Chapter Text
Nozomi Tojo shivered slightly in nervousness as she stood in front of her new high school. She’d just finished moving into the dorms and had had a rough time getting all her stuff from the bus stop at the bottom of the hill up to the top where the dorms were located. Her parents apologized over the phone for not being able to help her move in, but to be honest Nozomi was already used to it. Her childhood had been spent moving around from place to place; her parents were essentially workaholics, so they went where their company told them to go with little regard for Nozomi. It had been Nozomi’s idea to move into the dorms; she couldn’t stand to be in another empty apartment where her parents came only to check to make sure the pipes hadn’t busted. Hopefully, this would be the last move she would have to go through; well, at least before going to college.
Shaking her head at the negative thoughts, Nozomi headed inside to fill in some last minute paperwork and to figure out which class she was in. Walking through the empty halls (as classes were still in session), she finally found herself at the Headmaster’s Office.
“Come in,” a voice said inside just as Nozomi was about to knock. Feeling a little disconcerted at the headmaster’s predictive ability (was there a hidden camera somewhere?), she did as she was bidden. At the oaken desk sat a woman with long ashen hair. She gave Nozomi a comforting smile.
“Welcome to Otonokizaka Academy, Nozomi Tojo,” the woman said, “My name is Noriko Minami, and I’m the headmistress of the school. There are just a few pages for you to sign and then you should be all set for tomorrow.” Headmistress Minami said a few more things as Nozomi signed the last of the forms. It took Nozomi a moment to realize the headmistress was looking at her as if waiting for an answer.
“Sorry,” Nozomi stammered, “I didn’t catch your question.”
The other woman gave her a worried smile, “Are you sure you want to transfer here?”
Nozomi looked at the woman with a puzzled expression, “I think so.” Besides, Otonokizaka was the only school that was willing to take Nozomi at this time of year.
The headmistress seemed to search Nozomi’s eyes before nodding to the girl, “Alright then, make sure to read the information packet before classes tomorrow. You will be in class 3-A under Mr. Antoine.” Nozomi nodded and quickly left the room, still puzzled by the headmistress’s apparent hesitation. Gripping the ‘Welcome!’ packet in her hand a little tighter, Nozomi was about to head back to her room when a body went whirling past her.
“Sorry!” the ginger haired girl shouted over her shoulder as she raced down the hall. Screeching to a halt as an idea suddenly sprung into her head, the ginger haired girl handed Nozomi something and yelled a quick ‘Thanks!’ before taking off again. Nozomi didn’t have a chance to look down as what she was now holding as she heard another body racing towards her.
“Honoka, don’t you dare run off!” a girl’s voice yelled. Nozomi whirled around as she tried to find the source of the voice, only to have the voice shout at her, “Would you please stop moving around so much? It’s making me very dizzy.” Belatedly, Nozomi realized the voice was coming from between her hands and looked down.
Only to find she was holding the head of a girl with long blue hair. Looking up in horror, Nozomi realized the body barreling towards her had no head. Before her mind could catch up to the events thus far, Nozomi found herself falling as she fainted dead away.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When next Nozomi awoke, she found herself staring at an unfamiliar white ceiling. Groaning, she shifted to a sitting position and found herself in what appeared to be the school’s infirmary.
“Oh, looks like you’re awake.”
Nozomi jumped a little at the unexpected voice and found herself staring at a girl with bright red hair and lavender eyes. By the looks of the bow around her neck, she was a first year student. Suddenly remembering something, Nozomi looked down at her hands in panic, then quickly got off the bed to look around.
“If you’re worried about the dullahan, she’s fine,” the red head answered as she watched Nozomi looking around in a panic, “She managed to catch her head right after you fainted. But that means that no one was able to catch you, so you might have a slight concussion. You’d best take the rest of the day off.”
Nozomi paused at the word ‘dullahan,’ but wasn’t able to think about it too much as her body protested the sudden movement. “Oh, that’s good. Thank you,” Nozomi said. Once her mind started settling down, Headmistress Minami’s words surfaced in her mind. Who, or what was that she saw? Excusing herself from the infirmary, Nozomi quickly made her way back to the dorm and fell face first into her bed. Groaning, she rolled onto her back and pulled out the school’s info packet.
