There's something within the academy, dark and lurking. They don't know what it is, except that it's There.
So they tread the halls carefully, as if they're prey and the Predator(?) would suddenly jump out for the shadows and rip the flesh off of their bones.
(Coincidentally, there's also been rumors of a certain upperclassman lately. There's talk of smoke billowing from a cluster of inky feathers and a body that always seemed to be in some kind of fog— like he'd be in between in and out of reality.)
(Then something about bones and claws and ice is thrown into the mix. Words pass around that the arctic winds seem to follow him Everywhere. Something otherworldly, like something that didn't quite belong but still There. But there's hardly any proof.)
Tokoyami, though, he just wants to continue along with his studies even as everything moves around him with practiced ease. Like clockwork moving in slow motion. There are suspicious stains on his teeth and he keeps his eyes closed, and doesn't let everything spill out.
(For their sake, really.)