The Crimson Cross.
Chapter 2: When the Silence Broke.
Ethan Cross.
Tokyo, 2007
Eyes closed, I silently cursed my parents for everything they'd put me through.
This was their fault. I refused to accept otherwise.
The worst part was that whoever had landed on top of me showed absolutely no intention of moving.
With no other option, I opened my eyes with a pained groan.
Pink hair was the first thing I saw. Then green eyes, looking absurdly wide and innocent as the owner stared down at me with a face that had no business being that damn perfect.
Beautiful. Absurdly, inhumanly beautiful.
She was more beautiful than any other girl I had seen, both in England and here.
Or even on the internet, when I visited some sites after breaking up with my ex.
And it creeped me out.
The girl was looking at me with glassy eyes, which didn’t help with my opinion of her at all.
God… was she an airhead, too? It seemed I couldn’t escape Mom’s kind.
Then she tried to stand up when I heard footsteps from farther away.
She failed, dropping harder into me once more.
This was getting absurd.
“Ethan! Are you alright?!” Aono’s voice came from somewhere behind us both.
“Peachy,” I grunted, feeling the weight on my chest and doing my damned best not to glare at her, or worse, throw her at the side.
I didn’t want to burn bridges when I didn’t want to. Even if that was feeling increasingly tempting.
She had finally registered that she had run over a stranger and was sitting on his chest and scrambled back with a sound that I could only call a squeak.
She stood up fast, smoothing her uniform that, for whatever reason, only worked for her to fall once more and show her pink panties to both Aono’s and my eyes.
Nice.
And cue another adorable squeak that somehow destroyed all my irritation.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you until it was too late, and I couldn’t stop on time! I…”
She stopped cold, her nostrils flaring adorably for a moment. It was a small movement, to the point I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t watching her closely.
And then her eyes focused like a laser on my wounds.
Scrape by scrape, she catalogued every single one that was visible.
And honestly, I felt touched. At least at first. Until she licked her lips.
Was she a masochist by any chance?
I wasn’t one to kink shame, but I wasn’t interested in being dominated by someone, no matter how cute she was.
I hid my hands behind my back, feeling self-conscious beyond belief.
Not only that, but the weird feeling was still present.
No… It was worse than before.
It probably was thanks to the way she was staring at me. It truly wasn’t the way a normal person looked at a minor injury.
Suppressing a shudder, I met her eyes.
She returned the glance almost sheepishly, and for a moment something flickered behind all that green.
Shame? Yes, a bit. But also… hunger?
“Sorry,” she bowed just a bit, and those innocent eyes were surprisingly honest. “I really am. Are you hurt badly?”
My eyes couldn’t help but drop towards her plump lips, especially a smear of my own blood just a centimeter below them.
That brought embarrassment back into the open.
Before I, or Aono, who was helping me stand up, could say anything, her pink tongue sneaked past her lips.
The way her eyes widened and her breathing turned uneven was not natural in the slightest.
“Your blood… It’s really good,” she blurted after a pause.
“I beg your pardon?” I asked dryly.
“Ah, my bad!” She stuck out her tongue and tilted her head, “My name is Moka Akashiya! And I’m a Vampire. It’s nice to meet you!”
That brought everything to a stop. I didn’t even feel the pain anymore as my mind ran a mile a minute to make sense of everything that was happening.
Aono opened his mouth to exclaim something, but I blocked his mouth and laughed like I didn’t care.
“Huh, a vampire?” I glared at Aono to keep his mouth shut, and after the slight nod I felt in return, I threw a smile in Moka’s direction. “That’s nice. And I’m glad my blood was to your liking, Moka.”
“Right!?” She exclaimed excitedly, “It tastes much better than the blood bags I’m used to. Gosh, I can’t believe the difference!”
My lips twitched despite trying my best to keep calm, but I just nodded with a slight smile.
“You’re new, too, right?” Aono asked after I let him go, “Our things are that way, care to come with us?”
“Sure!” Moka smiled brightly before a pretty scowl marred her face, “Is this what having friends feels like? I never had many friends before.”
“Is that so?” I asked softly as I walked towards our bags. That sounded pitiful, which lowered my absolute terror of the situation for a moment, even if it shouldn’t have.
I didn’t miss the way Moka was walking closer to me than was strictly necessary.
“Yeah,” she replied sadly, “Humans are worse than monsters; they never believed I was a vampire. I’m just glad that I’m finally coming here, a place only for monsters.”
She said that with a peppy tone of voice, ignoring the way both Aono and I froze on the spot before we kept walking.
I genuinely didn’t know how to answer at Aono’s glance, because I had no idea what was going on.
“Sounds nice,” Aono grinned even as he cleaned a bead of sweat.
Once we reached our bags, Aono and I lifted them up and started walking back towards Moka’s bicycle, once more shocking us with her inhuman strength as she lifted it quite easily despite her thin body.
We were in danger.
But… this was also a place where I could get some answers. Because after learning about this, there was no way in hell I would leave without knowing more.
“Well, time to face the music,” I sighed once we reached the gate to the castle.
What was the worst thing that could happen, after all?
