By: Rhenhwa_est_Empero
Horsemen of the Beyond
Chapter 1: Entrance I
****
The sun had just risen, barely in the sky, from the east, carrying a fresh breeze of the morning across the land.
Cherry blossom leaves drifted across the walkway leading to the main administrative building, which is located just beyond the school gate.
Yosen High,
Students flocked in with great numbers, wearing the standard Yosen customisable black and white colour scheme as they chatted all the while walking along the walkway.
For students who had been admitted to this school, it was nothing short of an extreme privilege and delight for them.
The freshman orientations wouldn't begin until 9:00; however, students were excited to arrive early, as doing so wouldn't hurt.
Yet, the excitement was palpable for the students who had bright expressions as they roamed with nervous energy and high expectations.
The campus was as massive as most freshmen remembered.
National-Affiliated College.
Or so it was called.
A structured campus on its own with numerous facilities, specialised buildings, and entire wings dedicated to other specialised courses sprawled across the ground.
In other words, this was the place where Awakeneds trained to become elites.
While others shared this dream, or rather, aspiration, such vigour wasn't entirely shared across all students.
"Kaiden, watch where you're going."
A young man with sakura-coloured hair spoke up, pulling the male that was about to stumble across a patch of flowerbeds by the border of the sidewalks.
The one in question was a male with dark hair streaked with green, emerald eyes, and glasses that fit his sharp features.
Handsome, no doubt, especially with the sagacious air about him.
"Hmm."
Kaiden hummed in response; however, his focus was still fixed on his book. Regardless, the sakura-haired male managed to drag him away regardless.
"Lussac, you should know better than to distract Kaiden from his books."
A voice came from the back. The speaker is a male with black hair, golden eyes, and a lazy expression, wearing the Yosen Affiliated standard fit.
"Y-yeah! Wait! Shane! My name is Lucas, not Lussac!"
For some reason, Shane had decided early on to call Lucas Lussac, and no matter how many times Lucas corrected him, Shane refused to stop.
Lucas hurried after the three walking ahead.
"Pipe it down. You're too loud."
"Eek."
The one who spoke had a darker complexion than the others, tanned skin, and white hair streaked with black, along with those fierce crimson eyes.
His sharp gaze settled on Lucas, who flinched under the scrutiny, subconsciously taking a step back.
"Damian… Aren't you… being too harsh… on him?"
Following the tanned male was another, one with pale-coloured hair with the face of someone who hasn't had a good sleep in a long time, evident by the bags underneath his eyes.
"Seems like Damian hasn't fully accepted you, Lussac."
"..."
Like the devil, Shane whispered those words into his ears, prompting the weak-willed, sakura-haired male to sigh while tugging the corners of his uniform.
There were no strict rules about customisation, as long as the colour scheme of white, black, jacket, and insignia remained intact.
"Anyways, that aside, I finally completed everything and the papers. It was hard work, y'know?"
Shane mused, hand on his chin, before waving his hand curtly.
He then flipped over his bag from his shoulders, rummaging through it before bringing out a brown-cased file.
"Here you go."
"Right."
Enma collected the brown-cased file from Shane before slightly yet lazily waving it up.
"Come with me, Lucas; let's get you registered at the SC's office."
"SC?"
Lucas blinked in confusion.
"Student Council."
Nudging his head over was Damian, the tanned-skinned one, who had looked over his shoulder back at Enma.
"Yes. I believe Enma's got business there anyway, so it'll be quick."
Thinking about it now, indeed, perhaps Shane was right, but unfortunately, they had gone ahead with their decision.
Now, he was the one suffering the consequences.
"Haah. Can't believe… I was talked… into this."
"Talked? More like forced."
Enma, who was usually the calm one, stared at Shane half-seriously with a deadpan, prompting Shane to look over Damian and Kaiden.
As Shane did, the both of them propped their heads away, with Kaiden, the dark green-haired male, burying his head into the book he was reading.
"Way to go…"
Shane's lips twitched violently as they did this.
"Forget it… We'll be heading off now."
Enma turned to Lucas, motioning for him to follow as they made their way toward the administrative building.
Yosen High,
Inside the Administrative Building,
Lucas trailed behind Enma at a comfortable pace.
Compared to the others, he was much easier to keep up with, probably because he was the most laid-back.
Well, except for Kaiden. His pace was slow too, but only because his attention was always buried elsewhere.
Even though Enma wasn't as intimidating as Damian or Shane, Lucas still couldn't completely relax around him.
"So… you're the student representative, huh? I heard from Kaiden. That's pretty cool."
Lucas blurted it out impulsively and immediately regretted it.
Enma sighed, offering a wry smile, the kind that suggested he'd long since given up fighting against life's, or rather, his brothers', whims.
"Believe me… I didn't want to be."
They reached the second floor, still one short of their destination. The Student Council office was on the top floor of the third building.
"It was supposed to be Shane or Kaiden….."
