Pride X Familiar ReVamp (Pride X ReVamp Book 1) (7 page)

I took that with a kilo of salt.

I wondered how peaceful life would be for a Familiar bonded to a Fragment and classified as a Special.

After the briefing, I hurried over to my assigned homeroom and introduced myself as per the norm for any transfer student, except I’d chosen to take off my Familiar pin outside the classroom, only to put it on as part of the introduction.

Lunch break had come around quickly enough.

I sat in the donut shaped cafeteria building at a table on the second level, overlooking the first level below.

I sat in the cafeteria at a table on the second level, overlooking the first level below.

Caprice sat across the round table, eating from the tray.

I looked down at the food on my tray and started picking at it, before I finally managed to eat a few bites.

When I finished eating half the contents on the tray, I went back to gazing over the Aventis students occupying the cafeteria’s three levels.

Resting my chin on a palm, I muttered, “This morning went well enough. My grand debut at the prestigious Galatea Academy. Whoopee doo.”

“It was well within expectations, though the entrance ceremony was a little tedious.”

I shifted my eyes in her direction. “So this is your second year here?”

“You already know that Caelum. Why are you asking me again?”

“Sorry.” I looked away.

For six of the past seventh months, I’d been attending my old school for Regulars. My status as a Familiar had been kept from the students. That meant I spent six months playing the part of being a Regular just like the rest of my classmates. But now pretend time was over. I couldn’t hide what I was from the Aventis student body here at Galatea. The handbook clearly stated that was against the rules.

I fingered the badges pinned to my blazer’s breast.

I had received them a week ago from Arisa who’d organized my transfer to Galatea Academy.

In a way, I felt kind of relieved not to be hiding what I was. But it didn’t make me feel any better about being a Familiar. Seven months since that fateful day and I sometimes struggled accepting the card Fate had dealt me. There were things I could do now that really worried me. Was I responsible enough to make the best use of my abilities?

Caprice had stopped eating and was quietly studying me. I grew a little uncomfortable under her gaze. I started to stroke my sternum through my shirt.

“Stop that,” she said softly. “That wound healed months ago.”

“It’s a habit, and I still have a scar—thank you very much.”

“I already apologized for that, but triggering your Awakening was necessary. The best way is a shock to the system, usually by near fatal wound. Once injected, the Symbiote bonds quickly to your weakened body, triggering the genetic changes and healing you at an accelerated rate before it dies and is absorbed into your body.”

“Yes, yes, so you told me before.” I remembered waking up with my head on her lap. I also remembered her waking up around the same time. After a little awkwardness between us, and seeing I was clearly alive, Caprice had quickly explained what she had done, and why.

Caprice continued as she had that day. “By bonding you to the Lanfears you gained protection from the other Prides. And even if we leave that aside, the fact that you are bonded means they couldn’t fight over you either.”

“Yeah, I know that—I mean I know that
now
. Still, it’s more a branding than a bonding.”

Caprice’s eyes narrowed, then she glanced away. “Trust you to think of it that way.”

I sighed softly. “At the time, I had no idea I was in such deep shit.”

“Neither did we,” she admitted. “However, we should be thankful those elements in the Raynar Pride have been suitably reprimanded and suppressed.”

I bit my lower lip. “The Raynars, huh. Closest cousins to the Lanfears.”

“Cousins, and nothing more.”

I narrowed my eyes as I discretely looked around at the cafeteria. “You think they’ll try again? I know it’s been seven months but…what if they think I’m more of a threat now than ever before?”

Caprice stopped eating again. “They’d better not,” she whispered. “Next time, I won’t be so gentle with them.”

Talk about a cold whisper. I actually had to refrain a shudder. If what I witnessed almost seven months ago on the rooftop was ‘gentle’ I’d hate to see what she meant by ‘not so gentle’.”

“Besides,” she added, “you’re not helpless anymore.”

Involuntarily I glanced down at my right wrist where the wide bracelet was hidden under my shirtsleeve.

No, I wasn’t
as
helpless anymore, but compared to Caprice, I was like a child venturing onto his first unsteady steps after spending months crawling along the ground.

Thinking I’d better change the subject, I tapped my chest where the scar lay. “You know this does itch every once in a while.”

Caprice tightened her fingers on the utensils she held though her face remained blank. “Caelum, I believe I have already made amends to the situation.”

“You mean that compensation you paid me?”

Her face was starting to grow a little red.

She knew exactly what I meant by compensation.

I really enjoyed teasing her.

She was a lovely girl, and I especially enjoyed trying to pry that emotionless persona off her.

I’d also made up my mind some time ago that she was one of the few I’d fight to protect.

She was special to me.

No girl had ever stabbed me in the chest, and then saved me.

You could say she’d left an indelible mark on me.

I watched her swallow as she looked down at the table. Her voice was low, but I heard it clearly. “At the time you said that was all you wanted.”

“And I’m truly happy for them.” I smiled at her. “I keep them in my top drawer.”

The utensils in her hands trembled, though her face was perfectly under control. “If you ever tell anyone about them, I swear I’ll stick another knife into you.”

“Then you’ll have to compensate me with another pair of your racy black panties.”

Caprice exhaled loudly. It sounded like an angry whoosh. Amazingly, she was still expressionless. Well, she’d had plenty of practice being around me for the last seven months.