Third Person PoV.
Yōkai Academy. Headmaster's Office.
The office of the Exorcist was not a welcoming place.
Mikogami had designed it that way a long time ago, much to the amusement of the other two Dark Lords.
The office was sparse, but that wouldn’t surprise anyone who truly knew him. Apart from some artifacts that some people would kill for to even glance at them, there was not much of note.
The only thing that was awesome in Mikogami’s opinion was a human skull in the corner of his desk.
The perfect paperweight. The skull of the person who made him deal with the most dangerous enemy in the supernatural world. Paperwork. The bane of his existence.
Mikogami found it amusing. The dead man certainly didn't. Not that he had any way of complaining.
The only sound coming out of the office was the gentle sipping as the headmaster drank his tea and the musical ringing of his rosary beads, just like the headmaster liked it.
He put the cup down after he felt them arriving. Two presences, with one trailing behind the other, trying to sneak in.
Mikogami sighed, but he was already used to Nekonome-san having fun her own way. The closest presence opened the door without knocking, because Nurari had never knocked in his life and wasn't about to start now.
The headmaster liked his friend; there wasn’t any doubt of that, even if he believed Nurari took his creepy act too far sometimes.
Or well… most of the time.
"They're here."
The Bus Driver leaned against the doorframe with his cap pulled low and a cigar between his teeth that he technically wasn't allowed to smoke indoors.
Mikogami didn't bother telling him to put it out. That battle had been lost sometime around fifty years ago.
"Good," Mikogami nodded. "What did you think of the boy?"
"Ah, Aono… he was terrified," Nurari said with a grin. "But I was more curious about the other one, if I have to be honest."
That was expected. Aono Tsukune had been selected carefully. A perfectly average human with no supernatural heritage, no latent abilities, and no remarkable qualities beyond a stubborn kindness that Mikogami had identified a long time ago.
But Mikogami hadn't gotten to his age by ignoring problems, and there was a rather significant one standing in the doorway wearing a shit-eating grin.
"You said the other one."
Nurari's grin widened. "Did I?"
"Nurari. Explain already."
"Two humans on my bus, Old man." Nurari snorted at the surprise that showed on Mikogami’s face.
"The Aono kid, sure. You handpicked him. The other one?" He took a long drag. "British brat. Tall, messy dark hair, red eyes, and a scowl engraved on his face. Name's Ethan Cross."
Mikogami went very still.
That was not… that was not in the plan.
"I didn't authorize a second student," he said flatly.
"Well, someone did," Nurari shrugged, "Because I was given two addresses to make stops in the human world."
Mikogami's eyes twitched.
The Bus Driver snorted. "You're losing your edge, old man."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You heard me." Nurari pushed off the doorframe, walking into the office, “Things like this? They don’t usually happen unless you’re playing your games.”
Mikogami's glowing eyes narrowed, but he didn't deny it. Because the infuriating part was that Nurari wasn't wrong.
He had been distracted. Severely so.
The wider supernatural world had been… restless, for lack of a better word.
Before he could respond, a timid knock came from the door.
Mikogami sighed, already knowing that their stalker didn’t want to play anymore.
"Come in, Nekonome-sensei."
Shizuka Nekonome stepped inside, her tail swishing behind her in a way that she probably thought was hidden but very much wasn't. Her ears twitched under her hair as she glanced between the Headmaster and Nurari with hesitation.
"Class should start soon, Headmaster," she said brightly, before it dimmed just a bit. "Are you sure you still want them here? You know what happened with Hokuto-kun.”
"They'll be eaten," Nurari supplied helpfully. “Hokuto had a fire in him that allowed him to survive. I don’t see that same thing in these two brats.”
"Nurari-san!" Nekonome looked horrified.
"What? It's true."
"The point of this institution," Mikogami cut in, "is coexistence. It has always been coexistence. Humans and monsters learning to understand one another so that when the barrier between our worlds inevitably weakens, the result isn't mutual annihilation."
Nekonome nodded rapidly, fearing she had offended the very scary headmaster.
"One human among monsters is a risk," Mikogami continued, "Two is… admittedly a larger one. But the principle doesn't change."
"The principle doesn't change, sure," Nurari said, blowing smoke at the ceiling, "but you didn't plan for two humans, and you don't like surprises. So what happened?"
Mikogami leaned back in his chair.
“Administrative oversight," he said simply. “Nothing more.”
“Administrative oversight," Nurari repeated, looking like he was holding an amused chuckle back. "And you only noticed now because…?"
"Because I have been occupied with matters beyond this academy's walls." Mikogami's tone carried a finality that would have ended the conversation with anyone else.
Nurari wasn't anyone else.
"Will you finally explain what has kept you busy?"
Mikogami was quiet for a long moment. Then he reached into his desk and produced a letter. The seal on it bore a crest that Nurari's eyes locked onto immediately.
The Bus Driver's feet came off the desk.
That alone told Nekonome something significant had happened, because she had never seen Nurari sit up straight since she met him.
"We are receiving a third notable student," Mikogami said. “The daughter of the ruler of the West Yōkai Faction in Kyoto."
