“What?!” Vice principal Sato slammed her hand down on the desk. Si Zhong flinched, her fingers trembled as she pushed the papers towards Vice principal Sato.

“S-sh-she g-g-got it all r-r-ri-right. They are a-a-al-all c-c-c-co-correct.” Si Zhong’s voice was shaking so hard it was barely audible. Vice principal Sato narrowed her eyes as she snatched the papers up from the desk. She looked over each question before flipping the page to the next.

“She didn’t miss any?”

“Y-y-ye-yes. Sh-sh-she answered a-a-al-all of th-th-them.”

“Did you… really give her the hardest questions?”

“Y-y-y-yes… ev-ev-even some ol-ol-older stu-st-students would str-st-stru-struggle.” Si Zhong clutched one of her hands to make herself stop shaking. Vice principal Sato clenched her fist as she threw papers towards Si Zhong. Si Zhong let out a small scream as she ducked and papers flew everywhere.

“Does this make sense?!” Vice principal Sato screamed, her plumped chest heaving up and down.

“Tsugumi,” Principal Ro’s voice ranged out of thin air, before he started to fade into physical form, “calm down.” he strided towards her.

“How can I Levishire?! This… this…” her clenched fist was shaking as a trail of blood dripped onto the desk. Principal Ro gently placed his soft hand onto hers.

“Tsugumi.” her name flowed out of him like a beautiful flute piece of music. Her hand stopped shivering as she let out a sigh. She shook her head as she leaned her body weight against Principal Ro. Si Zhong blushed before turning around.

“Levishire… how could Wang Pei do this to me… how?” she turned and buried her head in his shoulder. Principal Ro wrapped his other arm around her.

“Tsugumi… we have to do it. We have to follow regulations… and it might have been a long time already, but we should trust Wang Pei.” Principal Ro said. He felt her nod against him and he only nodded back.

-

Yu Lin stood in front of Principal Ro. When she had awoke this morning, she was escorted straight away to the academy again, without even getting time to eat breakfast. Yu Lin waited for the man to speak first, but he just continued to look back at her with solemn eyes. Eventually she was the one to break the straining silence.

“Does this mean I pass?” she asked. Principal Ro’s eyebrow twitched, just for barely a second before he nodded.

“Yes, you passed.” he breathed out.

“Then why am I still here?”

“Just… we are just finishing preparations for your transfer.” Principal Ro answered.

Yu Lin expected as much, considering how the woman from yesterday seemed so confident that she wasn’t going to get in. She continued to stand there in silence as her eyes shifted from purple orbs down to the floor. She slightly tapped her foot as her eyes trailed back and forth, following the designs on the carpet.

“Would you like a seat as we wait?”

“No thank you.”

“Would you like some tea?”

“I am fine, thank you.” her answers were short and straight to the point. She did not look back up once as she continued to look at the designs on the ground. Principal Ro just continued to observe her. The silence seemed to go on forever.

“Excuse me, but do you mind if I ask you a question?” Principal Ro broke the once again straining silence. Yu Lin looked back up into those absorbing purple orbs.

“Go ahead.” she said. She was thinking that he might have asked her more about her medical journey, or why she wanted to be a physician. She was prepared.

“Why is your hair so short?” his question was so simple, and yet it pricked at her consciousness.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Just, it seems rare to see elves, or most people in general with short hair.” he answered back. He was right. People, and many other creatures prefer long hair. It was a symbolism for their honor, but for Yu Lin, it meant something different. She bit the inside of her cheek as she continued to look at him. She pressed her lips together and let out a deep breath.

“Just… it just gets in the way when I work with patients.” she wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t telling the whole truth either.

“Oh… is that so?” Principal Ro narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to search for the answer itself in her eyes. Yu Lin only looked back with no expression on her face.”I’m sorry for yesterday,” he suddenly said, “there’s an issue with the way the school works. This school has a much higher tuition than other schools, and accepting a student during the middle of the year, especially one who does not have the money to pay… this was only way you would have been accepted.”

“Then, are you saying that I received the scholarship?”