Otonokizaka Academy. Home to students of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. It wasn’t until she’d read about halfway through the packet that the words really dawned on her.
Otonokizaka Academy was a school for literally ALL species. Witches, demons, mythical creatures, you name it. She vaguely noted that plain old ‘human’ wasn’t really included on the list, though after her experience that day, she wasn’t that nearly so surprised. While Nozomi was a somewhat spiritual person (her grandparents owned a shrine and she often read tarot cards as a hobby), she never thought that all those mystical creatures from the stories her grandmother told were real. In all her 17 years, she’d never met one of them until now.
Nozomi sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. It was all a lot to take in all at once. What was this school? Would she even fit in? She’d been through the process as a transfer student numerous times before, but she didn’t know anything about this world. Vowing to learn as much as she could the next day, Nozomi quickly fell into a fitful sleep.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Hi, I’m Nozomi Tojo,” Nozomi said at her introduction the next day. Her voice quivered ever so slightly as she looked around the room. Knowing that most of these people weren’t her standard of ‘normal’ made Nozomi feel quite vulnerable, more so than ever before, “Um, due to my parents’ jobs, we moved to this area, so, I’ll be joining your all’s class. I hope we can get along.”
“Alright, Tojo-san, thank you for the introduction,” the teacher said, “Why don’t you sit in the empty seat behind Ayase-san? Ayase-san, would you raise your hand?” A girl with her bright blond hair tied back in a ponytail slowly raised her hand. Nozomi gave the girl a friendly smile as she passed her, though that smile faltered when the girl gave her an icy glare with cold blue eyes. Shutting her mouth to whatever she was going to say, Nozomi practically fell into her chair as classes started.
Thankfully, Nozomi had kept up with her studies, quickly growing bored with the lecture material. Secretly glancing around, Nozomi tried to guess what everyone was. The Salamander and the Water Nymph were fairly obvious, among others. Her eye caught on a small girl in the back with raven hair tied in pigtails. The girl’s crimson eyes also appeared bored as her eyes wandered. Nozomi caught a glimpse of what appeared to be horns on the girl’s head when the girl turned to look at her. Nozomi quickly returned to staring at Ayase-san’s back. Nozomi wondered what Ayase-san was as an alluring scent wafted her way.
“That will be for this lecture,” the teacher said, breaking the spell over Nozomi. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the cobwebs in her mind. What had happened?
“Hey transfer,” a voice said. Nozomi turned to see the small twin tailed girl standing by her desk. Looking closer, the girl indeed had a small pair of horns on her head, though she otherwise looked human, “I’m Nico Yazawa; saw you looking my way during class.”
Nozomi felt her face blush before she gave a low bow, “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to stare at you or anything.”
Yazawa-san looked a little flustered, “Oh, no, that’s not what I meant. I just wanted to talk with you and was wondering if you wanted to grab some lunch together?”
“Um, sure,” Nozomi hesitantly said, happy that the Yazawa-san didn’t seem angry. The two quickly grabbed something from the school’s cafeteria before settling into an empty space in the courtyard.
The two began their lunch in awkward silence before the Yazawa-san finally spoke up, “Rotten luck for you to get seated near Eli Ayase.”
So her first name was Eli, Nozomi thought to herself. To Yazawa-san, she simply replied, “Oh? Something I should be aware of?”
Yazawa-san looked at Nozomi, then sighed, “I can already tell you’re going to be a handful. Let’s just say this; if you want a peaceful life, stay away from Ayase.”
Nozomi wanted to press further, but thought better about it. Yazawa-san was the first student who’d bothered to talk to her and Nozomi didn’t want to annoy the girl just yet, “Yazawa-san.”
“Nico.”
“Nico-san,” Nozomi corrected, “Thanks for the advice; I'll keep that in mind.” She was going to say more when a trio suddenly came up to them. Nozomi recognized the ginger haired girl and the blue haired dullahan from yesterday (she was slightly more prepared this time to see the girl holding her head and didn’t faint right then and there). Though she hadn’t met the third girl before, Nozomi noted the girl’s resemblance to the headmistress. Except for the added set of feathered wings.
