A/N: I do not own Rosario + Vampire
This was a thing I wrote a couple years ago, but it never really got off the ground. I was going through my old stuff and thought to myself, 'Huh, this is still pretty good.', so I figured I would post what I had, and see where I could go with it again. Even a couple years later, I still really like this story.
Please note that while Moka and company are in this story (a couple chapters in), they are not main characters.
Enjoy!
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Youkai Academy Monster Club
Prologue: Throw It in the Soup
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The room was silent.
It wasn't as though it was a big room. At a glance, it was about the size of an average clubroom; smaller than a classroom, about the same size as an office. Considering the fact that there were six people, all sitting in various positions and areas of the room, and their somewhat close proximity practically begged someone to as least turn to the other and say 'Hey... whats your name?' before promptly being ignored, there should have been at least some sort of conversation taking place.
But still, it was still silent.
All six pairs of eyes watched the others' warily, not quite sure what to do or say. It wasn't as if anybody looked particularly dangerous or shady... after all, that was the whole idea of coming to school here, wasn't it? No... it was more likely because they were just randomly called out of class, told to meet at this exact room, and wait until given further instructions. Not only that, but they had each been summoned by a particularly ominous note given to their teacher from outside the classroom door by an unknown messenger.
Even at Youkai Academy, a school for monsters, that was strange.
Every single student sitting in the room, three girls and three boys, knew the others were all monsters. Not only that, but due to a school rule that students attending Youkai Academy must, at all times, remain in human form, those same six students had no way of knowing that sort of monster the others were. Were they dangerous? Friendly? Benevolent? Evil? Grotesque? Could the guy sitting there eat everyone for lunch?
...Possibly.
It was generally because of the uncertainty surrounding each other that the students all chose to remain silent.
Sitting closest to the door was a tall, dark-skinned and dark-haired boy. He sat still in his desk/chair combo with his hands clasped together, and was trying to keep a smile on his face despite the atmosphere. Still, though, there was a distinct look of unease behind his twinkling blue eyes as he shifted nervously in his chair. Not only because of the uncomfortable situation he found himself it, but also because of the student sitting to his left.
Crouched beside him was another, much bigger boy. Too large for a single chair, he had opted to simply crouch down on the floor along the side of the room. Even crouching on the floor, he still towered over the other students sitting in desks. From the look of him, if he were to extend to his full height he would easily be able to reach out his large, thick arms and grasp the lights poking down from the ceiling. He sat there shifting his mud-colored eyes around the room, catching the wary glances the other students sent towards him before they looked away. They were likely wondering if he would get bored and eat them. Bored... or hungry; whichever came first.
On the other side of the hulking boy was a final male student, sitting in another desk. Somewhat stocky and a little overweight, he sat hunched over a portable video game player, occasionally looking up to see if the other students - especially the larger one beside him - still hadn't moved. His wavy, platinum-blonde hair fell to just above his eye line and he had to flick his head to the side to get a good enough view of his surroundings before he scowled and silently returned to his video game.
After him, in the farthest point in the room from the door, sat a girl. She leaned back in her desk, her bare legs crossed as she idly inspected the nails on one hand and, with her other hand, twirled a tuft of silvery hair around her fingers. Every now and again, a few highlights of red could be caught in the strands of her long mane. Her sharp, gold eyes didn't even flick up to the other students in the room. It was as if she even, aside from the initial cursory glance at the colossal boy, refused to acknowledge their existence.
On the other side of the room were two final girls. One was a skinny girl with pasty skin. She sat still, casting a pair of dull, grey eyes around the room. She seemed bored with the whole atmosphere of the room, and even didn't seem to care much about the larger student. She simply stared at everyone from under her long, dark wispy hair.
The final girl sat closest to the door, next to an empty desk set out for any more students that may or may not join them. She was a small girl, both in stature as well as height. Her straight, shoulder-length hair shined a matte brown, and her eyes a bright green - a very clear contrast to the light, creamy pallor of her skin. Despite her size and the discomfort of the room, she sat there smiling at the other students, even giving a cheery wave to anyone who happened to meet her gaze.
All six students sat there for a long while, no one talking or moving much at all. Aside from the occasional shift in seating or the sounds of the shorter boy clicking away on his video game, there was no sound whatsoever. It was only a matter of time before something happened to break the tension.
And that something happened to arrive at that very moment.
The door opened with an ominous creak -suitable for an academy filled to the brim with monsters- to reveal a girl standing there, looking for the entire world like a regular, everyday uncertain high school girl. She stood in the threshold and leaned her upper body in, peering inside the room. Seeing the other student's sitting in the room (especially the hulking boy crouching along the side of the room) staring at her gave her pause. "Um... is this room-"
"You called here too?" The boy playing his video game cut her off, glancing up from the device with a raised eyebrow.
