"Welcome again to class," said Mr. Rivera.  "And how are all of you today?  We've got a new student joining us today..."

A young woman stood up next to him; she had a short mop of unruly yellow-brown hair, and was dressed very cheaply, in torn jeans and a dirty white hoodie...

...and she was glaring at Garnet.

Rania looked at the new girl quizzically.

"No way!" Garnet said.

"Hello," she said.  "I'm Banji.  I'm... not used to being in a school.  I hope we all get along."

Yep, she was still looking a lot at John and Garnet.

Yasmin felt kinship with wild dogs; they were close to the hyenas her family was associated with.  (She didn't need an introduction as far as that went; her sense of smell was quite adequate for the purpose.)  She gave Banji a warm smile.

"Why is the dog here?" Garnet whispered to John.

"...I think she just figured out how to turn into a human," John whispered.  "I think she's one of the dogs that runs with us sometimes, too..."

"Lovely," Garnet said.

John shrugged.

"I mean, it's a big accomplishment," he said.  "But she's probably not good at being human."

"What is she?" Rania whispered to you.

"Yeah, but she might be after me," Garnet said.

"A dog," said Yasmin.  "Or something like that.  But, uh, yeah, pretty sure, dog."

"Maybe," said John.  "...but, I mean, she's a dog.  You're a dragon.  What's she going to do?"

"That's...different," Rania said.

"Yeah, but I don't want the vampire having a minion or anything," Garnet said.

"Well, you could try reaching out to her," said John.  "Maybe if we do it together?"

Yasmin shrugged.

"I've heard of things like that before," she said.  "Not where I'm from, but in some parts of the world, there are animals that turn into humans.  I think that's what she is."

"Interesting. Kind of surprised about a dog though," Rania said.

"That's a great idea! I could kiss you," Garnet said.

John looked around.

"...not in front of everyone?" he pleaded.  "I'm shy.  Uh, do you want to try talking to her?"

Yasmin shrugged.

"I've heard there are umbrella monsters out there," she said.  "It's a crazy world."

"Heh. True enough," Rania said.

"I should. Yes," Garnet said. "And good to know..."

What was Garnet's next move?

"So it looks like there's some drama happening there," said Yasmin.  "I wonder what's going to happen?"

"I don't know. Have you talked with any of them before?" Rania asked.

Garnet smiled and waved at the dog-girl.

"No," said Yasmin.  "Dragons make me nervous, and it can be tricky for us to be around canines.  Sometimes, it's fine, but sometimes, they don't like the way we smell."

Banji looked uncertain, but approached Garnet, warily.  She kept glancing at John, who gave her an encouraging smile.

"...what do you want?" she asked.

"Have you met a dragon before? I'm surprised," Rania said.

"I want to apologize to you. I didn't realize you were a wild dog and not one that had been a pet. So, I'm sorry," Garnet said.

"I mean, not personally, but Garnet's a dragon," said Yasmin.  "That makes me nervous!  They breath fire and stuff!"

Banji digested this.

"...all right," she said.  "Why are you with John?"

"Sure, but she said she's only a half-one," Rania said.

"Because we're sating," Garnet said.

Banji frowned.

"Is that really an answer?" she asked.  "Human thoughts are hard, but that sounded like you're with John because you're with John.  But why are you with John?"

"I guess," said Yasmin.  "Still kind of nervous.  Fire... uh, Fire is of the Other Side.  I mean, in our religion.  Some people call them Fire-Worshippers, even though they aren't.  They actually worship Light... but Fire is still a big thing for them, and it's a thing that, you know, we aren't super-comfortable with unless we have it firmly under control."

"Ah. Okay, that makes sense," Rania said. "But in the Christian religion Dragons were associated with evil, including the big bad devil."

"I'm dating him because he seemed fun," Garnet said. "I'm new in the area and he seems nice."

Yasmin shrugged.

"Christians," she said.  "That's not really a thing for us.  For obvious reasons.  Fire bad."

Banji nodded, reluctantly.

"He is nice," she said.  "All right.  Accept you."

"Sure, just saying. I have a lot of trivia in my head," Rania said.

"Okay, good. So, you sometimes run with his pack, eh?" Garnet said.

"Oh, sure," said Yasmin.  "It's actually a really neat thing about you.  You know so much!"

"When they let me," said Banji.

"Okay, I guess I've seen your dog a time or two?" John said, thinking back.  "Not often, though."

"Some are scary," said Banji.  "...you aren't, John."

"Thanks, I mean, some of it is probably the riddles thing," Rania said.

"I can be pretty scary when I try, but that's thanks to being half-dragon," Garnet said.

"You are," said Banji.  "...maybe John needs that?  I don't know."

