Kaoru was walking down a hallway, Tsukishiro by his side.
They stood outside a classroom door for some moments, eventually opening it and entering.
Kaoru looked around, his heart beating faster and faster. The students currently there, numbered twenty one including Kaoru.
Those were his new classmates. Kaoru did not know how to feel about that. He just took a desk that no one was occupying and sat down.
From what Tsukishiro had briefed him on earlier, there are two types of vampires. The first are full-blood vampires that are born from two full-blood vampires, the same way humans are. The second are hybrid vampires. These ones were slightly more complicated.
For example, if a human and a vampire had a baby, that baby would end up a hybrid. Additionally, if a completely normal human gets bit by a vampire and they survive, which is very rare, he becomes a hybrid vampire too.
They rarely survive because the human body almost always rejects the turning process, a process in which a human turns to a vampire.
The stronger the will of the human, the more difficult it will be to turn him. So, most vampires don't even try to turn a human. Instead choosing to feast on their blood.
As for Kaoru, he himself was not too sure. According to Tsukishiro, however, Kaoru was most likely recently turned, judging from how weak his body was.
A fact that did not make any sense no matter how many times Kaoru thought it over.
There was just no way. He did not get bit, and he didn't have any marks at all. Yes, he was weak, but still...
Anyway, his new classmates were all hybrids like himself. Apparently, they were newly turned vampires from all over Japan and since there were many of them, they got put into one class, Kaoru included.
Putting an end to his thoughts, Tsukishiro finally spoke up.
"Uh...My name is Tsukishiro Takuya. I will be your homeroom teacher. I'm sure you are confused from the bizarre things that are happening recently, but bear with me. I will explain how classes work in this school, and how you are expected to act as a student here. I'll be short, so don't worry."
He took a deep breath and resumed.
"First of all, study. In this school, your grades have to at least be average if you want to blend into the human society. It shouldn't be that hard to get average scores with a little bit of studying, so you'll be okay. The goal is to be able to function and behave in human society."
He looked at the students with a serious expression, pity written on his face.
"You will have to participate in after-school classes that I will teach. Also, every other rule is just like a normal school. Does anyone have any questions?"
A kid three seats behind Kaoru raised his hand, and Tsukishiro allowed him to speak.
"I understand almost everything except the after school classes. Like I don't really get it, why attend even more classes than normal?"
Tsukishiro smiled.
"I'm glad you asked. It's because you won't be doing any studying. You'll be learning something else entirely."
Another student raised his hand, and he too was permitted to speak.
"Then what will we learn if it is not about school?"
Tsukishiro sighed and looked at all of the students in the class.
"Normal classes will be like any other school, but, the additional classes will be different. I will teach you how human and vampire relationships are, why vampires are killed by humans and how. I will also train you to be stronger and get used to your newly turned vampire body as soon as possible."
The class was surprised. No one could have predicted that they would be trained.
Tsukishiro meanwhile, sat on a chair, took out his phone and continued.
"Here, go ahead. I will sit here so you start introducing yourselves."
The classroom erupted with excited voices, as one after another, students introduced themselves, putting the words Tsukishiro said in the back of their minds.
Eventually it was Kaoru's turn.
He stood up, scratched the back of his head and sighed.
"Well, um... My name is Fujimoto Kaoru. I have no hobbies and I have not that much interests. I have decent grades, though."
His classmates clapped, and continued with the next one.
Kaoru frowned.
'Great, I'm in a class full of vampires. I hope I won't drink blood like the rest of them. I hope they don't drink blood either.'
***
Kaoru's class was new and had a first day free of lessons. However, that didn't seem to be the case about the other classes.
There were four classes in total. Class 1-A, Class 2-A, Class 3-A. And finally, the newly added Class 1-B, Kaoru's class.
Most of the students of Class 1-B were going home for the day, either to prepare for tomorrow or rest. Or something else entirely.
Kaoru, of course, was following the example of the students and was now heading to his dormitory.
He approached a massive building, walked inside and entered the elevator. Walking just behind him, two of his classmates entered too.
When they walked inside, one of them, a tall dark-haired girl suddenly talked to him.
"Hey. Kaoru, Fuji...Fujimoto?"
Kaoru looked at her and nodded.
"Can I help you?"
She flashed him a bright smile and calmly responded.
"I just want to get to know everyone in my own class. I've mostly memorised the names and faces of everyone in the class. Your introduction was very short and you didn't talk to anyone while we were chatting, so I was intrigued a little."
