…When you did not even agree to it…
The first thing he remembered was hearing some snickering. And whispers, many whispers. Mainly, it was about mocking him. Well, he thought…
«Freshman… » Many sighed while others mocked.
What felt weird was that all of this was directed at him. Wasn't he supposed to be dead?
…
Wait…
HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!
His eyes shot open, feeling completely and totally awake, much more than he ever did during any morning of his life.
He jolted away in disgust.
There was a half-eaten dead crow right next to his face!
«GAH! » He crawled backward, trying to put some distance between the animal's corpse and himself.
Out of a morbid curiosity though, he could not help but stare…
That thing had no guts…
A bell rang. Blinking, he reminded himself of where he was and what he had planned to do and…
Wait… which part of it had been a dream? He could not have been killed by whatever that beast was, so he had dreamed that. Okay, so he had had a nightmare about being killed. Understandable, since he had been chased and paranoid ever since he had heard of the monsters around…
He did the smart thing. He tried to know where he was. Easy, there was a big school building in front of him. So he had fallen asleep in front of the academy after the debacle yesterday. Good, now he had to go back to his room, pack his things and freaking leave! Before class if possible. Shinji did not want to find out what they did to students that skipped classes around here.
Wait… how long did he have before…?
He shot a look at his wrist, the left one where he had his watch and…
He completely forgot about the time of the day. Shinji was a bit more worried about the fact that his skin had turned grey. Besides, his watch had been replaced by a sort of… broken shackle anyway…
Plus, his belly (when had he ripped off his shirt that badly? ) and legs (he had shoes and normal pants the last time he checked) were also a pale shade of grey.
Now that he thought about it, he felt very weird at the level of his guts.
He was sick!
He ran inside the school, without thinking about the potential monsters that would end him if they knew he was human. Though for some reasons most were just laughing a bit lightly whenever he walked them by and a few others frowned. Too glad not to feel open hostility, he just rushed to the first bathroom he could find.
Thankfully empty (oh God the images that came to his mind just thinking of monsters in a public washroom), he ran to the first mirror he could find.
He blinked in shock.
The skin of his face was grey too, but that was far from the weirdest. His eyes were blood red, completed with black bags under both eyes as if he had never slept, and his hair, black instead of blonde. What… the… hell?
This was not getting sick…
Actually, it could have been because of the sudden burn he felt around the place his stomach should be. Suddenly very nauseous, he arched forward and let go of his last meal, namely yesterday's dinner, into the sink…
Through the tears, he managed to make out the shape of the stuff he had expelled.
Guts…
The image of the deceased crow floated in his head.
«Oh God… » He whispered, absolutely horrified, just before the memories made him sick again.
I… I did not eat a crow! That's impossible…But even his reflection in the mirror seemed to contradict him. Perhaps… perhaps it had not been a dream… What happened to me?
But even talking to himself did nothing to save his hopes. In fact, it crushed them completely. He did not remember having fangs like that yesterday.
That was when his strength left his legs for good. In a second, he slid down to the ground.
«What happened to me? » He muttered, on the verge of tears.
His mind could already provide him an answer.
Monster.
T-that was just a bad joke, right? A n-n-nightmare probably…
While Shinji was almost catatonic, the door to the bathroom opened. An imposing man entered, wearing what appeared to be cool sunglasses. Bald and stern, the man wasted no time to notice the broken student on the floor and more importantly his appearance.
«Your disguise is broken, young man. I shall see you in detention at four this afternoon, » he declared, clearly disdainful at his distress.
Your disguise is broken…
Youkai Academy was a school for monsters. It taught them how to look humans, to maintain their disguises all the time.
Well, freaking hell, he could not even leave the place now! He really had to learn how to disguise himself as a human now.
Because… he was… no longer human…
«Now pick yourself up, you have a class in five minutes. » The man, obviously a teacher, mercilessly put salt on the fresh wound. «And put on your human disguise! »
Shinji wanted to throw up again.
«Shinji? » Someone asked, piercing through his defense.
There was a monster that knew him in here?
With blank eyes, he looked up and found himself staring at the foreign student, David.
«Are you alright? » He frowned, kneeling next to him.
