As Miku hurries down the hall, large gold-framed portraits of strangers lining the walls -of which I can only assume is the main hallway in this wing- she frowns slightly, her hands clenching and unclenching nervously at the general lack of students.

Turning a corner sharply, the teal-haired girl runs into something solid. With a gasp she steadies herself and quickly steps away into a short bow, causing silky strands to fall into her eyes, "P-pardon me!"

A calm, airy voice laughs slightly, "Please, don't worry about it."

Miku looks up with a tentative smile, large eyes locking onto a pair of mismatched ones. Blinking in surprise, she blurts out, "Oh! You have such nice eyes!"

Furrowing his brow in a sort of amused confusion, the silvery white-haired boy smiles, "Oh, thank you. . . I haven't seen you around here before, are you new?"

Miku nods her head quickly, "Yes. I just arrived yesterday actually, and to be honest I don't really know what I'm doing or where I'm going. Baito-San just sort of-"

The boy's eyes widen and he takes a quick jump back, his hand reaching inside his long black coat. He frowns angrily, "Baito-San?! What are you doing here? Vampires aren't allowed in this wing! If you don't leave now-!"

Slender hands wave in front of her quickly as she shakes her head, upset by this man's sudden change in attitude, "N-no! Please don't misunderstand, I'm not a vampire!"

"Give me a break! If you're not a vampire then explain how you could possibly be involved with Baito!" one green and one blue eye narrows, "Now that I look at you, your skin does look a bit pale-"

"Please don't get angry with me! I don't really know Baito-San that well, but he's been nice to me since I came to their castle last night. I'm not a vampire, really I'm not! I-I just happen to be living there, that's all."

The boy frowns, "Why would you be living in the vampires' castle unless you're one of them?"

"I don't know. Honestly I don't! M-my family sent me to live with them, and so . . ."

He scrutinizes her, then relaxes, pulling his hand out of his jacket and ruffling his hair sheepishly, "Alright, I believe you. . . sorry about that."

Miku's eyes widen, "W-what? Why did you change your mind?"

"Because," he smiles brightly, "you're not a very good liar."

A faint smile forms on Miku's lips, her rapid heartbeat slowing slightly in relief, "I'm not entirely sure how to take that."

The boy laughs, "Just take it as a compliment. Besides, if you were any good at lying I might have attacked you. I really am sorry about that, but you can never be too careful around here. . . "

Miku bites her lip and takes in the boy's black-and-red uniform, "It's okay, but it's my first day at school so I really don't want to start off on the wrong foot. Can we start over?"

The boy blinks at her outstretched hand and smiles, "Sure! My name is Utatane Piko, nice to meet you miss. . . ?"

A smile forms on Miku's lips, "Hatsune. Hatsune Miku."

Piko shakes her hand, "Okay then Hatsune-San!"

Miku shakes her head, "Sorry, but Hatsune-San sounds too formal! I'd much rather you call me Miku-San instead!"

Piko laughs, "Alright then, Miku-San. You're strange, but that's not a bad thing. So, what class are you in?"

"C-class?" Miku fidgets, "I don't know. . . no one told me anything about that."

A thoughtful look, "Well, how old are you? What year are you in?"

"I've just recently turned sixteen years old, and I was tutored so I don't have a year. . . oh! but I knew a girl who was my age and in year two!"

Piko nods, "That sounds right. Well, luckily for you I happen to be a year two student! As big as this castle may seem, there actually aren't very many students."

Miku looks at him curiously as they begin to move down the hall, "Really? It seems very nice though."

"It is, and the education is wonderful, but you see, it's so rare for people to even know about all of this that it's sort of uncommon for families to send their children here. Most of the time you have to be born into a hunter family to want to attend."

"A. . . hunter family? What does that mean?"

Piko gapes at her, "What? Wait a moment, you know about vampires but not about hunters?!"

Miku ducks her head in embarrassment, "N-no. I was born in a small noble family without much of a name. I didn't even realize that vampires truly existed until last night."

"Are you serious?! Well then, that explains a lot," he shrugs, "It's a little bit complicated to explain, but hunters are sort of like the opposing force to vampires. . .you've at least heard stories about vampires, right?"

"I've heard some of the more common ones, yes."

"Well, vampires are depicted as clever, immortal creatures with a love for human blood. This is true of real vampires, except things end up worse for the humans in real life than in the stories. For a long time they would go on rampages, destroying entire villages without anyone to stop them. That's why hunters were created, to fight and destroy the vampires."

Miku looks upset, an image of Baito's face flashing in front of her eyes, "Y-you kill the vampires?"

