CHAPTER 7:

Minwoo woke up the sound of chirping, and something tapping against glass. His chocolate brown eyes flickered open, slowly adjusting to the soft morning light spilling into the room. With his mind still clouded with sleep, he sat up on his dorm bed rubbing his eyes and yawning. If he were to be really honest this was probably the most comfortable sleep he had in awhile. Sleeping on a proper spring mattress beats a worn out one stuffed with hay anytime.

Turning his gaze towards the window, he saw 2 sparrows perched on the windowsill, pecking constantly at the window. So that was where the sound came from… Minwoo then turned to the other bed across the room, where his mentor and hyung was still snoring away. Laughing internally, he sleepily pushed himself off the bed and trudged towards the window. Unlocking the window and opening it, he smiled as he watched the 2 sparrows chirping and looking up at him. Minwoo really missed birdwatching at his own village.

Without warning, the 2 birds darted past him and flew swiftly into the room, perching on Donghyun’s bed. Before Minwoo could react, they started pecking at his hyung’s head. Donghyun woke up almost instantly and sat upright, rolling his eyes when he saw it was only the 2 sparrows which had snapped him out of his slumber. Shoeing the birds out of the window, he shut it and turned back towards Minwoo still standing at one side, afraid of getting an earful of his hyung’s scoldings for letting the birds in.

“Good morning. Did the birds wake you too? They’re supposed to be the wake up call for everyone in Orion house.”

Minwoo blinked in surprise. “O-oh...I see. Good morning hyung. The birds..they’re really sweet..” he said softly. Donghyun didn’t know what came over him at that point. He was mesmerized by the cuteness and innocence of his dongsaeng. How he spoke so meekly and how he seemed to be one with nature. Blushing a little, he turned around in order to hide is flustered face and clear his throat.

"Ahem, well then, I suppose we better get ready for breakfast and lessons in an hour's time. You can shower first."The elder mentally slapped himself for thinking of such a stupid answer. Minwoo, however did not seem to notice as he just gathered his school uniform and headed into the bathroom.

Donghyun took the time Minwoo was in the shower to pack his bag and most importantly his broomstick. He helped check Minwoo’s timetable and placed the important things on his dongsaeng’s bed next to his bag.

Minwoo came out of the shower, rubbing a towel on his damp, messy hair, already dressed in his attire. Seeing his essentials already placed neatly on his bed, he turned around and thanked his hyung, bowling 90 degrees. The prefect said nothing, only laughing lightly and ruffling his already messy hair before disappearing into the shower.

In an hour, they were ready and heading down to the main hall. Youngmin and Kwangmin were already seated there, munching on toast. Placed on all 5 long tables was a huge spread of breakfast foods, ranging from cereal to waffles. The room smelled of honey and delicious bacon. Mouths watering, Donghyun and Minwoo sat across the twins, exchanging good mornings.

“Where’s Jeongmin and Hyunseong?” Donghyun asked, helping himself to a plate of fried eggs.

“Oh, they rushed off after receiving a notice about an urgent meeting for prefects.”

Donghyun looked up in surprise. “Then how come-”

He was interrupted by the ring on his finger glowing bright red. Minwoo’s eyes widened as it was his first time noticing his hyung’s maintainer. A voice spoke out of the ring.

“Kim Donghyun. This is Professor Jung. Please report to the prefect’s room immediately. Your teachers have already been notified of the absence from your lessons.”

Groaning internally, Donghyun stood up and straightened his tie. He looked at Minwoo hesitantly.

“Well, looks like I’m unable to show you around to your classes. I’ll leave Youngmin and Kwangmin to bring you. You’re alright with that?”

The younger nodded, and Youngmin grinned widely and plopped himself down next to Minwoo, casually slinging an arm around his shoulders. “You don’t have anything to worry about hyung! Our classes are the same, so we’ll be able to keep an eye out for him, right Kwangmin?” The silent brunette twin nodded in agreement.

“Okay then. Good luck on your first day!” The prefect then mumbled something under his breath, and a second later he vanished in a puff of smoke.

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After filling their stomachs and sticky sweet honey off their fingers, Minwoo, Youngmin and Kwangmin headed to their first class; Spells. The topic sounded intriguing but unfortunately Minwoo was about the only one in his cohort to not know what to expect, as he only recently discovered his magic. It was relieving to know he had not burnt anything down yet thanks to his maintainer.

