Jean’s classes went as followed; Beast 101, history of beasts, weapons training, first-aid 101. All of his classes were scheduled for an hour each, with a lunch break between history of beasts and weapons training. Apparently, the children had additional classes afterwards for regular subjects like English and math. Luckily, Jean was allowed to opt out of them. The rest of his classes seemed to be located in the same hallway, which made finding the respective rooms much easier.

Jean entered his next class to be met with stares from both the teacher and the kids. Standing at the front of the room was an elderly lady holding herself up with a wooden cane. Despite being late, she greeted Jean with a warm smile and gestured to take an empty seat.

“Now, as I was saying, beasts have been around for as long we can remember. But, it wasn’t always that way. Long, long ago, humans lived without having to fight these monsters. But, one day a dangerous virus began to take our blood until we didn’t have anymore.”

Her voice shook slightly as she spoke. Despite the topic, she had a very homely nature to her. Someone could easily imagine her as the loving grandmother cooking desserts for her children. But, who knew, she could be exactly that. Jean couldn’t help but pay attention to what she was saying when she mentioned that things weren’t always this way.

A boy at the front of the class raised his hand. The lady nodded her head at him.

“Wha- what happens when we lose all of our blood?” the boy asked with immense enthusiasm. It was a strange sight to see a child asking such a morbid question. As a matter of fact, Jean had never asked a question so dark in his life.

“Well, our blood helps to keep us alive so we can do all sorts of things. So, when we don’t have anymore, we pass away,”

Jean wondered how she was able to communicate such depressing topics to children in a way that didn’t freak them out. Perhaps it was her motherly tone. Despite the shakiness in her voice, she spoke with a loving tone that would make anyone open up to her. Her kind, yet frail demeanor also made the atmosphere of the room lighter.

“So if my finger gets the papercut and the blood come out, do that mean I die?” a younger boy asked.

“No dear, after a little bit, the cut will go away and you won’t lose anymore blood,”

She paused for a moment to scan the room for anymore questions before continuing her lecture.

“The virus made life hard for humans for a very long time. Almost sixty-five years! Can you believe that?”

The students shook their heads in disbelief.

“But, thanks to a very smart doctor, named Killian Kafka, he found a way to fight the virus. He gave the cure to many people who had the virus. And that cure changed our bodies forever. Every person in the world is now born with what’s called a potential. It’s a small ring in our bodies and as our blood passes through it, it makes us better at certain things. You’re all here because you possess the potential to be a hunter,”

Jean could sense the teacher’s faint stare as she spoke.

The class ended without a hitch. Both Jean and the kids packed up their things and started to head out the door. The elderly lady, stopped Jean as he neared the door and asked if he could stay behind to have a brief chat. It didn’t seem like he had much of a choice, so he decided to stay.

The elderly lady sat down in one of the chairs and finally introduced herself to Jean.

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t introduce myself as you came in. There’s a lot to cover in the time allotted for each class. Regardless, it’s nice to finally meet you Jean. You can call me Mrs. Yannis,”

“Oh, that’s fine. I should be the one apologizing for coming in late,”

“Well then that makes two of us,” she said while laughing.

“I hope that you were able to learn something. They always have me teaching the children so it’s hard to properly convey the necessary information to them sometimes. And for you, I’m sure it’s a big grating to hear me lecture you like a child,”

Mrs. Yannis seemed to always have a warm smile on her face. Jean couldn’t help but wonder what she was like in her earlier days, but decided against asking her about it in the moment.

“It’s fine. I get that I don’t know much about this world, so it’s just something that I have to deal with for now,” Jean said with a slight shrug.

“Well, I hope it all goes well for you moving forward. And trust me when I say that you’ll be out of these classes before you know it,”

She got up from the seat and took Jean’s right hand and gave it a light pat.

“I’m sure it must be hard right now. But, after having lived in this world for as long as I have, I can say that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. So keep your chin up dear,”

“I’ll try,”

She let go of his hand and watched as Jean waved goodbye and left the room.

Jean was greeted by Dae-Ho and Donny near the cafeteria. Jean noticed them snickering and giggling as he approached.

“How was class?” Donny asked while laughing.

Jean nudged his shoulder.

“I hate you guys,” Jean replied in a joking tone.

“Hey, it’s funny to imagine you being the only person to ever end up in a class with kids,” Dae-Ho said.

“It was just an issue of circumstances,” Jean affirmed.

“Yeah, it is. But we’re never gonna let this go,” Donny added.

Jean waved his hands, brushing off the joke.

“Whatever,”

The three of them laughed as they made their way into the cafeteria. After getting their food, they found an empty table and sat down.

“So, still no news about your weapon?” Dae-Ho asked.

Jean finished chewing a piece of broccoli before speaking.

“Nope, not yet. Why? Do I need it for class?”

“Not really, but everyone uses a training blade that’s similar to the real thing, so that they’ll know how to use their own weapon in a real hunt,” Donny answered.

“Do you have any idea what your weapon looks like?” asked Dae-Ho.

“Not a clue,”

“Well that sucks,” said Dae-Ho disappointedly.

“Why do you wanna know so bad?” Jean asked.

“Because everyone’s got a different one! Even if they might look the same, they all do completely different things!”

Donny put his fork down and drank the rest of his orange juice.