I gave her my customary cheery smile. “Someday, you’ll have to wear those panties for me again. Until then, I’m keeping them safe and sound.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

The sound of crashing metal on the ground below made me look over the edge of the balcony railing we were sitting beside.

On the first floor of the cafeteria, a girl had a dropped her food tray on the ground. It didn’t look like an accident to me since five other girls faced in a crescent. They wore the white uniforms of third year seniors. The girl was wearing the midnight blue uniform of a second year student.

Midnight blue, just like mine.

I narrowed my eyes and focused on the pins hanging off her jacket’s left breast.

A Familiar of the Sora Pride.

I watched her squat down and patiently pick up the contents of her tray.

Some of the food she could recover, while others she couldn’t.

Her cup had spilled liquid all over the floor between the tray and one of the angry, white uniformed seniors. The senior shouted at the girl, demanding to know how the girl was going to compensate her for her stained uniform.

“Who is that?” I asked. “The girl they’re bothering.”

“Nobody,” Caprice answered. She went back to eating.

I swept my gaze over the students seated at the first level. Most of them were looking away. Nobody was looking to intervene. It was much the same story on the second and third levels.

I said, “She’s a Familiar like us.”

“And she’s new here, just like you.”

“So you
do
know who she is.”

Caprice stopped eating. “Her name is Maya Khayman afil Sora. That means she belongs to the Sora Pride. She’s a second year student in Class Two Bee.”

“If she’s new, does that mean she was only recently identified as a Familiar?”

Caprice was quiet for a moment. “No, not really.”

“Oh?” I murmured. I shifted my attention. “So who’s the witch in white that’s harassing her? I have to say she does look familiar.”

My eyes widened as I realized who she was.

It’s her—it’s really her. Holy Smokes! I forgot she attended this Academy.

Caprice was peering at me. “She’s nobody you want to get involved with.”

“Maybe I do—no, I definitely do! I can’t let this opportunity slip by.”

I pushed my chair back and stood up.

Caprice looked worried as I walked away. “Caelum, don’t do it. You don’t need the trouble.”

I ignored her and half ran to the spiral stairs leading down to the first level. After descending the steps two at a time, I walked up to the girl called Maya. Because I approached the white uniformed female students from behind, I was certain they wouldn’t see me until the moment I stepped between them.

Maya finished picking up her tray. The angry girl reached out to slap the tray out of Maya’s hands.

I slipped through the standing girls, interposed myself between Maya and her opponent, and barely succeeded in diverting the girl’s hand.

I asked, “Don’t you think you’re being a little unfair? It is five against one.”

The girl looked stunned, then focused a look of disgust upon me.

Was I a maggot that had crawled out of the wrong refuse pit?

Was she going to reach for a can of insecticide?

Was she going to step on me?

With the short skirt of her uniform, that was something to look forward too.

I gave her a sunny smile.

Her disgusted look deepened. “Who the Hell are you?”

“Someone who doesn’t like seeing beautiful girls fight.”

“Oh, that’s lame.” She couldn’t possibly look any more disgusted.

I kept smiling. “No, I mean it. You could crawl a mile through mud and still look picture perfect to me.”

“Ugh—”

“Abuse me, kick me, you’ll still shine like a radiant sun before me.”

“Eh—?”

“Your hair is like finely spun gold, truly that of a goddess amongst the stars.”

“Huh—?”

“Not to mention your three sizes are out of this world.”

“What—?”

“Ninety three, fifty five, eighty. Am I close?”

She scowled as she leaned forward. “How the Hell do you know that?”

“Don’t you know? You’re ranked number seventeen on the Girls of Island Three Billboard. Personally I’d rate you much higher than that. You’re definitely top ten material.”

“What? I never heard of that!”

I frowned dramatically. I could tell she was lying. “Really? How can that be? Every girl knows about the Billboards. There’s one for every Island of Pharos, and they’re categorized into two groups—high school girls and college girls.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “You really don’t know about the billboards? The authorities have been trying to shut them down for years.”

Her gaze darted about, then she stepped up to me.

She whispered angrily, “I never gave them my dimensions. How the Hell do you know them?”

“Back in my old school I used to have friends in high places…or should I say
low
places?”

At that moment I happened to look down.

Oh my. Did I just see what I just saw?

I studied intently what I could see on the ground.

She raised a fist between us, blocking my view but I’d seen enough.

“Even so,” she hissed, “you had no right blurting
them
out.”

“But was I wrong or was I right?”

“Wrong—it’s ninety five, fifty five, eighty!”

My eyes widened in amazement. “Wow…they’re even bigger this year! I have to buy that calendar they put out. Will you autograph it for me?”

She crossed her arms protectively over her chest. “You foul lecher. I’ll have you reported to the Student Council—”

“Veronica’s Secret.”

She blinked. “Huh?”

“They’re from the summer range right? Even though there’s no summer here on Pharos since the colony is just a bunch of rocks, they still advertise them as the summer range.”

I watched her face tinge with a pink hue. “Wh—what?”

I searched my memory. “Part of the young adult line. What is it called again?” I snapped my fingers. “Celestial Girl! That’s it.”

I saw the penny drop behind her eyes.

Then she turned bright red.

She stuttered and trembled. “How—how—how do you know—?”

“The water on the floor. I saw them reflected in the puddle you’re standing on.”