“Are you Nozomi Tojo?” the ginger haired girl asked. When Nozomi nodded, she was surprised when the girl gave her a low bow, “I’m really sorry about yesterday! I didn’t mean to scare you or anything.”
It was then Nozomi remembered she’d fainted while holding the blue hair girl’s head, “Oh, no, I should be apologizing. I didn’t mean to drop your head; are you alright?”
“No need to worry, I’m fine,” the blue haired girl said, “I’m sorry I couldn’t catch you when you fell. Are you alright?”
“Guys, shouldn’t we be introducing ourselves first?” the ashen haired girl suggested. Her friends nodded as they realized Nozomi didn’t know how to address them, “Nice to meet you, Tojo-sempai. My name is Kotori Minami. These are my friends Honoka Kosaka and Umi Sonoda. Feel free to call us by our first names. We’re from class 2-D and I hope we will get along in the future.” Kotori gestured to the ginger haired girl and blue haired girl respectively before giving another bow. Her friends followed a heartbeat later.
“It’s nice to meet you all as well, and Nozomi’s fine,” Nozomi replied. Though she tried not to show it, she didn’t like being called by her last name. It just served as a reminder of the parents who had left her to fend for herself. Again, like always. She quickly pushed those thoughts from her mind.
“Oh, the bell’s going to ring soon,” Honoka said, “We’ll see you around, Nozomi-sempai!” With that, the three second years were gone.
Nico snickered as they made their way back to class, “Man, how sheltered are you to have fainted when you saw the dullahan?”
“Well, that’s…,” Nozomi stared but didn’t finish as the room suddenly fell silent. Nozomi looked up to see Ayase-san entering the room, the students scrambling to find their seats. Ayase-san seemed to ignore everyone around her as she quickly found her own seat, though Nozomi could have sworn Ayase-san had given her a glare just before she sat down.
By the time classes were over, Nozomi was more than ready to head home. Though the classes themselves weren’t that bad (she especially enjoyed the history lecture), she’d been getting some seriously ominous vibes from the girl in front of her, who promptly got up and rushed out the door as soon as the bell rang. Nozomi let out the breath she’d been unconsciously holding as Nico came to her desk.
“Yikes, that was worse than usual,” Nico said, glaring in the direction Ayase-san had rushed off to, “You look beat; I know a place that sells some good parfaits if you’re up for it.” Not having anything else to do other than to go back to the dorms (since she wasn’t in any clubs yet), Nozomi decided to follow Nico to a small café just outside of the school grounds. As they began to dig into their parfaits (which were indeed very delicious), Nico abruptly asked, “So, what’s a human doing at a school like Otonokizaka?”
Nozomi almost choked on a strawberry. “What are you talking about?” she asked hastily.
“Come on, it’s pretty obvious,” Nico said, rolling her eyes, “Dullahan’s are pretty common nowadays; I don’t think I’ve met anyone who hasn’t interacted with one in their life. But you actually fainted when you met Sonoda the first time, at least from what I heard. Add to the fact that you seem overly interested in the rest of us makes me think you’ve never seen our kind before. Which means you’d have to be human.”
“Well, maybe I’m just a really sheltered person,” Nozomi stuttered.
Nico rolled her eyes again, “Yeah, I seriously doubt that. Look, it’s not like I have a problem with you being human or anything. It’s just that this school isn’t exactly the safest place for a human to be in.” It was then Nozomi realized that Nico was actually worried for her.
“Thanks, Niccochi,” Nozomi said. Nico’s head whipped around at the nickname, “Oh, sorry, can I call you Niccochi?”
“It’s fine,” Nico replied, a small blush forming on her face. The two talked for a little longer then began making their way back. Nozomi was surprised when Nico parted ways at the school; apparently, not everyone lived in the dorms. As she entered her room, Nozomi heard the shower running. While her roommate hadn’t shown up yesterday (at least, not that Nozomi was aware since they had individual bedrooms), it seemed they had come back today. Steeling herself for an introduction, Nozomi felt her heart freeze and her legs turn into jelly when the girl walked out of the shower.
It was none other than Eli Ayase.