Shooting yourself in the foot... with a bazooka!
Shinji was pretty certain this feeling was fear. Actually, he would not have had doubts if David had not vehemently demented it
«Look, I know it's weird, but you're a zombie. You can't feel something like fear or terror. At most, it's just stress that you're mistaken for that. »
No, it was definitely fear. He knew it was fear… He knew it should be.
But, no, it was true, this was not fear. He just wanted to be able to feel it.
It was hanging his head in defeat that he entered the classroom. It never occurred to him that showing weakness like that was a really bad idea in a place full of monsters. He was still new to being one anyway…
«Ah, Mister Issounai, you are right on time. Please take a seat. » He was greeted by a rather strange professor.
Nodding, he shot a look at the class, which contained only half a dozen students, none of them looked very friendly. Was he expecting much? No, not of monsters.
Shinji sat in a corner, making sure to stay far from the rest of them. He knew what David had said and he knew he certainly did not want to go talk to some guy and find out it was a dragon in disguise. He still liked his «life» enough not to try self-destruction.
«Alright, now that everyone is here, we can start the make-up lesson. » The man, still wearing his sunglasses, stood up and, after introducing himself as Professor Jack, started going on about the importance of being able to maintain our disguises at all times.
Predictably, he was interrupted by the tallest student in the group, a guy with dark green hair and the weirdest set of yellow eyes ever.
«Why the heck should we care about them knowing? »
Well for starters, it was very scary. Especially when guys like him where allowed to roam free.
«Now, now, Mr. Darkabyss, we do realize that your kind would probably not be affected by the knowledge of your existence, but the world of monsters as a whole needs to keep a lower profile than the level of activity you are used to. »
«Tch. Weaklings… », he mumbled.
Prime David ally material there: a(n apparently) powerful monster that was not particularly set about following rules. A tall intimidating guy that had the potential to help, his necromancer friend would be pretty happy. For some reason, Shinji forgot most if not all of his inhibitions about talking to others during this detention.
«Very well, for those of you that actually have the skills to back up your claims, we are now going to work in pairs about your transformation abilities and you may not leave if your partner or myself finds a single fault in your disguise. Actually, if I do find a fault, both of you are staying another hour, so I suggest you do not take this lesson lightly. Begin. »
There seemed to have been a vacuum in the class as soon as the teacher had finished talking. Shinji soon understood why.
No one wanted to pair up with the tall arrogant guy. Too bad that now they were the only two students left.
Those cunning bastards…
Not even close to being surprised, the teacher sat down at his desk and pulled out a book to read.
«Mister Issounai, you shall work with Mister Darkabyss for the next two hours, » he stated in a matter of fact tone and left Shinji deeply resentful for that.
The other student glared at him from his seat, as if daring to get him to stand up from his seat. There was nothing to fear about that. Shinji did not want to antagonize the guy.
He took a seat at the desk next to him, trying to ignore the cold gaze locked on him.
«Hum… Shinji Issounai… », he said with a very visible hesitation.
«So? Do you expect me to tell you my name in return? » The other student snapped, making Shinji jump back in surprise.
Wow… hostile… He obviously did not want to be there right now.
«N-no… I just wanted you to know. »
A stupid lie. The last thing he wanted was for the guy to have a name to put on his face if he decided to exact revenge for some reason.
«Well, look at how much damn I give. » He leaned back in his chair, completely indifferent.
That was better than murderous, much, much better.
«Why are you even here? You obviously don't have any trouble with your disguise. You look exactly like one of those puny bipeds. » He shrugged, not knowing how much of an insult that had been.
Unfortunately, Shinji did not manage to hide his true feelings at that, and that Darkabyss guy was apparently skilled at picking up anger from a stare.
«Who do you think you're looking at, huh? » A growl rose up from his throat and he gave Shinji the impression he would try to bit his face off.
A jaw full of fangs…
He blinked, trying to chase away the image of his own death. If he delved on them too much, he'd go insane. It was with a certain relief that he felt the other student grab and lift him to his level.
«Are you listening to me? » He narrowed his eyes, though there was a certain amount of surprise in his voice. He had not expected the little runt to ignore him like that.
«Oh… hum… yeah. I am. » There was something amazing about the lack of fear. Truly, he should have been covering and begging for mercy at that point. He was so much scarier than the three thugs from yesterday, but there was just no impendent panic in his mind.
«Are you? » He repeated, his tone taking more of a threatening stance.
«Yes. I am. » He had to fight his own annoyance at being questioned, mentally shocked at his own daring attitude. «The thing is I don't know WHO you are, because you did not tell me. »
He raised a fist to strike, but just before he could, a lamp was hurled into the side of his face. It was thrown with enough force to send them both to the ground, even if it was more because Shinji was not dropped with the hit.
Enraged, the student stood up lightning fast and coiled around, looking for the culprit among the gasping fake humans in the room. And every single one was glancing between him and their teacher.
«Mister Darkabyss, I believe that the lesson to be learned here is how to look like humans and I'm afraid that if you punch out Mister Issounai's, you will have to wait for him to regrow it. »
«So what? He obviously knows how to disguise himself; it did not even flinch just now! » He protested, loudly.