"That's still cool..." said Yasmin.  She looked Rania over.  "You still like riddles a lot, just day-to-day too, don't you?"

"It is what we're known for," Rania said.

"You could still sense it? I didn't even turn it on," Garnet said.

"...you were scary before, chasing me," said Banji.

"Well, sure," said Yasmin.  "I just hadn't really thought about that before... but it's neat!  I don't know if I can solve them all, of course... but there's one that I think I'm figuring out.  Probably.  Maybe."

"Oh? Which one is that?" Rania asked.

"Ah. Sorry," Garnet said.

Yasmin grinned and held a finger to her lips.

"That one's a secret!  But we'll see..."

"...it's all right," said Banji.  Was she reluctant to say that?  But then a thought made her smile.

"Were you being protective of him?"

"Okay, but you have to tell me eventually," Rania said.

"Kinda ya. I wanted to know who you were and what you were doing. I thought you might have been a spy or something," Garnet said.

"That's fine, then," said Banji, nodding.  "...with one understanding that we must have, of course."

"Oh, I will," said Yasmin.  "Maybe soon.  And I could be wrong, of course..."

"That's fair," Rania said.

"Sure. What's that?" Garnet asked.

"...so is there anything else that you want to do after we go to the special shop?" Yasmin asked.

"If you hurt him, or aren't good for him, I'll take him away from you," said Banji.

"There is this antique shop I want to check out," Rania said.

"That's fair," Garnet said.

"Do I get a--" John started.

"No," said Banji.  "I like you.  She likes you.  You like her, and that's all right.  I want you to be happy.  But if she doesn't make you happy, I want you."

"Well, we can take a look," said Yasmin.  "And maybe get coffee in the cafe or something, too."

"That sounds good," Rania said.

Garnet gave John a pat on the shoulder.

"There, there."

"It's kind of flattering, actually," John admitted.  "I mean, don't worry, I want to be with you, Garnet.  But it's nice to feel wanted."

"I'm looking forward to it," said Yasmin, giving her an almost-flirtatious smile.

"How was the café?" Yumi asked.

"What happened between you and the vampire?" Garnet asked.

"...she set me up on a fake date," John sighed.  "Totally humiliated me.  I... lost my temper.  In a bad way.  With fur."

"It was awesome!" said Yasmin.  "Absolutely everything I'd hoped for!"

"That's cool. Glad it worked out," Yumi said.

"You rampaged around a bit?" Garnet asked.

"The regular food is good, too," said Yasmin.  "Always a plus."

"Yeah," said John, uncomfortable and embarrassed.

"Yeah, you should try the doughnuts if you haven't," Yumi said.

"Hey, don't worry, I'm not going to judge you on this," Garnet said.

John sighed and shrugged.

"That's the general gist of it," he said.  "It was in a place where the public couldn't see it, so it was mostly just embarrassing.  My family had to deal with me, but they weren't too bad about it."

"I will!" Yasmin promised.  "Do you like donuts, Rania?"

"I doubt there are too many people that dislike fried dough," Rania said.

"You won't have to worry about that any more," Garnet said. "I'm certainly not planning anything like that, though I wouldn't mind another date soon. My dad wasn't happy catching us kissing, so we'll have to do it in secret."

John blushed.

"Well," he said, "I can live with that..."

Yasmin laughed.

"I guess that's true," she said.  "So, we'll get donuts together!"

"T-that sounds good," Rania said.

"Good, because you're pretty good at it," Garnet said.

Well, now.  It was looking like Yasmin may have read the situation correctly, and--

Mm.  Now, that wasn't really a bad prospect, was it?  She might be misunderstanding something, of course, and she'd be braced for that, but...

The idea made Yasmin smile.

"Sounds like a plan," said Yasmin.  "...we could even share one."

"...that's definitely good to hear," said John.

"...share sometime?" Banji asked hopefully, with the air of a dog watching someone eat a hamburger.

"Th-that is an idea," Rania said.

"Oh? You want to make out with my boyfriend?" Garnet asked.

"It might be fun," said Yasmin.  Yeah, she was going to be flirting with Rania, no two ways about it.  Which sounded fun.

Banji blushed.

"...you said he was good at it," she said, lamely.

Rania nodded.

"What do you think, John?" Garnet asked with an amused tone in her voice.

John blushed.

"That's absolutely not fair to drop on me, but DEFINITELY not doing this in the middle of class," he said, "Period."

"Okay, so we know what we're doing after school for sure," said Yasmin.  "And I'm really looking forward to it!"

"Sure," Rania said.

"That's fair," Garnet said.

"...so what now?" Yasmin asked.  "Oh, hey, has anybody run into humans wandering around with a phone app?  It's apparently kind of a thing lately."

