Less than you bargained for

Shinji was, plainly stated, average. He had good grades, but not enough to stand out. He was incredibly bad at PE, but so did most of the other students in his classes. Basically, he was just one guy out of many.

He might have been able to get into a good high school had he really tried, but he had never seen the interest in pushing himself to his limits. So, when he stumbled unto that flyer from Youkai Academy, a private school that did not ask for an entrance test, he thought «why not?».

Now, he was more thinking along the lines of «God why? ».

Well, for starters, the bus driver, while cool looking with that cigar, had been really vague and had dropped him quite a far distance from the actual school. It would not have been that big of a deal if there had been a path that did not go through those really creepy woods. Why would they keep so many dead trees near the school? They could just cut them and plant something young. Unless there were some sort of regulation he was not aware of. That was probably the real reason.

Also, there had not been anyone to guide him anywhere. He had tried asking the old lady that was apparently a secretary (he was not buying it, she looked way too much like a toad…), only for her to grunt something about a map he had been given and how bad his sense of orientation was.

Yeah… that had not left him with a good taste in mouth.

Anyway, after asking a really stunningly beautiful third year with pink hair, he had finally succeeded in finding the dorms. Shinji still could not believe he had built up the nerves to ask her directions. He was not that courageous usually, not to mention the death glares he had received had freaked him out.

For a second, he had sworn that one of those tall jocks had grown fangs and claws.

That had been his cue to back the heck away from that third year girl.

Then, everything had been blown away in his mid during the first period of his first class.

«Hello everyone and welcome to Youkai Academy. » A cute looking teacher greeted him and his fellow classmates. «I am your homeroom teacher Shizuka Nekonome. »

A fitting name when you considered her hairstyle. It was as if it was made to look like there were cat ears on her head. Oh well, he had had eccentric teachers before, he could probably handle one that seemed nice, even if somewhat ditzy.

«Now, before we have a brief overview of our school's rules and etiquettes, I'd like to introduce some students to you. After all, if I did the opposite, we'd have to go through them twice. » She chuckled and a few students followed suit. Shinji only allowed the faintest smile to reach his lips.

She quickly walked up to the door and made a gesture for the students waiting outside to enter.

One by one, the four students were lined up at the front of the class. Two girls and two boys, all in all, not bad looking, but clearly foreigners.

«Here! » Their teacher exclaimed, cheerfully presenting them to the rest of the group. «As per our new foreign exchange student program, these four students will start attending Youkai Academy with us. I will let them introduce themselves to you. »

With that, she stepped aside and invited the first one of them to talk.

The first one to talk was a girl, coming from the northern corners of Europe. Her mastery of Japanese was… shaky at best. She was called Hilda and was expecting a lot from the cultural exchange… or at least that's what Shinji gathered.

Next was the second girl, with much darker skin and jade eyes. She sounded a lot better than Hilda, but he recognized some grammar mistakes in her introduction and he was no expert. She had finished her introduction on her name: Chloe.

The first boy had a really beautiful voice. Shinji had first thought that he had started singing, but he realized to his stupefaction that the guy was really just speaking normally.

«My name is Antonio Pavari, from the Vatican City. » After that one line, Shinji had been completely lost.

When he had come out of it, it was already the last of the exchange students' turn. The last boy was by far the less impressive of the four. Brown hair and eyes, his uniform a bit lazily worn and a bunch of notes writing on a small piece of paper as he spoke with the thickest accent he had heard yet.

«My name… is… David. I came… from North America. » He clearly struggled with the words and Shinji felt a pang of pity in him toward the boy. No way was he going to understand any of his classes for months!

Somewhere toward the back of the class, there were some idiots snickering and silently mocking David.

It bothered him, for some reason, but he was not going to act on it. No way was he going to get in trouble with what could be thugs for the sake of a complete stranger.

Slowly, David finished his introduction and Mrs. Nekonome patted him on the back gently before assigning them each a seat.

David was placed two seats to his right. From close up, Shinji could not help but get the feeling something was wrong with that guy. He never realized he had been openly staring at the foreigner until David looked back with a slight frown.

Blinking, Shinji focused his attention back on the teacher.

«Alright, now that everyone had been introduced, we can go on with our regular program. I think you all know this, but Youkai Academy is a school that was built specifically for monsters. »

…what?