Nekonome blinked. "Kyoto? Didn’t you say you wanted nothing to do with the other factions playing here?"
“This was… you can call it a personal favor,” Mikogami sipped from his cup. “They’re having some problems.”
"What kind of problems?" Nekonome asked, then looked immediately as if she regretted it.
Mikogami didn't answer directly. Instead, he turned to Nurari, who was staring at the letter with an expression that was no longer amused.
It was something closer to nostalgia.
"Yasaka-chan," the Bus Driver said quietly. “I still remember that brat.”
"You know her personally?" Nekonome looked between them, confused.
There was a hint of surprise too.
"Knew her," Nurari corrected, "Haven't seen that fox in centuries. Not since before she took her mother’s place."
"Now she has a tyke of her own," Mikogami confirmed. “And she had to send her here for a bit.”
"What changed?" Nurari asked seriously.
"The dimension that houses Kyoto's Yōkai population has been experiencing instabilities. Something… someone is playing with it. Probably from within." Mikogami's eyes flashed.
"Yasaka already suspects some," Mikogami continued. "But having them so close to her treasure meant that she couldn’t focus on weeding her garden.”
"So she's sending her girl here," Nurari nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on her. It’s the least thing I can do.”
Nekonome looked between the two of them, her tail twitching wildly.
"A kitsune princess," she said slowly. "A real nine-tailed fox from Amaterasu’s own line. And two humans… here. In my class."
"Yes," Mikogami said. “And I trust you will succeed, sensei.”
“You shouldn’t trust me with something like this!” Nekonome shouted anxiously.
Mikogami allowed himself the faintest of smiles beneath his hood.
"Just think of all you can learn from it."
Nurari barked a laugh and lit a fresh cigar.
Nekonome opened her mouth to keep shouting, but a single glance from the headmaster stopped her in her tracks.
She bowed, gathered her papers, and left the office with her tail twitching so aggressively that it banged against the doorframe as she left.
When the door closed, Nurari looked at Mikogami.
"You're going to keep the second human."
It wasn't a question.
"Think of him as a backup of a backup," Mikogami said simply. "After all, he’s only a human, right? What could go wrong?"
Nurari stared at him for a long moment, then shook his head with a low chuckle.
"Your funeral, old man. He… there’s something off about him."
He stood up and walked out of the office with a spring in his step.
Once the headmaster was left alone once more, he relaxed into his seat.
"Interesting times," he murmured to no one.
Ethan Cross.
Yōkai Academy.
Thank God Moka left us to do her own thing.
Not because I didn't enjoy her company. She was nice enough, if you ignore her blood-sucking ways, of course. It didn’t help that she then walked beside me close enough that I could smell her shampoo.
Which, for the record, smelled like strawberries. Because of course it did.
Damn adorable and scary creature.
She'd excused herself after we reached the main building, something about finding a place to drop her bicycle because the wheel was dented from the impact.
I was still processing that. My wounds made sure I wouldn’t forget about it anytime soon.
But her leaving gave me something I desperately needed… a moment to breathe without a self-proclaimed vampire hovering at my shoulder with those glassy green eyes fixed on the scrapes across my palms like I was a walking buffet.
Aono and I walked through the main corridor of the castle, trying to act as calmly as we could.
The other students moved around us as if nothing were wrong. But of course, for them, everything was normal.
I kept my eyes forward and my face as blank as I could manage, but my hand had drifted to the strap of my bag. The one with the belt inside. I was gripping it harder than was strictly necessary, and I knew it, but I couldn't make myself stop.
If anything, I would absolutely smash someone’s teeth with it if it came to it.
Because every single person we passed made my skin crawl.
It wasn't something I could point to. No one had fangs out or claws showing or any of the obvious rubbish you'd expect from a horror film.
They looked human… But they weren't.
I kept walking, dragging the almost hyperventilating Aono with me.
His face had been white since Moka's little confession, and it hadn't recovered.
"Stop that," I murmured without turning around.
"Stop what?" He murmured, still looking around.
"Looking like the most obvious human in this damn place."
I needed somewhere private. Somewhere without eyes or ears or whatever these things used to sense prey.
Seeing nothing better than a bathroom, I pushed Aono in front of me.
The bathroom was surprisingly modern.
I was genuinely thankful that whoever built this place had the decency to westernize the toilets, because I was not emotionally equipped to deal with a squat toilet on top of everything else happening today.
I pushed Aono into the furthest cubicle and followed him in, locking the door behind us.
My friend opened his mouth.
"Shut up," I whispered. "Keep your voice down."
I pressed my ear against the cubicle door for a moment, listening.
Once I believed we were in the clear, I turned back to Aono.
"Are you human?"
"Yes! Yes, I'm human! Oh God, I'm human, I'm completely human, I've always been human, I…" His voice was climbing in pitch and volume. "Are you human?!"
"Yes, you idiot, keep your voice down!"
"We're in a school for monsters!" He hissed, grabbing fistfuls of his own hair. "She said she was a vampire! She drank your blood! Why aren’t you freaking out even more?!”
