The three warriors were about to head into the home of Old Man Houjo. They had been told, by Principal Ayuka, that Houjo was an acquaintance of hers. They walked through the front door, expecting to find some dignified person who would be able to sit them down and tell them what they needed to do about all of these disappearances around the school in years past. Yes, they expected a respectable figure, if Ms. Ayuka was willing to go out of her way to call him an acquaintance. What they found inside, however, wasn't exactly what they were expecting.

Inside the cabin was a set of cabinets, a sink, a few tables, and a bed. This was a one-house home, to be sure. Houjo must have lived alone, given the size of the bed on the right end of the cabin. On the table by the 'kitchen' area, and along the floor, were bottles and bottles of alcoholic beverages. Some bottles were open, and some were full. Many of them looked partially empty, if not completely empty. Over by another table, one that sat lower with short stool-seats, was a bald, old man, drinking to his heart's content. From the moment the door had opened, his head whipped around and sent a very confusing statement towards Hitoshi and his friends.

“What?! Who's barging in here while I'ma tryin' to enjoy my good ol' booze?! You'd better have titties or I'll whop you right right in the kisser!” The man had a confused, yet frustrated look on his face as he looked over towards the three students, whom had entered his home. All three of them had widened their eyes and looked at one another, incredibly confused. Was this yelling, drinking, slang-throwing old geezer really Old Man Houjo, the acquaintance that Principal Ayuka had mentioned could help them with this important mission?

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, the three continued into the room and stood in front of where the Old Man was sitting, nearly tripping over a few bottles on the way over there. Hitoshi got as serious of a look on his face as he could, given the circumstances and environment and began the conversation. “You're Old Man Houjo, I presume?” The old man kept surprising them with his speech, making them even less trusting that this is who they were looking for as he barked back at them. “Wha?! I may be old, and I may be a man, but don't chu call me Old Man, ya scrawny bunch of ban manners!”

Sei stepped forward and punched through the reputation the man had gotten before they realized he was an acquaintance of the Principal's, saying everything the others wanted to say, but didn't. “So says the famous master pervert of the beach. Rumor has it that your skills in the art of suspicious voyeurism borders on a biblical scale. On a better day, I might say this was an honor.” Confirming the rumors and their own skepticism, the old man replied to Sei, in accordance to his hobbies. “Eh?! Don't you start criticizing my hobbies! You are never too old to enjoy a pretty woman! Why, I was once a strapping lad, just like you. I just never lost that spark! Hmph! It's not bad manners to have libido!”

They had definitely stumbled on quite the character with this mission. It appears that Rui's suspicions on this guy's activities were right on the mark. How Principal Ayuka wished to call this man her acquaintance, they would probably never know. Tarou took the next step in the conversation, trying to mend any wounds that Sei may have just caused in this man, realizing that they still needed toget some information out of him, other than his habits of being a peeping tom. “Sir...I don't believe my friend was criticizing what you do so much as the method in which you do so.”

This, unfortunately, didn't seem to heal any wounds. The drunken old man barked at them again, yelling at them to leave. “Aha! The green-eyes monster of jealousy rears its ugly head! You youngsters are just jealous that an old man like myself sees so much more booty than you do! More importantly, get out of my house!” Hitoshi started having second thoughts about this man. He told them not to call him an old man, yet he just called himself an old man. Was this nutjob for real with this? Would they really be able to get the information they needed from him?

Trying to do a better job of mending the wounds, Hitoshi stepped forward again, speaking of why they were there. “Houjo-san, we are here on behalf of Principal Ayuka of Suzuka Academy. We have come on an urgent matter of-” Before Hitoshi could say anything, Houjo's eyes lit up with joy from hearing the name “Ayuka”. He then started to creepy them out with a little story from his past. “Ayuka, you say?! Oh, I miss her so much! I tell you boys, if you've never seen her in a bathing suit, you have not lived! Have Not Lived! There was this one time, I snuck into the--”

Speaking up, disgusted, Tarou interrupted the man and told him what was on him mind. “SIR! That is no way to talk about our admirable and kind principal!” The two others were having reactions from this as well. Sei, being the 'lovely' person he was, wanted to hear more of the story, and Hitoshi just wanted to get the information out of him about the mission, so they could leave. “Listen, you dirty old bag of wind! Ayuka sent us here because she thought you might know something about the chain of disappearances over the years, the ones that may soon reoccur, but I can see that the only thing that's ever disappeared up here is any and all dignity you ever had!”

