The classroom for potionology had large cauldrons in it. In the room was a fashionable man. He had pale skin, grey eyes with eyeshadow on. His hair was split in color, black on one side and white on the other. His coat was a thick fur that had black and white stripes, ending with four little fluffy tails. He had a black shirt with a red tie, over that was a black and white vest.
"You must be the new puppies Crowley told me about.," the man said and his face fell, "What a disgusting mask. Take it off."
Hoshi shook her head before getting closer to him and leaning in to whisper, "I can't, I have to keep my face covered. To keep my identity a secret and to keep people from seeing my eyes."
The man nodded and touched the two strands of hair that stuck up, "Unusual coat, it looks a bit unkempt. Come back after school and I'll clean it up for you. My name is Divus Crewel. But you can call me master Crewel. Here, this is yours."
Hoshi made a disgusted face under her mask as she put on the lab coat that crewel handed her. Ace and Deuce motioned her over to where they sat, she sat between them with Grim sitting on her lap. She listened to Crewel lecture about what the class would be studying that school year. The girl took notes on the subjects and reviewed the outline for the class.
She was nudged by Deuce, "Do you know what a mycelia is?"
"Fungus root structure. Learned that in biology basics.," The masked girl replied.
"All I want is to know what are tasty and which are not.," Grim commented as Crewel lectured them some more on what he was drilling into their heads. While waving a red crop whip and cracking it against his gloved hand. A red collar and a white magic gem was affixed to the end of the whip. It was strange that this man and the headman both had whips. She just didn't want to be hit anymore with whips. Her skin still stung.

After that class was finished, they headed to the next one, History of Magics. There was an elderly gentleman sitting at the professor's desk. He had a stern aged face and silver streaks in his grey hair. A dark maroon cape draped over his grey suit. He had a clean white shirt and a cravat held together by a green jeweled brooch. He introduced himself as Mozus Trein. He had a black cat that had a white chest, muzzle, eartips and tail tip. The Cat's name was Lucious. The elderly gentleman's grey-green eyes were as stern as his expression. He began to lecture on the history and rich culture of magic in the world. However, his cat kept yowling as he spoke.
"We will open our textbooks to page Fifteen. This section, we will discuss the Magic crystals that were discovered in the Dwarf mines.," Trein said with his cat yowling all the while.
'Lucious looks like he wants to roam.,' The blonde young woman thought to herself as she took notes, 'Dwarf mines huh? My muscles are still sore from that fight last night. I wonder of there are more monsters like that one.'
She looked at her nails. The black color that stained had faded into a greyish luster. She was at least happy that the color was leaving her nails. Hoshi would hate if that color stained other parts of her body, like her hair or skin. Although, if it blotted out her eyes and face, she wouldn't mind. The question of what that thing was kept creeping into the back of her mind. The young woman listened to the fascinating history being taught by the elderly professor. She felt a weight on her shoulder and looked over to see a collared reddish orange haired teen leaning on her shoulder. He was dozing. Grim was also dozing on her lap, leaning up against her stomach.

Hoshi pinched his nose and made him wake up. He held his nose as the masked teen motioned to the teacher who was glaring daggers at the reddish haired teen. Ace gulped and sat back up. The young woman felt Grim dropping off into sleep. After that, they walked to a changing room to prepare for the next class, PE. Except, Hoshi got grabbed and pulled away by a ghost. It was the gaunt ghost from her dorm!
"Hee hee! Not there. Use this unused area.," the ghost chuckled and handed her the gym uniform she received.
"I might need a bag to carry all my things.," Hoshi joked to the ghost.
The ghost put his boney hand up to his mouth, "Good idea. I'll see if I can ask around."
He left so she could change. She changed quickly and went to see how her friends were doing, only to quickly back out of the changing room. She got an eyeful of her classmates.
"You're already ready?," Ace asked as he slipped his shirt on, "Go on, we'll catch up."
Deuce was putting on his gym jumpsuit. Deuce's musculature was more defined than Ace's from what she saw. Another student made her run away as he was taking off his pants.

She ran until she was at the field, she ran into the gym coach. He was a fairly tall man with a very muscular physique. He was lightly tanned with dark brunet hair and purplish blue eyes. His red track suit had a deer skull insignia on it. A bracelet that looked like a arrow held a red magic jewel on it.
"You must be Yuu!," the man announced loudly in an enthusiastic voice, "Crowley told me to take it easy on you since you're not built like the other students. So I won't make you do as many excercises, But I do want you to do more stretches."
Hoshi nodded and fixed her mask to her face, tying the ropes a little tighter. She stood in the field with the teacher, waiting for the other students to come. The teacher, who introduced himself as coach Ashton Vargas, explained his view on magic. That magic is made with muscles. Several students raised complaints on his faulty logic.
"That's enough! I want everyone to do stretches then 20 laps around the track, followed by 100 Pushups! You can't use magic without stamina and muscles!," the man laughed, "Yuu, 20 laps, 50 situps, 40 Pushups. Stretches first!"
The other students jeered at that announcement before stretching. Hoshi kept beside Ace and Deuce as she felt better beside them. Grim grumbled as he stretched.
"I'm not a hamster.," the little monster huffed, "I don't wanna run in circles."
Hoshi felt her body creak and joints pop. Blood flowed in her muscles, warming her up.
"Yuu, why aren't you doing as much as we are?," Ace asked, "It's bullshit."
The young woman shook her head and stretched a bit more. She knew that the apparent favoritism won't sit well with the other students. She only followed orders and ran after stretching, she had Grim running beside her. His little mouth was spouting blue embers.