"Because I’m way too curious for my own good," I deadpanned. "The vampire, the haunted castle, the tunnel that felt like crossing into another dimension? I thought magic was real, and all this tells me I was right."
"Ethan, we have to leave. Right now. We find the bus, we get on it, and we go home. I'll take the year off. I'll study at home. I'll become a monk. I don't care."
"That bus is gone, mate."
"Then we walk!"
"Through the tunnel that probably took us somewhere not on earth or some shit like that?" I snorted, “I knew the damn thing was creepy.”
“The girls here are cute, though,” he murmured after a moment in silence.
A silence that stretched until I couldn’t hide a snort, laughing but nodding in agreement.
“Aye, that they are.”
"We're fucked," Aono said quietly.
"Completely," I agreed.
He asked hesitantly, “You think it is worth it?”
A proper bro moment, if I'd ever had one myself.
I shrugged, not knowing if some monster snatch was worth the danger.
"Okay," Aono took a deep breath, visibly trying to pull himself together.
I didn't answer immediately.
Because the thing was… I didn't want to leave.
I knew that this was dangerous. Insanely so… And yet.
I thought about the belt sitting in my bag. The one that appeared out of nowhere and refused to leave, no matter what I did.
Magic was real. I had already suspected that.
And if magic was real, and monsters were real… Then maybe this was exactly where I was supposed to be to get some bloody answers.
"If you want to leave, I’ll help you," I said seriously before grimacing. "I'm staying."
"You're insane." He looked at me with wide eyes.
"Probably." I chuckled tiredly, “But I already decided.”
"They'll eat us, Ethan."
"Then I hope I taste good," I shrugged. "But I've got questions, and the normal world isn't giving me answers. Answers I need."
"An answer," he repeated flatly. "Your reason for staying in a school full of creatures that could kill us without breaking a sweat is for answers?"
"And curiosity," I added helpfully.
“You’re an idiot.”
He stared at me for a minute. I could see the gears turning behind his eyes, the war between his very reasonable desire to survive and something else.
Stubbornness. Or maybe stupidity. Maybe he wasn’t that different from me.
"Moka was nice," he said finally, and it sounded like he was trying to convince himself. “And the girls are cute.”
Heh. He was repeating himself.
"She was. And in general, cuter than the ones outside."
He smiled at that. A small, terrified, trembling smile, but it was something.
"If I die here," he said, "I'm haunting you. I can’t believe I’m considering this."
"Never had a girlfriend?" I chuckled, shaking my head. “Come on, we've got a class to find."
We left the bathroom and rejoined the stream of students heading toward the first-year classrooms.
But I had a magic belt, a new friend who was too stubborn to run even when he desperately wanted to, and the second genuine mystery I'd encountered since arriving in Japan.
Besides, what was the worst thing that could happen today?
Hopefully not dying.
Ethan Cross.
Yōkai Academy. Classroom.
If you squinted and ignored the fact that the sky hadn't changed color once since we arrived, you could pretend it was any campus in Japan.
As soon as we walked inside, every pair of eyes looked in our direction, before the males inside made a groaning noise almost in unison and ignored us.
Some of the girls stayed looking, but then their attention shifted to someone else.
And my eyes soon followed.
I wouldn’t lie. My breath was caught in my chest as soon as I saw the girl sitting next to the window.
Blond hair, looking silky enough that a mere gust of wind blew her bangs back, green eyes that looked at the room with a bored expression. She sat with her legs crossed and her chin resting on one hand, then she looked outside.
She was just as beautiful as Moka. And I had already noticed that, as beautiful as most girls were here, these two were simply on another level.
I knew the look. I'd seen it on enough aristocratic girls back in England. Old money carried itself the same way regardless of the country, apparently. Or the species.
Some dude dressed like a punk whistled in her direction.
She didn't even turn her head. She just exhaled through her nose and rolled her eyes.
The bloke shut up and started bickering with some of his friends after they started teasing him.
Interesting. They even acted like humans. I would absolutely be fooled if I met them outside, at least at this point.
Aono and I found seats near the middle. Close enough to the door for a quick escape, far enough from the window girl that I could peek at her without being noticed.
Or at least I hoped so. But there was something to my advantage… literally everyone was watching her with either horniness, jealousy, or surprisingly enough, trepidation.
As we sat down, her nose twitched. It looked as adorable as when Moka did it, but it was like I was thrown into a frozen tundra this time. Why? Because her eyes found us.
Not Aono. Both of us, simultaneously, and it felt like she was peering through our nature with not a single ounce of effort.
It was... assessing. And underneath it, something I didn't expect.
Pity.
Before I could think too hard about that, the door burst open again.
"Ethan! Tsukune!"
Moka appeared like a pink-haired ball of sunshine, beaming at us as she skipped across the room with an energy that should have been illegal in a university as grim as this one. She made a direct line for me, and before I could brace myself, she had latched onto my arm with both hands.
"We're in the same class! Isn't that amazing?!"
The room erupted with a cacophony of screams.
And it was insufferable as you’d imagine.