No, no, I'm not alright! I've been turned into a monster and I don't even know why!
Against his better instinct, he nodded. It would not do to reveal he was human… used to be…
«Really? I thought the shock would make you go insane or something… » He tilted his head, seemingly confused.
Shinji blinked. That… what… he…
He knew?
He pointed a finger accusingly at David, only for the boy to shrug it off.
«Alright, I think there is something you might want to know and toilets may not be the best place to speak of it. Let's skip our first class. » He grabbed Shinji's hand before he could say anything and dragged him out.
«B-but… » Unfortunately, his new status did not include superior strength or if it did, it made no difference when faced against David's.
Helplessly, Shinji was dragged outside of the school.
«We should be more at ease to speak here. » David shot a satisfied look around and sat down on a log.
Shinji did not sit down.
«Hum… where to start? » He scratched his chin, looking pensive.
Had he been aware of Shinji's internal debate, a true maelstrom of emotions, perhaps he would have acted a bit less like the whole thing was a minor inconvenience.
«What do you know? » Shinji felt like he would throw up (once more) just because of how much he had to restrain himself to lunge at him to squeeze the answers out of the foreigner.
Then again, he had no idea what David was and he did not want to find out. Not firsthand mostly.
«That you were human. » Just that had been enough to reduce him to near tears. «…I'm sorry… »
«W-what are you apologizing for? » He cringed at the compassion in the other's voice. He… he did not want to sound so whiny…
But he was a monster! That had to count for something, right?
«It's my fault. » He grimaced.
«WHAT? »
«I wanted to talk to you but you didn't come. When I found your corpse, I decided to give it a try and see if I could make you talk again, » he explained, a bit sheepishly.
«You… huh… what? » Shinji's eyes twitch, if only because of his confusion.
David sighed at that. He had a feeling this might take long.
«You died. » There, blunt, perhaps that would be easy to understand.
It was lucky his skin was already grey. That way, no one could notice he paled.
«Something killed you. I don't know what it was, but a monster of some sort attacked you and ate your guts. »
Shinji gulped loudly. There was that strange emptiness in his abdomen… and the image of that jaw full of fangs.
He staggered and David rushed to help him stand correctly. After a brief confirmation of Shinji's well-being (and forcing him to sit on a log too), David continued his explanation.
«When I went out, your corpse was there. Let's just say that it was messy and I'll leave it at that, less you feel bad again. » The westerner even grimaced a bit and refused to dwell on it any further. «So I raised you. »
«…hum… » Shinji tried to make sense out of that, but… no… it was not working. «What? »
«I used a spell. I reanimated your corpse and I turned you into a zombie. »
«Z-zombie? » Shinji stuttered and looked at his grey hands with horror.
«Yeah, zombie. A lesser undead. » He nodded, apparently not quite understanding the total distress that was emanating from the newly reborn monster next to him.
«H-how? » He had to think clearly. Chase away the image of monsters eating brains and guts from those stupid horror movies he used to love…
Oh the guts…
His nausea returned. Judging by how the day was going, he would have to learn how to live with permanent sickness.
«Well… » He stood up and took a few steps to move away from Shinji.
When he considered himself far enough, he closed his eyes and started glowing. It was not a beautiful light, but it was pure. Pure pitch black light… but still.
After it had cleared, Shinji got to see the true form of the guy that turned him into a monster.
He was… human. Definitely human in shape… even if he was a bit paler than the norm. Actually, most of the change seemed to stem from two facts. First, his uniform had been replaced by some sort of dark robe ornamented with bones (which gave Shinji shivers) and he now held a staff. The second was that his eyes were now completely black.
Perhaps it was his ignorance or the sheer emotional impact that he had worked against since he was up, but Shinji's response was both unexpected and blunt.
«You're wearing a dress. » It came off completely deadpan.
It was enough to make David's jaw drop.
«T-This is not a dress! » He protested, clearly taken by surprise by the unusual comment.
«It looks like one to me, » Shinji replied, just to drop the tension a certain amount.
Well, it might have worked, if not for the brief spike in killing intent that washed over the new zombie. It brought him to his knees.