“... yes. Your test score was… impressive. Everything you need will be paid for by the school, and you will get an allowance of five silvers each month.” a small money bag suddenly appeared out of thin air in Principal Ro’s hand. He slid it over to Yu Lin. “This is for this month.” Yu Lin picked up the money bag and slid it inside of her sleeve.

“Thank you.” she bowed.

Just then the side door opened. Yu Lin turned her head to see Vice principal Sato standing there with Si Zhong. Si Zhong was carrying a blue uniform, with a red scarf on it. Vice principal Sato stared at her with an underlying glare as she walked up to her.

“Hand.” she demanded. Yu Lin held up her left arm. The woman moved Yu Lin’s robe back as she clasped on a silver bracelet. When she was done, she rubbed her hands on her clothes. The inscriptions on the bracelet lit up as Yu Lin felt a sharp sting run throughout her body, before the light died down. “This bracelet will limit your use of magic. As long as you don’t use your chi for magic, it won’t affect your chi. It’s for your protection and for the students around you. You can only take it off at certain occasions or with permission to do so. If you force it off, then you will be expelled, no questions asked.” Vice principal Sato warned her.

“I understand.” Yu Lin answered. Vice principal Sato let out a deep sigh before looking at Si Zhong and nodding her head towards Yu Lin. Si Zhong nodded as she walked up to Yu Lin.

“This is your uniform. You must wear it at all times when roaming around the school. The scarf indicates that you are in the Red section of Medicinal Studies. There are eight sections, within each major, the lowest being Black, Purple, Blue, Green, Red, Orange, Yellow, and then White as the highest. This is also the key to your room.” Si Zhong handed the clothes over. Yu Lin took it.

“Thank you.” she said. Si Zhong nodded.

“First, we have already assigned you a guide.” Si Zhong turned back towards the side door. “Kumamono,” she called out, “come in.”

A beast girl walked in with rounded ears sitting at the top of her head. Her skin was a light shade of brown, her eyes a dark brown. She did not look at Yu Lin, but instead focused on Principal Ro. Her eyes were shining as her eyelids fluttered up and down.

“This is Kumamono. She will be your guide and room neighbor from now on. Introduce yourself Kumamono.” Si Zhong said. Si Zhong waited, however Kumamono did not speak, she turned to see Kumamono smiling dreamily towards Principal Ro. She glared at the ground before elbowing her. Kumamono stumbled a bit before looking at Yu Lin and clearing her throat.

“Hello and welcome to Jongan Academy. I am Higurashi Kumamono.” she bowed.

“Nice to meet you. I am Du Yu Lin, and I will be in your care from now on.” Yu Lin bowed back. The two stood up and when they met eyes Kumamono smiled brightly. Yu Lin’s eyes only trailed down towards the ground.

“Now then, please leave. We still have to finish some paperwork.” Vice principal Sato ordered. Yu Lin turned and bowed.

“Yes.” she said.

“Wait!” she heard the girl next to her blurt out. Everyone turned to look at her staring at Principal Ro. Principal Ro gave her a gentle smile, and her face flushed red.

“Yes student?” he called out. Kumamono smiled before quickly shaking her head.

“No! We will be going now! Thank you!” Kumamono quickly bowed before turning around and leaving through the big door. Yu Lin followed behind her. The two walked in silence as they stepped on the circular platform. The girl pulled out a piece of paper with some characters on it.

“Medicinal Studies.” she said. The paper in front of her burned a blue flame as the two disappeared from the hallway.

The two were now standing on a circular platform outside in what resembled a courtyard. Yu Lin looked around to see the gate she had entered from, was now a couple miles away from her. It didn’t matter to her though, for if she wished to, she could reach the gate within seconds.

“We are here,” Kumamono stepped off the platform with Yu Lin following her, “welcome to the Medicinal Studies major section!” Kumamono threw her arms up in the air. When Yu Lin didn’t react, she slowly put her arms down. “E...he…” her face flushed red. “Anyways,” she said, “Let me show you to your room first so you can get changed into your uniform.”

Yu Lin looked at the uniform she laid out on the bed in front of her. She glanced back at the door where Kumamono was waiting for her outside. She knew she clearly saw Kumamono wearing a skirt. She picked up the blue trousers on the bed and stared at it. ‘What… is this about?’ she pondered to herself.

