Blessing

Two years ago in Tribunalis Ad Mare the annual welcoming assembly for academy students from all over the land was being held. Where young people who finished their primary education are embarking on the higher education adventure gather to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter of their life. The only downside of it was it starting at 6 at the morning, which for Ryu meant quietly coughing gray blood in the public bathroom sink at six thirty in the morning.

He walked back to his table, the education principle was giving his speech, he sat in his assigned seat next to Lisa, head leaning on his hand, pretending to listen while doing his best to suppress his inhuman side. 

Suppressing his bloodlust so other creatures won't notice him and suppress his inhuman side were two different matters, as different as baking bread to building the oven.

After the speech some honor students from the city started handing orientation handouts and campuses maps to the new comers, they waited since their table was at the very end, correlating with the distance between their village and the city. The president was chatting with Sami's new parents leaving him to have small talk with Lisa. A risky situation to be in since a moment of lost focus will cause him internal damage.  

"I heard the performative arts academy is close to the art academy, it'll be nice if we could hang out after school." 

He didn't have the mental capacity to reply, luckily someone gave the girl her handouts.

"Lisa tucker, Performative arts academy. Is that correct?"

"Yes." 

"You're in the honor list, they gonna host another welcoming assembly for y'all at the academy's main building. You should go! just go to the new one, not the building near the art academy." The girl gave Lisa the map she wrote directions on, and Lisa waved to them and walked away. 

'Well that's a double relief.' Ryu voiced to himself. He looked at the girl while she gave Sami similar instructions. She seemed like a fun girl, aside from her pastel orange hair and eyes he didn't suspect anything other than some genetic mutilation. 

She walked to him, looking at the board in her hands.

" You too in the honor list, run to the welcoming assembl- is that? is that a fruit land limited addition second print merch!?" She looked at his cardigan. 

"Yeah, no big deal." He opens the cardigan slightly in bragging motion, revealing the original tag.

"You're so cool!" 

" I like the subtlety of yours too." He looked at her necklace with a pomegranate wearing a fedora. 

"Hmph! I went to six stores to find it!" She bragged.

"They didn't make my size back then so I bought this to wear it when I'm older!" He bragged back.

"You're on the honor list too, you should go." A classmate told her ending the nerdy bragging.

"Shoot!"

She gave him the prints and ran out, he ran after her.

"Wait, where is the art academy?" He asked, running by her side.

"It's on the way to main, follow me. I'm Roxanne by the way." She looked at him.

"They call me Ryu." 

They laughed while running to the assembly, bumping fists.

The first day consisted of walking in the campus, exploring buildings, receiving text books and getting Andre assigned to him as his permanent advisor. Since he already settled in the dorm he didn't have to worry about that, everything went smoothly like the marble sculptures he saw in the sculpting building, except for the lunch break when Lisa managed to find him in the large campus, apparently the performative arts academy wasn't far enough.

Chewing a sandwich and suppressing his inhuman side wasn't too hard on a regular days when he didn't vomit his insides prior. He realized that the more he avoided her the weaker he got in suppressing his inhuman side, in the countryside where he saw her regularly he was better at avoiding the damage. 

"I thought we'll see each other more since you two and the president moved to the city." She said, lunch box in her lap, taking a bite elegantly.

"Yeah.."

"I see, why don't you move with us? Your nii-san's house is quite far isn't it?"

"I'm in the dorm now, and your house is far too." He managed to wipe the irritation from his tone but he was looking at the shrubs behind a building. 

'Yup, I'm not making it to the bathroom.' He admitted to himself.

The vibration accompanying the change in color of the bar on top of each building indicated the end of the lunch break, Lisa was in her way back and he was behind the shrubs emptying his guts. 

He wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. Sitting down exhausted, hair sticking to his sweaty forehead. He let's a sigh and his narrow pupils were concerningly wide.

"Rough day huh?" A high pitched voice said, Roxy was sitting close to him holding a plate of dumplings and chewing one. 

He stiffened in panic, part to not noticing her getting this close and part because his inhuman eyes were in full display. He flinched when she extended her hand to him, something small and blue was in her hand which he stared at, not taking it. It didn't help that her normal pupils were tearing into a disjointed ones.

"Eat this, it's too minty but it'll heal ya."

His senses assured him about the lack of danger and without other options he ate the blue gem that had a minty taste so strong it almost burned a hole in his throat, but it wasn't painful at the same time. 

