"Why did we need to rush so much to get to class?" Mikayla asked as she and Nya settled into their desks. They'd come straight here after checking a noticeboard to see which classroom they'd been assigned to.

  As soon as the opening ceremony had concluded, Nya had dragged her away in a rush. They'd far outpaced the rest of the first-year cohort and arrived in a classroom a couple of acres away, which Nya had identified as the site of their first class; Political Studies.

  Mikayla hated it already.

  "By arriving first, we get the best seats in the classroom," Mikayla didn't think she agreed with Nya that the best seats were the ones at the front, but she let it slide. "It also means we can observe everyone who'll be in the same class as us without having to worry about people in other classes,"

  "So the first year is getting split into multiple classes, then. I thought it seemed like there were too many people for just one class,"

  "Correct. They try to keep roommates and existing friendships together, so your foxy friend will probably be joining us. But I wonder who else we'll get -" The classroom door burst open.

  The yaoguai that emerged was almost identical to Nya, save for being noticeably taller, and Mikayla immediately ascertained her as another Yevgenia clone. "I made it - Hegemon damnit!" the newcomer cursed as she saw Nya.

  "You need to be faster on the uptake, Sendo," Nya admonished triumphantly.

  Sendo turned up her nose at the other Yevgenia, instead leaning over the desk Mikayla had claimed. "Yevgenia Sendo, a pleasure to make your acquaintance,"

  "Mikayla Aiadon. Same to you," Mikayla returned what she hoped was a friendly and not scared smile. She'd just about gotten used to Nya. Going to school with entire classes of what looked an awful lot like demons was going to take some getting used to yet.

  "As I was saying," Nya pointedly did not look at Sendo, "my parents and tutors warned me that Cloudscraper attracts the best of the best, the prodigies and great talents. And sometimes prodigies are really weird. So, no matter what kind of eccentric characters join us for this year, remember; they do not matter because we are better than all of them,"

  Mikayla was saved from having to formulate a response to that by Sendo interrupting, "Except for me,"

  "Someday, Sendo, I'm going to feed you to a Kaiju," Nya pleasantly informed her.

  "May the Mother of Learning spank you, Han," Sendo retorted.

  Before the door could swing closed, another yaoguai strode through it. He was wearing additional gold armour plates over his uniform, and his horns were twisted upwards and coloured a matching gold. Unlike the pinkish-purple that the Yevgenias had, his skin was blood-red, and his hair was tied into a topknot. He gave off the impression of a dragon, regal and domineering.

  "Ah, Lady Han, Lady Sendo, a pleasure as always,"

  "Geum Leishun," Nya dispassionately retorted. "I see you managed to pass the entrance exams,"

  Mikayla tried very hard not to react to that. There were supposed to be entrance exams?

  "Naturally, the faculty recognised my genius. It was inevitable," Geum tilted his head so that his gilded horns would catch the light.

  Nya pursed her lips, then turned to her roommate. "Mikayla, I know you're new around here and still getting over the culture shock. But this," she gestured evocatively at Geum, "this is what we consider pathetic,"

  Before Mikayla could decide on an appropriate response, Geum was leaning over her. "Oh? And what do we have here? A human? In my classroo - yeouch!"

  He lost his footing, struggling to stay upright as another newcomer yanked on his raised tail. He scrabbled, being dragged by his tail towards the rear of the classroom, and Mikayla blinked as she took in the next newcomer.

  Nya had warned her that yaoguai mixbloods were a thing, and (unlike in D&D) yaoguai were entirely able to crossbreed with non-human races. But that didn't prepare her for seeing a Yaoguai covered in thin yellow fur with leopard-like spots, feline ears crowned by horns, and a strange, sinuous yet furry tail. She'd just about gotten used to strange skin colours and extra limbs, but this boy was the most alien-looking she'd seen to date.

  "I'm Sekki. I'm this lout's minder. Apologies in advance," the mixblood briefly locked eyes with her, then dumped Geum into the seat behind Sendo and took the desk behind Nya as his own.

  Another set of footsteps entered the classroom, and Mikayla was relieved to see that Keldryn had joined them, just as Nya predicted. He scanned the room briefly, and took a seat behind Mikayla without a word. Geum leered at him, but before the gold-clad yaoguai could do anything another stranger followed Keldryn through the door.

