Chapter Text
*bzzzt* bzzzt* bzzzt*
Ms. Frost’s cell phone is buzzing.
She turns it off, and wakes up from her bed, yawning. After a few days of hectic Yo-Kai shenanigans, the bartender finally got some comfortable sleep in her own apartment. Ms. Frost stretches her arms and gets up to fix herself. After applying facial care and changing into casual clothes, she cooks her usual breakfast: some steamed rice, miso soup, salmon, tamagoyaki, and broccoli. The bartender then turns on the news as she starts eating.
“-and that, ladies and gentlemen, was our winning number for the Sailor Cuties Noodle Cup Figure. Now, to our mystery segment: Reports have surfaced involving a sudden security breach in the Gourd Pond Museum at Breezy Hills. We now go to Junpei Hazinawa for more information. Junpei?”
“Thank you Natsumi. I’m here with Akari Tetsuo, who runs the front desk at Gourd Pond Museum. She claims that she has discovered some strange anomalies a few nights ago. Care to elaborate?” He asks to the worried secretary, moving the microphone to her face.
“Well, I was looking through the logs of the security cameras, and two nights ago, there was a video feed only showing static. Oddly enough, before the static, there used to be a bunch of spooky noises hanging around the museum, but after that, it became quiet…”
Ms. Frost almost spat out her soup upon hearing the news, but kept it in.
“Some strange news indeed. We will provide updates to this story throughout the day. Back to you, Natsumi.”
The news channel proceeds as normal, but as for Ms. Frost’s composure, it’s anything but normal with her literal cold sweat that tinks onto the floor.
“So the mystery segment covered Nate’s adventures this whole time…” She says to herself. “I wonder if he knows about this?”
After finishing her food and cleaning up, Ms. Frost exits her apartment complex to go for a stroll around town. As she walks around, she could feel the Yo-Kai auras popping out per usual, and out of curiosity, switches eye colors to get a better look. On her walk, she notices a couple of Dummkaps hanging around trees, Elloos and Suspicionis sleeping under cars, Wiglin, Steppa, and Rhyth practicing some dance moves, with an odd kappa Yo-Kai watching from afar, and a Happiere frozen in place on Graduate Street- wait a minute.
“Nate?” Ms. Frost says aloud, looking to see Nate standing near a tree in a confident stance with his Yo-Kai Watch out. Some bystanders walk past the eleven-year old, giving some odd looks. Upon switching her vision, she sees that Nate is in the middle of a Yo-Kai fight with an entirely new team of Yo-Kai, some of which she hasn’t seen before.
“I guess he’s busy with something.” She says to herself, then puts a hand to her stomach. “...I feel like having a Mog Burger…”
The Bartender departs from Nate’s current exploits. Unbeknownst to Ms. Frost, however, two Yo-Kai from Nate’s team became oddly curious of the woman walking away from them, and so they split off with Nate’s Yo-Kai crew and followed her to Mog Burger.
Inside the restaurant, it seems to be packed, with a few customers waiting in line, and others enjoying their lunch on their seats. As Ms. Frost enters the building, she recognizes some of her customers enjoying lunch as they stare back at her. They all wave happily to her, and she waves back with a calm smile. After a minute of waiting, she approaches the cashier, who she recognizes as Genny.
“Oh, Ms. Frost! Welcome to Mog Burger! What can I getcha?” Genny asks.
“Hello there, Genny. I’d like a Mog Cheeseburger Combo with some iced tea and vanilla ice cream.”
“Mog Cheeseburger Combo with iced tea and vanilla ice cream… That’ll be ¥2080, please!”
Ms. Frost hands over the yen.
“Thank you! We’ll call your number when your order’s ready!”
The bartender gets her receipt with the number 15 plastered on top of it. She sits at the counter table and waits.
“Number 13!” She can hear Genny call out. Coming up to the drop off area is a woman with purple hair, which Ms. Frost recalls having the same shade of purple as that kid she saw from the store. The assumed mother grabs the tray of food and walks past Ms. Frost and onto the hungry kids from before. The one in glasses seems to be distraught.