"Oh boy that's bad." She commented while taking a look behind the shrubs. 

"You should rest well today." She said, continuing her meal normally.

"Aren't you disgusted?" He had many questions but somehow this one managed to steal the number one.

"I don't operate like humans. Plus you're too injured to be this judgmental." Ryu felt like he met her before, something about that unintentional sassiness, about not being able to tell if she's serious or unserious. 

"Well, gotta go back." He stood up, dusting himself and feeling much better. She hands him another small thing, a stones that looks like tall hats.

"Take this with you, it'll block the regulator's radiation."

He looks at her with masked confusion.

"Is that what she's called?"

"Yup, regulators release special radiation to repel us from the human zone. These will nullify the radiation." She offered the stones again.

"I don't think I can pay you back." He looked at the stones.

"You can, consider it a sample and we can made a deal later if you want." She had a serious look on her face. 

"...You sound like a shady salesperson." He almost chuckled. Slowly reaching for the stones after contemplating.

He was about to walk away only to turn back to face her.

"Is my hiding flawed?" He asked with the expression of someone who wasn't ready for the answer, but he had to.

"Hmmm, your bloodlust is undetectable but that doesn't matter to a regulator."

"So how did you know about me?"

"I can teach you if we made a deal~" She raised her eyebrows twice, embracing the shady salesperson persona.

He took the stones to the test, being near Lisa wasn't gut tearing anymore although the stones broke after a certain time near her. It was refreshing to spend time with the president and being able to be fully there, without pain or suppressing his biology or feeling guilty about his attitude toward Lisa. 

Roxy was a fruit land nerd like him, she had special edition volumes of the comic like him. They shared appreciation for good pens although he leaned toward fountain pens while she preferred drier click pens. And the shady salesperson persona wasn't a complete joke, although not shady, she was hustling a lot; the two usually met near the shore where she usually talk with tourists in foreign languages and instead of doing the whole tourist guide thing and taking them to overpriced places she would gave them a list of restaurants or stores or whatever they be looking for. Many stores owners would give her commission later. 

She wasn't altruistic, which is a plus in his opinion, but something about her was dependable, even when he didn't know what she's thinking he could smell some honesty in her words.

"So what's the deal you wanna make?" He finally brought that up while they sat on the swings in an empty park.

"I need your blessings."

"It's too early to get married." He deadpanned.

"No! you silly goose, by that I mean I need you to awaken a monster in the wild for me. And for your information I have three husbands! "

"Wake it up yourself."

"I can't, only creatures up the food chain can wake it up, and I'm half plant half parasite. You on the other hand is half apex predator and half previous apex predator."

"What?"

"Humans were apex predator in the past, actually there is a rich history behin-"

"I care more about why you want to awaken a monster."

"To kick its butt."

"...And why exactly?"

"Because it kicked my butt."

"How did it kick you if you can't awaken it."

"Someone else awakened it and I took the chance and slipped into its territory and got humbled." 

 " That was too brief.."

She took a huge breath before saying "It all started thirty years ago in a snowy day when I had the idea to-"

"Kay kay, I'm sorry! So my end of the deal is to wake a monster up?"

"Yeah, but you can't do it in your current shape, I'll need to train you in the wild for couple years before that."

"And in those years you'll give me the funny stones?"

"Well... a decade supply of those plus some healing gems for good measure, and I'll do your errands too and if I find rare fruit land merch...I won't give it to you but I'll make sure to find a one for you... or never mind I'll give it to you. I can also bully the blond boy you hate so much---"

"Wait wait wait! How dangerous is it to wake up that thing."

"Pretty dangerous if I say so."

They stopped talking for minutes, he swung a little.

" I think I remember you now." He said after the swing stopped moving.

"When my other side was in the wild.. He.. I tried to eat you." He looked at the ground.

"I don't mind, I look like a fancy cute radish, took you long enough though."

"I have to be careful when I walk through memories." He simply stated.

Another pause happened, but it was softer like the breeze that moved the leaves slightly on the ground.

"It's okay if you don't wan-"

"Can I ask for something else in the deal." 

"Sure." She walked back with the swing like she about to swing. He was looking at the horizon, she looked at his fluffy hair while she's behind him slightly, not knowing what to expect.

"I want a friend, a real friend."

It was her turn to look at the ground now.

"I will see what I can do." 

He didn't see her when she said that.