  He was another yaoguai mixblood, like Sekki, but looked closer to beastkin than yaoguai. His skin was black as coal, and he had a mane of white hair running all the way down from his scalp to the tip of his tail, ending in a thick tuft. Cool green eyes swept the class, but he didn't say a word, merely nodded respectfully and made his way to the back of the class.

  Mikayla suddenly realised what that design reminded her of. She surreptitiously leant back towards Keldryn and whispered, "Are skunk beastkin a thing?"

  "Yep," he regarded the newcomer with interest.

  "Oh, are we whispering?" Sekki, at the desk next to Keldryn, leant into the huddle.

  "Not to you," Keldryn pointedly didn't look at him.

  "Really? So you're not interested in the fact that I know that guy?"

  Keldryn raised an eyebrow, and Sekki took the implied invitation. "His name's Treft, but don't expect him to introduce himself; he's mute. So try not to hold it against him,"

  "Huh. Thanks," Mikayla smiled.

  "Think nothing of it. As a fellow mixblood Yaoguai, I feel it's my duty to help him out. We've crossed paths before, and he always seemed like the type who could use a few friends," Sekki grinned, reclining into his seat.

  "Why are you talking to the trash, Sekki?" Geum complained, not quietly enough for anyone to not hear him.

  Sekki rolled his eyes. "You remember the talk we had about not calling people trash just because they haven't earned your respect?"

  "Right, right, ugh,"

  Before Mikayla could do more than frown at the ostentatious yaoguai scion, there was a clatter of noise from the doorway.

  "Now presenting!"

  The door exploded. Pink and green smoke billowed into the room, and a shadow cartwheeled through the smog. "The incredible, phenomenal, spectacular and brilliant, B-B-B-Banki!"

  The smoke cleared, revealing a woman in a very loose-hanging version of the uniform - she seemed to have gotten one two sizes too big and modified it to fit her - as well as adding ribbons that trailed from her arms and legs. Mikayla's focus was immediately drawn to the pastel-coloured stripes of pink, blue and green, through which similarly coloured feline ears stuck out. Her face was round and well made up, with feline slitted pupils and what looked like stripes painted onto her cheeks. A fluffy and stripy tail hung from the rear of her robes.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Mikayla blinked to clear away the spots in her vision. It wasn't her first time seeing a female beastkin, there had been a few among the victims of the Regressors in Cliffwatch, but this was a much more striking experience.

  "Hi, hi, and welcome, everyone, to the Banki show!" the neon tigress waved, causing her silky ribbons to billow.

  "Well, I knew there would be a couple of crazies," Nya murmured, staring in bafflement.

  Motion in the corner of her vision caught Mikayla's eye, and she noticed that another boy had snuck in and sat at the back of the room; a yaoguai with ocean-blue skin and choppy black hair parted by horns that bent back over his ears. He didn't seem willing to engage with the rest of the class, and it didn't look like anyone else had noticed him, so she mentally christened him Ocean for now and didn't push the issue.

  "Over here, Banki," Sendo waved at the ostentatious newcomer, gesturing at the last remaining seat in the front row.

  Banki ignored her, slouching into a seat at the rear of the room instead.

  "Really? She's with you?" Nya hissed in a mix of disbelief and condescension.

  "She's my roommate, and together we are going to prove that just because you were born lucky doesn't make you better than us," Sendo retorted.

  Mikayla glanced at Banki to see her take on their roommates' evident rivalry, but the tigerkin was doodling on some scrap paper.

  Nya noticed this too and chuckled. "How terrifyingly intimidating,"

  Another woman entered in Banki's wake, and Mikayla was struck by the strange mix of similarities and differences that the newest classmate had to Nya and Sendo. Her skin was the same shade of pink, but her horns were gnarled and knotted, her black hair stained with blue tips. She had eschewed the lithe appearance Nya had worked hard to cultivate, and instead all five of her limbs rippled with muscle that was barely contained by the Cloudscraper uniform.

  So this was what a failed Yevgenia clone looked like.