“Hailey, are you still sad about that Sailor Cuties figure?” Hailey’s mom asks.
“...It was not meant to be.” Hailey sputters melancholy. “My oshi, so close in my fingertips, and yet, her physical plane deems me unworthy…”
“Mom, Hailey’s depressed again…” Joshua calls out.
“Joshua, I am not depressed, I am just.. empty inside…”
“Well dearie, how about you eat your Mog Burger to help fill that empty stomach?”
“Sure…”
The demotivated girl eats her hamburger, and upon gulping it down, stars appear in her eyes.
”Ah… Delicious!” She exclaims, scarfing down her meal in a fever pitch.
Ms. Frost smiles upon watching Hailey’s family.
“Number 15!”
Then stops watching the moment she hears her number called, and walks up to the register, with her food placed nicely on the tray.
“Here’s your ice cream, Ms. Frost!” Genny says to the bartender, holding out her ice cream with her left arm.
However, just as Ms. Frost was about to grab it, she senses two auras suddenly appearing near the counter. They gunned for her ice cream, but she managed to swipe it away in time, alerting the auras and the startled Genny.
“What in the-”
“My apologies.” She bows to Genny. “I thought I saw something for a second.”
Ms. Frost takes a quick lick of her ice cream before taking her tray of food and placing it at her spot on the counter. The auras drop from the counter and walk up to Ms. Frost, who turns to scan them with her Frostina eyes, revealing two dog-like creatures carrying different colored sacks. They both gasp upon making eye-contact with Ms. Frost, but the bartender turns her head back and goes back to eating her food.
“...D-Did that lady just look at us, zura?” The white bipedal dog asks the yellow bipedal dog.
“I-I ain’t too sure, zura… I don’t know no one ever seein’ Yo-Kai ‘cept Nate and that watch shop guy, zura...” The yellow shiba inu replies, pondering.
“What if she can, Komajiro? I mean, she done swiped away the ice cream when I tried to lick it, zura!”
“…You might make a good point, Komasan. But I reckon you need an intervention again, zura…”
“S-sorry, zura…”
The two Yo-Kai Watch (HA) the bartender eat for a couple of minutes until she finishes her meal. She then waves goodbye to the register lady and leaves the restaurant. Komasan and Komajiro continue tailing her until they head into a mysterious alleyway, where the elegant lady turns around and tilts her head towards the Yo-Kai Brothers.
“Good. You’re still here.” She probably says to the two Yo-Kai.
Komasan and Komajiro began to visibly sweat. “U-Uh, y-you talkin’ to us, zura?” Komajiro lifts his head up to ask.
“Mhm.” She nods. “You two must be Komasan and Komajiro, right?”
“OH MY SWIRLS, ZURA!!!” The two Yo-Kai brothers shout in surprise, waking up a Tantroni trying to sleep in a box.
“OY! KEEP IT DOWN O’ER DERE!” He shouts grumpily, then falls back to sleep. The three current main characters produce an imaginary sweat bead.
“…How about we go someplace more quiet?” The bartender asks, to which the two Yo-Kai nod. She opens the door to her snack bar and leads the two in, then closes the door.
“Woah… What is this place, zura?” Komasan asks, with both him and Komajiro staring at the delicate interior.
“This is my snack bar, Frostia’s Place. I serve up some drinks to my adult customers and hand out chips to kids. I’m taking a break right now before I have to open at night again.” She answers, wiping the counter.
“Wow… No wonder this place looks mighty mature, zura…” Komajiro admires. “Wait, does this mean yer name is Ms. Frostia, zura?”
“Correct. But my customers call me Ms. Frost.”
“I was right, zura?!”
“The new customers often assume so.” She replies, an imaginary bead of sweat appearing on her forehead. “…In any case, what were you guys doing at Nom Burger?”
