Prologue:

“And you are sure my son is going to be alright?” the man asked, pacing back and forth in the luxuriously decorated room.

“I assure you that everything has been taken care of, only a select few members here know and I am one of them. Nothing is going to happen to him.” The other said with a reassuring smile.

He could understand this father’s worry for his child but it was after all unnecessary.

“Good, I will take you by your word. You should be well aware of the consequences should he come to harm. We have helped you in recent years to reveal yourself to the public but don’t think I forget how it was in the old times. I do not wish for war but should this little experiment fail with how the humans see you now it could escalate quite quickly.”

Looking in the father’s eyes the man could see a dangerous glint that promised death and suffering. It was no surprise that he believed his words.

Who wouldn’t after knowing who this worried father really was?

Sighing deeply the man turned and looked out of the window behind him.

It was autumn, even though the signs hadn’t shown themselves here yet it was after all only a matter of time. Was this a blessing or a curse that after so many years it all depended on a single boy that couldn’t even fathom the scale of things happening around him?

Closing his eyes for a short moment and taking a deep breath the man once again turned around, looking the other straight in the eye.

“I promise you that this will work. It is a good shot and a way to quiet down the voices that keep asking for me to step down.

You know I am a very old being, much older than others and have been against the reveal for a long time now but after seeing the smiles of our children as they no longer have to hide and instead gained the opportunity to mingle with their kind and others, how could I have the heart to send them back into darkness? How could I steal away what little light they have inside of them? This is going to work but only if we don’t tell him or others.

Your son needs to find it inside of himself to look past the exterior flesh and see what is inside, notice what really counts.

If, and I say if we succeed then we might have a way out of this mess after all.”

Listening to his words the father turned and left the room without another word.

Anxiety and worry were still visible on his face but he swallowed those feelings as he exited the building.

Once again looking out of the window the other’s eyes followed the lone back that was now slowly disappearing into the distance before finally vanishing in a blinding light as if he had never existed in the first place.

Chapter 1:

The beginning of the 21st century on December 17th marked the day of a new Era.

Yokai, a name given by humans to an abundant number of different species, monsters and fabled beasts, believed to only exist in myths made the first official contact with humans and revealed themselves to the world.

The public only heard about this event roughly 30 years later during which many debates and congresses had been held between the two factions of humans and Yokais to ensure safety for both kinds.

Human rights were extended towards other sentient beings, treaties were signed, hands shaken and the world seemed to suddenly turn into a much bigger place where dragons, vampires and witches freely strolled around.

Naturally there was resistance to those treaties on both human and Yokai sides as not everyone was a fan of the turn of events.

Things really started going out of control when young Yokai children attended public schools, as the level of harassment and bullying they had to endure was nearly unheard of which once again sparked many debates and conflicts.

Both sides had a point and considering that younger Yokai did indeed carry a certain amount of risk with them as their powers and bodies were nowhere near as stable as adult ones it was thus decided to separate both of the younger generations once again while a new school was being built, this time only for Yokai.

There they would learn to control their bodies and powers until graduation at which point they could join human society in the workforce and live a normal life, without the need to hide.

Sure, things were not perfect as even adult Yokais had to endure a certain level of harassment but it was an acceptable level as most adult humans had the wisdom to not kick a sleeping dragon.

Nearly all Yokais were after all many times stronger than a normal human being so who would be stupid enough to enrage such a ‘monster’?

The school was built in a secret location after many public threats of human extremists in fear of terror attacks and would officially open its doors for the first time to only Yokai; this is also where our story and the journey of a certain 15 year old boy shall begin.

-----

Ze was not having the best of mornings. He was woken up by blinding sunlight that hurt his eyes and somehow made it past his closed blinds, his dog had decided to use the new shoes he bought as an experimental toilet and the entire apartment was as cold as a freezer because his job-hunting father had forgotten to pay a few bills again.

Did all of this really have to happen on his first day attending a new school?

Tiptoeing on the cold floor of his room he grabbed some clothes and made his way to the kitchen where it was always warm thanks to their neighbors that lived above and below them.

While getting dressed and throwing his old boxers and shirt that he had slept in on the floor, Ze noticed a note that was left on the table which would explain why he hadn’t even seen a pinky of his father yet.

After putting on a dark shirt and black hoodie he picked up the note with a bad feeling and started reading.

'Morning Zeke!

Hope you slept well as it is your big day today.

Don’t wet your pants big boy just because it is a new school and you don’t know anyone there, it’s going to be alright!

Milk is in the fridge and we should still have some leftover cereal somewhere, just look around for it.

I got a job interview in about 15 minutes so I have no time to drive you there, just take the school-bus at the corner of Meddlingtonstreet, if I remember correctly it arrives there at 7:50 so you might want to leave early.

Your School Uniform is in my room, don’t forget about it.

