DAY 2: History class from Mr. von Alter
A head wreathed in sunset-colored hair poked into the classroom and looked around, then the rest of its body followed. For a mere moment Kyosei worried about looking like a teacher's pet as he surveyed the seats, but that apprehension was quickly overpowered by curiosity and he sat in the front row, just left of the center. He'd never known much about the greater Youkai world thanks to all the time he spent making mischief and friends amongst the humans, it felt a bit wrong. Finally a chance to learn more in a subject he was so lacking! He slid comfortably into the chair and went into observation mode, looking at and listening to everything and nothing in particular.
Shortly after, a certain blue-haired mermaid entered the classroom, happily chewing on a small loaf of bread. Although her and Kyosei had gone to get breakfast together, Laguna had stayed behind to get seconds. And then brought a
third helping with her, the aforementioned loaf of bread, which she'd hollowed out and stuffed with dried fish. She took a seat by the door, offering a friendly wave at anyone who came in.
Rin had decided to get to the classroom early, and check out the place while Karma was still finishing to get ready. If anything, he would have found a closed door and would have needed to wait outside: nothing too bad.
The Snowman however, found out that the door was already open. He took a glance inside, admittedly quite surprised to see other students already there, and then entered the room, already having decided his seat: middle row, left area, not too close to the window.
Standing close to the door to greet him was one of his future classmates… a mermaid, perhaps: after all, the sharp teeth, the fish she was holding, and the blue hair gave Rin that impression. The friendly rivalry between mermaids and snowmen was something that even Rin used to take part in, and to be honest, left the boy with some good memories as well.
The mermaid was therefore greeted back with what could almost resemble a death stare, which quickly transformed into a smile as Rin waved in response. Was that girl really a mermaid though…? Well, no worries. That gave him a reason to talk to her later.
Laguna momentarily froze under that glare, maintaining a nervous look even after he smiled and moved on. It almost put her off her appetite, but hunger won out and she finished her breakfast.
The hurried sounds of footsteps from out in the hall echoed into the classroom. Olivia came along to the entrance way, brushing aside a lock of violet hair that fell beside her left eye.
"It would appear we were not the first ones to make it," she said, observant of those already in their seats. She turned away, to her roommate following behind. "But despite our delay, we've made it on time. Early, even! How fortunate!"
"You know I'm not doing this for you every time, right?" Said roommate, Lena, was carrying the cause of their delay on her back, a small white-haired girl who looked to still be half asleep.
"Mm... Sometimes?" Rei rubbed her cheek against Lena's to butter her up.
"Ngh, okay, maybe. Now get down before I drop you." She did as asked, and the trio found a set of open desks beside each other. Rei quietly sat down by the window, immediately placing her bag on her desk and using it as a pillow.
"May I?"
"You don't even need to ask." Then as Lena took her seat next to Rei, Olivia took the one next to Lena, and they talked a little while they waited for the rest of the class to show up.
A blue haired female in the back giggled at the sight of these girls. Quietly though and with one hand covering her mouth as if to hide her enjoyment. She glanced over towards her father who was sitting on the other side of the room behind his desk while reading a book. An old one in fact. She had seen him reading that book before a long time ago yet she couldn't remember what it was about.
Not too long after, a large mess of disheveled hair crossed the doorway. Kenta took a second to fix his hair up behind his bandana and look over the classroom. He visibly let a held breath go at the sight of the obvious mermaid's teeth and walked over to take a seat near her.
"Hey, weird question here," Kenta said once he was seated, addressing no one in particular. "You guys have roommates, right? My room has another bed, but I don't think anyone showed up last night."
"I know I have one." Laguna piped up, pointing over at the Youko boy. "Say 'hi', Kyosei! This guy's asking about roommates! Tell him I'm an awesome one!"
"I'd say so." Kyosei agreed. "I'm lucky to have a roommate I can get along with."
Suddenly, another student entered the classroom. He fixed his glasses and took a look at the classroom already filled with people.