“Well uh, Nate looked at you funny before leavin’ to find another Happierre, so we decided to follow you around to find out what makes you special, zura.” Komasan answers.
“…That explains why I felt I was being watched… Hold on, I think I saw you two with some other Yo-Kai with Nate… Does this mean you’re friends with him?”
“We sure are, Ms. Frost! In fact, he’s the reason I was able to finally reunite with Komasan, zura!” Komajiro responds happily.
“How sweet.” Ms. Frost smiles softly… until she remembers the elephant in the room, and her eyes widen. “Wait…if you’ve been summoned to help out Nate… *gasp* You need to find him!”
The two Koma brothers look at each other and share the same shock of horror with Ms. Frost. “OH MY SWIRLS, ZURA! You’re right!” They screamed out at the same time.
”But… I dunno how we can find him in a big ol’ place like this, zura…” Komasan sighs, Komajiro sighing with him.
”It’s okay, you two. I’ll help you look, but not in this form.” With a snap, a puff of smoke envelops Ms. Frost’s human form, and she switches to her Frostina form.
”OH MY SWIRL-“
”Yeah, yeah, I’m also a Yo-Kai. Just follow me!” Ms. Frost interjects, jumping to the doorknob and opening the door. The three Yo-Kai exit the snack bar and the alleyway, making it back to the main city.
“Ooooh… Where do we go now, zura…” Komasan looks around frantically.
”Well… we went through here, zura… and… uh…” Komajiro recalls, trying to piece together their direction.
”This way!” Ms. Frost announces to the two, who in turn, follow the light-blue-cloaked Yo-Kai. ”You guys not good with directions?”
”It’s not that, zura…” Komasan answers. “We’re just folks from the countryside, zura…”
”We’ve never been to the big city, zura…” Komajiro elaborates. “Although big bro knows a bit more about this place than me, zura…”
“You mean Komasan? How come?”
”Well, before I reunited with Komajiro, I lived near the construction site right over there, zura.” Komasan points to the big construction building. “There was a Yo-Kai named Kyubi who helped me settle near the building, zura.”
Ms. Frost gasps upon hearing the name. “Kyubi…?”
”Yeah, zura. You know him?”
“If it’s the same Kyubi I’m thinking of…”
”Hm… Anyways, one day, there were a bunch of creepy noises coming from inside the building, and Kyubi told me to meet him there. I… I couldn’t go inside, and he called me a ‘Scaredy-Cat’.”
“He did?! …Mr. Barton…”
”’Mr. Barton’, zura?” Komajiro speaks up.
”That’s Kyubi’s human form. …At least that’s what I’m assuming… A decade ago, he trained me on using my Yo-Kai abilities in human and Yo-Kai form. It was difficult, considering he’s a fire-element Yo-Kai and I’m an ice-element, coupled with his bluntness at first.”
”I’m a fire-element Yo-Kai, zura!” Komasan interjects.
”And I’m an electric-element Yo-Kai, zura!” Komajiro interjects too.
”…Good to know?” She awkwardly replies. “So anyways, I got used to the training and how he speaks, and after that, we talk a bit every now and then, but I haven’t seen him in a couple of months. The last time we spoke, he mentioned grading some summer vacation homework… I guess he’s doing something else in his Yo-Kai form then…”
“Golly… I never thought you and Kyubi had a student-teacher relationship, zura…” Komasan ponders.
”In more ways than one, zura…” Komajiro remarks.
As the brothers and the yuki-onna discuss their origins and Yo-Kai powers, they circle around the bottom area of Downtown Springdale, looking for Nate. Alas, they couldn’t find him, and so they wound up back into the main plaza near the Mog Burger.
”Ooh! We’re back at that Mog Burger, zura!” Komasan exclaims. “I reckon we get some ice cream-“
”Oh no ya don’t!” Komajiro interrupts, grabbing his brother by the bag as he was about to run to the restaurant. “We still gotta look for Nate, zura!”