Every male in the classroom had something to say about it, and they said it loudly, and with the subtlety you’d expect from horny idiots. Comments about Moka's face, her body, her hair, her smile, and several other observations that would have earned them a smack from my mother flew through the air.
One idiot actually stood up from his chair. Just… standing there, open-mouthed with drool leaving his lips that made me wince from secondhand embarrassment.
Since when was it the norm to ask a girl for her measurements in public? Hell, even in private.
I had heard from some online friends that things here worked differently, but what the actual fuck. I had thought they were joking about some hentai, not real life!
Moka, to her credit, seemed completely unconcerned. Or maybe she was used to it. Either way, she just smiled and tightened her grip on my arm, which only made the noise worse.
Aono shot me a look that was equal parts jealousy and relief that he wasn't the one being glared at by thirty monsters who suddenly had a reason to dislike me.
Brilliant. As if being human wasn't enough of a target, now I had one of the prettiest girls in the room hanging off me like I knew her for a lifetime, not for a fucking hour.
The chaos was mercifully cut short by the door sliding open one more time.
"Good morning, everyone! Please take your seats!"
The teacher walked in with a stack of papers and a smile that was either genuine or very well practiced. Blonde hair, glasses, and… a cat tail swishing behind her.
Professor Nekonome. I vaguely remembered seeing the name on the class assignment board outside. A bit on the nose, with a name like that.
"Welcome to Yōkai University!" She set her papers down and turned to face us with what I could only describe as aggressive enthusiasm. "My name is Shizuka Nekonome, and I'll be your homeroom teacher this year!"
Moka finally let go of my arm to sit down next to me. I was sure my veins were thanking her for that. I had started feeling like ants walking in my arm for like a minute at that point.
"Now, as I'm sure most of you know, this academy was founded with a very important mission." Nekonome clapped cheerfully. "Since the human world was overrun by humans, we have to learn how to coexist with them! It is no longer an option, everyone! It is a necessity!"
She turned to the blackboard and began writing in a surprisingly neat hand.
"Yōkai University accepts students from all backgrounds, all species, and all walks of life. Some of you come from old, established clans. Others may come from less structured backgrounds. But regardless of where you're from, the purpose of this institution is the same."
She underlined the words she'd written with a flourish.
Coexistence with Humanity.
"We're here to learn how to live alongside humans," she continued brightly. "How to understand their culture, their society, their laws. Because the barrier between our worlds grows thinner every generation, and when the day comes that it can no longer be maintained, we need to be ready. Also, you will learn from different careers that might be useful for all of you if you need to find a job in the future. But this year will focus mostly on general knowledge!"
She paused, finger raised. "And that brings us to our most important rule! While on campus, everyone must maintain their human form at all times. Revealing your true nature to other students is strictly prohibited!"
A bunch of monsters grumbled at that, even if they didn’t look surprised.
I shared a look and a relieved sigh with Aono, only to notice the blond girl from the window and how her lips twitched in amusement.
"This is about practice," Nekonome explained. "Think of it as training. If you can maintain your human disguise here, around others who might recognize the slip, you'll be more than prepared for the real thing."
Because the implications of that rule were the only thing that kept us alive. As long as everyone had to pretend to be human, our actual humanity was just another disguise. Hiding in plain sight among beings who were all hiding in plain sight.
And since it was an enforced rule, I genuinely doubted we would suffer that much from that front.
It was almost funny, in a deeply unfunny way.
"Tch."
The sound came from the back of the room. Loud enough to cut through Nekonome's explanation and draw every eye in the room.
The source was a mountain of a student. The same punk who had tried to shoot his shot with the absurdly cute blond. He fit the stereotype I had seen in a bunch of anime back home. And he was as distasteful as I had feared.
Saizou Komiya, if the nameplate on his desk was correct.
"What a load of crap," he muttered, loud enough for the whole class to hear. "Coexistence? With those pathetic creatures?"
Nekonome's smile stiffened. "Komiya-san, if you have a question, you’re free to raise your hand."
"It ain't a question." He leaned back in his chair, one arm draped over the back, grinning in a way that sent a shiver of disgust down my spine. "Humans are food. That's all they've ever been. The women are fun to play with, and the men aren't even worth that."
A bunch of snorts came from around him, and I didn’t fail to notice how the largest part of the whole classroom seemed to agree with him.
I clenched my jaw while keeping my eyes forward.
Aono had stopped breathing again.
Then a sound cut through the silence like a hot blade through butter.
A derisive snort.
And it didn’t come from me, or Aono, for that matter.
The blond-haired girl hadn't moved from her position. She was still looking outside, chin still resting on her hand, the picture of absolute disinterest. But the sound had come from her, clear as day, and it carried a derision so complete that it made Saizou's little speech stop.
"What?" Saizou turned toward her, narrowing his eyes in displeasure.
She finally graced the room with her attention. When she turned from the window, it was slow, unhurried, and with enough grace that suggested she came from a very important background.
It had just the right amount of sass to avoid offending while letting you know how little she thought of you.
"If you go to the human world and try that," she said, her tone unimpressed, "you'll last about a week before someone puts you down like the pest you are."
