Drake huffed, both annoyed with and jealous of Cabal. He did his best not to show it, and once he had completed his work he took one of his doujins out, hiding it behind a book. True, there wasn't any smut, but the dragon considered it a guilty pleasure.

He remembered the first time he had brought "shame" upon his ancestry by trying to take part in human affairs. Drake had been thirteen, and decided to go and take part in a small fishing village's New Year festival on the coast of Japan. Drake had shapeshifted and disappeared into the crowd. Being young and only having a rudimentary knowledge of human beings, Drake had gotten in trouble.

Father had been especially angry, and even showed up himself to retrieve Drake. Among dragons, he was one of the largest, with a head the size of a semi truck. He had been so angry that he hadn't even bothered shapeshifting, and merely raised his head from the water to collect his son like a mother crocodile.

It had taken quite a bit of effort and money to cover up the incident. Drake had had his magical abilities stripped away as punishment; he had only gotten them back right before coming to Yōkai Academy.

@13org @ViannaNight @KatherinWinter @Vulkan @dragonmancer @TheHangedMan @Otaku95

The teacher would sigh "It would take more time than we have in this class to properly teach you English" she states "we do have a teacher who specializes in languages" she states. "I'll contact him and have him set up for some after school classes, until then please refer to your fellow students who have offered to help you multiple times over" she states.

@olcharlieboi @Otaku95 @KatherinWinter

"Very well Katsuragi sensei. I shall try to do it myself. Thanks for the "help"." he said coldly.

Getting back to his seat, he asked to Drake and Katherin
"Drake and Katherin, could one of you please do me a favour only this once? I just need that someone read what is written on the chapters. I will return the favour." he asked, emotionless "I always pay my debts." he completed

@13org @ViolentViolet

Leo broke into a fit of giggles when Suba blasted the girl in front of them with a jet of water, before trying to compose himself when people looked at the situation. Trying to look inconspicuous, he began to wonder why that person before had winked at him. What was that all about? What did it mean? Why did she smirk while doing it?

Loki sometimes winked in the direction of an opponent to signify that they were intending to kill them next. But she clearly didn't have the same motivation, she had just come in and sat down. This method of talking was so...odd. No one meant what he thought they meant. It pissed him off. Noticing the teacher asking for english speaking students, he was helpful enough to pipe in.

"Maybe you should have one of those girls you were talking to, follow you around and translate for you!" he said, cheerfully.

After sitting down, the question about the wink began to annoy him again, so he decided to go straight to the source. What harm could there be in that? He turned around to look at Serona.

"Excuse me, Ma'am." he said politely, "What did that wink and that smirk you gave to myself and several others mean? It isn't a threat, is it?"

Cabal really couldn't help but hear Einar, especially when he was right in front of him. This time, he simply grit his teeth and resisted the urge to roll his eyes to keep an impassive facade. Better this than having another pointless row with him.

Besides, he had so far much better company to keep. He gave Mira an affirmative nod, and replied, "I don't mind," he said in a manner completely betraying any romantic notions, "on that note, lunch would be a good time to talk. If it's convenient, we could have it together."

Cabal being who he was, of course, had no ulterior motives, even if his words were more than "inviting" in the traditional sense.

"Hmm, what to do now?"" he wondered, before seeing a jet of water splash Katherin. Trained reactions taking over, Cabal shot to his feet and was upon Suba in a moment.

The young man lifted the sleeping girl by a single arm, until her face met his.

"You have ten seconds to explain," he said, face impassive, but promising dark things if she didn't answer.

---

Suba was having the most wonderful dream. She was back home, at the Coral Palace, surrounded by her handmaidens and playmates, and they were playing a game of finding the Blue Fish. She was winning, of course. Since she didn't really win all that much in reality, she could at least win in her dreams!

Then suddenly she was quite literally yanked out of her slumber. She felt a pressure on her arm, before being jerked from her sleep, due to the suddenness of her awakening, it took her awhile to reorient herself to reality. When she did, however, she sorely wished she didn't.

She found herself face to face with the one person she was trying desperately to avoid. Flashes of memory came to her, reminding her of the results of Aswang assassinations, and in her mind, there was only one thing to do!

Scream, loudly. Scream so loud that it practically shattered Cabals eardrums. And the eardrums of everyone else in the room. And the windows. And her table. A supersonic scream in closed quarters had that effect.

But really, mostly Cabal!