The girl nodded, her bright pink bubblegum colored bob-cut bouncing slightly with the motion. "Yea. I was in math class when the teacher told me to come here and wait."
"You know why you were called here?" The skinny girl with dark, stringy hair in the corner asked, her tone sounding as bored as she looked.
"No..."
"Great. Well, take a seat, why don't you?"
Nodding slowly, the pink-haired girl sat in the empty desk beside the small, pale-skinned girl. After a moment, she cleared her throat. "So, uh... what happens now?" She smiled tightly when her neighbor grinned and waved silently to her.
As if on cue, the door to the class opened, drawing every eye in the room towards the new arrivals. In strode a pair, a boy and a girl, each dressed in matching black jackets over their school uniforms. Their armbands, a bright shade of yellow, boldly declared their affiliation as belonging to the Public Safety Commission.
Whatever that was.
The pair entered the room and took an almost leisurely glance around. After a moment, the boy turned back towards the door and shut it. The girl tucked a lock of purple hair behind her ear and turned towards her partner. She got a nod from him and turned her attention back towards the group.
"Good afternoon." She said clearly. Her eyes, a matching shade to her hair, flicked around, not missing anything. "You may be wondering why you were called here." The invitation was obvious, so one of the students took the bait.
"Uh… yes. Why exactly are we here?" The tall, brown-skinned boy closest to the door asked as politely as he could manage, raising his hand with the question. The girl standing in front of the group clearly wasn't a teacher, but she commanded respect from them all the same. "We were in class and—"
"You are all here because of some issues with the school's regulations." The girl cut him off, her voice sharp and clear. She reached behind her and was handed a clipboard by the boy standing guard by the door. She gave the board and cursory glance and continued. "The semester started two and a half weeks ago, with club activities beginning a week after that. While I understand that getting used to a new environment is a difficult transition, all students have since then then gotten used to the way things work around here. As for why we are all here, let's just say I have been tasked with clearing up any…" She paused, choosing her words. "…loose ends that happen to come up." Her tone indicated that she rather despised loose ends.
Silence seeped back into the room, this time brought about by the ominous declaration from the girl. After a few long moments, the girl with short pink hair took a quick, preparatory breath. "By 'loose ends' you mean what… exactly?" She asked, fidgeting uncomfortably in her seat.
"And do we get a name for our inquisitor?" The skinny, bored-looking girl asked blandly from behind a few strands of wispy black hair. Her voice was soft and quiet, like the sound of wind whistling through trees. "Or do we have to refer to you as 'Generic Public Safety Commission Member A'?"
The girl narrowed her eyes to the pair of girls that chose to speak. "My name is Keito." She said after a few moments.
"Do we get a last name?"
"No." Keito said simply. She cast her eyes around the room again, as if daring anyone else to ask more questions. When none did, she continued. "I have come to notify you all that last week was Youkai Academy's appointed time for first year students to sign up for clubs. As you are well aware, club membership at Youkai Academy is mandatory." She tapped her clipboard on a nearby table twice. "That means you must be attached to a club. You seven are the only first years that have yet to join any clubs. That makes you loose ends."
The stocky boy snorted a laugh from behind his video game. "You dragged us out of class because of that?" He asked incredulously, not even looking away from the screen. "Seriously?"
"I am always serious." Keito replied, her tone befitting her declaration. "Club membership is mandatory at Youkai Academy."
"And if we refuse to join a club?"
"You will be expelled." The answer came simply.
A wide range of reactions swept across the room; ranging from indifference, to surprise, to shock horror. Expulsion? Just from not joining a club? Was the girl serious?
Keito gestured to her partner, who took a step forward. She whispered something into the boy's ear, and pointed to her clipboard. The boy nodded and silently walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Keito waited for a few more moments before continuing.
"As I was saying, every one of you has yet to join a club. I don't think I need to point out to each of you that Youkai Academy primarily teaches monsters—that is, all of you—how to co-exist with humans." She paused, a muscle in her cheek twitching. "While many do not agree with this idea, that fact does not change the rules of this academy."
"So what does that have to do with us joining clubs?" The same messy-haired boy demanded, his tone turning frosty.
"Because it is integral to the way human schools function." Keito snapped, her tone matching the boy's. He immediately cringed under Keito's glare and slumped back into his seat, his previous attitude gone. He shut off his video game and slipped into his uniform's pocket. "Now, because each of you has decided that the other pre-existing clubs are beneath you, the headmaster has graciously decided to allow you all to form your own."