Saizou's grin turned ugly. "You got something to say, princess?"
"I believe I just did." She met his glare without flinching. "Eat a human, molest someone, make a scene. See what happens. Not all humans are powerless, and before long, you’ll be noticed. And hunted, as I said."
She turned back to the window like the conversation was already over.
"There are humans who hunt monsters for a living. Exorcists, magicians, entire organizations dedicated to keeping creatures like you in check. And they're very, very good at their job." She chuckled. "But I'm sure someone of your... caliber would do fine."
The way she said caliber made it clear she meant the opposite.
Saizou looked like he wanted to say something, but whatever he saw in her eyes when she'd looked at him had taken the edge off his confidence. He clicked his tongue and turned back to his desk, muttering something under his breath.
Nekonome cleared her throat and quickly steered the lesson back on track.
But I wasn't listening anymore.
Exorcists. Magicians. Organizations.
Humans weren’t powerless. We could have magic, too. We could fight monsters.
I could learn how to protect myself and my loved ones against monsters like Saizou.
She hadn't said it as if she were guessing or repeating rumors. She said it as she knew. Unlike many inside the classroom who were confused by her words, she believed in them.
I stared at the back of her head, my mind running faster than it had all day.
Most of the students in this room felt the same. Powerful, sure, in a way I couldn't fully articulate yet. But ignorant. Like they didn’t know as much as the blond princess did.
And I wanted to know what she knew.
Later.
The rest of the day passed in a blur between orientation, basic classes, and rubbish things I honestly didn’t need.
By the time the light outside, if you could call that perpetual grey nonsense light, started to dim, most of the students had been guided toward the dormitories where I would live for the next three years if I didn’t meet my demise.
Moka had found us again at lunch, acting as excited as ever and clinging to my arm while Aono tried not to look heartbroken about it. Did I feel bad for him? A bit. Was I about to stop the absurdly cute girl from clinging to me? Absolutely not.
Even if she still gave me the creeps sometimes.
Partly because pushing her away would draw attention, and secondly, because she could be useful in protecting Aono and me. It was a bit scummy, I knew that, but I wasn’t dumb. Until I learned to protect myself, she was the only one who could help me.
If I could convince her not to eat me, as the rest of the class would do. But… I could manage. Maybe… hopefully.
But throughout the day, between the classes and Moka's warmth at my side, I kept noticing the same thing.
The girl from the window kept glancing towards us.
Kunou, the ice princess of the class.
She wasn’t obvious at all. And the only reason I noticed was that I kept looking at her at the same time.
She wasn't staring or following us around. But every time I glanced in her direction, I caught her eyes flicking away a half-second too late. And those weren’t the only times.
At lunch, when Aono nearly choked on his rice and retched after a student casually mentioned how humans tasted. Or in the corridor, when Moka dragged us toward the vending machines. During the last lesson, when Professor Nekonome explained dormitory assignments.
Every time, those green eyes would settle on us with the same quiet expression.
Pity.
She absolutely knew we were humans.
I didn't know how, but she knew what Aono and I were, and instead of excitement or hunger or any of the dozen reactions I'd feared, there was only that.
A sense of sadness at what would happen to both of us if that knowledge came into the open.
It should have terrified me. And it did, in a way. But it also did something else.
It fueled my curiosity because, despite the danger of her knowing, I could feel deep inside me that she wasn’t a danger to Aono or me.
I couldn’t explain why. But I was sure.
And she also had answers.
She could tell me more about the world that was hidden from normal humans, and that meant more than any risk I could be at.
And maybe, if I were very lucky, she could explain whatever bullshit belt that kept following me despite my best attempts at getting rid of it.
As Aono and I walked toward the dormitories, I glanced back one last time.
Kunou was standing at the end of the corridor, watching us go. When she caught my eye, she didn't look away this time.
She just shook her head and mouthed the word later.
Then she turned and disappeared around the corner.
"Ethan?" Aono looked at me. "You okay?"
"Yeah," I said, still staring at the empty hallway. "I think we can get some explanations soon."
He followed my gaze, then looked back at me.
"Please tell me it's not another pretty girl."
"It's not another pretty girl."
Pretty girl felt too simple for what Kunou truly was. Also, I didn’t want Aono pouting at me even more than he had already done so.
I wonder if I could find a monster girl who didn’t want to eat him; he deserved that much for this hell.
Ethan Cross.
Yōkai University.
The room was small. A bed, one desk, a wardrobe that was already full, and a window that overlooked the forest outside.
And honestly, I couldn’t complain. At least it didn’t have foxy curtains like back home.
If you hadn’t noticed… I was taking all the wins I could.
I dropped my main bag at the bottom of the bed and launched myself onto the bed face-first, not even bothering to take off my shoes. Surprisingly, my body bounced noticeably, and I sighed in relief.
God, it was better than my own bed.
The ceiling here was unfamiliar, too. Just like the one back in Tokyo. But… I didn’t feel angry at my parents anymore.
At least, this one felt different. Because it reminded me of the whole new world that had opened its door to me.
I stared at it for a while, basking in the silence.