The classroom was absolutely grand, a semi circle shape with cobble stones lining the walls from floor to ceiling, about 20 metres high. On the arc of the room hung the familiar school flag with the house flags beside it, 2 on each side. Right below the school flag was the biggest bench with many dusty-looking books and strange looking containers were piled up, assumed to be the teacher’s table. Similar queer cages were hung all around the room.

The students’ benches were neatly lined up facing the front, each accommodating around 3 people. The 3 freshmen slid into a bench in the second row in the middle column, putting their spell book on the bench in front of them. Other chattering freshmen began to stream into the room and soon the classroom was filled up. It wasn’t long before the bell signalling the start of first class began to ring.

As if right on cue, the doors opened and a female student who looked slightly older than them stepped into the room and made her way to the front. The dark blue badge pinned to her blazer was a giveaway to Minwoo that she was a team player in Xenos house, one of the girls he had seen fighting outside yesterday. Turning around to face the freshmen, she cleared .

“Welcome to SMA! As you all know this is your first day of classes, but more specifically your first Spells class. My name is Kang Soyou, but you can call me Ms. Kang. Though I’m only a Year 4 student, I have been instructed by the school to teach you your first basic spells. Please turn your textbooks to chapter 1.”

A hand was raised. It belonged to a student from Aiden house, as seen from the badge with a fire symbol on his blazer.

“Excuse me, Ms. Kang, but aren’t you going to take attendance or do self introduction?”

Soyou laughed lightly before replying. “Your attendance is already taken the moment you step into this room with your maintainer. I can then immediately tell who’s here and who’s not. Just because there are many of you doesn’t mean i can’t keep track.”

The whole class then fell into complete silence as only the flipping of pages could be heard. Heads were bowed as everyone read the introduction of spells and such.

The clock ticked by, with students intently watching as Soyou demonstrated a transformation spell. Until they have passed their basic spells knowledge test they were not allowed to try out any of the spells in the book. Minwoo watch with amazement as she turned a stick from her bench into an owl, which she then carefully put into one of the cages hanging above. Finally, the bell rang, signalling the end of spells class and the beginning of the next class; broomstick flying.

“Come on Minwoo, we don’t want to be late. We still need to change in the locker rooms.” called Youngmin over his shoulder, following the crowd of students making their way towards the field outside the battle arena. The students then divided up to go into their respective house locker rooms. Many of them knew how to distinguish the house symbols by now.

Finding their lockers quickly, Minwoo and the twins changed into the yellow shirt with the Orion house crossbow symbol printed at the back. With broomsticks in hand, they and all the Orion house freshmen reported to a student who looked to be their teacher.

“Good morning class. My name is Kim Dasom. Just some facts about me, I’m in year 4 and a prefect. Because many of the teachers and professors are very busy with many things this year, I’ll be teaching you the basics of broomstick flying. Out of curiousity, how many of you have actually flown on a broom before?”

Almost all hands went up except a few which included Minwoo, who partially hid his face in embarrassment. He had totally forgotten that he was considered an outsider for the magic world.

“Ah i see. Well for those who don’t know not to worry. It’s not as difficult or as scary as it looks. As for those who know, you can proceed to practice lift off from the round while i teach these few.”

Youngmin and Kwangmin took off from the ground without any effort and began floating above Minwoo or flying in circles. Dasom was slowly and patiently teaching Minwoo how to take off on the broomstick. He looked terrified though. What if he fell off?

“That’s right, don’t be nervous. Now, all you need is the mental concentration to make it fly. Say the command in your head: Fly!”

The young boy took a few shaky breaths, steadying himself before thinking in his head: Fly.

At once the broomstick lifted him and shot up at least several feet off the ground. Minwoo yelped in utter surprise and gasped. He clutched desperately onto the broomstick while looking down at Dasom who was still on the ground looking up, telling him to keep calm and just float. However the broomstick was swaying back and forth, which made Minwoo panic even more. Fortunately, Youngmin was by his side in no time and gently positioned his dongsaeng’s hands so that he had the proper rider’s grip on the broom. Minwoo finally began to calm his nerves and he was now stable and alright. Dasom gave a thumbs up to Youngmin as a thanks before going on to assist other students.

