Chapter 2
New Beginning

The sakura are in bloom again, colouring the azure expanse of sky above with a shower of pink petals as a spring zephyr blew through the branches of the awakening trees, scattering its floral scent.

I, however, was deprived of this particular sensory perception of this whole exhibition.

I sat, with my arms crossed impatiently over my chest, on the smooth leather interior of a black stretch limo, watching the scenery pass by.

It was the first day of high school in Teikoku Gakuen though the fact did nothing to faze me as it sometimes did with others- that would have been most disgraceful for the new Koutei of the academy. There was, nevertheless, something about today that unnerved me, especially since my premonition was telling me that whatever was amiss involved me.

With a sigh escaping my lips, I pushed back the blue tendrils that obstructed my vision and turned to the black-haired boy of my age who was sitting in front of me. "When will we be arriving at the academy, Touya?" I inquired him, crossing my arms again in order to keep them from moving in an attempt to ease my present boredom. Touya, my closest friend and personal servant, glanced at his watch and replied, "Two more minutes until we arrive at the gate."

I nodded absentmindedly before turning toward the window once again. In two minutes, I would face the whole student body of Teikoku Gakuen in the ceremony called the "Ohairi", the "Entrance", as the new Koutei, the highest authority in the school- the first ever freshman Koutei. There's no doubt that there will be rumours about this, but such is normal in the life of a Touguu anyway.

"What's wrong, Takanari-sama?"

The limo slowed down to a stop; I shook my head in response and gave him a slight smile, a rare action for me. There was no need to worry him needlessly; in fact, he seemed to be more nervous than I. "It's nothing, Touya."

Touya merely nodded and stepped out of the car then held it open for me, religiously following the strict rules of our social status despite our close relationship. All traces of the smile I wore just seconds ago had completely vanished as I eyed the group of bowing students who were waiting for my arrival.

The Ohairi, was just another ritual among many that instilled absolute respect to the highest authority by deducting a student's earned points if he ever dared lift his head. Since all the students of the school come from relatively prosperous families, each student was ranked- in gold, silver or copper- according to the wealth of their family, and had certain rules and privileges assigned to each, the best reserved for none other than the Koutei. Such practices only exercised the capitalist mindset of their families and made them all puppets of greed.

It was repulsive.

Without casting but a glance at the sea of uniformed individuals, Touya and I strode up the stone stairs, into the elaborate building and to the Student Council room.

Upon my entrance into the inner meeting room of the Student Council office, I noticed the group of people already seated around the rectangular mahogany table consisting of one staff member and two students, a boy and a girl who were presently bickering over something, who seemed to be around my age, they looked like odd bunch of individuals.

"Koutei-sama, welcome to Teikoku Gakuen." greeted the adult with a bow when he became aware of my presence. The two students followed suit.

The adult was none other than Senri-sensei, my former doctor when I was hospitalized a few years ago and a henchman of the Touguu clan. Evidently, my family wanted someone to watch over me so they appointed him as the health teacher here. I held back a scowl; 'Typical.'

"Hajimemashite." I bowed politely as introduced myself, although there was really no need to as the Touguu clan was famous within the school community. "I am Touguu Takanari, the new Koutei of Teikoku Gakuen."

The blonde boy, who looked very much like a member of the Japanese mafia- the yakuza, was the first to speak. "I'm Tsujimiya Maguri, the Vice-President." No matter how I looked at him, he didn't seem like the type of person who would fit that particular role. Hopefully, there is some truth in the saying "never judge a book by its cover".

The girl with short brown hair, which was tied in pig-tails, greeted me with a smile, "I'm Ichinomiya Maora, the accountant!"

For whatever reason, she held an ugly stuffed animal to her chest. 'Firstly,' I wondered, 'what is a person of her age doing with a toy at school? And secondly…' I narrowed my eyes to stare at the hideous thing. 'I know that I'm not one to judge another's personal preferences but…'

Interrupting my train of thought, a loud exclamation that sounded somewhat like "Shyaaaa!" suddenly sounded throughout the room. I scanned the room quickly and stepped back in shock when the strange thing in Ichinomiya-san's arms blinked its narrow eyes at me. 'It's… alive?' was the only coherent thing my mind could process before the thing, whatever it was, emitted another cry, making Touya jump up in fright behind me.

Maora laughed at our reaction, the other two in the room sniggered quietly but from their refusal to meet my gaze, I could tell that they experienced the same thing. I don't blame them. 'Just what on earth is that stupid thing?'