PS: I left the feces in your shoes on purpose, do you see now why I hate dogs?'

“Charming as always Dad” Ze mumbled after he finished reading it and was about to throw the piece of paper away when his hands suddenly stopped.

7:50?

Quickly grabbing his phone that was on the table he checked the time and knew now what this bad premonition he had was.

It was 7:47.

He wasn’t dressed in his new uniform yet, still hadn’t cleaned away the dog poop while also being without any meal and walking to Meddlingtonstreet was about 8 minutes away on foot.

Mumbling curses under his breath Ze quickly sprinted into his room while jumping over the stain his dog left behind and grabbed a pair of old and worn skate shoes, sliding down the hallway he picked up the uniform in his father’s room and stuffed it into and old backpack that he swung around his shoulder.

He hurriedly put his keys, some money and his phone into the side pocket of his hoodie and charged out of the door before coming to an abrupt stop.

Rain was bombarding his face the moment he left the apartment and he could clearly see lighting striking through the distant sky.

Looking over his shoulder he noticed that the only umbrella they possessed was missing, his father probably took it to his interview.

“Today really isn’t my day is it?” Ze asked himself aloud with a dejected sigh while pulling the hood he had over his head and deep into his face as to protect it from the weather so that he could at least partially see what was going on before his eyes.

With a slam the door fell shut and he practically jumped down the flight of stairs leading into the packed streets.

…

Mary tried her best to look confident as she stared into the mirror opposite of her.

She had nearly spent an hour now and still wasn’t satisfied.

Her black hair was braided into twin-tails and she had put on some make-up to help sharpen up her cheekbones as well as to get rid of the hint of shadow beneath her eyes.

Thankfully she wasn’t as nervous as she had been last night but it still made it hard for her to be confident in her outer appearance; it was after all her first day at Yokai Academy.

Mary didn’t want others to mock or make fun of her, never would she let that happen again which was why she had spent so much time to look as pretty as she could and to give herself some dearly needed confidence which she didn’t really have much to begin with.

All she wanted was to be accepted and not feel… like she had before.

Clenching her fists, a trace of moisture appeared in the corner of her eyes which she quickly blinked away while taking another deep breath.

It was going to be alright.

They would be just like her, Yokai and not human.

After brushing her teeth nervously for the fifth time she glanced at the clock on her wall and knew it was time to finally make the first step in her new life.

Mary quickly grabbed her bag, said bye to her parents and then left her home with an umbrella in her hand to battle the storm that was going on outside.

She was more than a little displeased about this weather as it was less than excellent for her appearance which she had tried to perfect for a long time now but there was no helping it after all so she had to live with it.

15 minutes later she stood beside a few dozen other teenagers her age with the same uniform that she was wearing under a bus-stop.

It was an understatement to say that she was a little excited seeing all these different boys and girls around her age chatting, knowing that she was just like them.

Mary had not met many Yokai except her parents; they were after all less common than humans, especially when one took all the different races that existed with them into consideration.

It was even hard to meet two Yokais from the same type in a city if they lived alone and without family.

Unable to just strike up a random conversation she decided to instead listen in on some of the chit chat, maybe she could join them that way.

A tall, brown haired girl with slight rabbit teeth was currently telling a story to the few people around her so no one really noticed that Mary had sneakily joined their ranks.

“And this foxboy just straight up tells me that he wants to be with me and I look at him and tell him ‘Do I look like a bitch in heat? I mean think about, what if we had kids? How would that look with a foxboy like you considering that I am a Beaver type Beast-man!’”

The boys and girls around her instantly broke out into loud laughter, only Mary couldn’t bring herself to laugh.

Didn’t the guy in her story just want to be with her? Was there really a need to tell him off like that or even discriminate against other Yokai?

These kinds of thoughts floated inside her head for a while and she had no idea what was so funny about it, in the end it only showed the terrible character that this brown haired girl seemed to have.

With a deep sigh she turned away from the group dejectedly.

Those were the type of Yokais she had hoped not to see in her new school, the kind that would only find joy in bringing others misery or by mocking them.

Mary was about to look for another group that she could try to join before she stopped moving as a low rumbling sound reached her ears, maybe it was instinct garnered from her true form but upon hearing this noise she stopped dead in her tracks and looked towards the direction it came from.

Because of the heavy rain it was hard to make out any people or even the streets around them but she could clearly hear a rumble that shook her tender heart coming from her left.

The sound was getting louder and louder in her ears, somewhat drowning out even the rain around her while more and more dread started to fill her heart.

A dark figure had appeared in the distance and it was sprinting directly towards her while the sound kept getting louder.

Her legs trembled slightly as she took a step back, never before had she felt like this as absolute fear filled her entire being, the terror nearly breaking her heart in two.

Her instincts were screaming at her to run, run far away and to never look back.