“B-But ice cream, zura…”
“Komasan, just stop.” Ms. Frost speaks up in annoyance. “I know we’re supposed to be invisible to humans, but that doesn’t mean we should steal stuff in public. ESPECIALLY the ice cream that I ORDERED. *sigh* I had to lecture Jibanyan about that yesterday with those Choco Bars…”
“O-oh. I-I’m really sorry, Ms. Frost…” Komasan bows in apology. “They look so tasty though…”
“…Still, I also understand that some Yo-Kai can’t change their habits due to their upbringing, or curiosity. How about this: Once we find Nate, we all have a little ice cream party, huh?”
”An ice-cream party?! That sounds wonderful, zura!”
”I agree, zura!”
”Mhm! (…I don’t wanna pay for that this time…)”
In that discussion of ice cream, the trio of Yo-Kai finally find Nate and his own group, who look like they’ve been searching for them too. The eyes from both groups meet, and they run to each other.
”Komasan! Komajiro! There you are!” Nate exclaims, running up to the two and patting their heads. Ms. Frost walks up to Nate, and upon seeing her Frostina form, gasps. “Ms. Frost?! What are you doing here?!”
“I was helping these two find you! What about you?”
”Oh, well I was with my team trying to befriend a Happierre, and Whisper noticed that these two were gone, so I stopped my search to go look for them.”
”I see… Are you going to continue your search?”
”Yep! Happierre’s not going anywhere, ya know?”
”Nate, after we’re done, can we have an ice-cream party, zura?” Komasan speaks up.
”An ice-cream party? What brought that up?”
”I’ve been hankerin’ for a taste of some, zura… Can you do it, zura?”
”Hm… Of course! But first, let’s keep searching for a Happierre!”
So Ms. Frost joins up with Nate, Whisper, and the four other Yo-Kai of Nate’s training team: Cupistol, Pandle, Tattlecast, and Reuknight. She said hi to each of them, with varying responses: Cupistol posed coolly and expressed his interest in a ‘cutie’ amongst Nate’s friends, to which she reminded him that she’s 48. He didn’t seem to mind. Pandle and Reuknight saluted her greeting, with Pandle carelessly dropping his pan on the floor while Reuknight picked it up for him. Tattlecast emitted her speech from her speakers, which came out as “Cast Cast.” Whisper translated to Ms. Frost that Tattlecast simply said “Nice to meet you.”
After those quick introductions, Nate leads his team and Ms. Frost around the Downtown Springdale Train Station once again. He enables the tracking feature on his watch, and after getting a C-Rank signal, he rushes to a nearby tree and shines the searchlight on it. It reveals a yellow cloudy figure on Nate’s lenses, and after tracking it with his wrists, Happierre reveals himself.
”Hohohoh. So, you are back for ze medal, bono?” He asks Nate.
”You know it! It’s the second-to-last thing I need to complete that mysterious page on my Medallium!”
”I see, I see, bono… Then come and get it, if you dare, bono!” Happierre initiates a battle, and the familiar purple smoke fills the area once more, with the battle arena being near the train station giving a view of the city. Two other Happierres join the main one, and Ms. Frost watches as Nate digs through his bag and pulls out a bagel sandwich with lettuce, sliced eggs, and ham stylized as a tongue inside.
”Alright everyone, here’s the plan: Komasan, Komajiro, and Pandle will weaken the Happierre I feed, which will be the middle one first. I will keep giving the remaining Yo-Kai these blehgels until all of them are fed. That’s when the rest of you come in to wrap things up. Got it?”
Each Yo-Kai gives various affirmations.
”Good! Alright, when I get back, we start!” Nate dashes to the middle Happierre and hands him a Blehgel, to which the Yo-Kai tosses it into his mouth.
”Mmm! C’est bon, bono!” The middle Happierre glees in bliss.