No Moka clinging to my arm. No Aono pouting next to me. No monsters pretending to be students. Not a single ice princess watching me with eyes that knew too much.
Just me, a moan-worthy mattress, and the question I'd been dodging all day.
Was I doing the right thing?
Staying here was insane. I knew that. Aono knew that. Kunou apparently knew that too, if the pity was anything to go by. I was a human in a school full of creatures that would kill me the moment they found out, and my grand strategy was to stay and ask questions.
And maybe learn enough to get stronger and survive this place to learn even more.
Mum would smack me so hard my ancestors would feel it. And honestly, I would deserve it.
But then again, Mum didn't have a magic belt. I did.
I turned my head toward the bag.
It was there. I could feel it, even more so than back in Tokyo, that faint awareness at the edge of my senses of its existence had grown stronger now that I focused. Did I understand why? Absolutely not.
But it assured me that it was something real. Like it was waiting… for me.
To put it on.
"Fuck it."
I sat up, unzipped the bag, and pulled the belt out.
It was as heavy as before, white and gold and ridiculous as ever. I cringed at the thought of wearing something so gaudy, but… I needed it.
This could be something useful. Or a curse, but I was willing to risk it at this point.
I turned it over. Ran my thumb across the surface. Its warmth brought a smile to my face.
It wasn’t because it had been inside the bag for almost sixteen hours, no. It felt like something inside kept it warm for me.
For two weeks, I had thrown this thing away, buried it, drowned it, and ignored it. And for two weeks, it had come back, sitting on my desk every morning like nothing I could ever do would change the fact that this now belonged to me.
Maybe it was time to stop fighting it.
Maybe this was why I was here. Not the academy, not the monsters, not the missing year of university that had driven me halfway across Japan.
This belt.
I looked at it for a long moment. Then I stood up, and with a resigned sigh, I put the belt on.
It clicked into place around my waist, as if it had been made for me.
For a single heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then I felt as if the world ended around me.
Energy erupted from the belt in a wave that I felt before I saw it. It slammed outward in every direction, hitting the walls of my room and bouncing back like the light had hit a mirror. The same gold and white, but alive, moving, twisting through the air in patterns that hurt to look at.
It filled the room in less than a second. And then it solidified.
The air itself hardened into a shell. Like a protection ward, my geek part unhelpfully commented. Sealing the room from the outside, trapping everything within these four walls in a cocoon of energy so dense I could feel it pressing against my skin like concrete.
I opened my mouth to shout at something. At anything.
And scream I did, but not in surprise like I wanted to. No, that would have been preferable. At least compared to this otherworldly pain.
It started in my chest. Not on the surface, not in the muscles or the bones, but deeper. In something I didn't have a name for. I could call it my soul, and despite not knowing shit about what truly made a human body, I was almost completely sure I was right.
I couldn’t shut down my screams.
My knees buckled before I hit the floor hard, my hands slamming against the tile as my vision whited out. Every blood vessel in my body felt like it was being filled with molten metal, expanding past its limits, rupturing.
Blood burst from my nose. Thick, hot, pouring down my chin and onto the floor.
Then my ears. The tickling feeling of the viscous liquid staining my face made me bite down on the bed in agony.
Then my eyes. The world turned red as blood seeped from the corners, and I couldn't see anything except a crimson blur and the blinding gold light that filled every inch of the room.
I vomited. Whatever was in my stomach came up in a violent heave that tore at my throat, and I barely had the presence of mind to turn my head before it happened again. And again. And again. Until there was nothing left, and I was just retching on an empty stomach while my body tried to turn itself inside out.
The pain didn't stop. If anything, it got worse. Every nerve in my body was burning with a vengeance, every cell in my body rejecting and accepting something simultaneously, as if two forces were fighting over who would claim me.
I tried to crawl to call for help, but my arms gave up before I could even attempt a second time.
The last thing I saw before the darkness took me was my own blood pooling beneath my face, reflecting the golden light back at me like a mirror.
Then nothing.
Third Person.
Yōkai University.
Ethan Cross lay motionless on the floor of his dormitory room, and the ward that had sealed itself around him held firm against the world.
Nothing outside could feel what was happening within. No student, no teacher, no ancient being walking the grounds would sense the impossibility unfolding behind that door.
The belt had made certain of that.
For a minute, all there was was silence.
Until the very air inside the room started to tremble, a whining sound filled the room.
And then, after what felt like an eternity, the center of the room broke. Not the Bed, as not a single piece of furniture suffered damage from what was happening, no.
The world broke.
A rift, a wound in the fabric of existence itself, and from its depths poured something that defied every known classification of energy that the supernatural world had ever catalogued.
Because it had not been seen since before Draconic Deus had even been born.
It was golden. It was white. And it was old.
But most importantly? It was powerful.
Older than the gods who had shaped this reality when it was newborn and screaming.
Because it was the last echo of a power that had once been wielded by a man who wished everything into oblivion and then had the audacity to build something new from the ashes.
The energy poured into the room like a river breaking through a dam. Not a single drop was wasted. Every particle knew where it needed to go, spiraling inward toward the unconscious body on the floor like it had done this before.