Who dropped her, then dropped to the floor, ears ringing and head swirling.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH"

@olcharlieboi @13org @ViannaNight @KatherinWinter @Vulkan @dragonmancer @TheHangedMan @Otaku95

Drake clapped his hands over his ears in an attempt to block out the scream. He forgot that Seafolk often had this ability, particularly in their women. It was a self-defense mechanism, particularly effective against predatory aquatic species. Species like me, he thought. Water is quite the medium for sounds to travel through. One could literally communicate with someone across the ocean, given enough energy and time; a call from Leviathan in 1997 had been picked up on hydrophones leagues away when he was wounded by an enemy. Friends in the NOAA had recently covered it up by claiming it was the sound of ice breaking, after a fictional story on mermaids misled people into thinking that Seafolk were real.

A sonic blast like Suba's was meant to stun nearby enemies, as well as warn any of their kinfolk to remain clear of the area, or come help. But no matter what, this sound affected Drake in the same way. His instincts told him to run from the noise. However, he held still.

Before Drake and Katherin could answer him, the girl who was sleeping suddenly shouted, an ridiculously loud noise.

Einar screamed in agony, his ears and head bursting with pain, unable to suppress his enhanced hearing and keep his disguise as human. By pure reflex, Einar ran straight to the girl with an impossible speed and agility avoiding the students and other desks in his way, the only thing they could see was a green blur.

Knocking Cabal away, Einar took the girl in his arms, taking her away from him in the blink of an eye and closing her mouth with his hands, before collapsing on the ground, unconscious, with his long ears laying back with the openings down, doing the best he could to protect them.

They could see a small drop of blood getting out of his ears.

@TheHangedMan @olcharlieboi @ViannaNight @KatherinWinter @Vulkan @dragonmancer @Otaku95

Serona

The Siren found herself face to face with one of the more attractive boys in the class, his curiosity overtaken logic in an attempt to find the reason behind her actions. Leaning back in her seat, she crossed her arms loosely beneath her breasts, lips curling in amusement. Lips parted as her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. Unfortunately, when the girl splashed the one in front of her, she wasn't splashed as well. I'll have to go swimming later, she mused to herself before sea blue eyes met Leo's.

"You lo-"

Serona was cut off by the sudden scream from the other girl. A Seafolk it seemed. Unlike several others in the room, the Siren was not bothered at all by the screeching, and stood to face it. One boy seemed conflicted as to how he should react to the scream, and another ripped her from her captors gaze only to fall to the ground as a result. Evidently, her and the one boy were those who knew what the scream was meant to do.

Serona strode around her desk, gaze intent and serious on the other girl of ocean origin. She was soft though when she made it there, a hand touching her arm softly as she whispered to her. Her voice imbued with calm, carefully making the attempt to send the girl back to sleep. While she was disorientated she might fall for the Siren's tricks, but it wasn't likely.

"Quiet Child, you are safe now. The danger is passed."

@13org@Otaku95@TheHangedMan@Vulkan

@13org@Otaku95
Katherin had been about to assure Einar that she would help him. Despite the lack of emotion in his voice and face she stI'll hoped to be friends. She figured he had shut down to protect himself. She had done that a few times so she understood the need. She hoped that he would see that not everyone was cruel or heartless. She might not be the strongest or the most interesting but she was a good reliable friend. But before she could say as much the sleeping gurl hit her with water. Katherin considered herself a calm patient person but there was no excuse for the girls action. She raisee her right hand to the ceiling and summoned her staff. She didn't need her staff to do most of the spells she knew. But she would need it for the spell she had in mind. A long wooden staff appeared in her hand.

Mira smiled at Cabal was he flirting with me? she thought. "I would love to have lunch with you" she said. Before she knew it there was a loud screeching sound as Cabal grabbed the who was asleep. Mira cried out a fox's cry. Her ears popped out as she covered them and curled into a ball. Once it die down she was slowing uncurling from her ball. Her tails were wrapped around her.

@TheHangedMan

Drake sensed that the scream had stopped. He uncovered his ears, but they still rang. It would be a miracle if nobody in the classroom had a ruptured eardrum. He noticed that one of the girls had covered herself with two fluffy tails. The dragon stood, still feeling a bit disoriented, and crouched beside her. She was covering a pair of fox ears.

Drake touched her hand lightly to get her attention. "Mira, was it?" he said. "It's okay." He knew kemonomimi had more sensitive hearing than most races, simply due to the fact that they had an extra pair of ears; their animal ears were on par with creature counterparts.

@ViannaNight

@ViolentViolet@13org@TheHangedMan

Leo waited politely for the Siren to speak, before Suba suddenly decided to scream like he had never heard someone scream before. He was not a stranger to that, and of course, he had to be the closest to her as she did it.

