I awoke with a slight headache, well not so much woke up with really it was more like woke up to a headache, this however was not an unusual occurrence. Fact is it had been happening for quite some time. I could tell it was time to get up, who couldn't with all the commotion in the boys dormitory, the usual mass to the bathrooms. With a sigh, I dragged myself out of my futon, life as usual.

I was happy I thought ahead, I always used the bathroom at night, before I went back to my room to sleep; I am not the only one who has fallen into this pattern, there are quite a few people who take advantage of the bathroom at night. It gives a person a chance to reflect, or relax from a stressful day. I quickly changed into my uniform, the summer one, and decided to make my way to the cafeteria; it was about breakfast time. Why, not?

Walking through the hall of the dormitory gave me a nice content feeling, a feeling that was not present when I first came here to Youkai Academy—but then again at the time, still even now, I was the only human in the academy.

There were two guys coming down the hall, one rather portly and the other with an extended neck, they slowed their pace to greeting me, "Hey, Tsukune!"

"Good morning!" I greeted them, and we went about our own business, walking in opposite directions.

I walked to the cafeteria in silence, there was nothing to say, and to whom would I speak? The answer: no one, though that does make me wonder about a certain vampire with different personalities, Akashiya Moka, does she speak to herself?

Inside the cafeteria, I grabbed a quick breakfast and that was all she wrote. I was way ahead of the crowd, after breakfast not so much, I decided to make my way back out to the entrance of the school, I would act casually, like I had just gotten here. As this was routine when I was early.

While waiting I took in the sights, the graveyard still just a creepy as ever, with tall and twisting trees all around. Then out of nowhere came Kurumu, I didn't even have a full breathe in my lungs when my face became buried in her breasts. Now would come one of the bad parts, suffocation.

My arms flailed all around, I could hear her voice, "Tsukune you need to be more gentle." Little did she know that this was a battle for dear life. Life mine had been short, but it was fun, it was a good run, right? Right? Then finally I could breathe, Yukari-chan had hit Kurumu with some type of large pot.

"Tsukune, are you all right?" I heard her voice, Moka's, filled with worry.
I gasped for air, I was literally clawing at it, trying to fill my lungs. It took a few seconds for me to regain my senses, though I was still rasping, breathing as deeply as I could. I looked over to Moka and said, "Yeah, I'm fine." This was how my mornings were generally spent, except for one last thing that, I am convinced won't be too long from now, getting my blood sucked by Moka.

Two and a half pints of blood later, we where all in the classroom, homeroom to be exact, Nekonome-sensei was going through the normal homeroom procedures, she was about to hand the class off to our first teacher of the day, today was math, then she realized she had forgotten something.

In a playful tone, one used to cover for her slight ditsyness, she said, "We have an addition to our class today," she turned to the door, "Please come in now."

A man walked into the room, I can't very well say a student considering his height and build. He was about six feet tall, he had about a medium build, he had red hair, he was obviously from a certain western country. What drew me in most were his eyes, they were the eyes of a true predator, one that had seen horrible things and not flinched away. I couldn't look away, I tried but just couldn't tear my gaze from him. Then, his eyes trained themselves upon me. No, he couldn't have been looking at me, possibly Moka, she was sitting right behind me, it wouldn't be impossible.

"Hello, I'm Chris Ambrose. That's all you need to know. Teacher, where am I sitting?" His voice was very rough, deep, and he seemed excessively agitated—Possibly from his long wait in the hall?

The day passed like a breeze, we, the newspaper club, met in the usual room. The sections of the newspaper were assigned, Moka and I had gotten the sports section—which was considerably better than the human fashion page.

The newsroom door slid open, I turned to the door and saw Ambrose-san enter, he closed the door after he entered, then took a seat in one of the empty desks in the room. Moka went to greet him.

Ambrose-san stopped Moka's greeting cold, "Ah, yes, Akashiya Moka, the well known… Vampire of the school. Yes, greetings!" His voice was even colder than his original class introduction. "Now, before you ask me, I'll tell you. I am not interested in joining the newspaper club and never will be. I'm only here to talk to Mr. Aono."

We were stunned by his direct rejection to the club and his overly cold demeanor. Moka was the first to recover, followed by a very mad Yukari-chan. Moka excused herself and kept Yukari-chan at bay. I stepped over to him; his eyes were just a menacing as earlier.

"Tsukune Aono, the ghoul." He paused, and quietly laughed, "You are exactly as I had been told, puny and weak. I can see that my comments are creating enemies. That's fine, I didn't come here to make friends. I'm here to deliver unto you, Tsukune Aono, a message of ill omen, a bad fate, a message from my superior." He finished, pulling out some type of PDA device, and pressing on the screen twice.

The PDA's screen read:
Ambrose! Don't think you can get away with that last line, I'll give you Hell when you return! Now on to Business: Tsukune Aono, I regret to inform you that today, despite your current happiness and general well being, is not your lucky day nor will you have one for quite some time, assuming you live past these next few months. The reason today was as a 'breeze' as you thought of it, was that your body knows of your impending demise, your subconscious wants you to have one last peaceful day alive. Tomorrow you will have an encounter with death. At that time only two options will seem available, just keep your eyes open. If you foolishly choose the path to death, there is no guarantee that Ambrose will save you. A word to the wise Tsukune, the most foolish path may seem wisest at the time, make your choice, and follow your path. Also luck is all in the mind, only knowledge and skills are needed for this court—Provided you live of course. Have a nice day! ^.^

I sat there in a trance of sorts, nothing around me mattered, I couldn't believe what I had just read, death, death, death, this was something I had come to terms with early on here in the academy. But I had never been told about it in advance, that caught me off guard. More on this point, I'll have two choices, and one leads to death, and the wisest path may be the foolish path in the long run? I could tell I didn't understand the magnitude of the message. No, there is no way this message could carry with it any basis in fact. Though, in the human world monsters didn't have any basis in fact, and I hang out with two witches, a succubus, an Ice Woman, and a vampire on a daily basis. Hell, I'm even in love the vampire! Just how, with a clear conscious, can I disregard this? The answer was and always will be simple, I couldn't.

As is human nature, I would invariably go through at least three mental stages, all the while contemplating and looking over my shoulder—the common paranoia of death. Stage one: Denial, I would, of course, push this to the side of my mind, from there the knowledge of it would tear at me until, I hit stage two. Stage two, this is the stage that paranoia can become strongest, I will admit that it is possible. Finally Stage three: Silent realization, The magnitude would of the situation would finally dawn on me, by then it would be too late for help. These were facts I was unconsciously sure of, I would skip this process. I would also not keep this to myself, something I had done when I first started to become a ghoul.

I snapped back to reality, soon realizing that Ambrose-san was no longer in the room, next that I was attempting to very slowly rip my hair out, and finally everyone's eyes were upon me. This was not a good situation, even worse if I had been mumbling— which with news like that one tended to do. I faced this new dilemma as a man would, casually saying, "Haha, well, I seem to have a small problem."