Chapter One - The New Cadets
There were two strange boys that appeared in the City of Torifune. One was a Beastkin, a wolf type. He was 5'10" and was very tanned. His hair glimmered and appeared as though it was an exact replica of a campfire, except it was red like his fuzzy tail. The boy's accomplice, was a 6' pale skinned boy with dark almond colored eyes, and a deep blonde, and brown hairstyle that resembles that of Jin Kisaragi. He even had glasses as well, but his were the large thin-rimmed circle type glasses. This boy was named Kazuki and he was Zell's best and only friend. The two boys had been something similar to nomads. They had no real home and they were constantly on the move. They were one of the rare cases of scouts looking for them, and when the scouts approached the two boys, they were happy to accept the privilege of attending the NOL's Military Academy, but now Zell is starting to have second thoughts.
"Hey, Kaz... You do realize that I'll be going through hell here, right?" Zell sighed and hauled his backpack over his shoulder and looked at the city of Torifune growing larger and larger in his window.
"Well, yes but you must come to the realization that we have no place to go, and that we will have a home here." Kazuki replied simply with his eyes closed and his head bowed slightly.
"Of course. That's the main reason I accepted this preposition, but I forgot that there will be loads of noble children here. They all will try to down me and what not. You saw how the adults treated us because of me." Zell stated dully and rested his head on his cheek and looked out the window solemnly.
"Yes, but you should realize that there are people as well as children and those of our age that will not look at you as a Beastkin, but as a person. I bet someone would even love to mess with that tail of yours." Kazuki smirked at his own words, and knowing that his best friend had a point, Zell nodded in agreement.
"We'll be stop and coming for landing and docking soon, so be ready you two," A female sated and came in to check on the two boys.
"Thanks for the update. I guess this was how it was supposed to happen." Zell sighed and closed his eyes slowly, trying not to imagine how he would have to behave around the nobles.
"We'll arrive tomorrow. That's when the school year will officially start. We'll have to attend the orientation. It's mandatory for all students... Let's hope this will end better than all of the other encounters..." Kazuki stated in little less than a mumble to himself as he watched the sky slowly turn into the ambient violet color signifying the start of nightfall.
A blonde haired girl sat atop a hill overlooking the City of Torifune and she scribbled some words onto a piece of paper.
"Little kitty, little kitty, why do your whiskers extend out so far?" The girl read the poem to herself and smiled a bit.
"Hmm, so what should come next? I think 'Meow meow mew', or maybe 'Mew Meow Mew'? Hmmm... this is a bit harder than I thought, but this phrase is crutial to the poem." the girl mumbled and placed her pencil in her mouth, thinking of what to write next, when her heard a loud whoosh noise form over her head. She looked up quickly to see what the source was and sighed.
"...Looks like the scouts came back. How many new students did they scout for this time I wonder..." The blonde went into another thinking pose and the wind picked up and blew her poem out of her hands.
The girl hopped up quickly and began to chase after the little piece of paper as it blew through the wind. The girl followed the paper until it was caught by another blonde, a young boy who looked to be her age and he wore square framed glasses. The paper was crumpled in his hand and he hadn't read the paper just yet.
"...Please, can I get that back...?" The girl exhaled and slumped into a bowing position, trying to catch her breath.
"Is this yours? You should really be careful up here. The wind tends to pick up at random around this altitude." The boy looked at the paper in his hand and then to the girl.
"What's your name?" The boy asked and looked to the girl and pushed his glasses to his face.
"My...my name is... Noel... Vermillion... That... is my paper that you have... Can i get it back?" Noel replied shyly after catching her breath.
"Hmm... you must be one of the new cadets here? Be careful next time, okay?" Jin stated and handed the paper to Noel.
"Y-yes.. that's correct." Noel stammered and stared at the ground, then she slowly raises her head to realize who was she was talking to. "Oh! You're the Student Body President, right? Jin Kisaragi?"
Jin says nothing, he only gives a startled expression. Noel is at a loss for words, and Jin mumbles something to himself.
"...So are you a first year here?" Jin asks, changing the subject.
"Y-yes... I am..."
"You were the one who ranked the highest on the Ars Magus Aptitude test. That's pretty impressive, you know." Jin stated with a smirk.