He flew out of his chair, his eardrums almost bursting, holding his ears tight to the point he felt like crushing his skull. After what seemed like forever, he sat against the wall, shaking his head. SLowly, he looked down, put his hand on the floor to help himself up and...

He noticed a bit of water from Suba's first accident and saw his reflection.

...red.

...his hair was bright red. His disguise was failing.

Concentrating as hard as he could, he quickly replaced his disguise, feeling his hair shorten and turn white again, before getting up and walking over to the Siren, Suba and that rabbit thing from before.

"You all alright?" he said, his voice taking an cold edge as he looked down on them, before kneeling and looking to the Siren, his face ice cold.
"Directly influencing the brain is unlikely to help at the moment. Seeing as this was triggered by that shape-shifting imbecile getting close, the best thing to do is to give her space, and keep a close eye on her." His face softened slightly. "Put her back in the chair."

He was so occupied by fixing the situation, he didn't realize that someone might have seen his disguise problems.

@Otaku95, @13org, @KatherinWinter & @TheHangedMan

Mira jumped slightly when someone touched her. All she could do was nod since her ears still hurt from the screeching. She panicked when she realized that her ears and tail popped out. He yelped a bit and quickly hid them once more. She sat up slowly looking at the male who had touched her "Thank you. What the hell just happened?" She said with an irritated tone in her voice. She didn't mean to sound that way but her ears very much so hurt. She placed her hands on the ground to stabilize herself a bit before looking over to Cabal. Why in the world would he do something like that? She wondered. She looked through the desk and saw Einar laying on the ground. He looked unconscious. She wanted to see if he was okay but she feared if she stood up she would fall right back over. She looked for Katherin, when she finally found her she had a staph in her hands. Mira just shook her head and yelled "Katherin, check on Einar. See if he is okay. He grabbed the Girl and is not laying on the ground he looks unconscious." She hope that Katherin heard her.

@ViannaNight

"She's a Seafolk," Drake answered simply. "Mermaids and their relatives have the ability to emit a sonic blast that can be heard as far as across the ocean. It's meant to disorient or frighten predators or attackers, and call for help... or, warn anyone nearby of danger." He left out the fact that he'd experienced it before.

It had been several years ago. A ningyo had been trapped in a fishing net. When she'd scene a Tarragon swimming toward her she'd immediately assumed he would try to eat her. Racism at its finest, thought Drake. He'd given the fishermen who owned the net a scare, too. He didn't show himself-- merely dragged them by their trawl net as retaliation.

@Otaku95 @ViannaNight @Vulkan @KatherinWinter @ViolentViolet @13org @TheHangedMan

The teacher would wince at the scream before standing up and walking over to the scene, when she seen the blood she sighed some, she would glance at the others. "I'll take him off to the nurse office rest of you stay here and behave" she states glaring an eye at Katherin as she had pulled out her staff "That especially means for you to put that object away" she states before helping Einar up and helps him out of the room and down the hall.

Charles would sigh some when the teacher was gone "...I didn't expect my message to cause the commotion it did... and now this... this is just a bad day for all of us" he states. "more for some though" he would shake his head. thinking as to why he was going to have to deal with some of this, he would raise a brow at Katherin "to think another is here... pretty rare situation this is.."

During this whole commotion, I had been asleep over my desk, and I had put a book over my face to hide it. For awhile I was rather silent but after the teacher left I started to snore. In the current position I was, my head was hanging back over the chair with the book still covering it, my arms hanging to the sides and my feet spread apart loosely pressing against the stands of the desk. I seemed rather comfy, at the very least. My tie was hanging out of place from the shirt.

Cabal's sense of balance was horribly off - unsurprising when your ear drums were ruptured, and yes, he knew what ruptured ear drums felt like - and he struggled to get on his feet.

He underestimated the girl. He had thought her simply a malevolent prankster, but in actuality she was an assassin of the Kataws. The ability to manipulate water while also being capable to sing the Song of Death common among all sirena was proof. He hadn't heard of any other species that was similar to the Kataw, even in other countries. He had let his guard down, thinking he was the only one from his country here, and assuming that even if others did come, they would respect the neutrality of the Academy and avoid deadly conflict.

He was wrong, and now he had paid for it.

No matter, the Kataw girl would pay him back three-fold

As he got to his feet, he made slow steps towards the girl, and paused at the sight in front of him.