"Oh boy, it seemed that I took too much time for my nap." Harold decided to pick the second row seat near the windows, after all it's not too front but not too back either. He would've picked the third row seat near the windows if he could, but alas someone already sitting there.
He then took a seat in his position, he finally could enjoy a relaxing tea he already prepared in his thermos, away from a certain troublesome fairy plaguing his mind.
"SORRY I'M L-" A student shouted, hair disheveled, out of uniform, wiping her face hurriedly to make sure there was no left over drool. "-Ah fuck." Her face turned a bright red as she realized just about everything wrong with the situation but more so when she realized once again that she was indeed going to a school for monster people. She clutched the clasp that held a mask together with her pants and hid herself away in a corner seat in the back of the classroom.
Rin looked at his roommate entering the class, visibly puzzled by her cussing and lack of uniform. He couldn't ask her if she was alright because she sped past his seat with no care for anything else around her. All that the Snowman could do was turn around in search of her, meeting the eyes of three more girls who'd seated behind him in class.
Karma might only get more upset if I talk to her now. I'll have to wait... the snowman thought.
By this point Vivi had walked through the hall and past the classroom door several times already. She'd been waiting for the right moment to enter, and finally decided there was enough going on inside that perhaps she could enter unnoticed. Or at least more unnoticed than she otherwise would be, since going completely unnoticed would be too good and she knew the universe wouldn't allow it.
And so she stepped inside, carefully making her way to the back of the room. She'd hoped to be far, far from anyone else, but the ridiculously small classroom made that impossible. Someone had already taken one of the back corners, so she hid herself in the other one and pulled out a textbook. Not to read, but as another excuse to keep people away.
Ryuu snickered and stood up from his seat, carefully placing the book he was reading to the side of his desk with a sparking bookmarker sticking out to help him remember at what page he was. He brushed a few locks of his dark green hair away from his eyesight and glanced around the classroom, his eyes resting on a certain Yasha lady in the back for a brief moment.
"I would like to remind you that a uniform is a necessary product of unifying to keep order and structure in check." His voice was deep and clear, perhaps ineluctable for a teacher with years of experience but that's how he spoke to the entirety of his class. "Normally, I would send you back to your dormroom to change exactly into that of which I have been speaking, the uniform. Today I will let it slide." He sent a warm smile in the direction of the multi hair colored girl before proceeding to talk to the rest of the class.
"My name is Mr. von Alter. I will be your homeroom teacher for this academic year. I am also your history teacher." The teacher, whose first name was Ryuu, bowed in front of the class and glanced at his daughter across the room almost immediately when he got up. "And also meet your Sports teacher, Ms. von Alter." before the girl could even say something towards the class, Ryuu already interrupted her. "She's my offspring." He proudly exclaimed but it was also an immediate response towards anyone who would wonder if she was his wife since they both looked rather young. Ryuu most definitely didn't look like someone who could be the father of an 18 years old kid unless he was
really early.
So both of the teachers is father and daughter eh… Well can't be so surprised as they could be any kind of Youkai. But to call your daughter as 'my offspring'? Hoo boy… He needs to keep up with the current trend. Harold kept his thoughts to himself, but he couldn't help but feel sorry at his Sports teacher.
Divine's face turned a bit red from embarrassment from the words of her own father. Calling someone his offspring in such a manner was… just really weird. He sounded really old speaking like that. She ignored it nevertheless and proceeded to introduce herself before her father could interrupt her again. "Hi there, please call me Divine." Her long blue hair fell over her shoulders as she bowed towards the class as well, a normal japanese tradition upon meeting someone.
Having been rapt throughout the introduction, Kyosei bowed his head as best he could without rising from his seat. Nothing came to mind to say but he found it interesting the younger von Alter bowed the way she did. A plethora of questions for both teachers raced through his mind but he ultimately chose to remain silent, glad his ears were hidden so nobody could see them twitch.
As soon as the teachers started to speak, Rin had to turn around, again noticing their remark on Karma's lack of uniform. He as well bowed his head slightly, following the example of a classmate in the row in front of him - even though, to be honest, he didn't fully understand what Ryuu said. His way of talking was definitely something the snowman would have needed to adapt to, and quickly.
