“Thank god, I think I’m finally free from all those weirdos. This school is fucking full of them,” Schwartz inwardly complained as he wandered through the halls of Haven Academy. His first hour in the institute, and he already wanted to leave. If he had returned to his tribe so soon, he figured that his comrades would laugh and mock him. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if they made a pool concerning how long it would take for him to return. Bastards.

The black-haired man continued down the hall until he reached the Grand Hall, a spacious area with a statue of a woman holding up the platform of the upper deck. Quickly over three dozen students gathered in that area. Schwartz didn't mind occupying the only place left with any noticeable elbow room in the far back. It was his first day there, after all. He didn’t want to catch anyone’s attention yet.

He maneuvered through the crowd and took refuge in the back. He leaned against a pillar and faced toward the front like the other students. A bearded man in a mantle stood at the head of the stairs, holding onto a microphone. Schwartz immediately figured the man to be the Headmaster. The man had a look of complete authority.

That was until the man opened his mouth.

“Um...excuse me, students...” The bearded man called out to the chattering students. No one acknowledged the man. Not a single one of them paid him any mind. They continued to speak among themselves as if the man never existed.

“Must be some boring teacher,” Schwartz concluded, dismissing the authority of the man entirely. It was always a problem of his, judging others by appearances. Bruna warned him about that several times in the past. Appearances never mattered as much as skill and talent. Schwartz figured the man had some ability, at least for being an instructor at Haven.

“Please, students, settle down.” The bearded man pleaded. But, the students continued to ignore him.

Schwartz had half a mind to leave the Grand Hall. He didn’t want to waste more time than he already had throughout the day. Just when he leaned off the pillar to go, he spotted a lone woman with short, swept-back brown hair walking up the stairs toward the bearded man. She wore a brown jacket with red-feathered trims; under that was an armored corset with noticeable wing designs.

The woman approached the bearded man and took the microphone from him. She cleared her throat and shouted, “SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU BRATS!!!”

An ear-piercing, perhaps deafening screech. The entire grand hall shook from the volume of the woman’s voice. Pillars cracked, windows shattered, nearly all the students dropped to their knees, succumbing to the intense pain of shattered eardrums. When everything fell silent, the woman lowered the microphone and smiled, satisfied with the result of her tactic.

The brown-haired woman turned to the bearded man, who had also fallen victim to the sudden sonic boom, and handed him the microphone.

“They’re all yours, Headmaster.”

“What?!” The Headmaster exclaimed, removing his hands from his bleeding ears.

“Good luck.” The woman quickly returned to the ground floor, mischievously grinning at how the rest of the presentation would go.

The Headmaster regained his composure and spoke into the microphone when all eyes turned to him, “Ummm, thank you for that...interesting attention grabber, Professor Hale. Anyway, my name is Leonardo Lionheart. I am the Headmaster of this prestigious Academy.”

“The hell is he is saying?!” Schwartz cleaned the blood out of his ears using the sleeve of his shirt. He smacked his lips at the sight of the bloodstains, knowing those would be difficult to get out. Even though the bleeding had stopped, the ringing in his ears never did. He stood there, dumbfounded and confused as to how the Headmaster continued to speak. By the time his hearing finally returned to him, the speech had concluded.

All the students awkwardly clapped their hands, knowing that a vast majority of them hadn’t heard a single thing the Headmaster had said. Nonetheless, the students were then given a grand tour of Haven Academy. They split off into several groups, following after the numerous teachers of their choosing. Schwartz decided to follow Lilith, the woman that nearly caused him to go deaf.

He didn’t know why.

Perhaps he was a glutton for punishment. That’s what Bruna often told him.

He followed in the far back of the group, tuning in and out as Lilith gave a brief history of the Academy and the areas they visited. His focus returned when he collided with a wall and fell right on his ass. Those that witnessed the event pointed and laughed at him. Schwartz groaned and rubbed his face, glaring at the wall.

No. It wasn’t a wall.

It was a Faunus. A large Faunus. Tall and imposing, athletically built, clad in armor, and noticeable horns protruding from the sides of his head. The man might as well be a wall as far as Schwartz was concerned. The man turned around and stared at Schwartz. He leaned over and offered his hand.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going,” The student apologized. Schwartz hesitated but eventually took the hand. The man pulled him up to his feet so easily, as if Schwartz were made of paper.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal.” Schwartz immediately dismissed the situation, taking a mental note about how he once again bumped into a person in the school. “I just hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“Not at all. I didn’t feel a thing.” The student laughed, not picking up on Schwartz’s sarcasm. “I’m Sunil Ambrus.”

“Schwartz der Hund.”

“Nice to meet you, Schwartz.” Sunil nodded his head and smiled. His eyes flickered over to the group of students that moved further down the hall, following after the instructor. “We should keep moving. Don’t want to get left behind.”

“Sure.” Schwartz slipped his hands into his pockets and walked alongside Sunil, following after the rest of the students.

“Surprised you decided to follow Lilith for the tour,” Sunil noted.

“Woman damn near shattered my eardrums. I think I still hear a faint ringing.” Schwartz complained.

“I heard from our upperclassmen that woman has a semblance that lets her emit high-frequency screams,” Sunil revealed. “It would be best not to get her angry. The number of students that have lost their hearing because of her is over the dozens.”

“I’ll be sure to be careful.” Schwartz nodded.

“You two!” Schwartz and Sunil tensed up the moment Lilith called out to them. “Shut the hell up! I’m trying to give a tour!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Schwartz and Sunil immediately obeyed and kept quiet for the rest of the tour. Eventually, Lilith led all the first-year students to their sleeping quarters for the day—the auditorium — rows of sleeping bags laid out for the students. One by one, the students clamored to find suitable sleeping bags for themselves and their friends.