"No, no. You've got it all wrong... That seems like the only thing that I'm good at... heheh..." Noel smiles timidly and giggles softly.
Jin looks at his watch and starts for Torifune. "I seem to have lost track of the time... I must go now. Excuse me."
"M-Mr. Kisaragi?" Noel calls out and stops Jin.
"Yes? Is there something else?" Jin asked and turned around to face Noel.
Noel looks at the paper crumbled up in her hands. "Uh..."
"...Sorry for crumpling your paper..."
"It's nothing... and thank you..."
"It's nothing. Later."
"Yes... Good bye..."
Jin leaves and Noel sighs in relief. "I never expected to run into the student body president here..." Noel puts her index finger on her bottom lip and ponders for a second. "I wonder what was the matter... He seemed pretty aggravated... Did I bother him in some way?" Noel sighs and plops down onto the grass. The wind gusts up again and shakes the trees over her head. Her head begins to hurt so she starts for the Military Academy.
Once inside the academy, Noel holds her stomach and her head. In the midst of the pain, she hears a voice in her head, then she collapses.
Noel awakens in a room with three beds and is being tended to by a girl with red hair and blue eyes. She feels dazed and a bit faint as she raises her head to see the girl.
"Are you all right?" the girl asks.
"...Oh, yes, I'm fine... Thank you..." Noel replies quietly as she sits up on the bed.
"Can you stand up? Here I'll help you." The girl offers Noel her hand.
"I'm sorry that I've caused you trouble." Noel bows her head and takes the girl's hand.
"Uh, I think you are to thank someone who assisted you, not apologize. You did nothing wrong." The red haired girl replied with a soft smile.
"Ah, Right. Forgive me." Noel speaks softly, The girl sighs and Noel adds, "uh, I mean... Thank you..."
"Oh! I haven't introduced myself. My name is Tsubaki, Tsubaki Yayoi."
"Yes, My name is Noel Vermillion."
"Ah, my prospective roommate. I look forward to spending more time with you." Tasbaki stated somewhat dryly.
"Yes, myself as well... and when you said 'Yayoi' did you mean as in the family from the Duodecim?" Noel asks.
"Mmhmm. Yes that's correct." Tsubaki replies with a curt nod.
Noticing Noel's reaction Tsubaki quickly adds, "Ah, Noel... Don't concern yourself with families or histories. We are attending the same Academy, right?"
Noel is taken aback by this for a second. "Y-you're right... I'm sorry..."
Tsubaki tries to hold back a sigh, "You don't have to apologize, you know."
There is an awkward silence between the two, Noel isn't looking Tsubaki in the face, she looks as if she is about to cry. Then suddenly the third roommate enters the room. The girl who walked in was a beastkin, squirrel type and her big brown eyes were squinted, hinting that she wasn't in a good mood.
"Hey, you mind NOT blocking the way in?" She states in an annoyed type of tone.
Noel jumps and quickly moves away from the entrance. "Oh, I'm very sorry! I didn't mean to..." She puts her head back down.
Tsubaki smiles, trying to be polite. "You're our third roommate, correct?"
The squirrel beastkin says nothing as she looks at Tsubaki.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Tsubaki Yayoi."
"Yeah, I figured that out from reading the dorm assignment sheet. You're the daughter of the Duodecim, right?" The squirrel folded her arms and rolled her eyes.
Tsubaki says nothing this time.
"I'm Nanaya." The squirrel says bluntly.
"Nanaya?" Tsubaki repeats the name, question in her tone.
"...Get out of the way." Nanaya glared at Noel who jumps quickly out of the squirrel's way.
"I'm sorry!" Noel states loudly as she moves.
Nanaya throws her baggage onto the bottom bunk and heads back towards the door.
"You know there's a mandatory orientation for all new students. Where are you going?" Tsubaki asked as Nanaya put her hand on the doorknob.
Nanaya sighs agitatedly, but says nothing.
"...Uh, Nanaya?" Tsubaki calls softly.
"Do you mind?" Nanaya responds in a snappy manner and exits the room. Tsubaki says nothing then she glances at the clock.
"Oh my! We only have ten minutes! Noel, if you aren't feeling your best then I'll tell our RA." Tsubaki turns to Noel and gives her a caring look.