The thing in question was turned its permanently angry face back to Ichinomiya-san. "This is Okorimakuri-kun!" She explained and hugged the creature closer to herself. "He's a mini-sheep!"

Okorimakuri… "Always angry"… Well, at least something about it makes sense.

'Whoever chose the other members of the Student Council', I concluded inwardly, 'is either an imbecile or, at the very least, has some sort of psychological problem.' Now, I was stuck with a yakuza member and a girl who likes mutated sheep. I looked at Senri-sensei from across the room and saw that he flinched and took a step back.

It was Senri-sensei, alright.

And, just for the record, both applied to him.

As in every school, Teikoku Gakuen had an Opening Ceremony for the start of the school year, meaning that I, as the Koutei, had to prepare a speech, something of which I was not particularly fond.

As customary, I stepped up to the podium and arranged the microphone. "Fellow students, I welcome you to a new school year." My speech went on, explaining some essential information, adding occasional warnings and giving a few inspirational words of wisdom here and there. It didn't really matter what I said as I highly doubt that they're actually listening. As matter of fact, some brunette girl sitting near the back of the auditorium was practically asleep right now while the lilac-haired girl beside her was trying to wake her up.

I concluded my speech promptly and a harmony of applause greeted me back.

Just as I was about to return to my seat, a loud "thud" was heard throughout the auditorium. Naturally, loud thuds such as this would subsequently be followed be curious glances then, perhaps, screams.

When I swivelled around to check what caused the abrupt sound, I was welcomed by panicked screams and surprised yells.

Naturally.

Touya arrived at my side, after notifying the school guards of the commotion by a communication device called a "walkie-talkie" (or so Senri-sensei tells me), and we scanned the crowd for the source of the sound.

Due to the great number of students in the building, most of whom were moving about in order to escape from the possible threat, we couldn't find the origin.

That is, until the origin conveniently fell on the ground before me.

A green snake lay there on the hardwood stage staring at me; its pink tongue darting in and out of its mouth. I glowered back at it, challenging it, mentally, to do its worst.

Before I could do anything else, a guard, who I thought looked very much like Strahl Tachimiya III- the school principal (and I wouldn't be surprised to discover that he was, considering the famous eccentricity of the school's principal), stepped between me and the offending creature. "Koutei-sama, I shall handle this." The Swiss-Japanese guard told me confidently and ushered me to move backwards.

That was not much help since it was raining snakes. Literally.

I looked over the room, quickly analyzing the situation before me for the best possible actions to take and, perhaps, find the perpetrator of this outrageous stunt.

"Gwahahahahahahahaha!"

Wonderful... I've found him.

The peculiar, evil laughter came from a long, black-haired boy, who looked older than I, with a bandage over one of his eyes. Not surprisingly, he was dressed in a gangster outfit and was surrounded by a group of people in the same guise.

Behind me, Tsujimiya-san let out a sigh and muttered in an annoyed tone that showed no surprise at the sudden intrusion, "Onii-san."

That's simply splendid; the vice-president's older brother is in an actual gang. I really should check the student records once I find the opportunity to do so.

The older Tsujimiya brother proceeded to yell, in an extremely vexatious bumptious manner, at the panicked crowd of students in the building, "We are the Gedou! Fear us!" This was followed by the same eerie laughter. 'Kami-sama, I'm surrounded by imbeciles.'

All of a sudden, Touya and the guard approached me. "Koutei-sama, you should leave immediately before anything out of hand happens." The guard told me, Touya nodding fervently at his statement as he jumped away from yet another serpent with a small yell of fright.

"Yes," I agreed with a sigh, though it was clearly too late for that anyway, then turned to face the pallid Touya. "Take out the files on the Gedou after class."

"Hai, Takanari-sama." And with those words, we left the auditorium.

'How tiresome.' I sighed, concealing my annoyance with a practiced indifferent expression, once I left the classroom alone; Touya was still attending to the task I gave him earlier. My schoolmate's glances never left me as I traversed the hallway, intent on finding refuge in the Student Council room, though I knew that certainly wasn't going to happen judging from today's earlier incident.

Once I ascended to the second landing, Touya reappeared at my side and whispered, "I left the files on your desk, Takanari-sama, but there seems to have been another problem in the auditorium after we left. A-" Before he could finish his statement, I nodded absentmindedly and completed it for him, "A female copper student, first year, attacked the snakes."

Touya stared back in surprise. "Female students' gossip is incredible, isn't it?" I commented simply and we quickly made our way to the Student Council room.

This premonition was transpiring to be quite troublesome on my part.

Updated: 07/23/11