«Are you so sure of that? » The professor asked, sincerely curious.
«Well, yeah. Look at him. » He pointed at Shinji. «That's exactly how a weak representative of humans is supposed to look. »
«Is that so? But earlier today his disguise was completely broken. If anything, I'd say it's because of a lack of nerves. » The professor turned a page of his book, perfectly indifferent to them all.
«Is that true? » He turned to Shinji, his eyes narrowed thinly. Even worse, many could have sworn that his skin was slowly turning blue.
«And here we go. Another hour for you Mister Darkabyss. Now, if you would please concentrate on the exercise, you might leave before your next class tomorrow morning. »
Perhaps it was just an impression, but the general consensus was that the tall delinquent was seconds away from attacking his teacher.
It left Shinji to wonder what was the punishment in a monster school for attacking teachers. Death? Probably, but how? Being eaten? Dismemberment? Decapitation?
It had to be something much more exotic, but his imagination for once was thankfully lacking.
Who knew that his mind could also cut him some slack from times to times?
«Fine, » he spat and sat back.
Shinji took that as his cue to finally dust himself off and stand.
A pregnant silence followed.
«Jonas. Jonas Darkabyss. Got it? » He mumbled.
A much heavier silence fell on them all.
Even Mr. Jack had looked up from his book, staring intensely at Jonas.
«Happy? Now, can we focus on that stupid exercise and so we can leave? » He lashed out at Shinji, who only put both hands in front of him, giving up on arguing.
«Actually, has you already pointed out, my disguise is fine. We have to work on yours. » Shinji wanted to eat his tongue, but, for some reason, he could not stop his thoughts from being transmitted to his fellow student.
There was the slightest blush on said student's cheeks before he grunted something like «shut up».
Shinji cringed, internally and externally. Partially because the mistakes Jonas made were spectacularly creepy. It was uncannily close to the real deal, but always with some detail to screw it up.
«Your tongue is forked. » He pointed out at the other's mouth, bringing the other a great deal of frustration.
Surprisingly, the tall «human» was quite dedicated to his task. Either he wanted to leave as soon as possible or he was just responding to the taunt of the teacher watching them.
After all, they were the only students left. The rest had all been dismissed, the last of them a few minutes ago.
«Your nose is too small, » Shinji commented.
That was the other reason he was freaking out. He kept taking small jabs at Jonas while under the guise of helping him with his disguise. Now, his teammate was no fool. Not when the teacher aimed an amused smile at the weakling in front of him whenever he made a comment.
«You're mocking me. » The words felt incredibly cold and Jonas' glare was even worse.
Even then, nothing.
Ironically, his lack of fear started to scare him.
«I was not. » He used a tone he hoped sounded soothing and sincere.
«You've got guts to lie to my face like that. » The monster in human form closed in, his face trapped into an expression promising pain.
«No, I don't. » He wanted to smirk at that joke, even if it was not funny.
Jonas blinked, once, and then smiled.
«Oh, so you're the little zombie that people talked about this morning, » he sneered, looking down on Shinji.
«Hey! »
«They also said something about a human lover. Not surprising considering you used to be one. » There was so much derision in that single sentence, it was impressive.
It had a powerful impact too, even if it was entirely for the wrong reasons.
Before he knew it, Shinji had stood up, facing Jonas with a low primal growl growing in his throat.
«You want a piece of me, little undead? » He taunted, poking his forehead. «Don't even try. I've got teeth bigger than you. »
Sound argument. Then again…
«You think you can fit in the classroom? » Shinji felt his rationality abandon him.
«You think I care about the classroom? » He snorted, incredulous.
The teacher quickly cleared his throat, reminding them of his presence.
«I'm going to guess that no, you don't, but you still won't transform. » The zombie grinned and motioned toward the teacher with just his eyes.
The taller student glanced once at Mr. Jack and decided either that it was not worth another hour of waiting alone in this crappy room or that it might not bode well to kill someone in front of a professor, since he made a derisive noise and decided to leave.
When he passed by his teacher, he made a rather rude sign with one finger (learned straight from one of his victims) that made the teacher frown. In the door frame, Jonas locked gaze with Shinji with an intensity that should have made him shiver.
«You better make sure not to meet me in a dark place alone, zombie, » he advised, perfectly honest.
Shinji pondered for a moment exactly what had possessed him to act like that. He had done just what was needed to make an enemy out of a guy that had admitted being much bigger than a classroom. That was so immensely stupid he could not believe it had come from him.
«I would call you brave, young undead, but I know better. That was foolish. » The teacher started packing his things and looked at the clock. «Goodness, would you believe that it already is five thirty? »
«I would… » He looked down, trying to stomach the professional's opinion he had been given.
Foolish…
He could see the promise of violence in Jonas' eyes again and again in his mind. This was not good. This was beyond bad.
He was so dead.
…Deader than now at least…
«So, how did it go? » David asked between two bites of… something Shinji could not identify.