  Her eyes raked across Nya and Sendo, but she didn't say a word, instead merely settling in the last unoccupied desk in the front row. Mikayla suddenly felt self-conscious. Not only was she the only non-Yevgenia in the front row, but she was also the only human in the class thus far. Why did that make her feel uncomfortable? She'd lived so long knowing no other races besides humans, and - come to think, she'd met exactly one human in this world who hadn't tried to kill her; Anza.

  Were humans a minority?

  As if to answer her silent prayers, a human boy was the next to enter the classroom. He had spiky orange hair, a scarf wrapped around his neck, and - shockingly - a katana hanging at his hip.

  Mikayla blinked at the sheathed weapon. An actual katana. Made of metal. This was the first time she'd seen a weapon that wasn't a Core projection since coming to this world.

  The stranger drew to a halt at the front of the room and swept into a bow. "I greet you, new friends. As a tree greets stars above. Know me as Kaizen," the young man declared with a tone of perfect serenity.

  Mikayla blinked.

  Having said his piece, Kaizen straightened up and slipped with ease towards the unoccupied desks at the back of the room.

  ". . great, the only other human in the class and he's the biggest weirdo here," she murmured.

  Keldryn leaned over his desk to hiss at her, "Well, it could be worse,"

  "How so?"

  "You could have that guy as your roommate,"

  Mikayla winced. And suddenly she understood why Keldryn hadn't at any point during the past week brought his roommate when he came to train with her and Nya. "My sympathies,"

  Kaizen swept past them, his scarf billowing. "Falling leaves draw close, by chaotic whim of fate. We sojourn as one,"

  Keldryn let out a puff of air from his cheeks. "Did you get a word of that?"

  "Nope," Mikayla shrugged, glancing around the room. There was only one seat left unoccupied. If the class was indeed six pairs of roommates; herself and Nya, Sendo and Banki, Keldryn and Kaizen, Geum and Sekki, Treft and 'Ocean' - they were still missing the partner of the unnamed non-Yevgenia.

  As if on cue, one last student burst into the door, panting heavily. "Did I make it?" she wheezed, lifting her head and scanning the room. Seeing that no teacher was present, she sighed in relief.

  The last newcomer was, for some reason, dressed in a thick black cloak that covered most of her body, revealing only the uniform at the front. Gloves and boots ensured that the only exposed part of her body was the lower half of her face, though peering into the shadows of her cloak's hood, Mikayla thought she could see some kind of headdress to pin her hair back. There was something strange about her boots, too, they looked bent. Almost similar to Skyward Grasscutter's digitigrade legs. Another beastkin girl of some kind, then, one who didn't have the human-shaped legs that Keldryn and Banki did.

  Mikayla saw in real-time the moment that the last newcomer realised everyone was staring at her, her grey eyes widening and a visible flinch shaking her body. "U-um, hi, hi everybody. I'm Lydia. It's nice to meet you?" She squeaked at the end of

  Social anxiety. Mikayla had been fighting it for her entire life. She could tell when someone else was struggling.

  This was a new world. She'd promised herself that she would be better this time.

  So she stood up and offered a hand, smiling. "Hi. I'm Mikayla. We'll be learning and fighting together, so let's do our best, okay?"

  Lydia blinked at her hand, and Mikayla faltered. Did they not do handshakes around here?

  But then Lydia almost slapped her hand, suddenly cottoning on and shaking it. "Yes! Right! I will, we will. Heh," Mikayla could feel claws through the glove. Definitely some kind of beastkin, but why cover up like that? Was she trying to pass as human for some reason?

  "There's still an empty seat, right over there," Mikayla assured her, spinning as she went to gauge the rest of the class' reactions. She could tell that Nya and Sendo had already written Lydia off, and the third yaoguai girl just looked exasperated. Banki, on the other hand, was waving and gesturing to the unoccupied seat next to her. Keldryn was cool as always, Geum's sneer hadn't slipped, and Kaizen looked interested. The other three boys weren't even paying them any attention.

  "Lydia," the unnamed non-Yevgenia spoke up for the first time. "What did I tell you?"

  "Sorry, sorry, Irin, I had a, um, wardrobe mishap," Lydia awkwardly patted down her cloak.

  Irin. Mikayla mentally noted that down.

  Irin just sighed. "I suppose it doesn't really matter. Our teacher will be here at any minute, get seated already,"