Every morning, she, Kevin, and Iris would head for the gym. He didn’t know what they did there, but he didn’t really care. It wasn’t important. What was important was that, after leaving the gym, they split up and traveled to the locker rooms.
The men’s and women’s locker rooms were on opposite sides of the gym. This was done to keep potentially perverted men from trying to peek on women while they bathed and changed. While Frederic had lamented this fact at one point, now it was his greatest ally. He would wait until Lilian emerged from the locker room, and then put the moves on her.
Before being outed as a yōkai, he’d been a rather suave individual, if he did say so himself. He’d dated many girls in his time, and he’d always been the one to break up with them. It would not be inaccurate to say that he was a player among players.
The door to the women’s locker opened and two figures walked out. Lilian and Iris were a sight to behold. Truly, there were few creatures in this world who were more beautiful than them. Some filthy, two-bit human like Kevin didn’t deserve to be with either of them, much less an angel like his Lilian.
It’s showtime.
Pushing off the wall that he’d been leaning against, Frederic strolled over to the two girls with smooth, even steps. A perfect smile curled his lips, the kind that pretty bishounen boys everywhere wished they had. He’d even shot himself in the face with a glitter cannon this morning just to get the right amount of sparkles.
“Good morning, Lilian,” he greeted, “I was wondering if you and I could—”
“Beloved!”
Lilian ran right past Frederic, who stood there, his hand still raised in greeting. Behind the boy, Lilian greeted Kevin. Iris also walked past the boy at a more leisurely pace, not even bothering to glance his way.
“Are you okay? You’re not still feeling dizzy, are you? Do you need more blood?”
“I’m not a vampire. I don’t need more blood. And I’m fine. Stop worrying about me.”
“Right.” Lilian poked her tongue out in a cutsie, embarrassed expression. “I guess I should have expected that. Beloved’s become used to losing lots of blood.”
“Hearing you say that doesn’t make me feel very good about myself. And why are you speaking about me in third person?”
“Ufufufu, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t worry about her, Stud. She spent a little too long under the water and it froze her brain.”
“Froze her brain?”
“It was freezing cold water.”
“Ah…”
As the voices disappeared, Frederic finally let his hand fall limply at his side. He blinked once, twice, thrice, as if doing so would somehow clear the fog that fell over his mind.
“D-did she just ignore me?” he asked the now empty hallway.
***
“So, she ignored you? That’s just too funny!”
Frederic tried to hide the growing redness of his cheeks by scowling. He was sitting at the table with his friends, all five of them—and all five of them were laughing, including Axel.
“Shut up! It’s not funny! How would you feel if you were ignored in favor of some human?!”
“Well, I can’t imagine I would feel too good about that,” Axel admitted, his grin widening to reveal sharp teeth. “But it didn’t happen to me, so I don’t need to worry about that.”
A feral growl bubbled up from Frederic’s throat. Just thinking about how Lilian had completely ignored him three hours ago like he didn’t exist pissed him off. That she ignored him in favor of that filthy ape was even more upsetting.
He looked down at his food, chicken and grilled vegetables. Being a yamabiko, Frederic was omnivorous. He didn’t eat wheat or processed foods, but he required meats and veggies for his sustenance.
As the last bastion for yōkai—a haven should the worst come to pass—the cafeteria of this underground base catered to all kinds of different species’ specific dietary needs. Frederic had heard that it was stocked to the brim with all kinds of supplies and different types of food.
It was lunch time for high school students now, and the cafeteria was packed to the brim with adolescent yōkai. It wasn’t just yōkai from Desert Cactus High School either, but yōkai from all over Phoenix. It explained why the base was so crowded, despite yōkai being in the minority at most schools.
“Hey, hey! Check it out!” One of Frederic’s friends pointed at something behind him. He, along with the others, turned around and scowled when he saw Lilian and Iris sit at a table with Kevin.
Several other people were also watching the group, Frederic noticed. Most were staring at Lilian and Iris, but a few were warily watching Kevin. It was well known that Kevin was the only human attending this place. No one really knew why Kevin was there, but Monstrang and the other adults who manned the base had welcomed him, so they had no choice but to accept his continued presence.
“I still can’t believe someone like him is actually being allowed to stay with us,” Markus said with a growl. His voice sounded less human and more animal, like a feral wolf.
“I know.” Jack wrinkled his nose in disgust, a forked tongue flickering out of his mouth as though tasting something foul. “How Monstrang could let someone like that live here is beyond me.”
“Maybe Monstrang’s going senile in his old age.”
Frederic listened to his friends talk, his emotions continuing to boil over as he watched Lilian interact with the human. It was absolutely disgusting, the way they kept feeding each other food. It was even worse when Iris tried to feed Kevin food as well, which resulted in the human brat getting his face stuffed so full he looked like a chipmunk with acorns in his mouth.
What do those two see in him anyways? The scowl on his face grew darker. He’s just a filthy human.
Unable to watch anymore, Frederic slammed his hands against the table and stood up. His friends stopped talking and looked at him.
“Something up, Freddy?” asked Axel.