Not helping the conversation at all, Houjo continued the conversation, getting side-tracked, once again. “Disappearances? Oh, things are disappearing all the time up here. For instance, take my hair. When I was a strapping, young lad like you, my hair was--” Tarou let out a sigh as he interrupted Houjo to talk to Hitoshi about the pointlessness of this conversation. “Hitoshi...this is absolutely hopeless. If there's something for us to investigate, I very much doubt that this would be the appropriate venue to do so.” Hitoshi looked at Tarou and nodded. “I'm very tempted to agree with you. Listen, Houjo, we shall be letting Principal Ayuka know that her faith in you was highly misplaced. I hope that causes you some small form of remorse.”

Tarou and Hitoshi were getting ready to leave. They were done with this old pervert. While Sei wanted to stay and chat with this guy, for obvious reasons, he knew that they wanted to leave. They were about to turn and leave when the old man spoke to them, asking them to wait. Hitoshi turned back around and had a confused look on his face. As if Houjou had been completely replaced by a good, respectable person, he began to speak again. “The disappearances you speak of. They are not the result of any murder, abduction, or common foul play. I don't know all of the details, but I do know where you can find out more.”

The three of them were shocked at this sudden change of attitude. Sei, in particular, was amazed at this that he let out his thoughts, on impulse. “People should not become sober and serious so quickly!” Looking past his comment, Houjo continued. “Based on the observations I've been able to make, the individuals who has vanished in the past did not vanish at all. They have been all around you at the academy. Those who are still alive, anyways.” Tarou was intrigued by this sudden pool of knowledge he was showing towards them. “They're still at the academy? What do you mean? How do you know of this?”

Houjou looked at the three of them, with a confused look on his face as well. “I'm not entirely sure what it means. I only overheard the maidens at the Seiryuu Forest Shrine saying something to that effect while I....well, what I was doing over there is not relevant to this...” Stepping in, Hitoshi continued the conversation, asking about the Shrine Maidens. “...but if the maidens knew something about the disappearances, wouldn't they have told the academy about it?”

Houjo took a long, deep breath as he continued, speaking about the shrine. “That shrine is not all it appears to be. Every four years, I sense something coming from there. Some unusual power that is growing, steadily. The maidens start acting differently around this time and things just seem to change. I coincides with the disappearances. Whether they are actually involved in the phenomena or just have a passing awareness of it that they keep hidden, I cannot say.”

Sei, stepping in with his bravado, spoke of a foolish idea for finding out the answer. “Don't worry. Give me a little while and I'll charm those answers right out of one of them.” Houjo's facial expression immediately turned to worry as he barked at Sei, telling him not to do that at all. “NO! You must not start asking question about the matter at shrine. Not for any reason! I witnessed a young man do so in the past. He was amongst the first to disappear that year! A student about your age. His name was Izoku.”

There was pause before he continued. “You must understand that I'm the one who told him what I'm telling you right now. Investigate all you want, but keep all of this information to yourself. You must stay away from that shrine, at all costs.” Hitoshi was starting to like this less and less, being told not to go to the shrine, where there might be more information about this. “How are we supposed to investigate if you are forbidding us from investigating the only place with any sort of lead?”

Houjo then spoke to them again, giving them a new place to go and visit. “You must go to Genbu Mountain. Climb to the top and speak with Lady Hosoki. She knows the history of that place. She might be able to provide you with information as to if and how it is connected to those disappearances.” Tarou looked up, having heard that name before. “Lady Hosoki? I have heard of her, but have never known anyone to actually meet her in person.”

Houjo nodded to Tarou, confirming that not many have actually met the woman. “Lady Hosoki is very reclusive, and not many people have reason to seek her out to begin with. When you find her, tell her that I sent you.” Hitoshi nodded towards the rest of the group and decided that their next destination would be the top of Genbu Mountain. Before they left, however, Houjo asked for a favor. “Hey...since I'm helping you out, what do you say you put in a good word about me with Ayuka? Please?”

Hitoshi looked back towards him and grinned, giving him an answer about all this. “When this is all over with, if your information is accurate, I'll tell her that you're a little bit dirty and lecherous.” With that, the three of them left the cabin, aiming to head out of the beach...