“Are you done changing yet?” Kumamono yelled from behind the door. Yu Lin let out a small sigh as she started to put on her uniform. “Hello? New student? Are you alright in there? Hello?!” Yu Lin opened the door. She looked as Kumamono eyed her up and down and nodded her head.

“Not so bad… you’re quite short for a boy though.” Kumamono shrugged. Yu Lin just closed and locked the door behind her. She didn’t say anything to correct her as she didn’t care. She followed Kumamono out what seemed to be their dormitory area into a long hall. “How does it feel?” Kumamono asked.

“Feel?”

“Wow! You actually talked back!” Kumamono exclaimed. “Anyways, yeah, the cloak and the headband that we have to wear. Just so you know, each major have different uniforms. The one we have is the worse though. It’s so unstylish. I hate wearing the headband and the just flows around too much. Who designed our clothes? Do they know how to design clothes?” Kumamono rolled her eyes. Yu Lin looked down at the blue cloak that ended above her hands.

“I don’t care.” Yu Lin said. Kumamono just made a pouting face before looking away. The two eventually reached another gate. Kumamono opened the gate to reveal another courtyard with huge buildings all around. Each building had a huge board with a two colors painted on each half of the board. In the courtyard were round tables, however no one was seen in sight.

“Today is a rest day, so everyone probably went out to spend some time in town.” Kumamono said as she started to guide Yu Lin towards the first building with the board being colored half in red and orange. “Since our major does not have a lot of students, we have to share buildings with some students who are a lower, or higher section than us. Other majors get a building per section of color. Anyways, the lower section of the two will always be on the left side.” Kumamono said as the two entered the building.

Yu Lin saw stairs that led up on each side of the building. In the middle was a huge wooden door that was painted what seemed to be a mix between red and orange.

“Everyone goes in that room for the first four hours of the lessons and you basically sit wherever you want. This is where we learn the basic stuff such as history and literature, blah blah blah. Anyways, the next four hours is spent upstairs where we actually get to learn about medicine.” Kumamono led Yu Lin upstairs on the stairs located on the left side.

They reached the homeroom classroom where Yu Lin was told everyone was to gather to take attendance before doing anything else and that she was going to get assigned a seat tomorrow when classes resumed.

After that Kumamono led Yu Lin to another building that had no board attached to it. Yu Lin was told it was the cafeteria and the food she was served was based on the section she was in. The higher section one was in, the more selections they had. The two continued on to tour to the bathhouses, and other things. Yu Lin also learned that there was no isolated bathing areas and that people also had an assigned time to bathe. If the people didn’t bathe during that time, then they would just have to go through the day without a bath. Yu Lin just let out a sigh as Kumamono continued to go through the rules

--

“And that’s about it.” Kumamono said as they stood in front of Yu Lin’s room. “If you have any more questions then you can just come knock at my door anytime.” Kumamono smiled.

“Thank you.” Yu Lin bowed to her. She turned around and started to unlock her door.

“Your welcome. Good night… uh… what’s your name?”

“Du Yu Lin.” Yu Lin said as she walked inside her room.

“Right! Good night Yu Lin! Remember class starts at 7 in the morning, sharp!” Kumamono waved her hand at Yu Lin as Yu Lin closed the doors and locked it from the inside. Yu Lin made sure that her room was completely safe, and that no one could peek on her. She moved the tea table to one side to create a space. A big bamboo tub appeared in the center of the room, coming out of her endless bracelet. She placed her hand inside the tub. Water came out of her hand and poured into the tub. After it was two thirds full, Yu Lin stopped. She took of her clothes and set it aside on her bed.

Her arms and legs had many short scars here and there, but her back was different. On the center of her back laid three long scars that formed three small mountains on her back. Around the three scars were many other shorter scars.

Yu Lin stepped into the tub and let herself relax in the warm water. A glass bottle appeared in her hand. She pulled the stopper off and poured a purple liquid into the bath. The bottle disappeared afterwards, back into her endless bracelet. The liquid swirled around the bath and Yu Lin cup the water and washed her face with it. She then leaned her head back and relaxed. After she was done bathing, she went to bed. The water evaporated as she applied heat to it, before placing the tub back into her endless bracelet.

