Classroom and The Conspiracy

Yuki touched her head slightly.

"What the hell happened?"

Everyone's attention was on Yuu.

"Why you all staring at me like that?" Yuu asked.

Zan stood up. Rei looked at her in disbelief.

"You can talk!?" Rei exclaimed.

Yuu said, still with a reasoning face: "Of course, I can. Did you all think I'm dumb?"

They all echoed: "Of course!"

She folded her arms and turned around slightly.

"You all are so mean," she pouted.

Zan smirked. Then Yuki waved her hand from side to side.

"Hello! No one has answered my question," she said.

Zan touched her forehead as if he was checking her temperature.

"Slight loss. That's new," he observed.

Akihiko, a boy with ice-blue eyes and ink-blue hair, looked at everyone.

"Yuki, there's class today," he said. "You'll be accompanied by Rei to class."

Then Yuki's memory snapped.

"Wait, I remember Takeda saying something about that to Rai," she said.

Yuu looked at her chin, then remembered.

"Wait, Yuki, what happened to your chin?" she asked.

She touched it.

"Well, it was Natsumi and Yuri," Yuki said.

Yuu's eyes burned with rage.

"What did they do to you?" she demanded.

Yuki itched her hair.

"Well... Natsumi slapped me twice," she began. "Then they dragged me to the pond, then shoved my head into the pond. Then I fell unconscious. After which I ended up in Rai's room. Then I ran away. After which I met with the Serpent Heir. Then..."

Zan looked at her.

"The Serpent Heir — you mean Yoru?" he asked.

Yuki's hand left her head.

"That's his name? I didn't know. Besides, he was looking for you," she said.

Zan let out a sigh.

"He never quits," he muttered.

Rei hugged Yuki with loud laughter.

"Thank goodness you're alright!" she exclaimed.

Yuki hugged her back.

Akihiko clapped his hand twice.

"Let's get to class," he said.

Everyone went into their rooms.

In Yuki's room, she was thinking.

Why did he save me? Again.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Yuki!" Rei called.

Yuki packed her books in her bag.

"Coming," she said.

She gathered some textbooks and zipped the bag. After which, she headed to the door, opened it, and looked at Rei. Her uniform was elegant — so was hers.

"Let's go, Yuki," Rei said.

The classroom wasn't too big. It had brown desks and brown chairs. The environment was painted blue and had two windows leading outside.

"That's our seat," Rei said, pointing to the left side of the classroom near the window.

"But there's no one here," Yuki said, pointing slightly into the class.

"We come here early so that we don't get bullied by the full-blooded," Rei said with a faint smile.

Yuki understood everything completely.

"Don't worry," she said. "Let's go."

Rei's smile became wider. They walked into the classroom and sat down. Yuki put down her textbook and opened it. Then followed by Akihiko and Zan. Not too long after, the full-blooded students filed in.

After everyone had been seated, a man entered the classroom. He wasn't too old — he looked like he was in his 20s. He had oxblood eyes and champagne-red hair. The tone of his voice was deep but not too deep.

"Today we're gonna be learning about the philosophy of your ancestral beasts and how to have a pet out of them," he began. "Take out your Beast Transformation Studies textbooks and open to page 45."

He paused, scanning the room.

"The theory of mastering beast taming isn't an easy one," he continued. "That's why they have a whole chronicle specializing just on that."

A student from behind raised his hand. It was one of the Serpent Heir's accompanies — Arata. He had snow-white hair and sky-blue eyes.

"Sorry, sir," Arata said. "Uh, you said hard to master?"

The teacher opened the book.

"Let's get a move on, please take your seat, Arata," he said.

Arata sat down and kept silent. The teacher continued.

"If you look closely, you will see a figure of a young man transforming into a mantis," he said. "That's not his ancestral beast. But that's the one he tamed. He can borrow features from both his ancestral and the one he tamed recently."

Natsumi raised her hand.

"Yes, miss Hoshino?" the teacher said.

She stood up.

"So, sir, what you're trying to say is that we can tame two or more spirits?" she asked.

The teacher took a sigh.

"No, it's only rare to see someone who can tame more than two spirits," he explained. "It is seen that the person in question is capable of things that even you cannot do."

Natsumi sat down, nodding her head slightly.

"So that's why the school has decided to go on an off-campus trip," the teacher continued. "To strengthen your minds and physical skills. The campus trip will kick off tomorrow."

He closed his textbook.

"So, until then — class dismissed."

He walked out slowly.

Rei whispered to Yuki: "Start packing your bag, Yuki."

She nodded slightly, then began packing. After which, Rei said: "Hang it."

Yuki obeyed everything. Then Rei held her bag, and they disappeared to the half-breed dorm.

"How'd you do that?" Yuki asked.

Rei threw her bag on the sofa.

"It's Akihiko's side skill," she explained. "We use it to leave class. We cannot just pass in the front of the others. They'll mock us for sure."

She let out a sigh.

"I'm tired. I'm going to my room," she said.

Akihiko was already on the sofa lying down.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked. "Normally, Mr. Nobumasa's classes are long and boring. But today's class was different. It was brief, and people actually asked questions."

Yuu was already on her phone.

"Yeah, I think it's because the annual Teachers' Day is coming," she said. She turned her phone to show the icon that displayed the announcement.

"So what about the campus?" Zan asked. "The celebration is tomorrow, and the trip is a week long."

Yuu looked at him. "How'd you know it's a week long?"

Akihiko said, relaxing clumsily on the sofa: "Well, he's a serpent — visions, prophecy."

Yuki turned around and said: "I'm in my dorm."

Akihiko's phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

It was Zan. "Aki, where are you all?"

Akihiko stood up straight. "Where are you?"

Zan looked around. "I'm on the training grounds. We have P.E. class today, remember?"

Akihiko laid back down on the sofa.

"Knock yourself out, Zan," he said. "Because we are not coming. Even Yuki's tired."

Zan suddenly appeared in the room.

"Okay then, let's all rest together," he said.

He ended the call.

Back at the hallway, whispers lingered.

It was the...