Scanning the view from where he was sitting on the broomstick, he had quite a splendid view of the forest and lake, as well as the castle academy and battle arena. Never did he think a magic place like this with Hengeyokai could be so magnificent and gorgeous.

Minwoo scanned the field below him and noticed that there were 3 other groups of students; one in black, one in red and the other in blue. There seemed to be one teacher for every house, meaning the broomstick flying lessons were not combined, and he wondered why. Well, it did not take him long to find out as he suddenly felt a force knock against his side.

He was almost thrown off his broomstick, dropping a few feet but luckily managed to steady himself again. Before he could look for the source of the push he heard laughter, feeling another knocking into his sides, except this time he was more prepared for it. Regaining his balance he scanned his surrounding to find a group of students in black shirts pointing at him and smirking. Of course, they were from Duncan house.

“Hey! It’s that who encountered SHINee hyungs last night! Pathetic little thing doesn’t seem to comfortable riding on a broomstick..”

“We should help them pay back!”

Just as one of them prepared to aim and fire another attack, one of them suddenly yelped and went flying off his broomstick. Then another, and another, similar to the way they had tried to knock Minwoo off. The group, now on the ground, were shouting and looking around furiously for their attacker.

Stunned, Minwoo did the same and it was only then did he see a brunette hiding in the shadows of a tree, smirking at the Duncan house boys before looking directly at Minwoo and giving a thumbs up. It was Kwangmin. Minwoo felt a wave of relief and gratefulness towards the younger twin.

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After many hours, lessons have finally ended and everyone was seated in the main hall tucking into a delicious dinner prepared for them. Donghyun, Hyunseong and Jeongmin have finally returned from their prefects meeting, looking exhausted but excited, and were telling the 3 freshmen what it was all about.

“Apparently the Orion house team is failing now, and the only one who’s still fine in the team is Donghyun hyung, the captain. Turns out we need to hold an audition for all Orion house members for the new team to play in the games and also possibly defend the school.”

Youngmin and Kwangmin’s head immediately shot up, eyes sparkling. “Hyung, what is the game all about? We’ve been hearing so much about it but never really knew what it was.”

“Every year, in the battle arena a Hengeyokai will be cloned and fly freely around the arena, since clones don’t harm anyone. Members from each team must then fight and capture as many Hengeyokai clones in the goal as they can. The team with most number at end time wins. However in each team there is a seeker who will try and find the real Hengeyokai and capture it. If he/she succeeds the team will win immediately.”

Minwoo nearly choked on his food when he heard Hengeyokai were involved in the game. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and kept his head down, not wanting to be involved.

“Sounds great!” beamed Youngmin. “Me and Kwanggie will audition for sure!” He turned to Minwoo. “What bout you Min? You up for it?”

“N-No it’s okay I don’t think I’m cut out for the team just yet…”

Donghyun gazed at Minwoo, finding his reaction a little strange but nonetheless decided not to ask any questions, at least not here.

“I’ll be in the washroom..” Minwoo stood up and bowed, excusing himself before he made his way out of the main hall towards the boys’ bathroom at the end of the dimly lit corridor. The area outside the main hall was deserted and deadly silent, since everyone was still inside eating dinner. He could even hear his own shoes scraping against the cobblestone floor and the rain which pattered down outside.

Pushing open the bathroom door, he went straight to the sink to wash his face, sighing to calm himself down after hearing the conversation just now. He stared intently at his reflection in the mirror. Why did everything have to link back to that horrible demon monster? Couldn’t there be a suitable activity in this school that he was good at, and didn’t involve any monsters? Maybe I’m not very cut out for this academy…

Minwoo was so lost in his own thoughts that he did not notice a blinding flash of lightning coming through the bathroom window, and only the after roar of thunder jolted him back to reality. It was then he noticed how dim the bathroom was, the shadows seemd to stretch out towards him and now wanted to get back to the main hall as this was creeping him out. Just as he turned to leave, there was a sudden thud behind him.

Before he could turn around, he felt himself being thrown and slammed against the bathroom wall furthest from the door. Yelping in pain, he squeezed his eyes shut as he slid down the wall, slumping onto the floor. What was that?! The shadow blocking out the light in front of him gave it away that his attacker was right before him.

Shaking violently with fear and wincing in pain at his harsh treatment, he lifted his gaze slowly to meet a pair of red, glowing bloodshot eyes.

The eyes of a Hengeyokai.