--

Yu Lin was the first one to enter the large classroom where she was told by Kumamono that everyone was to be for the first four hours. She was there about thirty minutes early. There was a total of around thirty desks. Yu Lin chose one of the desk in between. She didn’t want to stand out by choosing either the front or the back.

“Hurrgghhh!” she heard someone yawn. She turned her head to see a male beast enter the room. This beast was of a tiger family it seemed as his face resembled that of a tiger completely. He stood upright like a human, however his arms and legs were those of paws.

“Oh!” he exclaimed as his yellow eyes grew behind his circle spectacles. “Someone’s actually here before me for once!” he exclaimed as he walked closer to Yu Lin. He pulled his spectacles closer to his eyes. “Let me see… oh… you don’t look familiar to me. Are you the new student?” he asked.

“Yes.” Yu Lin’s husky voice rang out.

“Well hello there! I’m Mr. Torachi. I’m your homeroom and literature teacher.” he said. Yu Lin stood up from her seat and bowed.

“Please to meet you sir. I’m Du Yu Lin who is a new student in your class. Please take care of me.” Yu Lin said. Mr. Torachi let out a small laugh.

“Of course.” he said. Yu Lin sat in her seat again as Mr. Torachi headed to front of class. The minutes began to tick by as more and more student poured in. Most of them just avoided her and went for other desks. Kumamono saw her and sat right next to her.

“Good morning uh… Ye… no… Yu Lin! Good morning Yu Lin!” Kumamono said as she sat down. Yu Lin gave her a small bow but did not say anything back. “This here is Hyouki Sanji,” Kumamono pointed to a male beast with a jet black panther face, “and this here is Chen Su Me. Say hi to each other guys.” Kumamono pointed female human.

“Nice to meet you Yu Lin.” the two said in a monotone as they gave Yu Lin a headbow. Yu Lin only gave them a headbow back but did not say anything else. A bell rang and echoed throughout all the buildings. One of the student, who Yu Lin assumed was the president of the class, stood up. All the students stood up after him.

“Good morning Mr. Torachi.” he said and bowed.

“Good morning Mr. Torachi.” the rest of the class followed him before they all sat back down in their seats.

“Good morning students,” Mr. Torachi smiled, revealing his sharp teeth. “We have a new student today!” he announced cheerfully. “Please stand up and introduce yourself Yu Lin.” Yu Lin let out a small sigh before standing up.

“I am Du Yu Lin. Please to meet you guys.” she quickly said before sitting back down. Immediately she felt the atmosphere around the room changed. It seemed that they had not noticed her before while pouring in, but now they did.

“Mr. Torachi?” the class president raised his hand.

“Yes, Chang Su?”

“Did she get the wrong major?”

“No, this is the right one. Why?”

“Well she’s an Elf isn’t she? Elves can’t be in Medicinal Studi-”

“Well then class, let’s see where Yu Lin’s rank is going to be.” Mr. Torachi interrupted Chang Su. Chang Su frowned but closed his mouth.

To the side of the chalkboard was board that had wooden plates on it. There was a red plate at the top with a bunch of wooden plates beneath it that had names written in the human language on it. On the other side there was an orange plate at the top with also a bunch of wooden plates beneath it with names written on it.

“Let’s see here…” Mr. Torachi stepped up on a step ladder. Yu Lin watched as he pushed all the wooden plates underneath the red plate down. She saw people’s eyes widened as her name was now right beneath the red plate.

“No way…” some of them breathed out. Yu Lin only let out a small sigh as she looked down at her desk.

“Wow! I knew you had to be good to transfer in the middle of the year but I didn’t know you were this good!” Kumamono lightly hit her arm. Yu Lin flinched, a bit startled before turning her head and narrowing her eyes at Kumamono.

“Don’t just touch me as you wish miss Higurashi.” Yu Lin hissed. Sanji and Su Me who were both resting their chin on their hand suddenly sat straight as they heard this. They turned and looked at Yu Lin. Kumamono froze before swallowing hard and nodding.

“I understand… sorry.” Kumamono said with a quiet voice. Yu Lin turned her head back to face the teacher as the lessons started.

