"-And so class, once you divide the so far total by two, you'll get the answer," Chase told them. The bell rang signaling the end of lessons.
"Stand." At the orders the class stood up. "Bow," the student continued.
"Thank you for teaching us," the class chorused.
"Don't forget to study," Chase warned them.
"Man…is it just me, or was Mr. Young harder on us today?" Sakumo groaned.
"I, for one, prefer the academic challenge," Holo sighed, closing her book.
"I would prefer it if he went a little easier on us," Kimiko sighed.
"True, but finals are just around the corner," Holo pointed out.
"Crap! I forgot about finals!" Sakumo groaned, clutching her head. "If I don't pass Monster Study I'll have to take summer classes!"
"It sucks to be you," Kimiko smirked.
"Oh come on! You gotta help me! I don't understand the Battle of Ku at all!" Sakura groaned.
"What?" Holo gasped. "You don't understand such a simple battle?"
"It is an easy subject," Kimiko agreed.
"Yeah, the Vampires and Werewolves were enemies and a battle took place at Ku castle, the home of Faragonda, a vampire, and Mathias, a werewolf. The two were supposed to be torn apart and killed for betraying their clans but ended up destroying the castle, and killing themselves instead, leaving the remaining clan members to create the Treaty of Equality and Neutrality, a treaty that is held in high regards today," Holo explained.
"I still don't get it!" Sakumo groaned, banging her head on the desk.
"Think of it like Romeo and Juliet, aren't you studying that play for the drama club?" Kimiko asked.
"Think of it…like a play…?" Sakumo asked.
"That's a great idea," Holo smiled. "Think of it like the tragic romance of star-crossed lovers. The two families, in this case the monster species, are just like the feuding families in the story, except they skipped straight to war."
"Oh I get it now! Thanks Holo-chan, Kimiko-chan!" Sakumo smiled.
"Hey! What's taking you guys so long?" Kana asked, walking into the room. The three looked around and noticed they were the only ones remaining.
"I guess the explanation took longer than I thought," Sakumo laughed nervously.
"Come on~!" Saxie huffed "We have to go bikini shopping for the upcoming beach trip!"
"I wouldn't think about that just yet," Chase told them, turning to face them.
"Why do you say that?" Kimiko asked, glaring at him.
"Simple, finals are coming up. Plus, we have less time to go over our lessons than I originally planned," Chase informed them.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Kana asked.
"Miss Kana, Miss Saxie, please, take a seat," Chase told them, gesturing to the empty desks.
"Sure," Kana shrugged, sitting down. Saxie sat down as well, and the five girls focused their attention on him.
"Less time to go over things; less you know about them. Take today for example; I didn't get to finish the Literature lesson," Chase told them, "Since finals are getting closer and closer, I have more things to teach you, in a small amount of time," he turned to the chalk board and began to write something down. "Let's see, it normally takes us an hour every day for three days to go over a History topic, and then we have to add Monster Study to that list," Chase muttered, writing down the subjects. He placed the number five under History, and the number six under Monster Study.
"What's with the numbers?" Sakumo asked.
"It's the number of topics we have remaining," Holo answered.
"Actually, this is the number of units left. Within each unit we usually have about three subjects," Chase answered. "Now, how many weeks until finals?"
"That's easy, two," Kimiko answered.
"Correct," Chase nodded, writing down two weeks. "With these two subjects alone, we could wrap them up fairly easily in time for finals. But, we have to add in the other subjects such as Math, Science, Home Ec, PE, Literature, Traditional Japanese, and any other electives that you have chosen. Add in the units remaining for those subjects, and the number of hours in a school day," Chase muttered, writing a number down for each and adding '8 hours' to the board. "Plus, if you want to count this part, you also have club activities that distract you from your homework, and we have to go over the missed questions in class, giving us less time to go over the actual subject for the day," he sighed, placing the chalk down.
"So basically, the hours of school remaining are quickly decreasing, and the number of things we have to learn aren't?" Saxie clarified.
