Chapter 2: The New Guardian
Night had fallen by mid-afternoon. The wind had picked up and then the storm had blown for a quarter of an hour before stopping in the early evening. The rain beat down on the windows in waves, like the ebb and flow of the ocean. Zero was standing in an office in front of a man with long red hair and square glasses. It was a fairly large office, lit by two windows. White curtains were drawn in front of the windows, blocking the view outside. The red-haired man looked up to see zero straight as a needle in front of his table.
- My daughter told me that you met the night class yesterday afternoon.
Indeed, the silver-haired man was in the office of the headmaster of the Academy, Mr. Kaien Cross. The young man had been invited there so that the red-haired man could give him a quick presentation of his establishment. After asking him to sit in the chair, Zero walked over to the massive oak desk and sat down nonchalantly on the edge.
- Which girl are you talking about? And what night class is this?" asked the astonished young man.
- Oh," said the headmaster with a surprised look. Haven't you been introduced? Then I'll take care of it. Yuki Cross is my beloved daughter, you're in the same class and just like you, she's in the Day class. The people you might have seen wearing a white uniform are the night class because as the name suggests they have classes at night.
Like the vampires ...
- I wouldn't recommend venturing into their territory at night, it's not safe but ...
The red-haired man rubbed his chin and replaced his glasses, which had slipped slightly down his nose:
- But given your act of bravery yesterday, I'm appointing you as the night class guard from today.
What?
The silver-haired man's face broke down for a moment, he got up from his chair and banged his fists on the table.
- I didn't come here to be a caretaker for a group of so-called star students. Zero replied angrily.
There was no way he was going to serve those snobs!
- You too are an aristocrat like them so you know better. You see?
The headmaster didn't seem threatened by Zero's dark look. On the contrary, he was very amused to see this young man rebel for so little.
- There's a big difference between the English and Japanese aristocracy, and besides, my father is the aristocrat, not me.
The silver-haired man huffed loudly and then added:
- Then I don't feel like continuing this conversation. Goodbye.
He carefully put his chair away and left, slamming the door. The headmaster watched him leave, motionless, as if petrified. In the silence there was a muffled thunderclap.
Zero didn't understand why he was so angry when it was a proposal the headmaster had made to him. All he had to do was say no and then move on. Why had he lost his temper?
He walked down the corridor to his room but the sleep had gone. It was now difficult for him to go to bed with peace of mind after this conversation. Instead of going to the dormitory path, he took an unfamiliar path that led him outside. And now he was walking towards an uncertain place.
At this hour everyone was sleeping. He thought.
In the darkness of the night, Zero was walking with his hands in his pockets and his thoughts elsewhere when he heard strange sounds coming from behind him. Zero frowned. He thought it was the wind that had knocked something over because the noise was no longer repeated.
Or maybe it was one of the crazy girls from the day class wanting to meet their idols from the night class.
Anyway, it was none of his business as he had told the headmaster he was not the guardian of this school.
Suddenly he felt a presence behind him again and turned around. It was Yuki running towards him at full speed. She stopped in front of the silver one and said breathlessly:
- You ... As... Finally agreed to be the guard of the night class, have you seen a Vamp... I mean a shady guy come through here?
This director was an evil being how could he let his own daughter guard the academy besides at night. He wasn't afraid of being harmed.
That idea would never have crossed my father's mind.
- Yes, I'm the night class guard," he answered in spite of himself, because he had to admit to himself that he didn't like to see his classmate alone, playing guard.
- But I'll make sure to keep my distance from them," continued Zero.
- Great! Yuki shouted with a big smile.
- Not so loud, we'll wake up the other students and I haven't seen your old man that you're actively looking for.
- I see. He must have run off... she thought aloud
- Who was that man?
- An intruder who broke into the school Yuki answered quickly. She didn't want to arouse Zero's suspicions.
- How often does that happen?
- How often does it happen? Yuki asked innocently.
- That people from outside the school come in and you act as a guard and kick them out?
- Yes, I guess you could say that," Yuki answered embarrassed.
A violent sound was heard not far in front of them.
- I have to go" Yuki exclaimed. Zero held his arm out to stop her.
- No, stay here. Something might happen to you.
Yuki didn't have time to add a word as the silver-haired man ran to where the sound was coming from. Zero had a bad feeling. His senses were on high alert and he could hardly breathe, not because he was exhausted from the running he was doing but it was as if he felt a weight in his chest.
He stopped in front of a redheaded boy and another with blond night class hair. But he noticed a man dressed all in black whose face was hidden under a black mask lying on the ground.
But what happened?
Both men turned to him when they saw him. Zero frowned violently when he saw that their eyes were red.
One of the elegant looking boys approached Zero and smiled:
- Good evening Zero, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Takuma Ichijo, vice president of the Night class and the person standing behind me is Akatsuki Kain. We are delighted to meet you again.
- And the other one lying on the ground is who?
Zero felt like these two students thought he was an idiot. And he didn't like the way they looked at him.
- The man who crashed the school. We didn't see the guards so we took care of him.
Yuki came up behind Zero breathlessly, resting her arms on her knees to catch her breath.
How do they know I agreed to be the Academy's guardian?
- The guardians thank you for your help," Zero replied calmly. But, next time you'll try to stay out of OUR business.
- All right Takuma said gently but,
He still had that smile on his face that annoyed Zero.
- Let us finish this mission by getting the man lying down away from our Academy.
The silver-haired man thought for a few moments, before resigning himself to accepting the blonde's proposal. He nodded towards the two men of the night class and left, leaving Yuki with them.
The girl waited until Zero was out of her sight before going to the night class students.
- Are you guys okay? You didn't have any trouble with that E level vampire?
- No, don't worry Yuki, everything went well.
- And how is that zero with you? Akatsuki added, finally speaking up in the conversation.
- He's a very lonely person and doesn't talk much... But he's still a nice person because he didn't want me to go alone to face that vampire.
- I hope you didn't tell him anything about us and the vampires.
Yuki shook her head no.
- My father asked me not to tell him anything. But why did he want him to be a guardian like me when he doesn't know about vampires. What does he want from Zero?
Takuma didn't answer her. He suggested that she go to bed because it was already getting late for her and she had an early class tomorrow. Yuki was very tired from the day so she didn't throw any tantrums and went back to the girls dorm.
Meanwhile Zero was in his room, he had just come out of the bathroom and was looking out his window, shirtless, wearing only pajama trousers. The silver-haired man was thinking about yesterday when he met that kaname, the man with the brown hair. He didn't know why, but he was sure he knew him. But when he tried to remember, he was seized by violent headaches. He sighed loudly because tomorrow was going to be another hard day so he had to go to bed.
Only the pale rays of the moon lit up the large room with its ebony benches. Sitting in the back row of the amphitheatre, Kaname watched the trickle of water running down the large glass windows.
And he remembered that time with that person.
"Kaname there is a legend that if pureblood vampires exchange glasses filled with their blood, they will be..."
He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw his fellow takuma and Akatsuki returning from the hunt. He grinned mischievously and motioned for them to come towards him. It was Takuma who spoke up:
- We caught the intruder and killed him as you requested. But...
Kaname frowned slightly and even looked rather confused for a moment.
- But Zero arrived before we got rid of the body and saw us with our red eyes.
- Okay, thank you Takuma, you can go.
The brown haired man closed his eyes and thought about the unreality of his life. His eyes were still hurting slightly. He had to be very careful not to wake up the cursed shadow that was circling around him.