«After the surprising advent of humans and their incredible demographic growth, monsters no longer have any other option other than to hide and coexist with humans. » She pulled down a chart and bogus numbers about vampire populations in comparison to humans.

Shinji almost stood up and called her on the farce. He would have had actually, if a paper ball had not hit him right on the head. Annoyed, Shinji looked around but could not identify the culprit. He was pretty sure it had not come from his left at least.

«As such, Youkai Academy will teach each and every one of you how to maintain a human appearance at all time in order to survive once you leave the academy. »

He had to be dreaming. He had to be freaking dreaming! Oh the lecture was aggravating and completely stupid. Except that when the girl in front of him had sneezed, her ears and her teeth had extended three feet!

«For example, Miss… Tsuki here would usually be penalized for letting her disguise slip.»

«But I only-! » She stood up to protest, only to be cut off by the homeroom teacher.

«Of course, since this is the first day of class, you will only be warned. » She smiled and the girl sat down, her ears slowly shrinking back to normal.

And apparently, this was now happening.

«You mean we have to look like stinking humans all the time! » An incredulous and loud voice boomed into the class.

Shinji had a big BIG flaw. When he was nervous, he was loud.

«HEY! » He turned back without thinking, shaking from his own anxiety. «They're not that bad! »

Silence fell on the whole room and that was when Shinji understood how big of a mistake that was.

He was being stared at by more people he could count in his state of mind. Many were stunned, others were worried and… some were openly hostile.

«Well, that was surprising, Mister… Issounai, is that right? » The teacher commented soberly.

He only nodded guiltily and tried to make himself as little as possible.

«Anyway, to answer that question, yes, you do need to remain in human form at all times. While changing form in your sleep is frowned upon, it is not punished for first years. The goal of this school is to teach you how to be unnoticeable to humans. This place has been kept secret for many years now and our existence must stay the same.»

Was she saying what he thought she was?

Oh crap…

He had to leave this place as soon as possible!

The rest of the lesson flew right over his head. The only thoughts that came to him was that he had to leave before someone figured it out. His paranoia grew to enormous proportions faster than he could have ever imagined.

Someone kept glancing at him; he knew that for sure. There was this burning sensation on his back every time he was thinking about the kind of monsters that surrounded him.

His heart almost exploded in his chest when a delicate hand dropped a paper on his desk. He barely had the time to restrain a scream when it entered his field of vision without warning. Shinji shot a crazed look at the girl on his right, but she was absorbed in their teacher's speech and did not answer.

With what he hoped was a calm exterior, he grabbed the folded paper and found a message clumsily written that said «Front Dorm, 18:00».

Well, it was lovely to get a note that asked for a secret meeting but seeing as he was in a school full of MONSTERS that were likely to kill him on sight, he would pass, thank you very much!

Oh, Fate had another idea in mind. And Fate happened to be related to a certain man wearing lots of white.

«Try not to act suspicious, try not to act suspicious, » Shinji repeated to himself.

He had no idea it was possible for class to appear longer than when given by his old math teacher, but when your life was in danger, it put things into a whole new perspective.

So when all of his classes were finally over, Shinji had to use every ounce of his strength not to dash out of the room screaming. That would probably attract someone's attention.

Instead, he sloooooowly walked away, making sure not to bump into anyone. He had a feeling that any person that would take offense would eat him… or worse…

Why did he watch so many horrors movies? It just gave him a very vivid imagination when he was stuck in one of those scenarios!

Luckily, he avoided all physical contacts while in the hallways…

Unfortunately…

«Hey! You! »

Shinji just knew it was aimed at him. Why? Because that was the voice that had protested against taking on a human appearance.

Trembling like a leaf on the inside, he turned around, to see that three really bulky guys were staring at him with hostility.

The biggest one was the one to corner him first (of course…). Looming over him, his face twisted into one of anger that made Shinji lose his voice with fear, he spoke.

«So you think humans aren't so bad, huh? »

«I-I… » He glanced to his sides, hoping that at least one person would be generous enough to intervene. Deep down, Shinji really wished that not everyone was like him!

But no, barely a student spared a glance at the obvious intimidation going on. Some did stop and back away, but none tried to help him.

The other two were also closing in on him. Soon, he would be completely surrounded and at their mercy.

Though he doubted that word existed in their dictionary.

Finally, his instinct got the better of him and he broke into a sprint.

Instantly, he heard the trio yelled «GET HIM!».