She was in the arms of another girl, crying so piteously that it actually gave him pause. She looked so helpless and now that he had gotten a good look at her . . . so young. She was scared, scared beyond relief. No, this was not an assassin, or at least, not a very good one. She was simply someone who had little control over their own abilities. Why was she so afraid of him though? He hand't recalled doing anything to her . . .

The young man stepped in front of her, and knelt to face level. He couldn't hear her, but she could hear him clearly. He spoke in their native language of Filipino. It was risky, since it meant exposing a bit of himself, but there was no creature of the Philippine Night that could be scared of their home tongue.

"Patawarin mo po ako, Anak ng Dagat, hindi ko sadyang tatkutin ka," his words came out slowly, making sure that every syllable was pronounced right. "Akala ko inaapi mo yung klaklase namin. Naghingi lang ako nang paliwanag. Paumanhin, Anak ng Dagat, paumanhin."

---

She couldn't control herself and kept crying. She was never good at controlling her emotions; her brothers always said she was like the waves - they came and they went whenever they felt like it. Thinking about her brothers was a little comforting.

She felt the warm embrace of someone, she couldn't tell who, and heard their voice in her ear.

It was so comforting, it reminded her of . . .

"Momma~!" she cried, gripping the other girl with all her - relatively little - might.

She was aware that the Aswang boy was approaching, and cried harder, burying herself in the arms of the Siren as if to shield herself from Cabal.

When he spoke, in their native language no-less, she started as the words that came out of his mouth was not a threat, but an apology. He was apologizing to her, because he thought she was bullying the other girl . . . what bullying?! She couldn't recall ever bullying anyone!

Still wary, she gave him a nod, as if to acknowledge his words, and let him know that she understood. She was still terrified of course -- that wasn't going away any time soon -- but at least she understood. So he wasn't out to assassinate her . . . yet. For now, she needn't fear for her life.

The thought was so relieving she started crying again, before finally calming down.

"I-I'm okay now," she told the girl she was clinging on, and getting to her feet. "U-um, thank you very much, for, er, yeah. That was a bit embarrassing." She said with a sheepish laugh, before turning to face the teacher to apologize to her as well.

Then her eyes widened as she realized that she had been in a class full of other people, and she had just screamed.

Oh no. What've I done!

She began crying again.

@olcharlieboi
Katherin sighed. She had been afraid the teacher would stop her. After all casting a spell wasn't exactly human. Still she was tempted to use her staff to free the girl who had hit her with water. It wasn't like the teacher would know. The teaCher had left the room. She debated with herself for a few minutes but in the end she sighed and sent her staff back to where she stored it. She whispered a soft spell to dry herself before returning to her seat.

@TheHangedMan@ViolentViolet@13org

Leo opened his mouth to speak, only to close it again, being completely unsure how to help Suba. He briefly noticed the teacher take the rabbit boy away, and couldn't help but wonder.
"If he's dead, i wonder if they will let me eat him? I like human, i like rabbit, the two together could be interesting..."

Oh, right. They had warned him against eating anything sapient while at the school, which was one of the few rules that pissed him off. Why did they care? Loki only stayed away from horse, dog and snake meat. Anything else was fair game.

Going back to the situation at hand, he watched the siren and Suba hug each other, while the person who had started it was nearby. Why in hel was he there? Was he trying to make them scream again? Imbecile.

He saw that Suba was in tears, making him think how he could help. Assuming he could. He put his hand on her shoulder, then his other on the shoulder of the Siren. Was that a place he was allowed to hold? He distinctly remembered that there were certain places he couldnt...

Ah well. If he did, he was sure that they would be happy to fill in the blanks in his memory.

"Um..." he said a little louder this time. "I think everyone is fine now. It...was just a surprise. I think we should all just sit down, and relax...or something. I mean, everyones fine...well, the rabbit guy is feeling a little unwell, but im sure he was like that before you screamed."

Despite all this, he was still partially thinking about the food situation in his head.

"...i mean, i might not be able to eat all of him, but i would make a fair dent. The four limbs, at least..."

Drake assessed the situation. His human body dried quickly, absorbing what water it could into his skin to help keep him hydrated. It was a unique ability in this form, but if he was, say, thrown into a swimming pool, odds were he'd revert to his normal form. That would be a no-no at this school. True, other students had done things against the rules, but Drake noticed that people didn't take kindly to most things big and scaly and big enough to swallow a prize tuna whole.

He sat down. His other effects-- his phone, his 3DS, his books-- were all dry. As a precaution he'd bought a Navy-grade pack; bulletproof up to nine millimeters, and air- and water-tight. He didn't like flaunting his family's wealth like his big sister, but having a lucrative pearl business cornered in Asia and America had its benefits.