Frederic didn’t respond to his friend. He marched through the throng of people, traveling toward Kevin, Lilian, and Iris’s table. Unfortunately, he wasn’t paying attention to who was in his way and ended up stepping on someone’s tail.
“Yeowch!” A large inu with floppy dog ears and a nasty snarl glared at Frederic, who suddenly felt quite small and insignificant. “You little shit! That hurt!”
Frederic tried to stammer out an apology, but the inu wasn’t listening.
The last thing Frederic saw before darkness claimed him was a fist filling his field of vision.
***
Lilian stood in the gym with Iris and the other girls in her class. Kevin wasn’t with her since the boys and girls had PE separately. That thought was kinda depressing, as she would’ve preferred being with him over the other girls, but she supposed she couldn’t always have what she wanted. At least Iris was with her.
It had been pretty surprising to discover that they still had PE despite this entire place being underground. She supposed part of the reason these gyms had been built as multiple large rooms instead of one massive room was for this very reason—to keep classes separated from the adult yōkai who also used the gym.
“Looks like we’re attracting attention.”
Iris’s words snapped Lilian out of her thoughts. She looked at where her sister was looking. Upon seeing that they’d been spotted, the group of girls who’d been staring at them looked away and huddled together again.
Lilian shifted uncomfortably. She didn’t like it when people she didn’t know stared at her. It happened a lot, and she only ever noticed after someone else pointed it out. While she knew most kitsune revelled in attention, especially her sister, she’d be perfectly content if only Kevin—and Iris—paid attention to her.
“I wonder what they want,” Lilian murmured softly.
“It looks like we’re about to find out.”
Iris pointed at the girls again, and Lilian saw that one of the girls had broken
away from the pack.
The girl was a nekomata, a more powerful variant of the bakeneko. Sitting atop her head like a pair of triangles were white ears with black spots, and two black and white cat tails moved behind her, waving back and forth with a hypnotic sway. She, like the other girls, wore a standard gym uniform of black short shorts and a white T-shirt.
“Meowllo,” the girl said, her eyes glinting mischievously. “We, that is, meow friends and I, wanted to ask you something.”
“Me?” Lilian pointed to herself.
“Myes.”
Lilian wasn’t too keen on talking with someone she didn’t know, but she also didn’t want to be rude. “What did you want to ask?”
“Why are meow dating someone like Kevin? What exactly do meow see in him?”
Lilian was tempted to tell the girl that it was none of her business. Her beloved had enough girl problems as it was, and she didn’t want to expound those troubles by accidentally saying something that might cause this one to start paying attention to him. She calmed herself down, however, and thought this through rationally.
It’s okay, Lilian. This girl isn’t even a side character, so I doubt she’ll end up becoming important in the grand scheme of things. I suppose I can tell her.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘dating someone like Kevin’? Are you asking me why I’m dating a human?”
“Something like that.”
“Hmph! If that’s what you’re asking me, then you’re just like everyone else. You and everyone here only see Kevin as a human, the same species who’s causing yōkai problems. You fail to see him as a person.”
“Meow?” The nekomata tilted her head, as if she wasn’t quite sure how to think about Lilian’s words.
Lilian shook her head. “This is why I never bothered getting to know anyone else here. All of you look at Kevin and only see a human. You don’t see how kind he is, or how loyal he is. You don’t notice his protectiveness, or how he’s always looking out for me and Iris. Kevin has worked his butt off, undergoing rigorous training every day, just so he can be considered worthy of being my mate.” She sighed before, slowly, a smile appeared on his face. “He doesn’t even realize that simply by accepting me as I am, without any reservations, he’s already proven himself more worthy of being my mate than anyone else.”
“Woah.” Iris crossed her arms and nodded several times. “That was deep.”
Lilian puffed her chest out with pride. “I’ve been practicing my shōnen speeches. I can’t let Kevin be the only one who gets to have cool speeches.”
“Indeed.”
The nekomata female looked at Lilian with squinted eyes, scrutinizing her as if she would discover some unfathomably dark secret hidden within her viridian gaze. Lilian met the girl’s gaze evenly.
“Meow, I don’t really get it, but it sounds like this Kevin is a pretty good guy.”
“Beloved’s the best!” Lilian exclaimed cheerfully.
“I see, meow. Well, thank meow for answering my question.”
The nekomata walked off and went back to the group of girls. From the increased giggling and the way they shot more glances at her and Iris, Lilian could only assume the cat-girl was informing her friends about what she had said.
“I wonder what that was all about?” Lilian mused to herself.
Standing beside her, Iris shrugged. “A cat’s curiosity, maybe? Who knows. Does it matter?”
“I guess not,” Lilian said seconds before the blowing of a whistle rang out across the gym.
Everyone turned to see Heather Grant, who had taken the role of PE teacher for them, stroll into the gymnasium with a wide grin on her face.
Like Kevin, Heather had faced a good deal of descrimination by her students on account of being a human. She was probably fortunate only the top brass knew she'd been a former member of the Sons and Daughters of Humanity. Unlike Kevin, Heather had swiftly dealt with it by telling them if they had a problem with her, they could confront her any time.