Because it had. Thousands of times. Just never in this reality.
When it touched him, something changed.
Light didn't just appear on Ethan's body this time. It latched on. Layered itself over his broken form like a second skin that refused to let go, starting at his feet and climbing upward. Solidifying as it went.
Armored boots came first. White, trimmed in gold bright enough to hurt. Not mechanical or magical. Something in between, something that lived in the space where the two stopped being different things.
A blueprint that one God had studied hundreds of years before and tried to copy. He never figured out where the knowledge came from. Not before his demise.
Greaves came next. Then cuisses, snapping into place over his legs with the ease of something that had done this across thousands of timelines and thousands of worlds before every single one of them stopped existing.
Until now, apparently.
Chest plate. Gauntlets. His fingers twitched when the power hit them, flexing on their own even though the man was out cold. The armor didn't care about something like that. It rewrote what it found until what lay on that floor wasn't the same thing that had fallen on it.
Not a soldier. Not a warrior.
A champion. That was the only word that fit. Some would call it a hero.
The energy gathered one last time, spiraling upward above his head before it dropped.
The helmet was the last piece. White as the rest of the armor, its visor lined with gold that pulsed with life. When it settled over his face, it sealed with a sound that resonated through the ward like a bell striking once.
And for one single, perfect moment, the armor was complete.
It was the most powerful form a Rider had ever worn in any timeline. Not the flashiest, not the most complex, but the strongest, built from the culmination of every wish, every battle, every sacrifice, and every desire that Ace Ukiyo had gathered across two millennia of existence before he chose to end it all.
It was never supposed to exist again. The wish that had birthed a new reality had unmade everything that came before it, including the power that had fueled the Riders, including the system that had sustained the DGP, including the energy that had once been drawn from the desires of humanity itself.
But wishes were funny things.
They didn't always follow the rules. Especially the last wish from a doomed world.
The armor stood in the sealed room, wreathed in light, and for three whole hours, it burned so brightly that the ward itself struggled to contain it.
Then the pieces began to fall.
The helmet dissolved first, breaking apart into motes of light that drifted downward until they disappeared inside his body.
The pauldrons went next. Then the gauntlets. Piece by piece, the armor came apart and returned to the body it had chosen.
The chest plate. The greaves. The boots. Everything but one piece.
The belt. Because, of course, the belt was last.
It held on for a moment, glowing so intensely that the room shone brighter than an exploding star. Then it too dissolved, its energy joining the rest, flooding into him as the rest had done.
The rift in the center of the room sealed itself with a sound like a gasp.
The gold and white energy flickered once, then twice, before it disappeared into nothingness.
And in the dormitory room of a monster university hidden in a pocket dimension, a young man lay naked on the floor.
The blood was gone. Every drop that had poured from his eyes, his ears, his nose, his mouth, had been consumed by the transformation, absorbed alongside everything else.
It wasn’t the same man anymore. The scrapes from Moka's bicycle were gone. A childhood scar on his left knee? healed. The slight asymmetry in his shoulders from a bad fall at twelve? It had been corrected.
He breathed slowly, deeply, evenly. Healthier than he had ever been in his eighteen years of life.
The belt was gone from his waist.
But it was still there. Inside him, now. Woven into his very nature and ready to be called.
Like nothing had happened.
But across the world? Everyone felt the moment when something impossible was born.
In every corner and every hidden dimension that the supernatural touched, something rippled outward.
It passed through barriers like they weren't there. Through wards and seals and ancient protections laid down by gods and monsters and humans alike. It crossed oceans and continents in the span of a second, touching everything in its path.
In Kyoto, Yasaka lifted her head from a stack of all the traitors she had weeded out, her nine tails going rigid. Her daughter was safe. She had confirmed it hours ago. But this wasn't about Kunou.
This was something else entirely.
In the Underworld, Ajuka Beelzebub paused his experiment for the first time in sixty hours. In the darkness of his room, the only thing visible was the tilted head of the most dangerous devil alive.
In Heaven, the Archangel Michael opened his eyes in the throne God left behind after his demise, ignoring the prayers of the faithful for the first time since he could remember.
In Asgard, the Allfather gripped his cane until his knuckles turned white.
In the Grigori, a fallen angel with twelve wings, lowered the sacred gear prototype he had been working on and glanced at the purple sky of the underworld in curiosity.
In every temple, every shrine, every sacred ground and cursed hollow across the face of the earth and beyond it, those with power felt it.
Every supernatural being. Every god, every devil, every dragon, every monster, every spirit, every magician, every exorcist, every creature with even a single drop of active magic running through their veins or their souls.
They all heard it.
The faint sound of bells ringing. Soft enough that the vast majority ignored it.
But not all.
The sound of something that had been dead longer than this reality had existed, ringing out across a universe that had never heard it before.
And not a single one of them knew what it meant.
But in a reality far, far away, far beyond the edges of creation, someone… something that called itself Melvazoa opened seven cracked eyes as he dropped the corpse of one of the Etoulde, which had been a thorn in his side for longer than he cared to admit.
And what did he do?
He smiled.