The two finished their laps and began to do pushups. She was okay for the first twenty pushups, before her arms began to feel weak. She took a small breather then kept at it. Her arms felt like they were on fire. Her throat felt like it was being crushed by the black miasma from before. She wondered if it was from the residual substance that still clung to her, or if it was that she was not used to doing so much excercised. She collapsed on the grass after finishing the pushups. The boys around her laughed at her, mocking her. Some animal eared boys scoffed at her and threw taunts how she'd be eaten alive at their dorm.
Again she ignored and did her situps with grim holding her feet as a spotter. After they were done with PE, they all went back to change into their school uniforms after cleaning up a bit. The blonde girl saw that the ghost left the bottle of her cologne for her.
"Thank you mr. Bones.," She sighed and heard a scream.
It was a boy scream. She looked out of the room she was using and watched a shirtless boy run by, being chased by another. They were horseplaying. She snickered a bit watching them. She went back into the room and changed. Hoshi put her shirt and ribbon on before she put the vest on. Her steel pipe was slid under her shirt again. She finished getting dressed and went to find Grim and the two boys. Ace and Deuce were done with dressing and waiting.
"Ah, there you are. Where'd you go?," Deuce asked.
Hoshi picked up Grim, "I found another room to change in."
"There's plenty of room in the locker room.," Ace chimed and put his hands behind his head, "Unless you're a weirdo. Oh wait, you're ugly and don't like to be seen."
Deuce smacked Ace and the collared boy grimaced. The young woman snickered a bit as she and the boys walked back to the school building. The group sighed, grim fussed until the masked girl put him down so he could walk beside her.

The group walked together as Deuce pulled out the paper that had their classes on them. Ace and Hoshi leaned in to look at the paper.
"This place feels more like regular school than magic school.," Ace sighed as they looked at the class list.
"Huh. We have a break before going to lunch.," Hoshi sighed, "At least my muscles can rest a bit before the next class."
The group ascended the stairs together, passing older students. The masked girl felt eyes on her and looked up to the higher floors, she saw a young man. A blond with a bob and a feathered hat. His face held a grin that was somewhat creepy. His green eyes were locked onto her before he was pulled away by another student. The young woman shuddered before walking up the stairs with her friends. The blonde's reddish orange antenna like hairs bobbed a little as she moved. She sighed when they got to a walkway on the second floor that was open aired. She felt a cool breeze blow over her. She stopped and moved her mask to take a deep breath of fresh air.
"Yuu. I think it's about time for you to answer questions.," Deuce said and grabbed her wrist, "You said you'd answer my questions."
Hoshi twisted her wrist and pulled away from his grip, "I will only those I have an answer to."
"First off, what's the bandages for?," Deuce asked as Ace hung back with a bored expression.
"Protection. Wrapping bandages soften body blows in fight, plus gives a little support. I can also put the pipe in a binding to store it.," (y/n) answered, "My father taught me that. He wore bandages on his stomach from his days as a delinquent and still does as people hold grudges. He did get jumped once."
"And the mask, where did you get it?," the dark haired young man inquired.
"It's a gift. It depicts the monster that cursed my family bloodline. An oni.," the blond girl responded, "The story is a bit long, so we may need to wait for a better time to tell it."

"Why did you help us?," Ace finally piped up, "And how did you know how to fight?"
"Again, that's from dad. He taught me how to fight and use some weapons to defend myself with.," the masked girl answered, "People can be very cruel."
She leaned against one of the pillar walls, "As for helping you two, I just wanted to. Like I said before, you two have futures and hope. I don't have anything here but a curse on my very being."
Deuce was about to ask more questions when Ace spoke up, "Is it just me or is Grim being a bit too quiet?"
The masked girl stood up quickly and looked around. Deuce looked out the window to the courtyard.
"There he is!," the dark haired boy said and pointed to the feline like monster running like a madman.
"Haha! First day of school and you already suck as a prefect!," Ace laughed, mocking the masked girl, "That little bastard is making a fool of you."
Deuce had to grab onto her to stop her from jumping out the window to give chase to the monster, "Yuu! He's not a fast learner, but you're not gonna hurt yourself worse by going after him like this!"
The cherry red eyed redhead laughed, "Want some help?"
"Please!," Hoshi shot back while crouched in the windowsill, the mint green haired one from before was yelling at her to go back into the school.
"In return, get me a chocolate croissant!," Ace chimed with a wide grin.
The green-blue eyed boy holding onto her gave a slightly mischievous smile, "and an iced latte. Then we have a deal."
Hoshi got flustered with annoyance and urgency, forgetting to mask her voice, "Fine I'll buy them!"
"Hahaha! Your voice is funny when you're upset!," Ace teased, "We got a deal! Let's help our friend here, Deuce."
"I can already taste the latte, Ace.," Deuce chuckled.