"Hi Mr. von Alter!" Laguna waved at her teacher, turning in her seat to wave at her other teacher. "And hi Divine! 'Offspring' is a funny word, but my mom calls me her spawn, so I guess that's just normal up here?"
"Huh," Karma said inadvertently, peeking out from behind her arms on her desk to look up at her teacher's alleged "offspring."
She's pretty cute, completely ignoring the probably targeted comment about her uniform, not like it hadn't happened to her before.
It was at this point that Hael finally turned up. He was dishevelled, still very much a fairy and had not changed out of the clothes he had fallen asleep in. That was to say, he looked exactly how he felt given the hangover induced pounding in his head.
He flitted groggily into the room and promptly collapsed directly onto the nearest unoccupied desk, behind the overly-energetic girl with the blue hair.
Harold sighed at the sight of his roommate. "Here comes the flying Hobbit." Harold silently muttered while opening his thermos once more. His worst nightmare has arrived, and he doesn't look any better than yesterday.
Harold then took a tiny brown liquid filled glass bottle from his trench coat pocket, which he then opened and then he mixed a few droplets of the liquid with the tea in his thermos. He proceeded to take another sip of his tea inside the thermos.
One look at the small creature that just entered the room was enough for Ryuu to walk over towards the table the tiny fairy had collapsed on. Tiny and without uniform… and drunk from the smell of it. "The liquid of nature can be very tempting but don't let it be a reason to end up late in my classes again." Calm as ever, Ryuu spoke towards the petite fairy. There was this faint strictness that could be read from his face, not like the fairy would notice in a state like that. Ryuu made his way back towards the front of the class.
"Please keep in mind that due to the restrictions of these classrooms, entering the class in your normal appearance is prohibited." Divine's soothing voice echoed in the classroom. She smiled softly as a puddle of water appeared out of nowhere above the head of the fairy. "I apologize but I will have to do this."
Splash
Divine let go of the puddle of water and made it fall right on the small fairy to wake him up from his current state.
"I ask that you please change into a suitable appearance, that of a homo sapien." Ryuu asked the fairy kindly before directing his next speech towards the rest of the class.
"With all said and done, let's start the history class of today. Since this is your first day, I will only give you a sample of what you're going to learn this year. Please open your books on page 33."
Hael very abruptly felt very cold and very wet. He shot upright as though he'd been attacked, looking around frantically before finding himself feeling lightheaded again - albeit less so.
"What the hell?!" he yelped, just barely catching the end of his new teacher's admonishment. Grumbling under his breath, but very loudly so, he forced himself into a human shape, essentially his own but without wings. He was a lot taller now but still very short by human standards.
Hael sighed, slipping off the desk and slumping into the chair behind it, looking about suspiciously in search of the person who had very rudely emptied an ocean over his head. Eventually, he resigned himself to the lesson.
"So uh… anyone have a spare book? I have no idea where any of my stuff is."
Feeling a bit sorry for his roommate, Harold snapped his fingers which created a small magic circle, it caused a small bag to levitate from under his desk towards the wet and confused fairy. "You're Welcome," Harold said. He then took another sip from his thermos, hoping that the fairy wouldn't cause any more trouble to ruin the tranquil morning.
"Huh? Oh there it is." Hael mumbled, reaching into the bag, not entirely sure where it had come from.
"Do duh-do, opening my book…" Laguna hummed a little tune as she pulled out her textbook, opening it to the instructed page. Convinced that no one was paying attention to her, she grit her teeth and focused on her own water magic, pulling the water off of Hael and leaving him dry. The water formed into a small orb in her hand, which she idly played with under her desk.
Kyosei's own textbook sat open on his desk, awaiting the lesson to begin in earnest while he alternated between scanning the pages and listening to the goings-on around him. He was beginning to grow slightly impatient in his eagerness to learn about the world he hadn't been able to explore in his youth.