Piko sighs, "Well, we were able to come to a truce fifteen years ago, and since then they're mostly left us alone. Now we only kill the ones that stray from the law. Year one teaches you a lot about the importance of differentiating between those who've strayed and those who haven't. . . you'll probably have to take a remedial class to get caught up."

Miku raises an eyebrow, "O-oh. . . why wasn't I just put into year one then?"

"Because, " Piko pauses outside a door, "you get onto a year based on your age and that's where you have to stay, no exceptions and no repeated years."

"What happens if someone fails a year?"

Piko's eyes sharpen, "You don't. You either pass or are expelled."

As he pushes the door open, Miku plays with the edges of her skirt nervously, these stakes. . . why on earth was I put into something like this? What if-

Miku's thoughts are cut off as Piko grabs her by the wrist and pulls her into the room, "Hurry, the teacher hasn't arrived yet!"

Piko drags Miku towards a desk on the far side of the room, quickly pushing her into a chair just as a tall man with a long, high purple ponytail walks into the room. He stops in front of the class, his hands in the pockets of his black suit.

The students rise from their desks and bow, "Good morning, sensei!"

Miku follows their actions quickly but slightly behind the others. The teacher waves his hand and the students take their seats, "I know quite a few of you from your first year, but there are some new faces as well. Make sure you get acquainted with everyone, we can't have you running around mistaking each other for vampires now can we?"

Miku swears that his purple eyes look at her before he turns to the board, picking up a piece of chalk and carefully writing something on the board. As he writes, Miku glances around in surprise, this class seems a bit small . . .

In total there were only thirteen students in the class, seated two and three to a table, at large wooden desks in rows, with each row moving up a step like an opera house. Each student dons the school uniform, which bares the tiny image of a thorned rose above the heart.

Miku snaps back to attention as she watches the teacher, who introduces himself as Kamui-sensei, watching with interest as he passes out the course books. When the small leather-bound book lands on her desk, Miku picks it up immediately, surprised to find that there was nothing on the cover save for a depiction of a sword superimposed over a red rose. The book has no title or author.

Kamui-sensei nods at the books, "These books will become one of the most important items you will ever own, so don't even think about losing them!"

The class erupts into a low buzz and Piko stares at his book in awe, whispering, "No way. . . the Book of Thorns!"

Miku looks back down at her book, brushing a finger along the spine, "Book . . .of Thorns?"

Kamui-sensei claps his hands and the class falls silent once again, "The first chapter contains all of the laws laid out in our peace treaty with the vampires. For the first couple of weeks your homework will be to memorize every law, word for word!"

There is a collective groan from the class that makes Kamui-sensei narrow his eyes, "What are you complaining for? Would you prefer to break the laws and be executed? No? Well then, go ahead and memorize the first one. I will call on you to recite it tomorrow's class."

One student, a girl with short green hair with a pair of black goggles perched on her head, raises her hand, "Um. . . Kamui-sensei, why can't I open my book past the first chapter?"

Miku looks down in surprise, moving her fingers to a spot in the middle of the book and pulling, but the pages refuse to budge, what is this? How are we supposed to use a book we can't read past the first chapter?

Kamui-sensei smiles, "The rest of the book details weaknesses in vampires and how to defeat them. We can't let just anyone open those books. Don't worry though, in two weeks we will hold the hunter's ceremony. After that, if you are officially accepted as a hunter-in-training, you will be able to access those pages."

The class bursts to life. "What? A ceremony so soon?!"

"I heard that it's more like an exam than a ceremony! My cousin went through it and she said that-"

"Huh?! How are we supposed to take an exam without knowing what we're going to be tested on?"

"Some of us are new here!"

"Are the teachers trying to kill us?!"

The sound of a sword unsheathing echos around the room and the students fall silent, looking wide-eyed at the teacher, who is pointing his sword threateningly at the class, "Hey! What is all this complaining about?! I thought you were here to become hunters but it turns out you just want to sit back and do nothing. I won't have any cowards in my class!"

Piko raises his hand bravely, "H-however, Kamui-sensei, how are we supposed to take an exam on something we know nothing about?"

Kamui-sensei narrows his eyes at Piko, then turns to glare at the rest of the class, "Come now, if you want to be hunters you have to learn to figure some things out on your own. Do you really think we would give you a test without teaching you the material? Save for these next two weeks of lessons on the laws, everything else you need to know was pounded into your skulls when you first arrived here!"

"Tch!" Kamui-sensei sheaths his sword, "Use those brains I've been told you posses! If you're that worried then do something about it! Between first year materials and the library you have more then enough to take the exam. I refuse to hear any more questions or complaints about this! If you need to know it, you will. Class dismissed!"