"Exactly," Chase nodded.
"That kinda blows…" Sakumo sighed.
"Don't worry, if you girls need help studying, I'd be more then happy to help you," Chase smiled.
"We're in!" the girls chorused.
"I'm not," Kimiko growled, taking her bag and standing up. Holo glared at her and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to sit back down.
"You are so in," Holo hissed.
"But why? My grades are perfect!" Kimiko protested.
"You are at a passing level, that is true," Chase nodded, strolling over to her desk "But would you rather have all 'A's instead of 'B's and 'C's?"
"I'm fine with the average I have now!" Kimiko huffed.
"Alright…let's put this another way," Chase sighed, leaning onto her desk. "I'm not. You are going to come to these study sessions, or you will be in a lot of trouble, do you hear me?"
"Fine…" Kimiko huffed, crossing her arms.
"Great," Chase smirked, standing up. "Let's get started with this little study group."
"I hate Chase," Kimiko groaned, sitting at her desk, looking over the notes from the study group. "Thought I hate to admit it, he made it much easier to understand…" she sighed quietly, closing the notebook and stretching. She walked over to her mini kitchen and grabbed a small glass, and turned the water on. She filled the glass and took a drink before her eyes widened and she dropped the glass, clutching her throat. The glass shattered and spread over the floor. She coughed before her body moved on its own, ripping open the fridge door. She grabbed a bottle of hot sauce and quickly opened it, gulping it down. She breathed a sigh of relief when the pain went away. "What the hell was that?" she muttered in shock before setting the bottle down and changing out of her pajamas. She grabbed a dress and a jacket, quickly getting dressed.
"Chase, open up," Kimiko ordered, knocking on his door. Chase opened the door and sighed.
"I thought you hated me," he smirked.
"I want to know what just happened to me!" Kimiko shouted. "One moment I'm drinking a glass of water before going to bed and the next my throat is burning! My body moved on its own and grabbed a bottle of hot sauce and once I drank that, the burning was gone! What the hell happened?"
"Don't worry, it happens to every dragon," Chase assured her. "When you first begin transforming, your body temperature rises to better accommodate the dragon blood that's activating. A dragon needs to have a certain degree of body heat or they'll die. The water was cooling your system, and putting your life in danger, your body acted on its own to get rid of the water with heat."
"Now that you mention it, I did feel really hot when I was studying…that was the reason I got the glass of water," Kimiko hummed. Chase pressed a hand against her forehead and nodded.
"You are pretty hot, but don't worry, once you are in complete control of your transformation you body temperature will return to that of a human's. Right now, you need to keep your body heat balanced, not too hot and not too cold," Chase informed her.
"How do I do that when water hurts me…wait! How am I supposed to take a shower if water hurts me?" she glared at him.
"Simple, just use hot water," Chase shrugged. "And I have something that'll help balance your body temperature and keep you from overheating as well as getting too cold." He pushed her into his room and took out one of his trunks. He sorted through it, and pulled out a vial. "This should also get your body used to cold water. Put a drop of this into your drink at each meal, and you'll be good to go." Kimiko accepted the vial and stared at the purple liquid before sighing.
"I really hate that I'm relying on you like this, but I guess I have no choice," she muttered.
"One more thing, if the one drop at each meal isn't enough, get a drink from one of the vending machines between classes, and put the potion in there as well," Chase advised her.
"Alright," Kimiko sighed, walking back to his door. "Thanks for the help."
"It must really pain you to say that," Chase smirked.
"Trust me, it does," Kimiko nodded.
"Hey, who gave you that ruby?" Chase asked, pointing at her necklace.
"…mom did…" Kimiko answered softly, placing a hand over the stone.
"Don't lose it," Chase told her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I won't," Kimiko smiled gently before bowing and quickly running off.
"What the hell happened with me back there…?" Kimiko groaned, sliding down her bedroom wall. "I actually treated him like he was my brother…I don't care what he does…I still won't accept him," Kimiko declared softly. "I won't…I don't want things to change…"