Realizing his mistake, David deliberately relaxed and let go of his anger.
«Sorry about that. I… was not expecting it. » It was not quite comforting enough for Shinji to stop trembling in fear.
With the new monster avoiding his gaze completely now, David went on with his explanation.
«Anyway… I am a necromancer. »
«…that's considered a monster? » Shinji just could not keep his mouth shut when there was too much stress involved.
«Wow, even new monsters can be racists. That HAS to be a first. » David did not seem impressed with the zombie's attitude.
It was a good thing blushing needed blood and a normal skin, otherwise Shinji would have looked like a tomato.
«Yeah, necromancers are a subtype of monsters called the «creatures on the boundary». Basically, it includes creatures that are mostly humans physically, but whose ability is definitely based on youkai energy. Most magic users are classified as that. »
«Magic? »
«That's the part that surprises you? » He snorted. Really, was it just because they were from a very different culture or Shinji just had skewed priorities? «Yes, magic. You were turned into a zombie by necromancy, by my hands. »
«Why did you do that? » He just could not understand. He was a normal person, they had never even exchanged a word, so why would he do that!
«I told you. I just wanted to talk with you. I can't do that if you are dead. Even if technically you still are… » He shrugged.
«THAT's what I meant: why would you want to talk to me? » He tried to grit his teeth, but fangs were not exactly the right kind of teeth for that task. It felt so weird that Shinji swallowed nervously.
«Well, that's obvious, no? I was curious. You had stood up in class to say that humans aren't so bad. I hoped that you would be less likely to be diminutive of my true form than most. » This time, there was a slight accusation in his tone.
Shinji had the decency to look ashamed. «Sorry… »
«But yeah, when I saw your corpse, I knew you were human so it explained that. »
«In that case, why would yo-» He was cut off by David.
«Because I need friends or allies. Sure, a zombie is not much, but it's much better than nothing at all. »
Oh great, he was considered less than stellar even as a monster. Could this day get any worse?
«A necromancer that comes from America… I was wondering if people would be more judgmental just because of the difference in locations… I guess not, because it seems just as bad here as it was there. » He sighed sadly and, for once, Shinji's mind was off his own little person.
«You… you're discriminated against? » He bit his lips, remembering his own, ignorance driven at least, insensitive comment.
«Monsters that are on the boundary between humans and creatures are often called half-breed, which is far from a compliment. » He looked away resentfully. «No, to be a «good» monster, you have to be eight foot tall, have giant claws or be able to reach the speed of sound. Controlling corpse and spreading disease is not good enough, noooo. » He ranted.
A part of Shinji was trying not to focus on the vague descriptions of other monster he had given, nor on the «spreading disease» part, no matter how mock worthy it sounded to him.
Double entendre… He liked them.
«Anyway, the thing is necromancers are not respected because they look too much like normal humans. » He grunted. There was a great amount of bottled up anger in the foreigner.
«So you wanted to talk to me because you hoped I would not react like them? » He summarized, an embarrassed grimaced on his features.
«Yeah, but it's okay. I should not have expected you to know that when you were just human. »
Was that a subtle insult to get back at him or was he sincere? Either way, it stung a bit too deep to Shinji's tastes.
«Right. Now what do we do? » He asked, frowning.
«I was hoping we could hang out. I did kind of save your life, from a certain point of view. Without my help, you'd still be laying in front of the dorms… if nobody else needed a snack. »
Yikes! He did not want to think about his own corpse like that! Not to mention he did make a good argument…
«Err… sure… »
«Good, because it would have been a bit hard to maintain your undeadness if you went on your separate way. » He let out a sigh of relief.
«Huh? »
«My magic is the thing moving your flesh and your bones. The farther you are from me, the harder it becomes for it to reach you. On campus, you should be fine; it's just that in the outside world it might become problematic. »
A knot tied down his throat. Oh God… he was… bounded to the necromancer now?
«Normally, with time, your corpse should start producing the youkai energy by itself but for now, it's all me. » David's disguise returned, putting him back in his normal attires.
It reminded Shinji that he had no idea on how to do the same. Everyone in the school seemed to have some sort of knowledge about it, but he had just found out he needed one. What was he supposed to do?