Kamui-sensei stalks off, pressing his hand to a spot on the wall. A faint red light pours through some of the bricks, opening a narrow doorway into which Kamui-sensei promptly disappears, taking the door with him.

The class stares after him in indignant shock, quickly gathering around the first two far tables in furious debate. Miku's head is spinning, what is this? How can they give such an exam if there are students who weren't here that first year? I don't know anything about hunters or vampires! How can I possibly do this?

The girl with the goggles slams her fist on the desk, crossing her arms and glaring angrily at the place where Kamui-sensei disappeared, "What the hell! He could have at least explained a little more considering how if you don't pass the ceremony you are automatically expelled!"

"W-w-what?!" the rest of the class shouts in horror.

Piko furrows his brows, looking back at the girl, "Gumi, Is that really true?"

Gumi nods and Miku feels her heart sink, it's only my first day and it already looks like I might fail out of school!

Piko turns back to Miku, ". . . this is bad. Hey, come with me after school and I'll show you the library, at least there you can check out the first year texts."

Miku looks up at him uncertainly, "Will I really be able to learn all that I need to in time for the exam?"

The silver-white haired boy shrugs, "I don't know the answer to that, but if you're worried about it then you just have to study harder! There's no way I'm going to lose to something this early on!"

Miku raises her teal head slightly, shaking herself, her mouth forms a determined line, Piko-San is right! What am I thinking? It doesn't matter how strange or new this is, I had to have been put into this situation for a reason, so I can't possibly let myself fail until I learn exactly why I'm here in the first place!

Gumi glances over at Miku curiously, "Hey, you're new here aren't you?"

Miku looks over at her in surprise, "O-oh. Yes, my name is Hatsune Miku. . . I'm very new to all of this. . . how could you tell?"

Gumi smiles, "Even if I wasn't here last year I would have been able to tell by the expression on your face." The teal-haired girl's eyes widen in surprise, "Wow. First Piko-San could tell I'm lying and now you can tell that I'm new here. . . am I that easy to read?"

Gumi laughs, "You're not an open book, but learning to read people is part of being a hunter. It's a really important school that all first years learn. Don't worry, you can learn it even if you don't have a natural talent for that sort of thing."

Miku nods, "T-that's good. It looks like I have a lot to learn!" her voice and eyes lower slightly in worry, "I hope that the others leave me alone to study. . . "

Gumi raises an eyebrow, "Others?"

Piko drifts back into the conversation with a curt nod, "Miku-San lives in the big castle."

"Eh?! You live with the vampires?!"

Miku's startled gaze snaps back to Gumi, "W-well, I do b-b-ut-"

"That's so amazing!" Gumi's eyes sparkle with excitement, "I can't believe it! You get to actually live with them, be around them for hours a day?!"

"I-I just arrived last night and they seem fairly solitary, so I wouldn't really say that," Miku trails off.

Piko nods at Gumi, "Come on, you're overwhelming her!" he turns to Miku, "Don't worry too much about her. Gumi is a bit strange. She loves to study the vampires, and she's definitely overly-fascinated-"

Gumi glares at Piko, "Hey, hey, hey! Don't make me sound like some kind of weirdo! It just so happens that I find their behavior to be extremely interesting and-"

He shakes his head, "You don't have to worry about me making you sound like a weirdo, you do a pretty good job of that yourself!"

"Why you little-!"

Miku laughs, a high sparkling sound that makes Gumi and Piko pause. Gumi's stops hitting Piko and smiles, "What are you laughing for?"

"Nothing, really. It's just that you two are really funny! It sort of reminds me of siblings."

Piko smiles, "Well, I'm glad I'm not really related to a strange girl like her."

Gumi happily pokes Piko in the face, "And I'm happy that I don't have to deal with a dolt like him twenty-four-seven! Although I am stuck with a couple of brothers. Do you have any siblings?"

Miku shakes her head, "No. am my parents' only child."

Gumi frowns slightly, "Doesn't it ever get lonely?"

Miku smiles softly, "Well, maybe a little bit. . . but, I grew up doing a lot of things by myself, so I'm used to it now."

Gumi's gaze softens and her face breaks into another bright grin, "Well then, that's that! Piko and I are going to be your siblings!"

Miku's round eyes widen, "W-what?"

Piko smiles, "Yeah! We can get into fights, but no matter what we're stuck with each other!"

". . . you guys. . . " Miku smiles with a happy glow, "Thank you."

Gumi smirks, "Eh? Don't be thanking us too much, now you can never escape us!"

Miku laughs, "Okay!"