Nate rushes back, and gets the three Yo-Kai to go out and fight the middle Happierre. Komasan and Komajiro unleash a large fire ball and a giant lightning bolt respectively, while Pandle jabs with his toothpick. Half of the damage was negated thanks to all three Happierres healing, but this was intentional. After a while, Nate pulls out the other Blehgel and gives it to the left Happierre. Then a couple more attacks later, Nate hands another Blehgel to the right Happierre.
”Alright everyone! Switch!” He orders.
The three front Yo-Kai switch with the trio of Cupistol, Tattlecast, and Reuknight. Nate and Whisper charge up Reuknight’s Soultimate for a couple of seconds, and once it’s done, he unleashes it onto all three Happierres with his coveted
”KNIGHT’S SLASH!!!”
and strikes all three Yo-Kai with his drawn sword, KOing all three of them at once.
”Oh my goodness!” Ms. Frost audibly gasps. “He took them out with one Soultimate?!”
”Heck yeah he did! Reuknight’s one of the strongest Yo-Kai in my arsenal, but his level’s not on par with the main team. Hence why I’m using him and the others to raise their levels!”
Nate comes up and congratulates his team on a job well done when Happierre reappears and offers his medal, which Nate happily accepts.
“Finally!” He says, putting his medal into the Medallium and turning to a certain legendary page. The heartful tribe symbol begins to glow along with the other six symbols, leaving only the slippery tribe left. “Hmm… who could this last Yo-Kai be…?”
“I am not sure, Nate. But I’m certain we will encounter them sooner or later.”
”Can we get ice cream now, zura?!” Komasan eagerly asks. “…I mean, we’re done now, so…”
“Yeah, of course! …But I don't know a good ice cream place…”
”How about the one inside Sunset Mall? I’m sure that’ll be a good place.” Ms. Frost suggests.
”Sunset Mall, huh? I haven’t been there in a while! That would be pretty cool!”
“Hmm… I am not familiar with that location.” Whisper notes to Nate.
”It’s this big shopping mall near the beach, Whisper. Why don’t you know about it?”
”The map, Nate.” Whisper pulls up the map app on the Yo-Kai Pad and shows it to Nate and Ms. Frost. “It doesn’t mark Sunset Mall as a significant location.” He points to where Sunset Mall is located, and it doesn’t have a marker on it.
”Huh. I guess it’s because there aren’t any Yo-Kai in that area. After all, each spot we visited had some Yo-Kai residing there, but not inside Sunset Mall…”
“Does this mean we’re crossing into… UNMARKED TERRITORY?!” Reuknight dramatically exclaims, a random thunder strike suddenly appearing and everything.
“O-oh my swirls, zura…” The Koma Bros say, holding each other in fear.
Pandle’s eyes light up upon hearing Reuknight’s dramatic exposition, and so his mind conjures up the most logical course of action he could take…: run around the city screaming until he finds it. “CHAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGEEEEEEE!!!!!!”
”Gah?! Pandle, wait! You’re going the wrong way!” Nate shouts, running after Pandle. Everyone soon follows suit.
————-
After finally catching up to Pandle and guiding him and the others to the mall near the beach, Nate and his crew of Yo-Kai arrive at Sunset Mall. Inside the first floor, it looks to be busy, with multiple people walking around the area.
“Wow, zura… It looks pretty darn big, zura…” said Komasan, admiring the view alongside the other Yo-Kai as well.
“This is truly fascinating… It’s a populated place, yet I cannot detect any sort of Yo-Kai presence whatsoever…” Whisper contemplates, attempting to get a feel of a Yo-Kai’s aura.
“Well if it’s a free place, what’s to stop us from causing some mischief?” Pandle ominously declares.
”I agree. I’ve always wanted to cause some mall-room drama…” Cupistol smirks, holding his heart pistol close.
”Cast, cast…” Tattlecast drops her speakers, rubbing her hands ominously.
And so the three Yo-Kai split off to find some people to inspirit and cause trouble per usual.
”Nate! Aren’t you going to stop them?!” Ms. Frost frantically asks.