Rin picked up his textbook and opened it at a random page, trying not to break it or ruin it with his body's freezing temperature. He understood Ryuu saying "page 33", yes, but the actual page numbers were very small, crammed into the lower corner of each paper sheet. A bit too small for Rin to actually read.
He turned a few pages, until he saw a two digits number. Good enough for the first step. He kept trying to reach the beginning of the book, looking over at other Yokai's books to see how this "page 33" looked like. At least this way he would have stopped messing with his book if he stumbled upon the right page. But still, he was visibly struggling.
Harold who was already finished opening the book page saw the struggle of his next desk neighbor and decided to help him by creating a magic circle, which created a gentle breeze to slowly unravel the pages of the book until it reached page 33.
Harold was silently happy that he managed to control the breeze to open page 33 perfectly without any mishap.
"Uhm, thanks…" Rin whispered, finally realizing who helped him out. One look at the mage's book, and he could tell he was finally on the right page.
"If everyone is ready, let's continue. I would like to assess your knowledge about a few topics." Ryuu turned his back towards the class and started writing on the board. "The first war." Could be read from his handwriting which was almost like calligraphy.
"Does anyone know what the first war against the homo sapiens was called and how that name came to be?" Ryuu asked the whole class, however, Divine's face seemed to be rather in pain.
"Humans, father. They're called humans...." she interrupted his class.
"Ah… of course." Ryuu held his fist sideways against his mouth and coughed. "Change homo sapiens into humans in my previous speech, please. I would still like an answer." He searched around the room to see if anyone wanted to guess.
Now, Rin's only source of information about that topic was other Yokais. They'd tell him all sorts of different stories with different version, leaving him with only a vague reminder of… two wars? No, maybe three or more. All of which, without a name.
For this reason, Rin kept quiet, waiting for his classmates to answer, clumsily reading the first paragraph of page 33 in the meantime.
It's the Quarter War, isn't it? But I don't think it's wise to pull too much attention this early. Let's just stay put. Harold pulled up his book slightly, angling it up so Ryuu who was in front couldn't see it and pulled a smaller book about alchemy on top of his history book.
At the mention of the war, the previously bored looking Kenta sat up in his seat. He glanced around the room before raising his own arm, appearing somewhat surprised at his own actions.
Laguna, completely forgetting she was trying to be sneaky, held her orb of water on one finger, spinning it like a fidget spinner. Distracted by her little toy, she spoke up without permission. "Wasn't it called the Quarter Moon War or something like that? Something about werewolves?"
Ryuu chuckled worriedly but quietly at the answer of the young mermaid lady, possessing abilities similar to his own daughter. "The young man over there." Ryuu glanced at Kenta with a soft but warm smile spreading across his lips. "State your name and provide me a suitable answer, if you would please."
"Oh, um I'm Kenta," the oni said, a little surprised at the lack of a response. "It's the Quarter War. It lasted for a bit over twenty-five years, so they called it that. Neither side really won or lost, and it ended in a so called 'coexistence'."
"Ohhhh, yeah." Laguna smacked herself in the forehead. "That- what he said. That's what I meant. To say."
"That's correct young, Kenta." Ryuu smiled towards both the young Oni and the mermaid lady who was at least trying. "We will talk about the Quarter War this class. The reason I made you all search for page 33 is because it serves the purpose of providing you with the necessary information for upcoming tests in the future." Ryuu turned his back towards the class again.
I see… So the temperature needed for this potion needs to be incredibly stable… Interesting, it's just like the potion of haste. Maybe if I change the ingredients... Harold was focused at the book and doing the calculations on his potion while sometimes looking up at Mr. Von Alter so he won't get the suspicious gaze.
At first being at the front of the class felt a bit awkward but now Kyosei was just glad none of the other students could see his nose twitching at the contents of his textbook. He raised his hand and spoke without even processing that he was skipping a step in the process. "Sensei, did the Quarter War really start because we - because Youkai saw humans as inferior beings? The idea really makes it a lot more… understandable why they would start calling us monsters…"
Ryuu looked over his shoulder a little to face the student speaking. "That's correct." Ryuu returned his exposure back to the class and held the chalk he was holding in a lecturing manner as he spoke. "The Quarter War happened a decennia after we, Youkai, started appearing on the surface of their sanctuary. Humanity wasn't as advanced as it was now. Humanity lived in kingdoms not very different from the Mage kingdoms here in the Youkai Realm." Ryuu glanced at his daughter. He was teaching her this same information not too long ago and thus his face told her to give the class more information.