Kaoru sighed, his eyes feeling heavy.
He had not revealed much about himself, choosing to keep information about him as vague as possible.
It was not like he didn't want people to know about him. It's just that, just in case, he should be careful.
He did not know the reason yet, but his intuition was saying that he shouldn't be careless.
Which was totally fine, considering that he was in a class of vampires. Despite all that, one of his classmates – a young girl – went out of her way to re-introduce herself, perhaps hoping he would do the same.
And Kaoru reluctantly agreed.
"Sure. I was not listening to anyone in the class anyway."
Regardless of what he said, he knew that was not true. He pretended to not pay attention and memorised the names and faces of all his classmates, as well as the one that was standing before him.
Meanwhile, the girl's smile brightened and she held out her hand.
"My name is Sakurada Nanami. I'm into manga and basketball. I hope I get along with you, Kaoru-kun."
Kaoru held out his hand too, reaching her's.
After they shook hands, Kaoru spoke up too.
"Well, as you already know, my name is Fujimoto Kaoru, and I'm into novels and manga, and sometimes into studying."
She let go of his hand and she got a bit closer.
"No way, you like manga too? How many have you read?"
"Probably fifty or so." Replied Kaoru.
"Hmm. Good to know I have a fellow manga reader in my class."
At that moment, the elevator door opened, and the person that was inside with them, exited.
Nanami waved goodbye to Kaoru and exited too, following the example of her fellow classmate.
"It was nice knowing you, Kaoru-kun."
"Me too." Dryily said Kaoru.
Still inside the elevator, he sighed and rubbed his face.
'Finally, she is gone.'
Nanami seemed to be rather trustworthy. Of course, that was only on the surface and maybe not the truth.
His classmate was either extroverted and could truly be trusted, or she was just putting up a front.
Kaoru had similar experiences in the past, so he chose to not blindly trust people since then.
'I shouldn't care about her, I only look like a creep.'
With a small click, the elevator door parted in the third floor.
Kaoru took a step forward and left the elevator.
He took a white card out of his pocket and looked at the number on it.
'323.'
That was the number of his dorm room.
After searching around for a bit, Kaoru found his room, used the keycard to get inside and closed the door.
As soon as he entered the room, he took out his shoes and walked forward a little, before coming to a stop.
Opposite of him, there was a bedroom. It had a regular sized bed with clean, white sheets and a pillow.
After seeing the bedroom he moved to the kitchen.
On a big, wooden kitchen table, there was a bottle of... wine?
Kaoru grabbed the bottle and read a description that was written on it.
[This bottle contains one liter of blood. You are advised to drink it to quench your thirst as a new vampire. Caution: Do not drink it all at once, because it can cause even more thirst. Drink it slowly.]
Kaoru scoffed.
Why should he drink blood? What is he, a monster?
He wanted to deny the fact that he was not a human anymore.
But, the bottle looked more and more appealing to him.
Unable to resist the urge, he set a glass on the table, opened the bottle and poured some blood on the glass.
'I broke my promise rather fast.'
He brought the glass closer to his lips, smelling the sweet scent of blood.
'God, it smells so good.'
Not able to resist no more, he sipped a little.
The crimson liquid flowed into his mouth, making his tastebuds dance.
'It's delicious!'
***
The final bell rang, announcing the end of the last period. Or maybe not the last.
"It's finally time, huh? I am actually kind of nervous." Said Nanami.
The people around her agreed.
Kaoru didn't show it, but he was quite nervous himself.
"Yeah, we don't exactly know what he'll teach us, after all." Replied another classmate.
More and more joined in on the conversation, causing a bit of a ruckus.
And then... he came.
Tsukishiro opened the door, glanced at them briefly, and with a serious face, he made a gesture to follow him.
"Follow me to your changing rooms and change into your PE uniforms. I'll be waiting outside."
The students excitedly did what he said.
Still in his seat, Kaoru sighed and stood up, following suit.
They walked around for a bit, seeing the magnificent school again, trying to locate the changing rooms. After locating them, they entered them.
Kaoru and his classmates quickly changed, left the changing rooms and followed Tsukishiro that was waiting outside.
Red pants with white lines on the sides, paired with normal white t-shirts and a matching red, long tracksuit with a white rectangular with their name sewn onto the fabric.
They were regular PE uniforms.
A minute after they started following him, they reached their destination.