"...I'm fine. I think I can make it..." Noel replies a bit slowly.
"I see. Well, shall we? Don't want to be later on the first day. We'll have a lot more obstacles you know." Tsubaki stated with a bit of motherly care in her tone.
Noel nods and follows Tsubaki and they head to the orientation.
"Jeez what the hell was her deal?" Zell grumbles as he walks past Noel and Tsubaki, rolling his shoulder.
"What happened?" Noel was the first to notice, the boy's injury.
"It was that squirrel. She was like a freaking Rhino. What got her nuts scrambled?" Zell looked back, rage flashed in his eyes and he folded his arms.
"We don't know either, and we're her roommates." Tsubaki replied and peered down the hall in the direction the wolf boy had just come.
"A-are you like her?" Noel asked, shyness apparent in her tone as she looked at the boy's tail and noticed that it was rather soft looking and shiny from the sunlight.
"Well, I'm a... Never mind. You're gonna be late for the orientation if you just stand there like that." Zell replied with his dry tone returning as he headed for the orientation room himself.
"He's right Noel. Let's go too." Tsubaki looked at Noel and started after Zell.
"Yeah..." Noel replied with a dreamy sigh and started behind Tsubaki as well.
Several classes and days later, in a classroom, there stood Nanaya and some other students, Zell was in a corner observing the squirrel. One girl shouldered Nanaya in her back as she walked past, knocking Nanaya to the ground.
"Oops, didn't see you there." The first girl said with sarcasm dripping from each word. Nanaya said nothing, she simply sighed and let it happen.
"Oh, did you scrape your knee?" a second girl mocked as small trickles of blood ran down Nanaya's leg slowly.
"Wow, Nanaya! I didn't expect your blood to be red!" A third girl added with amusement.
"Well, isn't that something." The first girl chimed in with a sinister smirk on her face. All three girls laughed mockingly at the downed Nanaya.
Nanaya simply sighed once again and closed her eyes. "How disgraceful... These stupid humans... seeking out the weaker ones so they can harass them just to sustain their own pitiful identities. They mistake the power of numbers for that of their own."
Zell simply looked on from the distance, he knew how it felt to be the one people constantly picked on, and growled out of sympathy for Nanaya. He growled a low growl that only she was able to hear.
Nanaya smirked and shot back, "What? Your eyes that bad or something? Need money for glasses?" A smug look on her face as she stood back up, starting to walk away from the three girls.
The first girl looked apalled. "How dare you! WE don't need any of YOUR charity! You... you filthy beastkin!"
Zell closed his eyes and clenched a fist at the phrase "filthy beastkin" he took a deep breath and continued to look on.
Nanaya gave a sly smirk and replied with another crack. "Hmmm... You've a point there. You face needs more charity than I could ever give. I seriously doubt anyone can do something about that."
"What was that?" The first girl was getting pretty heated up at this, Zell smirked to himself and nodded.
"You'd better take that back!" The second girl added, with malice now in her words.
The first girl pulls back her hand, open palm, and attempts to slap Nanaya. Nanaya, whose reflexes are significantly higher than that of the girl's, simply sighs and decides to take the hit. "...Seriously?" is all Nanaya can say before someone jumped in between them. It was a girl.
The girl was Noel Vermillion. Nanaya gives a shocked look to what has just happened. Nanaya jumps and evades the girl's attack with ease and was even unaware that she had done it, and looks to see the girl falling into a stack of desks in a nearby corner.
The second girl sees what has transpired and cries out in horror, Nanaya and her two "saviors" say nothing as the girl makes impact with the desks.
"Oh my-! Y-your face is cut!" The second girl yells and points to the afflicted area on the first girl's face.
The second and third girls both face Nanaya. "What's your problem! She didn't do anything to you!"
"...Huh, so your blood's red too? Your heart's so black, that I was seriously expecting something else." Nanaya replied smugly and with a good grade of sarcasm.
The girls are surprised by the remark and they all give questioning looks to Nanaya. "You bitch!" The three girls call out at the same time. Then, Tsubaki enters the room.
Tsubaki looks at the girl on the ground and notices her bleeding cheek. "What happened here?"