Like before, Schwartz kept to the back of the room, waiting for most rowdy people to collect their sleeping bags first. He didn’t want to start an unnecessary fight, not on the first day anyway. When things began to calm down, he spotted an unclaimed sleeping bag and approached it. He grabbed one end and pulled it towards him.

However, there was resistance.

He looked up and frowned at the sight of another pair of hands gripped tightly to the other end of the sleeping back. The situation he desperately tried to avoid wound up hitting him like a ton of bricks. He heaved a sigh at the sight of the owner the hands belonged to. It was none other than Rowan, the girl he met earlier in the day.

She didn’t seem happy to see him either.

“You!” Rowan pointed at him with a fierce scowl. “I’ve been looking for you!”

“Really? Can’t say that I have.” Schwartz rolled his eyes, mentally slapping himself for getting involved with that woman again.

“You left me alone with that lunatic earlier! Do you understand how much trouble that caused me?! It took me forever to escape!” Rowan continued to complain, capturing the attention of anyone within earshot. Other students subtly gathered around the two as the copper-haired woman continued to chew out Schwartz. “You owe me an apology, now!”

“What’s with you and apologies? Nothing that happened to you was my fault, you know? Quit blaming shit on me.” Schwartz demanded.

“You’re the one that bumped into me in the hallway, and you’re the one that removed that girl’s eye patch, causing her to spaz out!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Schwartz released his hold on the sleeping bag, hoping to diffuse the situation with that. By no means did he plan to apologize to Rowan. Not in the slightest. “Take that sleeping bag and leave me alone, midget.”

“Midget?!” Rowan exclaimed.

“Shut up,” A curt tone reached the ears of Schwartz and Rowan. Numerous eyes moved to a single student that approached the group. The student was a tall male with short, spiky white hair and fierce, golden eyes. On the sides of his face and around his body were tattoos that resembled tiger stripes. Flowing in a seamless motion behind him was a long, white tail with black stripes. “You’re causing a ruckus for others around you. Show decency. Leave and take your quarrel outside.”

Veins immediately protruded on the foreheads of Schwartz and Rowan. They didn’t know who the guy thought he was, but he certainly made a mistake in thinking he could come up to them and order them around. Schwartz’s first instinct was to cut the man’s head clean off his shoulders, while Rowan considered only humiliating the man.

“Who the hell are you?” Schwartz demanded. He rested his arm on the hilt of his sword. He didn’t plan on using it. It was merely a scare tactic. Perhaps if he exuded enough pressure, everyone would back away from him. At times it would work on the lesser members of his tribe.

“Wei Tian.” Wei properly introduced himself. He placed his hand on his chest and politely bowed to Schwartz. Although his mannerisms were polite, the fierce look in the man’s eyes certainly wasn’t. Schwartz felt it. A killing intent. It paled in comparison to Bruna’s, but it was there. “Like you, I am a first-year student here. Now that introductions are out of the way, please refrain from causing a scene here. Others are trying to sleep.”

Rowan looked around and took immediate notice of the students already packed away in their sleeping bags. However, most of them were wide awake, staring at the situation before them.

“Doesn’t look that way to me,” Rowan returned her gaze to Wei.

“Your incessant yelling is preventing others from sleeping. So, take your argument outside.” Wei demanded, his tone grew harsher.

“And if I don’t feel like it?” Schwartz countered as he gripped the handle of his sword. At that moment, he honestly considered fighting the man right then and there. Who did that white-haired bastard think he was, telling Schwartz what to do? Although he wished to avoid fighting on the first day of school, he refused to let others talk down to him.

“Then, I will have to throw you out,” Wei answered, slipping his hands into his pockets. The two engaged in a staredown, nearly suffocating the spectators with the immense pressure emitted from their bodies. At any moment, any slight movement, a fight would occur.

“Please, no fighting.” Sunil approached the group and stepped between Wei and Schwartz. “We’re all just tired and need some rest.”

“That is what I suggested from the beginning,” Wei removed his hands from his pockets. “That one over there is the one that refused to end things peacefully.” He pointed at Schwartz.

“You got five seconds to stop pointing at me. If not, you can say goodbye to your finger.” Schwartz warned. The fact that he was getting pointed at didn’t bother him that much. It was Wei’s eyes. Nothing but malice existed behind those eyes.

Sensing the intense atmosphere brewing in the area, Rowan sighed and decided to leave things as they were. Her involvement in the situation wouldn’t end well in her favor. So, she took her sleeping bag and left. Meanwhile, the other students watched in anticipation of the upcoming battle. Wei and Schwartz refused to back down.

Just when Schwartz prepared to unsheathe his sword, he felt a firm hand grip on his shoulder. He grimaced in pain and quickly looked over his shoulder, spotting none other than Lilith. The woman glared daggers at him.

“Brandishing your weapon within the school is forbidden,” Lilith warned Schwartz. Her deathly glare caused his blood to freeze.

“I wasn’t going to attack him,” Schwartz nervously responded. “I just wanted to show him how cool my weapons are.”

“That right?” Lilith slowly eased up on the young man’s shoulder. Schwartz backed away from the woman, returning her glare. “I’ll let this go only once. Try something like that again, and I’ll punish you myself.”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind...” Schwartz turned his head and glared at Wei. “I’ll see you later.”

“I would not recommend it,” Wei replied. One by one, everyone separated across the auditorium, finding their spots to sleep for the night.