About two days after she made this announcement, a rumor had spread that a group of students had ambushed her and were subsequently beaten. No one knew if the rumor was true, but the group had been absent for about a week, and when they began attending school again, the entire group had become devoted Heather followers, making the entire class wonder about what had happened.
“All right, girls! It’s time to get started! I want all of you running laps, and if any of you stop before I say you can stop, then you’ll be forced to stand against the wall while balancing a pail full of water on your head.”
The class groaned as one, but everyone did what they were told. All of them knew that Ms. Grant really would force them to do that. She’d done it twice to people in their class already.
Lilian ran along the gym as well. As she did, her mind wandered.
I wonder how Kevin’s doing right now…
***
Kevin sneezed while lifting weights. His spotter, someone who didn’t like him because he was human, wasn’t paying attention when the bar suddenly slipped from his grasp and tilted. The bar fell to one side and his spotter, who’d been standing on that side speaking with one of his friends, suddenly found around 160 pounds of weight crushing his foot.
“YEOWCH!”
As the yōkai, a regular bakeneko, hopped around on one foot, Kevin sat up and wiped his nose.
“I wonder if someone’s talking about me?” he questioned no one in particular before offering to take the bakeneko to see the school nurse.
Of course, his offer was rejected.
What else was new?
***
Frederic woke up to the invasive scent of antiseptics. After being told by the nurse on duty that he had a minor concussion and needed to be careful, he left the hospital wing and traveled back to where classes were taking place. He’d been unconscious for several hours, so he only had one more class to attend: English.
He didn’t pay much attention in class. Sitting near the back, the teacher unable to see him, Frederic watched Lilian.
His nose wrinkled as Lilian and Kevin wrote on the same notebook. Were they using it to talk to each other? Disgusting. Why would a girl like Lilian want to talk to someone like Kevin? He just didn’t understand it.
The moment class ended, Frederic stood up and walked over to Lilian and Kevin. The two were discussing something with Iris, but he didn’t care to listen.
“Lilian!”
At the sound of her name being called, Lilian turned around. Once more, Frederic was struck by her beauty. Her crimson locks were like flames caught in a breeze as they framed a face that went beyond mere concepts like “beautiful” and “sexy.” Viridian eyes more expansive than a forest shone with a vivid luster. And that was to say nothing about her body, which put all of the other girls here, minus maybe her sister, to shame.
Now that he had her attention, Frederic tried to speak. He knew that if ever there was a time to man up and prove himself, then now would be that time. He couldn’t allow a creature like her, a yōkai of such incomparable beauty, to be with a measly human like Kevin.
“I love you! Please go out with me!”
The entire world came to a standstill. If people hadn’t been paying attention to what was happening, then they certainly were now. Frederic ignored the looks and whispers sent his way. He stared at Lilian, who stared right back, green eyes blinking several times as if she couldn’t understand what he’d just said. He, along with everyone else, waited on baited breath for her answer.
“No.”
Frederic felt like someone had jabbed him in the gut with a lightning rod.
“W-why?”
“Because I don’t love you,” Lilian answered bluntly. The metaphorical lightning rod was shoved further into his gut, and it seemed to have attracted some lightning as well, because he felt like he’d just been shocked to death.
Lilian left with Kevin and Iris while Frederic fell onto his hands and knees. He didn’t see the looks of pity b
eing sent his way.
Why?
He just didn’t understand it. Why would Lilian choose some human over him? He was better, faster, stronger, and more handsome than some hairless ape ever could be.
What does he have that I don’t?
It just didn’t make sense. There was simply no way a human could have something that a yōkai like him lacked. It just wasn’t possible. Yōkai were superior to humans in every way. How could Kevin have something that he didn’t?
He must have some kind of blackmail against her.
Yes, that was it. He had to be blackmailing her into being with him. It was the only thing that made sense. There was simply no way Lilian would go out with a human otherwise.
His lips peeling back into a feral snarl, Frederic stood up and made for the door.
Kevin Swift, I’m going to make you regret ever touching Lilian…
***
Kevin stood in an unused room located inside of Monstrang’s base. Dust coated the floor like a thick quilt blanket. It looked like this had been a command station at some point. Desks lined the walls, communication stations reminiscent to the ones found in Monstrang’s command center—where all of his operations were conducted from—sat unused and covered in dust.
He looked down at the letter in his hand again. It wasn’t signed—just a letter telling him to come to this room at five in the evening. He was alone, just like the letter had requested. Lilian had wanted to come, but he said there was no need for them both to go.
I’m here, so then, where’s the person who sent this to me?
“So, you actually showed up, after all,” a voice said behind him.
Kevin resisted a groan as he turned around. Frederic stood before him, closing the door as he made his way inside the room.
“I see.” Kevin sighed. “This letter was from you. I’m guessing you plan on confronting me and threatening to beat me up if I keep spending time with Lilian, yes?”
Frederic stopped midstep. He blinked. Once.
“Uh, yes,” he said, sounding surprised. “How did you—”
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