The dark haired teen let her go and she jumped down from the second story and landed in the grass, it hurt, but she had to catch Grim. The other two took the long way around and cut off the monster.
"Be good and come back to classes, Grim.," Ace said and held up a net that he got from somewhere.
Grim whined, "These classes are boring! I wanna do something fun! Why are you chasing me and trying to bring me back?!"
"Just for the latte, I'll do it all the times I need.," Deuce replied.
The grey feline beast began to run. Hoshi jumped in front of Grim and grabbed at the monster.
"Fnyaaa!," Grim cried and jumped away from her.
Ace used this opportunity to swing the net and attempt to snag the scampering little beast, only he missed the flaming eared feline. This scene was watched and laughed at by other students. This was kept up by the boys keeping up their chase before Deuce dropped a cauldron on Grim.
The little monster was whining after that, "Owowow! Why a cauldron?!"
Hoshi walked up and grabbed Grim. She kicked the large cauldron off of the monster. Students who were watching laughed even more as the monster began fussing. The audience left after Grim was caught. That strange blond with the bob cut was also watching again.
"I don't wanna go to boring classes!," Grim whined, "I wanna learn magic now!"
"You need to be patient and strengthen yourself before learning higher forms of magic. Didn't you hear Trein lecture about how you need to know the basics before the complex spells?," Hoshi scolded and held her fuzzy companion.
The blue eyed monster huffed, "When did you get so strict?"
"When I basically became your guardian and partner.," the girl shot back, "Now behave, or Crowley won't let us have lunch!"
The grey beast quieted down after that.

'Guess he's food motivated.,' the blonde girl thought walked back over to Ace and Deuce, "Thanks a bunch."
"No problem. Also, doesn't he sound like a girl when he's mad?," Ace laughed to Deuce.
The dark haired young man snickered, "You did get high pitched when you were mad."
Hoshi grumbled internally. She was so close to blowing her cover. Luckily they thought it was something that happened as a fluke. The group walked to the cafeteria after their break ended. It was lunchtime and they all were hungry.
The cafeteria had a beautiful spread. It was even better than the one that the masked girl had seen the day before. It must have been that she saw the very end when all the food had been taken. She knew a few of the foods and recognized what she could and couldn't eat. She'd have to find something soft and easy to digest for her. After all, she'd get sick otherwise.
'All of this looks good, too bad I was born with a weak stomach.,' she griped to herself, 'If I can't eat something, I'll give it to Grim.'
"Yay! Lunchtime! Everything looks so good!," the little monster cheered while riding on his partner's shoulder.
He leaned over and looked at the selection, sniffing at everything with drool coming out of his mouth. The masked young woman sighed.
"I thought felines can't eat squid or green onion.," the masked girl mused.
"I'm not a cat, I can eat that. Ooh, fluffy omurice! And chicken, egg tarts!," Grim cheered and hopped off of her shoulder, "I want to see all of it!"
The ghosts that were running the cafeteria seemed to be amused by the enthusiasm of the monster. Ace however was not so pleased.
"You're so loud. Shut up.," the terracotta haired boy hissed, "How about showing this much enthusiasm in class as well?"
Grim ignored Ace and pulled on Hoshi's pants, "I want the chicken, it's the last one! And the omurice! Ooh and that too! Take a bit of everything!"

The monster was too excited and ran into another student.
"NOOO! Hey! Watch it, asshole!," the student snapped, "The egg in my pasta broke because of you!"
This young man and his friend both had the same uniform that Deuce and Ace had on. He and his friend looked like delinquents.
"Whoa, not cool! Breaking the yolk is the best part of eating carbonara, ya know?," the one with the first added, "Now you're gonna have to pay us back."
The first delinquent stepped closer to Hoshi, "How 'bout that chicken? That'd be good compensation. You have enough food with you."
She could smell him as he got closer, he had strange ash colored hair. His friend had strangely colored hair as well.
"No way in hell! That's my chicken!," Grim spat back and embers flew from his mouth.
"Huhh? You're just a freshman aren't you? You should be respecting your elders.," the ash haired delinquent asked, "How about we take this outside?"
"Respect is earned, and right now, I'm giving you none.," the masked girl retorted, "Besides, Fighting is against the rules."
The ash haired boy's friend reached out his hand to grab at her, she caught his hand by the fingers and turned his hand to make it face down. She then forced his hand back, bending his wrist and forcing the boy to lower himself.
"Ack! What?!," the young man hissed in pain.
Hoshi had him lower himself to keep his wrist and fingers from being broken by the motion, "Down. I'm not afraid of bullies like you."
"Now we really gotta make these assholes learn their place!," the ash haired boy yelled as Deuce stepped between him and Hoshi.
"Yuu, looks like we have to.," Deuce hissed and flipped his switch into his fighting stance.

"Yeah.," Hoshi replied.