She had no idea why exactly that was the case but the stronger it got the more her legs trembled and even if she wanted to run away it would be impossible at this point.

The dark figure was sprinting full throttle towards her in the rain, other people around had noticed it too and the same fearful look started appearing on their faces just like on Mary’s as they made way or jumped to the side so they wouldn’t get in the way of this madman.

Now that he was closer she was able to see the figure a lot better but that didn’t really help her as nearly his entire face was blocked by the black hoodie he was wearing.

All she could see was his chin, mouth and the tip of his nose and that was it.

He seemed to be drenched from head to toe which was no surprise if one took the current weather into consideration.

Before Mary could examine the figure any more she was finally able to make out what the sound was that had given her so much dread and it turned out to originate from his throat, a seemingly otherworldly growl that sent shiver after shiver down her spine.

Only now did she realize that the person before her was still mid-sprint and only 20 feet away from her.

She didn’t have the time to avoid him nor did she have the time to scream for help before his body arrived right before her eyes and the growl that resonated from his throat being the only thing she heard.

He had stopped not even 5 inches away from her.

Her heart was beating so fast that it seemed to be willing to leave her body as waves of fear and terror washed over her.

Not daring to even look up in his face she just blankly stared at the chest before her.

Mary could see it slowly moving with the rhythm of breathing as she waited for it to happen, for anything to happen.

The fear she currently felt was hard to explain to an outsider but the people around her knew it all too well.

If you saw a person sprint towards you at breakneck speed while letting out a deep growl that seemed to come from the pits of hell itself, who wouldn’t be scared to death?

Mary waited for quite some time and only after nearly a full minute during which she could feel his stare did he finally walk away from her and stood off to the side, seemingly waiting for another bus.

She felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her heart as her eyes nearly teared up from joy.

Nothing happened, he didn’t do anything to me.

That was the only thing she could think of as she glanced at the dark figure next to her standing in the rain.

…

Ze was running like his life depended on it and his haggard breathing quickly turned into a growl as he was constantly sucking in air between his teeth and letting it out again.

His entire body was already in pain as he ran around another corner and jumped between two people to get through, his vision somewhat impeded by the hood but it was still better than the raindrops nearly making him blind.

After only two minutes he arrived at the bus-stop and saw quite a lot of people dressed in the same uniform that was in his backpack.

Ze knew that he had made it in time and he couldn’t help but let out a satisfied noise that also turned into a growl as he was just too exhausted to make any other noise and couldn’t be bothered to form words, that would require quite some effort in his current condition.

After stopping he closed his eyes for a while as he tried to regulate his breathing so that he wouldn’t keep making growling sounds and it thankfully didn’t take long, most of the time he stood there was actually spent on resting his tired legs so that he would be able to walk normally again while ignoring the muscle pain that was shooting through him.

It probably didn’t really help much that he hadn’t worked out in ages but judging by how exhausted he felt this sure as hell could count as one hell of a death-race workout.

As he opened his eyes he noticed the top of a head at the bottom of his vision and looked down, to his surprise he could see a black haired girl with twin tails only inches away from him, seemingly frozen in terror.

It didn’t take long for him to combine two and two.

Turned out he hadn’t noticed her standing there and nearly ran into her full force but the shock of the possible accident alone had apparently filled her with utter terror, which was at least what her face showed right now.

Feeling sorry and slightly embarrassed, Ze quickly made some space and decided to just wait for the bus for now and apologize in private to her later, after all they would be going to the same school.

He did find it a bit weird that no one was talking around him and he couldn’t help feeling as if he was being stared at but was it really so unusual to see someone running to catch a bus?

Thankfully it didn’t take long before a retro school bus that was painted in a blinding yellow stopped before them and opened its doors.

He could see how many people from his new school threw a few glances his way before hurriedly turning their heads and entering the vehicle.

Sighing mentally he shook his head.

It seemed like he had made some kind of impression on them even though he had no idea what it was that made them look away like that.

Deciding not to think about it for now he waited for them all to enter before he, as the last one stepped onto the bus.

Ze could hear countless conversations suddenly buzzing to life as murmurs reached his ears as he finally climbed the few steps up and stood between countless seats and before the nearly 100 students.

All eyes seemed to land on him at the same time and the before lively conversations instantly died down.

Now he at least knew what kind of impression he had made.

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Hey Author here, hope you liked this little taste of what is to come and if you are here from Azalon, nice to see you and thanks guys :)

As mentioned in the description of this story I am trying out a new style that you might have noticed in this chapter by switching POV quite frequently and building up different viewpoints of certain situations so that the reader is able to understand why certain characters react a certain way (poor clueless MC XD)

The main focus will naturally always be with our main man Ze and I won't do this all the time but it is still key in this story and I hope you will enjoy what I am doing with it.

Now for those of you who are bored, here is a random YT link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn0COZV0snM

Enjoy and cya guys!