"R-Right…" Divine was startled for a moment and her expression clearly read that she was searching through her memories for what her father had told her back when she was still a student. "In the year 800, Charles the Great was crowned emperor of what used to be the west roman empire back then. He was crowned on the 25th of December, the birthday of one of the saints of human religion. Months earlier, one of his wives who went by the name of Luitgard deceased. Humans now believe it was of illness or old age but in truth she was bitten and sucked dry by a Vampire." Divine nervously said as she tried to react to her father's expectations.
Ryuu smiled brightly and full of pride. Divine let out a sigh of relief as her father continued his own lesson. "The death of Luitgard caused Charles the Great to raise war against the Youkai species. What he hadn't kept in mind was the amount of Youkai that had already started roaming the earth. He died in 814 because of this miscalculation. He was ripped apart by one of the Neko clans." Ryuu's eyes briefly rested upon the white haired female student half sleeping on the desk somewhere in the back of the class. "Louis the Pious, his son, took over the throne and was crowned emperor in the year 816. Instead of throwing his resources against the meaningless war, he decided to use these resources to lead his people well. He fell in love in the year 827. The woman he fell in love with was saint Yshera herself. Despite being already married, humans had polygamous relationships back in the day. Having more than one wife was common for royalty. He invited Yshera in his circle of wives but she refused." Ryuu turned around to write down the name of Yshera on the black board. "Yshera was born from the Vampire that had sucked dry Luitgard, Charles the Great's wife, and a human lady. Yshera asked Louis the Pious for forgiveness and wanted him to put an end to the war that had been raging for 27 years. She offered her own life in return. All Yshera wanted was to end the bloody massacre that Youkai and Humans alike were causing." The dark green haired teacher took a quick look on his watch. He had already been speaking for some time.
"Louis the Pious accepted her and bestowed her with forgiveness and a name. She was renamed Saint Yshera. Instead of killing her to make up for an important life that was lost, Louis the Pious made her atone for her father's sin by making her lead her own kind, the Youkai species, to be able to coexist with the humans. He still made her marry him as part of this pact. They never had children together and it's said they never had sexual intercourse either as to keep her name as Saint accurate." Ryuu paused his speech for a bit. "Are there any questions up until now?" He asked around class.
Rin raised his head and, shortly after, his hand too. According to what he was just told, it was Yokai who started the war and who - probably - were in the wrong. "Did the war really start from this vampire's actions alone? Or is there something more to it?" the snowman asked, as soon as Ryuu let him talk.
"Good question." Ryuu stated with a warm smile once again. "As soon as Youkai started walking the human world, they preyed on them. What this Vampire man did was merely the drop that made the bucket overflow. It was also proof to Charles the Great that Youkai did exist." Ryuu answered the question of the icy hair coloured youngster. "However, not all Youkai preyed on the humans. The ones hunting were mostly Werewolves, Vampires, Succubi and the mermaids. The Youkai were angry for being discriminated against and that's why they fought back."
Vivi thought the whole thing sounded stupid. But she managed to keep that to herself, as a certain part of the story had drawn her attention. She raised her hand. "So the war ended 'cause the human king got with the daughter of the guy who started it all, right? I get the humans going along with it, just doing whatever their king told them, but why did the Youkai stop? Who was Yshera to make anyone listen to her? Did she do something to make them listen?"
Ryuu chuckled at the question of the female student who hadn't even made a sound the whole time. "Considering Yshera was a Vampire, I don't think she used any brainwashing techniques like Lamia's sometimes do." The teacher replied, however, he wasn't done yet. "You see, most Youkai have an extra organ to store magical power into. Much like humans, Vampires don't possess such an organ and are unable to use magics because of that. That's the reason they use silver casted rosarios to lock their powers temporarily and look human." Ryuu leaned against his desk. "Vampires are powerful creatures but they have their limits too. It was said that a creature with greater power helped her convince the Youkai species to cease fighting at once."
