't they?

"I've been tied up interviewing a bunch of the sports clubs, so I haven't actually read it myself yet," he admitted. "But since Moka and Yukari worked on it, I'm sure their reporting is credible. ...and can I just point out for the record that lots of monster races do those very same things to each other?"

"Indeed they do," Kuyo agreed, "but my point is this: for all that dolphins can be 'fun-loving' or 'heroic' creatures... they can also be sadistic little psychopaths."

Tsukune pointedly kept his mouth shut. You'd know a lot about sadistic psychopaths, wouldn't you? Since you lead an organization full of them.

"So my question," Kuyo asked with burning conviction in his eyes, "is this: without having an extensive history with any specimen in particular, how would you distinguish a 'good' dolphin from an 'evil' one?"

The question was so bizarre and out of place, even in comparison to dolphins having been brought up in the first place, that it took Tsukune several seconds before he could even process it. After some extended navel-gazing, he finally produced an answer. "Well, you can't really tell someone's morality just by looking at them in a normal circumstance. And since I don't exactly speak dolphin, I wouldn't be able to talk it out with them and figure it out for myself, either."

When he looked back to Kuyo, Tsukune had to fight not to crap himself.

The upperclassman's entire body was distorted by a haze in the air, and suddenly there wasn't any trace of moisture in the air. The room turned unbearably hot, and the candles along the walls flared up until they had almost become solid pillars of fire.

"That's exactly right," Kuyo praised with a grin. "It's [completely impossible] to determine if an individual's character is that of Justice or Evil at a glance."

The SPC chairman stood up, and Tsukune tried to run away on instinct but succeeded only in falling over, still being tied to his chair.

"And because humans and monsters have [no hope] of understanding each other on a fundamental level," he continued, "communication will also prove fruitless."

Kuyo opened his eyes, and the hatred Tsukune saw in his gaze was matched only by a sense of determination. "That's why the only way to protect monsterkind's future is to exterminate with prejudice and make an example of every human that appears in this academy."

[<--- TO BE CONTINUED]