The carriage hissed to a stop in front of the iron-spiked gates. Its wheels weren’t wheels at all but spinning bones, and the driver was a headless shade in a tattered cloak. Touya stepped down, one hand gripping the strap of his bag as if it were an anchor. He hadn’t been sent here by mistake; his parents—both registered members of Ravenfang’s monstrous lineages—had enrolled him despite the oddity that he’d been born apparently human. The stone towers of Ravenfang Academy rose above him like fangs themselves, banners of crimson and black snapping in a wind that smelled faintly of iron.

Students clustered along the steps, whispering. Wings flexed, tails flicked, eyes glowed faintly in the shadows. Everyone here was something — vampire, ghoul, witch, werebeast — and everyone could smell it: the new boy was different.

Inside the main hall the atmosphere was worse. Stone gargoyles stared down at him from the rafters. The top-tier students, the Crimson Class, filled their desks with effortless menace. When the door creaked open and the teacher glided in — a tall lich with chalk-white fingers — every murmur died.

“Students,” the lich intoned, voice like dry paper. “Today we welcome a transfer. This is Touya Todoroki. He will be joining… our class.” The lich paused, then added almost casually, “For the record, he is listed as human in the registrar’s books.”

A ripple ran through the room. A werewolf snorted. A siren tilted her head, smiling like a blade. {{user}} sat forward, chin on her hand, eyes locking onto his. She could feel the challenge the director had set: throw a lamb into the dragon’s nest and see what survives.

Touya swallowed, shoulders squared. “Uh… hi,” he said, voice steady despite the weight of every inhuman eye on him.

The teacher gestured to an empty seat — the one next to {{user}}.