--

After the first four hours the classroom the students went to get lunch. When they came back, they split as each went to their own section. Yu Lin was a assigned a seat next to Kumamono again. The students started to introduce themselves, per Mr. Torachi’s order, however Yu Lin could feel an underlying hint of contempt with some of them.

The smell of bitter roots and fresh and dry herbs enter her nose. It was a familiar, and refreshing smell as she stared at all them lying on the tables in front of her. There was one of each herb or root on four tables.

“Please get into groups of 4 or more.” Mr. Torachi announced. Yu Lin let out a small sigh. She hadn’t worked in groups for a long time, and when she did she was the one in charge. She honestly didn’t want to work in one.

“Hey Yu Lin! You want to join our group?” Kumamono popped up next to her and chirped with Sanji and Su Me next to her. Yu Lin looked at them and remember seeing their names around halfway through the list. She bowed her head.

“If you will accept me. Thank you.” she said as she sat down next to them.

“No, you are helping us out! Before you came the three of us always had to separate because there were only 15 people and the others would get into three groups of four. Now we can all be together!” Kumamono smiled at her. Yu Lin didn’t say anything and just nodded her head.

“Now then students,” Mr. Torachi walked around the tables they were at, “please separate these roots and herbs into a good category, or a bad category. I give you guys twenty minutes.” he said. The other table gorups started to get to work right away.

“Let’s get started too team!” Kumamono said as she started to reach towards a bundle of herbs.

“Stop.” Yu Lin said and she stopped.

“What?” Kumamono asked as Sanji and Su Me turned to look at her. “We only have twenty minutes we should hurry.”

“No. Just leave it.” Yu Lin said. “They are all already in one category.”

“What?” Kumamono frowned. Yu Lin stood up and started to move the bundles around.

“Not one of these herbs or roots are good, nor are they bad.” Yu Lin said as she placed the last bundle down.

“Wha-”

“Kuma, just sit down. Let the smart transfer student do what she wants.” Sanji said in beast language as he grabbed onto her arm. Kumamono only looked at Yu Lin before sitting down. Yu Lin could hear the other tables whispering about her table, but she did not mind.

After twenty minutes Mr. Torachi started to go around each table. Each table started to explain their grouping and reasonings behind why each medicine went where they were. At last Mr. Torachi reached Yu Lin’s table.

“What is this?” he asked as he saw all of them not organized into two groups. Yu Lin and the rest of her table stood up. Yu Lin started to explain each row of medicine, with the first row being about medicine for the stomach and so on. The rest of the students started to take note. After she was done, Mr. Torachi looked at her confused.

“What you said is correct student Yu Lin, which is impressive in itself, however I asked your group to put these into different categories.” Mr. Torachi said. Sanji and Su Me sneered at her while Kumamono looked worried. Yu Lin looked at the plants.

“These could not simply be put into two categories of good or bad,” Yu Lin started, “each herb and root can be good or bad depending on how the person use it. For example, for stomachaches these plants here are good, but when it comes to headaches these cannot be used because it can cause a bigger headache. Even this root here, which has been taught to be poisonous can be helpful after being boiled. In conclusion, none of these are definitely good or bad.” Yu Lin finished. The other tables started to whisper to each other, some mocking her, as Mr. Torachi stood there in silence for a while.

“That’s… correct Yu Lin. This was the answer I was looking for.” Mr. Torachi explained. “Full marks for you guys!” he smiled. Yu Lin sat back down as the rest of the class’s jaw dropped. Even her own group started to look at her differently.

--

After the last four hours Yu Lin was walking back to the cafeteria for food. Kumamono, Sanji, and Su Me followed behind her.

“Wow! You’re really smart! Even I couldn’t have thought of that as the answer!” Kumamono cheerfully said. Yu Lin ignored her. Just as the group was about to get in line, another group of red section students stopped them.

“Yah,” a girl with green eyes said, “how much did you pay them for you to be able to get in?” she said as she crossed her arm.

“Or,” another girl with yellow hair blurted out, “do you have a sponsor? I guess even a boy like you can find someone to like your ugly features. Who did you sleep with to get here?” she glared at Yu Lin.

“Yah!” Kumamono stepped in front of Yu Lin. “Did you not see from earlier? She got here because she’s smart, unlike you trashy girls who act as if they were raised by savages!” she yelled back.