The room was quiet for a long moment, letting Keito's words sink into the silence of the room before her meaning actually registered. When they did, the reaction was instantaneous.
"Huh?"
"What?!"
"Our own club?"
"..."
"You mean with these low-lives?!"
"Oh..."
"Fantastic."
Keito waited for the exclamations and denunciations to die down, and then she cleared her throat again. "I do not know why the headmaster decided to do things this way. If it were up to me, each one of you would face expulsion for not following the school rules."
"Just because we find the clubs here at Youkai Academy not worth our time?" The girl sitting in the very back of the room bit out. She brushed away her silvery-red hair and bared her teeth at the School Protection Committee member. Her golden, almost feline-like eyes narrowed to slits as she glared at her.
Keito turned to face girl, and narrowed her eyes once she had. "Oh... you." She said, flicking her eyes down at her clipboard and then back up to the girl. "If you prefer, our leader had extended an invitation for you to join the Enforcers." She said, using the more commonly-used-than-not colloquialism for the Public Safety Commission. That was really all the group was, anyway… and everyone knew it. They enforced the rules of the school, usually through means of violence and coercion. The fact was not lost on the students being grouped together, and that gave them cause to silently take what Keito said in stride.
"I'll consider it." The silver-haired girl in the corner hissed venomously.
Keito shrugged at the response. "The offer is open. Anyway, that is about all I was charged with relaying to you all." With that, she tucked her clipboard under her arm and stood erect. "Does anybody have any intelligent questions?"
"If I may..." The dark-skinned boy raised his hand again. Keito turned to face him. "The minimum membership requirement for clubs is four students... right? So what would happen if only four of us decide to create a club and the others choose to stay out?"
"They will be expelled."
"Ah." He smiled humorlessly. "That makes things quite simple then, doesn't it?"
The skinny, wispy-haired girl scoffed, putting her elbows on her desk and resting her chin in her hands. "So, if I understand you correctly, you are essentially taking the misfits of the school and putting them all together in one big soup pot. Out of sight, out of mind?" When Keito didn't respond, she smirked into her hands and opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted when the door opened again.
The disguised monsters all turned to look at the same boy who exited not five minutes before re-appear, but this time with another student in tow. The new arrival, a boy with short, light-brown hair, entered with small, careful steps. He took a nervous glance around the room and, seeing the small handful of other students in the room all staring at him, paled even further than he had been before. His steps halted.
"Take a seat." The enforcer boy said sternly, nodding to the seat the unnaturally large boy had just set out. The frightened student jumped at the command and nearly tripped reaching his seat. He sat down, but gawked for a moment at his gargantuan classmate as he did, and took another nervous glance around to meet the mixed gazes of the other occupants of the room.
Keito nodded at the new addition and made a notation on her clipboard. "Good. With the addition of…" She trailed off, shifting her eyes lazily to the new student.
After a few silent moments, he must have realized that Keito was fishing for a name. He stood up in a flash, almost causing his chair to fall backwards with the action. "Uh—Aono! Tsukune… Aono." He said, paling a little more, if at all possible. He lowered his head and mumbled something nondescript, sitting back down.
Keito rolled her eyes at the boy and cleared her throat. "With the addition of Aono, your club is complete. I will expect a copy of the club formation paperwork in our office as well as the student council's by Friday." She turned her head and glanced back at the boy standing by the door. He nodded and, after taking another firm glance around the room, took his leave. "Thank you for your time." Keito said, her voice dripping with mock-politeness. With that, she followed her associate.
The room fell into silence again. This time, with the addition of one, Tsukune Aono, the silence was an entirely new and awkward one. The tension hadn't dissipated at all, but now there was the discomfort of an extremely fidgety, frightened boy in their midst. It didn't bode well, and soon, the atmosphere of the room was too much to bear.
Surprisingly, it was the newest arrival that broke the tension.
"Uh… what club is this?" The boy, Tsukune, asked quietly. His voice was so quiet, that under normal circumstances, it might have gone unheard by everyone. However, with the awkward silence that filled the clubroom, his question sounded as though he had shouted it in everyone's ears. "I-I mean, she said something about a club… right?"
The other students shot glances at each other, all wondering who would be the one to explain. In the end, after another minute of stifling silence, the skinny girl flicked her dark hair and sighed morosely. "Tsukune Aono … welcome to the soup."
Tsukune went white as a sheet at the welcome.
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End of Prologue
A/N: Props to anyone who remembers this from a couple years back.
See you on the next chapter! Cheers!
Xox