The girl on the floor cries, "It was Nanaya! She-"
The second girl finishes, "Nanaya pushed her over and hurt her."
Tsubaki is taken aback by the statement and the third girl adds, "We didn't even do anything to her."
Nanaya says, "You mean, you COULDN'T do anything, right?"
Tsubaki looks to Nanaya and asks "Is this true?"
Nanaya cocks and eyebrow and scoffs, "Tch, who knows?" she shrugs.
Tsubaki get a bit angry with Nanaya and states firmly "Answer the question!"
Nanaya folds her arms again. "What's your deal! You just barge in here and start yelling at the top of your voice? Who put you in charge huh?"
Tsubaki regains herself and sighs. "I apologize for raising my voice, but violence isn't the answer."
"Oh ho! The classic 'violence' speech! Yeah yeah, I know this already. I was the one who was wrong! It's the beastkin's fault, am I right? It's always the beastkin! Can we get on with our lives now? Sheesh!" Nanaya rolled her eyes and crossed her arms at the end of the statement, Tsubaki looked a bit disapproving.
"...Nanaya..."
The three girls start bombarding Nanaya with threats and demands for an apology, when Zell and Noel both make thier way to the center of the crowd.
"I saw the whole thing..."Noel stated a bit shyly.
"I was over there when they started it." Zell points to the corner where he was, then folds his arms and closes his eyes.
"Then tell us what really happened then." The first girl, with the cut cheek demanded.
"We're the one's who're injured and it's all because of that savage beast over there! There's nothing more to talk about!" The third girl yelled and pointed at Nanaya.
"B-But... I saw it all with my own eyes. Nanaya isn't the one at fault here..." Noel stated, fighting the urge to whimper and cry with each word she spoke.
"You three are the one's who started it. You want to inflict pain, but never wish to take your consequences. This is your karma getting in your asses." Zell stated and gave all three girls death glares.
"You're a beastkin too! It's only natural for you to side with your own!" The first girl barked at Zell.
"Oh, really? Like you don't do the same thing." Zell replied dully, the girl's insults no longer getting under his skin.
"Noel, why are you siding with these... these... barbarians!" the second girl squeaked in astonishment.
"No one's ever even heard of the Vermillion familiy. So what does it matter any way?" The third girl shrugged and smirked at Noel's reaction.
"You'd do well to mind your place. You shouldn't even have the right to speak to us right now." The first girl added.
"B-But... I-I..." Noel stammered, unsure if she would be able to handle any more insults from the three girls, she just stopped talking. Zell looks at her eyes, and she accidently meets his. He realizes that she is about to cry, and he places a kind hand onto her shoulder before she can start weeping in her hands.
"Silence!" Tsubaki finally barked, her frustration finally let loose.
"I'm sorry Tsubaki! I didn't mean-" Noel speaks quickly, being careful to avoid further problems.
"I didn't mean you, Noel." Tsubaki states in a more calm tone.
"Uh, what?" Noel asks, looking very confused.
Tsubaki glares at the three girls. "I can't stand the sight of your deformated mouths from all of the foul language and your eyes sunken from looking down on others. I feel sorry for your so called 'family names'."
The three girls gasp collectively in shock of what they have just heard. Zell looks to Tsubaki and is impressed with what he sees. Nanaya smiles to herself as well.
"Isn't that all that you care about? One's heritage and species. Why don't you just go and ponder how lucky you are?"
"That was uncalled for..." The first classmate states, in a sad tone.
"J-Just becuase you're a Duodecim!" the third girls added
"Indeed I am, but that's also why I chose my actions carefully. I do not wish to smear my family's image." Tsubaki replied with great courage in her voice "The Duodecim doesn't exist to down others. In fact, we are to sustain peace and order in the world. We wish for a world free of conflict. We are at the frontlines for this struggle, we must set the example for the others... At least this is what I believe." Tsubaki spoke sternly, her eyes never wavered or courage diminished, not an ounce of doubt on any of her words.
"...Can I leave now?" Nanaya asks and exits the class quickly. Zell says nothing as Noel and Tsubaki call her name as she leaves.
"I need to disappear. If I can do that, then there won't be any more problems..." Nanaya mumbled as she left the room. No one heard this except Zell. He sighed when he heard these words.