“Shut up you animal! Were we talking to you?” the green eyes one yelled back.

“What? Do you want to see how an animal’s fist taste like? You better just shut up and turn around.” Kumamono fired back.

“What?!” both girls yelled at the same time. The argument got hotter as the two continued to fire remarks back and forth. Yu Lin wanted to push them aside and just get to lunch already. She was about to do so when the fight got interrupted.

“Stop it Shu Zhi and Mi Yu!” a high pitched voice called out. Another girl suddenly appeared in between the two. The girl had green hair and bright pink eyes.

“Wei, don’t stop us! It’s because of this cheating creature right here that you can’t get your regular scholarship anymore!” the green eyed girl said.

“No Shu Zhi. It’s not her fault. It’s just that my skills are lacking.” Wei said. “Now please stop, and let’s us just eat in peace.” she tried to pull them away.

“No! We have to settle everything right now! Does it make sense that a person like her can even step foot into Medicinal Studies?! It doesn’t matter how good she memorizes medicine if she can’t do acupuncture or heal someone!” Mi Yu yelled as she pulled her arm away.

“Please, don’t cause an unnecessary commotion you two!” Wei pleaded. Yu Lin rolled her eyes under her eyelids so no one else could’ve seen them.

“What is going on around here?!” they turned to see Mr. Torachi heading towards them. Wei quickly bowed.

“Nothing sir! We were just having a friendly conversation!” she said.

“Then hurry up and get your food and stop blocking the line!” Mr. Torachi yelled. Yu Lin looked around to see students from different sections behind them. She saw scarves of blue, purple, green, and black but she didn’t see any sections higher than red around.

“Yes sir,” Wei said and then turned towards the girls, “let’s go!” she whispered to them. The two of them narrowed their eyes at Yu Lin.

“Remember us you creature. We won’t let this go so easily.” Shu Zhi hissed as they turned around and started to walk away.

“We won’t let this go either!” Kumamono yelled behind them. Yu Lin ignored them as she moved up the line to get food.

Afterwards she sat at a tale with Kumamono’s group joining her. The group mostly consisted of Kumamono talking as the rest of them ate in silence, except for when Sanji or Su Me would throw in a couple of words here and there. Just as Yu Lin was halfway done with her meal, she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to see a square faced human looking at her. The man did not look like a person who studied medicine at all due to the bulkiness of his shoulders that peeked through his cloak.

“You… are you the new student?” he said through clenched teeth. Yu LIn looked at his scarf to see it a completely pure white.

“Senior Nie Fu!” Kumamono exclaimed. The three of them got up and quickly bowed to him.

“Yah! I’m asking you a question here!” Nie Fu yelled as he turned Yu Lin around and grabbed onto her collar.

“Yes. I’m the new student.” Yu Lin’s husky voice was monotone. Nie Fu glared his beady brown eyes into her red ones.

“When I’m still being nice, get out.” he hissed.

“I don’t want to.” she said back without hesitation. Nie Fu’s face grew red as he bared his teeth.

“Since you’re a man, let’s settle this by having a duel. If I win then you leave, if you win then I will obey you and call you master my whole life!” Nie Fu yelled.

“I don’t want to.” Yu Lin’s response didn’t even wait half a beat.

“Wha… what? You! Are you scared as a man? Is that why you can’t face me?!” he screamed. By this time the whole cafeteria had their eyes on Yu Lin and Nie Fu, yet no one could do anything because they feared Nie Fu.

“Yes. I’m scared.”

“If you’re not sca… wha… what? Are you a girl?!”

“Yes. I’m a girl.”

“If you’re not a gi… wha… what?” Nie Fu was dumbfounded. No one has acted this way towards his threats before. Even the people around them were confused at the situation.

“Since I’m scared of you and I’m a girl, can you just let me go and leave?”

“No! If you are scared of me… the-the-then get out!”

“I don’t want to.”

“What?! You want to die?”

“No.”

“Then get out!”

“I don’t want to.” Yu Lin’s expression did not change the whole time. Nie Fu was getting done with Yu Lin as he raised his fist.

“Just don’t say I didn’t warn you!” he screamed as his fist started to fly up towards Yu Lin’s face.