"Anyway," John continued, "you know that you get a veto on that, right?"

"Can you narrow that down a bit? That's a pretty wide net," Yumi said.

"I know, I'm not totally opposed," Garnet said.

Banji was giving Garnet what were literally puppy-dog eyes.

"....really?" she said.

"There's a navigation app that they believe will lead them to mystery sites, haunted sites, things like that," Yasmin explained.  "I have no idea if that's just a dumb rumor, or if it really works."

"Ah, I think I heard about something like that," Yumi said. "Those videos are big on TikTok."

"I'm certainly...curious about things," Garnet said.

"So I'm talking to some of the girls who are doing it," said Yasmin.  "I want to keep an eye on them.  Make sure they don't get into anything too dangerous."

...she didn't want to have to participate in cleanup, too.  But... she was a ghul.  As awkward as it would be, it was always a question, where humans were concerned.

But she really didn't want to eat anyone she knew while they were alive if she could help it.

"...Okay, that's a statement that we need to figure out sometime when the entire class isn't staring at us," said John.

"But what exactly can we do?" Yumi asked.

"Come on, those girls are being way louder, but signal received," Garnet said.

"Maybe later?" Banji said, hopefully.  John looked torn.

"What I'm going to try to do," said Yasmin.  "Figure out where they're going to be so that I can make sure that they don't stumble over anything."

"Ah, okay, if you don't want any help that's fine," Yumi said.

"After class," Garnet said.

"All right," said John.  "I think we're about done, aren't we?"

"Oh, no, if you can, that would be great!" said Yasmin.  "Maybe other people can check in on them, too?  Join up with them or follow them and figure out when they're gonna do anything dangerous."

"Looks like it," Garnet said.

"I guess I could. I'm not great at stealth," the nearly six and a half-foot tall girl said.

"So," said John.  "You want to, uh, go somewhere?"

"You're good with people, though," said Yasmin.  She'd had no reason to assume Yumi was bad at stealth, of course-- many positively huge monsters were sneaky!

"I'll do my best," Yumi said.

"Sure. Know somewhere good," Garnet said.

"Well, some ideas," said John.  "Anything special you're in a mood for?"

"Cool," said Yasmin.  "I'm just, you know, worried that they'll see something bad.  For them.  And maybe us."

"It's certainly possible," Yumi said.

"Eh, something simple," Garnet said.

"I guess the other thing is spreading the word to be careful when we're doing, you know, stuff we don't want humans to know about," said Yasmin.  "But it might not come to that.  I don't know..."

"Food together?" Banji proposed.

"Sure, but ghosts can be weird," Yumi said.

"Sure, that's a good idea," Garnet said.

"I guess," said Yasmin.  "They normally stay away from us.  We're eaters of the dead, and that's kind of scary for them."

"Cool," said John.  "Maybe something different than yesterday?  What do you like, Garnet?"

"Sure, but plenty don't know they're dead," Yumi said.

"Pizza?" Garnet suggested.

"Sure, sounds good," said John.  "How about you, Banji?"

"I am willing to eat literally anything," she said.  "Especially with you, of course."

"I didn't know that," said Yasmin, surprised.  "Huh.  Poor things... they still usually avoid us, though."

"They are pretty unpredictable if they aren't part of our society," Yumi said.

"Well, that is something," Garnet said.

"A stray can't be picky," said Banji.  "But company makes food better."

"You know a lot about them?" Yasmin asked.

"I've dealt with several," Yumi said.

"What about food dogs can't have? Can you eat them? In human form at least?" Garnet asked.

"Oh, sure," said Banji.  "Tougher than normal dogs anyway."

"Neat!" said Yasmin.  "Are they strong?  Or do they just, you know, do ghost stuff?"

"It's not really about fighting them as you only get three outcomes. The first is that you help lay them to rest. The second is that they join up in monster society. The third is that nothing works and they stay as they are," Yumi said.

"That's good. I'd hate for you to miss out on chocolate," Garnet said.

"...I haven't had it," said Banji.  "Heard about it, though."

"That's not too bad," said Yasmin.  "But I mean, can they hurt people?"

"Some can, it really depends," Yumi said.

"We'll have to fix that sometime," Garnet said.

"I think you'll like it," said John.  "It's good stuff.  So, I think we're wrapping up.  Are you ready?"

"Well, cool," said Yasmin.  "I'd like to learn more, but class is wrapping up and I kinda think I have a date to go on."

"Enjoy," Yumi said.

"I'm ready," Garnet said.

"Are you ready, Rania?" said Yasmin, going to her and taking her arm.

"Then let's get going!" said John.  Banji looked extremely excited.

"Let's go," Rania said.

Garnet followed.