“Don’t think too much about it now. You’ll get your weapon eventually. Plus you’ll get to see what we mean by ‘they’re all different’ in a little bit,”

The three of them finished their food and made their way back towards the dorms to get their weapons for the next class. However, Jean was stopped by the headmaster.

“Jean! How’s your first day of classes?”

“It’s going good sir,”

“I’m glad to hear. It seems like you’ve already made some friends,”

Dae-Ho and Donny nodded their heads slightly in greeting.

“I was actually looking for you Jean. There’s something I have for you,”

Before Jean could say anything, Dae-Ho jumped in and asked;

“Is it his weapon!?”

The headmaster laughed.

“Yes, it indeed is his weapon. Sorry for the delay on its arrival Jean.”

“It’s okay sir,”

“Well, follow me and I’ll show you where to get it,”

Jean turned around to face Dae-Ho and Donny.

“I’ll meet you guys in class,”

“Gotcha,” the two of them said.

After their exchange, the two of them continued on their path back to the dorms, while Jean followed the Headmaster down a different hallway. Jean and the Headmaster filled the walk with light conversation. Mostly consisting of Jean’s first day. Eventually, they arrived at an elevator and stepped in. The headmaster pushed a key into a keyhole on the panel housing all the buttons.

Upon turning the key, a series of mechanical noises started to emanate from the roof of the elevator car. There was a brief jolt and the elevator began descending.

“Don’t mind the jumpiness of the elevator. It was just switching rails,”

“Switching rails?” Jean asked.

“Well, because of your circumstances, your weapon was being developed by my personal R&D associate,” he replied with a grin.

“Is that why it took a while to finish it?”

“Yes, according to him, your beast blood was quite finicky to forge anything with,”

Before Jean could say anything, the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened up into a massive room filled with tools, weapons, gadgets and strange colored liquids. Behind one of the many tables was a man with long parted hair jotting things down on a clipboard.

“Jino, I’ve brought Jean,”

The man looked up as his name was called. His hair was well groomed and his face was slim and well structured. Upon first glance, one would guess he was a model of some sort. He leaned under the table and stood back up with a long case in his arms.

“Glad to finally meet the boy who really fucked with my brain,” Jino said.

“Sorry about that,”

Jean couldn’t help but apologize.

“I’m just fucking with you. It was pretty cool to work with that half-beast half-human blood. Anyway, here it is!”

He undid the hooks on the case and opened the lid to reveal a sheathed katana. The black handle was intricately braided with a soft red leather while the sheathe was decorated minimally with the red leather being tied around it like a charm.

“The sheathe was made from carbon fibre, so it should be pretty damn light. And we decided to paint it black to match the handle,”

Jeans eyes traced the weapon up and down.

“Well what’re you waiting for! Pick it up!”

Jean reached into the case and lifted the sword out. As Jino had said, the weapon felt light and balanced. Jean grabbed the weapon by the handle and slowly pulled it out of its sheath. Jean could almost hear the sharpness of the blade as it emerged from its casing. As he held the blade in his hand, he felt a sudden stir in his body. A slow, humming vibration resonating from somewhere deep within him.

Jean snuck glances at the Headmaster and Jino, but they didn’t seem to notice anything different about him. But, it felt like the sword was shaking, almost as if the vibrations coursing throughout his body were in sync with the blade. The feeling stopped abruptly. There was an unnatural amount of silence. The world around him was now floating in time. Then, there it was. A familiar guttural noise coming from his head.

“Hehehe… Do you feel it Jean?”

It’s deep and disjointed cackles resonated in his mind. Jean’s eyes darted around the room hoping for someone, anyone to pull him out of whatever it happened to be.

“They can’t help you right now Jean,”

Something has to have stopped the time!

“Nobodies stopped time, you’re just seeing things quicker. Hehehe, how’ve you been since we last talked?”

What the hell are you?

“Oh don’t be like that Jean! Haven’t you realized? I’m you… A better you. Faster, stronger, smarter. Beast blood ain’t so bad when you just let it in,”

Fuck you! What the hell do you mean you’re me!?

“You know exactly what I mean. I know about as much as you… Think of me as another conscience,”

What do you want from me?

“Hehehe, it’s not what I want from you. It’s what you want from me…”

Fuck are you talking about?

“Still playing the fool Jean? I know, deep in your mind, you despise the situation. You hate everything that’s happened. I can help you make it better,”

That doesn’t sound like anything I want!

“Really? You don’t want to leave this school? You don’t want to blame Klaus for everything? You don’t want to kill the feelings of the guilt you never asked for?”

Shut up!

“Hehe, Jean… Let me out”

The voice began to fade away. But, not before saying one last thing.

“I’ll make it worth your while,”

The voice was gone completely and Jean stood in silence. Sword still gripped in his hands, his eyes darted towards Jino and the headmaster, who now seemed to be acting normally.

“What’s wrong Jean? Is the weapon not to your liking?”

“Huh!? Whatcha fuckin mean by that?”

Jean found himself in a moment of disorientation.

“Huh? Oh, no it’s really nice. Thank you,”

“That’s what I thought!” Jino shouted.

“What he means to say is that he’s glad you like your weapon,” the Headmaster said.

The Headmaster pulled is sleeve back to check his watch.

“Well, I guess it’s time to head back up. You have your weapons training class soon,”

Jean, with the weapon gripped in his hand, nodded in agreement. The two of them made their way back to the elevator. Jean turned around to wave and thank Jino once more before getting in the elevator and returning to the surface.