"What kind of creature?!" Kyosei blurted, hands gripping the sides of his desk. "It must be something ancient and amazing, right? Do we know what it was?" After speaking he noticed how tightly he'd tensed up and slumped back down self-consciously before he could make any more of a scene.
Karma grabbed her stomach at the notion of having some extra magic hard drive in her body and audibly dry heaved from the back of the room. Having had a third eye was already gross enough for her and that was something she had to actually acknowledge from birth. She was starting to even ask herself why she was paying attention to the lesson or why she even attended the class at all if all it'd earn her was a stomach ache and a spoonful of social anxiety. It didn't help that everything that she was hearing was being played straight, like a history class out of
Harry Potter. And yet despite all of this, between the enthusiasm of some of the more eccentric members of the class and the posturing of the teachers, there was this growing, scratching feeling in the back of her brain. One that kept her from pulling out her phone and trying to find a distraction. Preferably a cute ponytail with a short skirt. One that almost saw her raising her own hand. Almost.
Laguna had been quiet, thinking about the "magic organ". She held the ball of water in her hands, noting that her jaw was getting sore the longer she focused on her magic. Maybe her organ was in her head somewhere? Or maybe she just needed to stop gritting her teeth? The organ was probably in her fish body somewhere, so was it currently in her legs? She ducked under her desk to examine them.
Rin wasn't taking any note of the lesson, much due to his own lack of writing skills and his belief "he had such a good listening memory". But at that point he scribbled something down on his book. Well, it was more of a rough drawing, a matchstick man - a matchstick Rin. He didn't know about the existence of a magic organ in his body and probably never used it much for that matter. He also wasn't sure whether or not magic would make the difference in the long run. But he at least was curious about its position inside his body. Except...
Oh wait, this was a history class!
In the meantime, he'd also tried to catch the other classmates' questions and explanations, all of which were quite interesting.
Ryuu chuckled again at the enthusiasm of his students. "My, some eager students we have here, no?" He commented, making a light joke. "It's said it was a Dragon. Probably the last of her kind. This the first war happened over 1200 years so it's doubtful whether this dragon is even still alive. We assume not." Ryuu answered the question.
Harold closed his alchemy book after he heard something interesting, he put away the book before he asked a subject that piqued his curiosity. "Sorry if I interrupted you Sir, but if the Dragon was so powerful then why did they go extinct? Creature with a power like that couldn't suddenly disappear into thin air without any explanations right?"
Divine interrupted the class before her father could answer this question. "Power does not equal immortality. They were hunted on in the medieval ages." Divine spoke with her soft voice ringing from the back of the classroom all the way to the front. "It's said that dragons don't bear children often and let's not forget that they may have existed even before other Youkai species started existing. Just like some animals go extinct now because of lack of breeding, dragons went extinct the same way." Divine clasped her hands together and closed her eyes for a few moments. As if she was praying.
Ryuu on the other hand could only smile at his daughter. She looked at him again and smiled. "I'm sorry for interrupting your class." She spoke softly once again. Ryuu nodded and faced the mage student. "It's as mrs. von Alter said."
"Sounds about right. I always thought my family was incredibly lucky to just have three children," Kenta said, frowning at the thought he just had. "It's crazy how many humans there are. It doesn't matter how strong a dragon is when they can just swarm him."
"My mother told me stories about dragons from time to time…" Kyosei began to muse over his forgotten textbook. "She said some were unbelievably wise, others unbelievably arrogant. She said regardless of what they were like, it was a terribly lonely existence. Nobody else like them, often even amongst their own kind...I hope there are some left somewhere."
There was a dull
*thump* as Laguna hit her head on the underside of her desk. She carefully extracted herself, rubbing the back of her head. "Ow… I think I may have seen a Dragon once. It was really deep underwater, in a dark trench where I was told never to go. I went there anyway, and all I remember was seeing this huge, yellow eye, bigger than me, staring out from a cave…" She shrugged, smiling again. "Maybe they're just hiding out there in the world?"