«Here, let me help you. » The necromancer just put a hand on his forehead and Shinji felt light for a second.
When he looked down at himself, he almost let out a cry of joy.
His uniform was back! His skin was a beautiful peachy color! When he passed a finger in his mouth, his teeth were normal! And he bet his eyes and hair were back to normal too!
«Shinji… you're still a zombie, » David stated softly.
It shocked the air out of him. Shinji needed to take a seat.
He had been so sure… for a moment, he had hoped… He had hoped so hard…
David looked particularly guilty when his new friend started to cry.
«I… I just wanted to help you with your disguise… I figured you would not kn-… » His voice just trailed off. Shinji was not listening.
They ended up skipping two classes instead of one. There was just too much for Shinji to take. He had let out everything once.
Yesterday, he had been convinced he would die. Today, he knew he had died. Somehow, this was not comforting at all.
«Are you feeling better now? » David patted his back.
«I… I think so… » After all, could he really tell? He was missing several organs but that did not seem to bother his health in the least.
«Good… » He helped him stood up and passed an arm around his neck to drag him toward the school.
The bell rang once more, reminding them of their tardiness.
«Hehe… I never was one for punctuality. » The necromancer chuckled.
It brought a very small smile on Shinji's fast.
«Neither was I… », he said.
«We're sooo getting a detention after this. » David mockingly whined.
«I already got one this morning. » He shrugged. «Something about not having my disguise on. » Humor was good. Humor meant he would not break down again. «Couldn't you have done that before I met a teacher? Were you trying to get me a detention? »
«Now, now, I feel that someone is ungrateful here… » He grinned, his eyes narrowed. «But, of course, I was trying to do just that. »
«Hey! » Shinji shoved him playfully.
«Don't worry; you'll have plenty of monsters to talk with you. I'm sure of that. Just present yourself and lots of monster will try to get to you. » He smugly smiled.
His declaration suddenly brought back a certain memory from yesterday.
«Hey! Weren't you supposed to be really bad at speaking Japanese? » He stared accusingly.
David blinked, then started laughing.
«Wow! » He said, wiping a tear. «And here I thought your priorities weren't all in the right places… I was wondering if you would ever ask me that. No, I was not faking it. I really am that bad at speaking Japanese. » He shrugged.
«Sure does sound like that now… » Shinji remarked.
«That's because I've got a good look at your knowledge and memories when I brought you back as a zombie. Basically, since you speak it fluently, so do I now. »
«Wait… » Shinji realized with horror. «When you say my memories… you don't mean… »
«Most of them, yeah. Cute girl you dated two years ago. Megumi, right? » David's face was mostly occupied by a large mocking grin.
«You… » He stuttered, in a mix of anger and shame.
«Such a shame about the marshmallow incident. » David took on a fake pained expression, teasing.
Shinji groaned and held his forehead in his palms. For the love of God, why?
Wait… was there a god for zombies?
«Anyway… » David continued.
No, he would not ask the North American, in fear that he would answer that he was Shinji's god now. He could just see him replying that with so much clarity…
«As I was saying, you should really try to talk with the other monsters in detention. »
«…Why? Won't they all be thugs? » He winced, remembering the trio of monsters that had chased him in the forest.
«Some probably will be, but I bet they will be there for the same reason as you. Most won't be quite used to their disguises. That's not a bad opportunity to see some of their true forms, don't you agree? » David suddenly seemed a lot more mysterious and cunning.
«Hum… yeah… » Except he did not really want to know about the other students' true forms. The least he knew, the better he would feel about this place.
«Well, why don't you try to make friend with the strongest monster in detention? » He suggested, far from innocently.
That tone made Shinji highly suspicious.
«Why would I want to do that? » He asked, cautiously.
«Because that's what I need. Powerful allies, or subordinates if you can manage but I'm not having any illusions about that. » David shrugged casually.
«You keep going on about that. Why would you need powerful allies? Are you being targeted or something? » There was just a hint of worry in his voice.
It seemed to surprise David, as his eyes widened very slightly.
«Oh, no, not even close. I just need powerful allies to take over the school. »