If he were to think positively, he would say that it was just what he needed to make sure he would run faster than he had ever run. If he had the capacity to think, it would most likely end up as «run, run, run, run, Oh God! Faster, RUN, AAAH, ruuuuuun! ». However, his mind was completely blank.

He dashed right through the doors, not bothering to look where he was going. After all, he could still hear them.

A few hours earlier, he swore not to go into the dark forest growing around the academy. Now, Shinji looked at it like it held salvation. And perhaps it did, but it was unlikely.

A piece of him, very small, was amazed that they had not yet caught up with him. Could his only saving grace be an athletic ability that was below average?

In any other circumstances, he would have dropped to the floor and pant for an hour. His lungs were on fire and his legs had nothing to envy about that.

He had passed the cover of the trees and the path was so irregular it made the race even harder. This place's only saving grace was that it made him hard to see. More than once, he had heard his pursuers rage when they lost sight of him for more than a few seconds.

Shinji's vision was getting clouded. This was more than he could take. In but a few moments, his body would fail him; he knew. He was drenched in sweat from the fear and he had the conviction he would not be able to go on much longer.

As he was jumping over a root, everything suddenly tilted. The ground raced toward his face and he understood he had tripped. On reflex, he closed his eyes.

It took a second longer than he expected and the impact was more violent than he had anticipated.

More importantly, Shinji no longer had the strength to stand up and run. His body was screaming at the unexpected abuse and even the prospect of saving his life was not enough to get it to move.

The voices of the three bullies were already becoming louder, but nowhere near enough to eclipse the mad beating of his heart.

«Where is he? »

Oh God, that sounded so close. Any second now and they'd see him lying on the ground, ready for a beating… or a killing.

«He went this way! » One of them shouted.

Their footsteps continued to rang louder… and louder…

He did not have the courage to look. He could not face his fate with dignity. He was just too scared.

Each of these noises sounded like thunder to him. It echoed, again and again as he knew he was going to be found.

«Where did that little human lover go? » His voice boomed in the otherwise silent forest.

What was said planted a seed of doubt in Shinji's and he hoped so strongly that it hurt.

Slowly, very slowly, he opened his eyes.

The light did not filter well… badly, in fact. There was only a circle of light above him; the rest was pure darkness.

«I-I think he went that way! » A thug said and the sound marking their presences started to fade.

To fade!

He understood in a flash.

Him, exhausted like he never had been before, tripping over a root. Him, falling over, his eyes closed… right into a hole.

Waves of relief hit him like a train. Had he not been scared they would hear him, he would have laughed. Instead, he did the second best thing.

He cried.


Only the fear of staying alone in the middle of these woods made him leave the safety of his improvised hiding place.

It had been hard, harsh, difficult, frightening even. More than once, just as he was about to get out, he heard a branch crack or a bird croak and he let himself fall down instantly. The motion of the sun going down in the sky only brought his sentiment of urgency back. If he could not make it back to the tunnel before night... he'd have to go through the woods again with only the moonlight as a guide.

Against everything his instinct told him, he forced himself to get back at the dorms, if only to rest before leaving. He was too tired…

He was also lost.

He had run blindly. He had no idea of where to go to get back.

This was without a doubt the worst first day of school ever!


It was late when he finally found the dorms, past reasonable hours for a student to get to sleep. Absentmindedly, he told himself that at least he did not have to reject a girl and fear the consequences… though the idea of seeing her again tomorrow after he had let her wait for presumably hours…

He shivered. He really had to leave the first thing in the morning tomorrow.

A girlfriend would have been nice though. He was not exactly popular before. Funny how things worked sometimes… even if being attractive to monsters did not make him flattered.

There could have been an advantage though. She might have been able to protect him from the rest of the school.

Hum… a beautiful strong girl falling for him and saving his life against this place… who was he kidding? As if that would ever happen to anybody!

Carefully examining his surroundings, he made his way toward the dorm.

He did not hear it, that silent pouncing coming from behind. Neither did he smell the delicious odor of burning flesh that came with it.

Everything happened in a blitz.

Shinji only had a second to realize that he was lost.

Then he saw a jaw full of fangs and the pain followed.

It went on forever. In an eternity, his life flashed before his eyes, tearing through the suffering. He never had the time to think about it, he never had the chance to make peace with his fate. It all happened too fast for him to even fear.

Shinji died.