"This is one of the school's gymnasiums. We are gonna be the ones using it for the next two hours, so let's not waste time here and head inside."
Following Tsukishiro inside the building, the students stopped right in their tracks, momentarily astonished.
The gymnasium was nothing short of fabulous. It was very spacious, with various training equipment around, such as dumbbells, a sandbag and many other things.
Obviously, it was very clean and organised.
Placed at the centre of the gymnasium were blue and red tatami mats in the shape of a square. They formed a very big...arena?
'For... Sparring, perhaps?'
As the students took in the view of the massive space, Tsukishiro spoke up.
"I don't need to take attendance since you are all here. Today we will start our first lesson. Now, without any further delay, let's proceed."
He took a small notepad out of his pocket and a pen.
"We will first start with the basics. I'm gonna see how much physically capable you are. Lets start with grip strength, lets go."
Hearing him, the students lined up and Tsukishiro brought them a Grip Tester.
The first student started right away, gripping the machine tightly, and trying to score as high as he could.
The machine quickly resisted. Slowing down and eventually stopping, the machine displayed a number.
[65.7 kg.]
Tsukishiro wrote it in his notepad and told the next student to start.
Then the next, and then another one. As a dozen students were finished with their grip strength test, Kaoru's turn finally came.
He firmly placed his hand on the tester and gripped as tightly as he could.
Feeling the machine stopping and his wrist getting strained, he let go.
[57.3 kg.]
Tsukishiro noted it and sighed.
"Next!"
The next student after Kaoru was Nanami.
Kaoru did not care to look at her score though.
'Was mine average? I think I did pretty well.'
Walking over to the group that had already completed the test, he awkwardly waited till all of his classmates were done.
... Some minutes later, they moved to their second test.
This time, it was weightlifting.
With no experience at all, Kaoru struggled to lift twenty kilos and barely lifted it of the floor.
Someone in his class named Kojima Daiki lifted fifty five kilograms.
His body screamed of brawn, so it was more or less expected. Still impressive, though.
The third test was running 100 meters.
Kaoru scored 13.5 seconds, getting an average score yet again.
With three tests already done, the students started getting tired. Not to a big degree, but a little.
Noting down the last student's time for the running test, Tsukishiro cleared his throat.
"I would normally conduct more tests, but I am tired, so that's enough for the basics."
'Is he really a teacher?'
He rubbed his face and resumed his speech.
"I have two more tests. We have about one hour and a half left, so probably, we'll be done by eight o'clock.
Nanami raised her hand.
"What kind of tests will we undergo that will use up all of our remaining time?"
Tsukishiro smiled.
"That's what I was about to explain. The first test will be very fast. You just need to tell me if you have combat experience or if you have ever trained in combat sports. The second will be sparring to determine your individual fighting abilities. Because, after all, being strong is one if not the most important factors of survival. Furthermore, since you are now vampires, you can exceed your previous human limits and stand on the edge of human abilities and superhuman ones."
Kaoru's heart skipped a beat.
Being strong is important for survival... That didn't sit right with him. Yes, growing stronger and becoming almost superhuman could be the dream of many humans or vampires.
But for Kaoru, it only seemed like a waste of time. He never enjoyed sports or any physical hobby, let alone combat and martial arts. He knew he just had to be clever to survive.
In any case, he just had to put up with the test for now.
The atmosphere in the gymnasium was getting more and more lively.
Combat was exciting to most of the students, so there was chatter all around Kaoru.
But just then, Tsukishiro interrupted them.
"Does anyone here have any combat experience? Like martial arts training or something else?"
The students hesitated. But, two hands shot up in the air.
The first to raise his hand was the brawny Kojima Daiki. He proudly stated that he had trained in boxing for three years.
The second one was, unexpectedly, Nanami.
Kaoru listened to her with a surprised face.
She answered Tsukishiro with a confident and calm expression.
"I have trained in Judo for nearly eight years."
Tsukishiro nodded.
"Okay, got it. I've already made a plan on how and who you will fight. The fights will be one on one. Remove your shoes and socks, and prepare for your own fight. I'll give you all five minutes to prepare before the first fight...
...This might be sudden, but I want to see your combat abilities without too much instructions. You will use gloves and protective gear, to be on the safe side though."
And just like that, Kaoru was now obligated to participate in one on one fights with his vampire classmates, while having no combat experience at all.
The situation was quite bleak...