«Well, » the zombie scratched his head sheepishly, «I did talk with a strong monster, Jonas Darkabyss. »
«Him? » His eyes suddenly lightened up with enthusiasm. «That's great! He's the talk of the day. Two days of school and six fights to his record. Won them all. Easily. Except that he can't make his eyes go human. »
«Yeah… that's… great. » Shinji grimaced.
«So, will he join us? » The necromancer looked quite hopeful at that.
«If by «join us», you mean «kill you in a graphic and gory manner», yeah. » He munched over some sausages. For some reason, he had had a violent desire to eat that when he saw them.
«You antagonized him? » David frowned.
«Yeah… He insulted me first though. » Shinji deliberately avoided staring at the girl whose mouth had grown twice in volume to swallow her lunch whole.
«It can't be helped then… » David focused on the remains of his supper, not exactly happy anymore.
«Sorry, » he muttered, though silently he was also wondering why he was concerned about the whole thing in the first place. It was not like he agreed to anything at all.
David had not quite sold his plan earlier that morning.
«You want to do what? » He shrieked, horrified.
«I said that I wanted to take over the school. » He shrugged, as if his idea was not outrageous at all.
It left Shinji a bumbling mess.
The whole school was a lair for monsters of all kinds. There had to be some strong ones studying there, true, but that also meant the staff was strong enough to handle it. And he wanted to take it over! What for?
He dared not ask. His instinct screamed he did not want to know.
Still, there was no love between him and monsters. There was no love between him and David either, the beginning of a nice friendship, yes, but not love. Plus, there was the whole «your life is bound to my youkai energy». It would not do to let David try something that dangerous alone.
So, yeah, he would try if it meant David and, by extension, himself would live a little longer, but this morning had been disastrous enough to do just the opposite.
«I think it's the lack of fear that made me clumsy, » Shinji confessed. «It was as if I could say anything I wanted, listen to anything he said, without feeling a shred of fear. It made me feel strong, even when I'm not, at all. I'm sure he really did not like me standing up to him. »
«Hum… » David scratched his chin pensively. «You know, I think you might be wrong here. »
«What makes you say that? » Shinji blinked.
Before his friend could give him a definite answer, an unknown student dashed into the cafeteria, running straight to the table next to theirs. Out of breath, the monster held on to the table not to fall.
«Darkabyss… » he started, glancing at the door he had come through with apprehension and a slight admiration. «He got into another fight! »
«That's your big news? » One of his pal, a female of a stunning beauty, raised a delicate eyebrow skeptically. «That's what, seven fights so far? Why should we care? »
«Because… » he grunted with exasperation, « …he just knocked over three trolls and one teacher that wanted to step in! Alone! »
A respectful silence followed his declaration.
That freshman was really starting to get impressive.
«I am so dead. » Shinji groaned, hitting his head on the table. «Jonas is going to kill me, most likely while eating me. »
«Your chances of survival are admittedly slim. » David finished his meal, not in the least troubled. «Don't worry though; I can always bring you back later. »
«Death is cheap around you, isn't it? » He said with a little hopeful smile.
«Not quite. » The necromancer scanned the room, looking for strong monsters among the crowd of disguises. «The fresher the corpse, the more sentient the zombie. Considering general opinions and the threat of eating you, he's probably a big monster, meaning it'd take a while to digest you. Since I can only create undeads out of corpse I can touch, you might come back with very few brain cells. »
Shinji gulped down nervously.
«But hey, don't worry. If he does eat you, he'll be plagued with diarrhea. » David put a hand in front of his mouth, holding back a very obvious desire to laugh.
Shinji's eyes twitch.
«Way to cheer me up, tranny, » he deadpanned, with the satisfaction of seeing David flinch.
«It was not a dress! » He stood up, angry.
«Of course it was not. » Shinji grinned, enjoying having the upper hand.
Not a second later, as Mr. Jack walked by his table, David's smile turned evil. After a snap of a finger, Shinji suddenly found himself without his disguise.
«Well, I am pleased to see that you liked me enough to get yourself another detention tomorrow, Mr. Issounai. »
Anger was among the emotions he could still feel. Oh, not a burning anger, more of a cold desire to eat his guts, fest in his remains and -
NO! BAD ZOMBIE!
Not knowing his friend's thoughts, David smugly stood up with his tray, leaving Shinji alone to ponder on his murderous intents.
He did not even get that.
The door to the cafeteria was slammed open, surprisingly not broken by the violence of the hit.
The conversations stopped.
Students turned to stare, contemplating the choice of not staying in the same building as the monster that was obviously pissed. Most of the second and third years did not bother, though the same could not be said for the first years. After all, it was their raising star (in terms of fighting of course) that entered.
Shinji flinched when Jonas saw him.
He bit his lips – and hurt them badly with his fangs – when Jonas' narrowed his eyes threateningly at him.
«I'm watching you, » he whispered. «You look ugly, by the way. »
He was going to get a headache after this and a good health insurance, just in case.
«I am so dead… » he grunted.
Which, of course, was followed by a random student replying «duh!».
True enough, but he had grown attached to this semblance of life David had provided him with. If possible, he would like not to get a detailed view of someone's digestive track.
Not from the inside at least…