”Eh, don’t worry about it.” Nate nonchalantly replies. “I did try back when my team was full of E-Rank Yo-Kai, but it became pretty awkward when I tried to warn someone they’re about to be hungry or something. Besides, the conflicts end up solving themselves anyway, so there’s really no harm to it.” He points to a guy carelessly dropping his phone by Pandle’s inspirit, and a girl picks it up for him. Then Cupistol shoots his love pistol at the man, and he becomes smitten with her. They then hold hands afterwards.
”It’s a way of life with Yo-Kai.” Whisper acknowledges. “But we can summon all three of them later once we get our ice cream. Ms. Frost, if you will?”
”Oh! Well, I know a gal that recently set up an ice cream stand on the basement floor. Let me change forms first before we can proceed.”
Ms. Frost runs to a nearby bathroom and changes to her human form, then regroups with Nate and the others.
”Amazing… I never encountered a Yo-Kai with a human disguise as pretty as yours…” Reuknight admires.
”This isn’t a disguise. This is what I look like as a human.”
”So you truly are both a Yo-Kai AND a human?!”
”That would be correct.”
”Interesting…”
Ms. Frost leads Nate and the others down an escalator, which troubled the two country Yo-Kai for a bit, but they held on to Reuknight as they descended downstairs. The group makes a U-Turn to the left, and they soon encounter a young black-haired lady with short bangs and a small ponytail setting up shop.
”Oh! Ms. Frost! Hi!” The ice-cream woman greets happily. “Never thought you’d be visiting my stand!”
”Hello, Haruka. This trip is actually for my friend Nate over here.” Ms. Frost steps aside to let Nate come upfront to the counter.
”Hi miss! Can I get seven vanilla ice cream cones?”
”Are they for your friends?”
”Yep!”
”What about you, Ms. Frost?” Haruka turns her head to Ms. Frost.
”Nothing for me. I’m just helping Nate carry the ice cream. Besides, I had lunch earlier.”
”Ah, okay then. Alright Nate, that’ll be ¥1050!”
Nate rummages through his backpack and pulls out the exact change, handing them to Haruka.
”Alright, give me a moment to set them up…”
While Haruka sets up the ice cream, Whisper motions to Ms. Frost to follow him, and they are led into a secluded area.
“Ms. Frost, if I may take a moment of your time…”
”Whisper? What is it?”
”You see, I forgot to tell you, since you’re one of Nate’s most recent fighting members… We have a group chat, and we’d like to invite you.”
”Oh, a group chat? I didn’t know Yo-Kai have group chats.”
”This is a special case, since I created the server myself! It has a ton of awesome features, and I need to give you the invite link, fast!”
”Uh, sure thing. Does it run with human accounts?”
”I’m sure it’s compatible with human accounts. Now, take a picture of this QR code real quick!”
Ms. Frost scans the QR code on her phone, which takes her to an odd link. She clicks on the link, and she begins to install an app called “Yo-cord”, which Ms. Frost can only assume it is a Yo-Kai version of a certain app. She quickly creates an account and joins the server.
“Wonderful! Now you are able to receive pings whenever Nate needs you to be summoned!”
“Is that why you created the server?”
”It solved several problems regarding Yo-Kai being summoned when they are busy doing important things. Plus, we get to hang out sometimes whenever Nate is living his own life!”
“Sounds pretty fun. I’ll be sure to check it out whenever I’m off work.”
”Excellent! Oh, looks like their ice cream is ready! I’ll be sure to notify the others.”
Ms. Frost comes back with Nate, and the two grab the ice cream. Going into a secluded place with no one around, Nate re-summons Cupistol, Pandle, and Tattlecast with the other Yo-Kai and hands them their ice cream. Whisper decides to turn on his camera on his Yo-Kai pad and takes a happy photo depicting a nice ice cream picnic. At Frostia’s Place, Ms. Frost smiles fondly of the picture on her phone while working. Her customers noted that it has been a while since they have truly seen Ms. Frost’s warm smile.