"Does it really matter if dragons are out there or not?" Hael grumbled with his head planted firmly on his desk. "There's not much reason for them to stay hidden in the Yokai Realm so if there are any they aren't doing anything important enough to warrant mention. Besides, are we really going to ignore that this guy's name literally translates to dragon? Sounds like we're just going to get biased information to me. Can I go back to sleep now?"
The students starting becoming a bit more rowdy and talkative, filling the class with murmuring from all sides of the classroom. It was silenced by Ryuu's laughter. He lost his composure for only just a moment but regained it right after. "It is peculiar, isn't it? But no. I am not a Dragon." Ryuu said, still trying to laugh off the assumption.
Wait… No way… Harold's face hardened as he starts to realize his teacher's true identity based on his demeanor in the class.
"When did I say you were?" Hael muttered under his breath.
Ryuu raised one of his hands and snapped his fingers, making a rain of flowers appear on his own desk that covered the book that he was reading.
Divine sweated a bit from the assumption but let out a disappointed sigh when her father did some loosy magic trick with his magic. "He… He's a Fairy." she said a bit disappointed.
"Why does she say that like it's a bad thing?" Hael continued with the irate questions, aware that nobody was actually listening anymore at this point.
I knew it... Harold finally realized why his teacher talked in that old-fashioned way. The old-age explains it, at least he didn't have to deal with another douchebag fairy and that was something worth celebrating in Harold's mind. He drank another sip of tea from this thermos, this time it appeared that it's also Harold's last sip due to the thermos was now empty.
"Now that's out of the way. Shall we continue the history lesson? Any more questions about the subject other than dragons?" Ryuu was cleaning up the flowers as he asked, waving them right into the trash can with his magic.
Ignoring the teachers, Laguna turned in her seat to look at Hael. He seemed genuinely annoyed to be here. She spoke softly to not draw attention to herself. "You okay, buddy? You've been sour since you got here."
Hael looked up at Laguna and gave as much of a shrug as he could without shifting his position.
"My head's thumping and this isn't anything I'm interested in."
Meanwhile, it was Rin once again who came up with a different question for Ryuu. "So you're telling me, relationships between humans and Yokai were completely fine but… what do people think about relationships like that one... today?"
Ryuu was silent for a bit. "I think it differs per individual. There are Youkai who denounce such romances. There are also individuals who don't pay it any thought." Ryuu answered the question of his student. "Humans currently don't know about the existence of Youkai, the ones that do know either are having a romance with one or are related to them in any way. Whether it be a close friend of something else."
"Yokai are dangerous to humans. It's better if we just leave them alone." Hael grunted to nobody in particular, hearing the question and answer mid-conversation with Laguna. He put his head back down and shut his eyes, trying to drown out the noise of the class.
Laguna just shrugged, realizing that Hael must be tired. "Okay, you get your rest. We'll talk later." She gave him a friendly pat on the head, forgetting that she was holding a water orb. It burst on contact, soaking Hael all over again. "Oops! My bad!"
"Is this going to be a regular occurence?!" Hael half-yelled, half-yelped as he felt his suddenly doused for the second time that morning. He shot into an upright position, glaring at Laguna whom he was now assuming was responsible for the earlier incident as well.
Divine was quietly giggling from the back of the classroom.
"Probably not! I'm sorry!" Laguna panicked a little, leaning away from the angry little man. "Here, I'll fix it!" She put her hand out, palm facing Hael, and made a sweeping motion to the side. The water pulled itself off Hael, and flew directly toward Rin in one wave.
"That's more like it," Hael said with satisfaction.
I… should have known, uh?
A wave of hot water hit the boy in the face, its temperature quickly decreasing and leaving small particles of ice behind. The book wasn't damaged, yet the uniform was quite soaked. But who had time to think about that?
The snowman turned to the mermaid sitting next to the door, already knowing where she was sitting in class. That was the obvious culprit, and she… maybe, she had a good reason to do that. But why throw around water now, without a warning? Was she trying to trick Rin into thinking she didn't notice him, then letting him know she actually did?
Typical mermaids, uh? It's like being back in Alaska. Actually, it probably wasn't on purpose… maybe Laguna was that obliv-
Stay out of this!
Rin's red eyes caught Hael chuckling, and the first impression he had of the fairy only made everything worse. Behind his white hair, partially covered in thin ice, a weird mixture of emotions and expressions, somewhere in between laughing, admitting defeat, giving out deathly stares, and worrying for having just been soaked, lined Rin's face.
Oh right, I'm cold!
"Quick, get it away!" Rin yelped, the damage from the water (and also Hael) only being a secondary problem by then. His mind was occupied by a different thought: the ice would have given away the fact that, despite looking like a human, he couldn't control his body temperature.
Divine's giggle immediately stopped. The students were about to have a water battle and she needed to stop that. She tilted her hand and swept her whole arm to the side, taking the water off from Rin but… having it land on the Yasha lady in the back. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" She ran over to her and hastily took the water off from her and tried to gather it again in one spot in the air. All her father did was watch her in shame.
Vivi instinctively hid under her textbook, very much wanting to avoid whatever was happening.
Laguna watched all the chaos happening around her, her eyes wide. "This is all my fault!' She cried, especially noticing Rin's expression. "I'm sorry, Mr. von Alter! I didn't mean to disrupt your class!"
An ethereal looking wisp of green flame floated across the classroom. Kyosei laughed a bit in spite of himself and the wisp bounced in time with the chuckles as if it were alive. The wisp grew to match the blob of water until it pressed into it and they burst into a puff of steam rising to the ceiling. "That should take care of that." He said, failing to keep the amusement out of his voice.
Karma, was frozen in place. She may have called the girl cute earlier but her rage against youkai could really only be abated from a literal distance. Hence why she took the back seat. So this girl now sitting right next to her,
touching her, was a bit too much for her to handle, surprisingly a lot more than getting hit with the face with cold water run-off. She grabbed at the mask at her side in a bit of a panic before looking at Divine, and subsequently at the class, and realizing that it was indeed a group of dumb kids. Kids who were monsters. Including her. This didn't really change her feelings in that moment but it did give her the moxy to take off her wet T-shirt and dry her face with it. "Appreciate it," She said to Divine in deadpan, which was at least affirmation to her that she wasn't a shotgun redneck human and could actually be a somewhat decent classmate. The kind that sits at the back of the classroom and really shines up the walls like the flower she was. In only a bra and jeans. It was a good bra, to be fair. She eyed Rin very specifically with a pinch of disdain before reaching into her pocket, turning on Duel Links (with audio, in that clown fiesta who would have even cared).
Rin felt Karma's eyes fixed on him and turned towards her, not understanding what she was blaming him for. He looked quite fed up and unhappy to be in the spotlight - plus Karma's reaction to what happened seemed just over exaggerated. But as the girl pulled out her… games, he couldn't do anything else but turn around and start to break some of the ice still stuck in his hair.
I'm always used to wear layers and layers of clothes, and she just… whatever. Let's see how she behaves in our dorm room.
Ryuu looked at his daughter in disappointment and crossed his arms. "It might be better if you leave for now." He told her strictly, looking at his watch again to not lose sight of the time. Divine nodded although felt a bit embarrassed for this puppet show she had shown her father and the other students on top of that. Yet another class that is
not going to take her serious anymore as a teacher. As soon as she closed the classroom door behind her, Ryuu turned back to the class to give them assignments, not entirely ignoring Karma in the back of the class but not lecturing her on the use of her phone. "I apologize for my daughter's behavior. If we could continue class now." He cleared his throat right after.
"The assignments of today can be answered by reading page 33 to 39. I expect these assignments tomorrow morning in our next class. I will give you some time to work on them now."
With that, the first day of this rowdy class started. Little did they know that the rest of the year wouldn't be as "peaceful" as today started...