Enma shrugged, letting his words drag out slowly.
"Shane wasn't interested…. Kaiden refused…. So... we settled it with rock paper scissors."
Hearing those words felt like a hard pause had been pressed. His lips twitched.
"This is a nationally affiliated school... a national college, you know?"
Lucas mumbled to himself.
But knowing the Creed brothers, Rock Paper Scissors was something they would do, yet he was still surprised by the fact that Enma had said this so nonchalantly.
"Everyone lost... No... Damian… didn't even play… he wasn't interested… and Shane… lost on purpose."
"He gave me… false hope…."
Lucas felt his lip twitch again. An elite institution, and the student representative had been chosen through a children's game.
Baffling… yet exactly what he'd expect from them.
Especially the part where Shane gave him false hope to make Enma believe he could win—definitely what he'd expect of him.
Additionally, was Enma sulking?
Of course, he only caught it for a moment; however, Enma had already returned to that dazed, lazy stare of his.
And, before he could say anything else, they arrived at the Student Council office.
A knocking sound was made on the high-class mahogany door that gave off a fragrant scent.
In a brief second, the reply came from the other side of the door:
"Enter."
With a soft nod, Enma had replied, "Pardon my intrusion," before pushing the door open as they stepped inside.
The office smelt faintly of fresh paper and polish, giving it a crisp, new feel.
Behind a neatly organised desk sat a beautiful woman with black hair with blue undertones. She wore a customised version of the Yosen uniform.
White along with inlaid gold and blue accents.
"Welcome."
The woman looked up from the computer that obstructed her view, locking her gaze onto Enma for the briefest of moments.
And as she did, Enma's usual dazed demeanour slackened just as their eyes met. Enma frowned slightly before
"Umm..." Lucas interrupted.
"Ahem. Enma Creed. Freshman Representative, welcome."
The student president said that with a small shake of her head, standing all the while offering a nod.
"Welcome to Yosen National-Affiliated College."
Meanwhile,
Outside the Administrative Building,
Kaiden sighed heavily, rubbing his temples.
"Haah…"
In front of him, a commotion was already brewing.
"Tsk! Do you know who I am? How dare you bump into me!"
A cocky gangster? Wannabe thug? Or all of the above, a freshman just like them snapped, glaring at Damian.
However, characteristically of his brother, Damian had simply brushed off his sleeves while replying in a tone that had that dangerous underlying in them.
"I already apologised. What more do you want?"
But the fact he hadn't acted against the freshman meant their second eldest was in a good mood today.
"Hey, wait a minute, he already apologised."
"You shut the hell up."
"Hah!?"
Shane, for once, was trying to deescalate the situation. Perhaps it was a good thing; Shane was finally learning good manners.
But yes,
It was just like them.
There's no doubt, if any of their acquaintances saw this, no doubt, this is what they'd say:
'It's only the first day, and the Creed brothers are already caught up in trouble.'
So… how did it come to this? One might wonder.
They'd been heading toward the auditorium when Damian somehow bumped into the arrogant-looking freshman.
Technically, Damian had apologised, but to Kaiden, it looked deliberate, like the freshman had done it on purpose.
Now, it was already escalating to means beyond that none of them expected on their new enrolment.
"Oh? A fight?"
"First day, and we've got drama already?"
"This should be fun."
A crowd of both freshmen and upperclassmen began gathering. It was clear this whole thing had been staged. Not surprising.
The Creeds had swept the top rankings in the entrance exams, drawing attention from students, faculty, and National-Affiliated Families alike.
Enma had placed first in both physical and deployment and third in the written exam.
Kaiden had come second in both the written and deployment assessments, though his overall ranking was seventh.
Due to having second to no interest in them, such as history or trascenary exams.
On the other hand, Damian had placed second in the DA, third in trascenary, and eighth in written.
And now, it seemed their success had painted targets on their backs.
"Oi! Twerp, what are you going to do about the stain on my shirt?"
The freshman sneered, despite there being no stain in sight.
Shane, on the other hand, uncharacteristically stepped forward, raising a hand to diffuse the situation, which made Kaiden eye him with suspicion.
"Look, it was a mistake. Can I just—"
"Huh? Who the heck is this peasant? No wonder I smelt something foul."
Damian took a double take on that sentence.
After apologising once, Damian wasn't going to take a shot at repeating his words twice.
Not with how crowded this place had gotten.
Additionally, he didn't want to give Enma more stress than Shane already gives him. Not when he was now a prospective student council member.
Kaiden by the sides cringed inwardly.
'This isn't going to end well.'
At best, he'd used his "bindings" on the freshman before things escalated. His hands had subtly twitched, thinking so, before—
"What's going on here?"
A voice resounded, plunging the area silent in an instant. It was a female in the female version of the Yosen uniform who stepped in.
But more than her uniform, what stood out was the red armband wrapped around her arm, a symbol everyone recognised.
The freshmen had seen people wearing that same armband during their entrance exams. She was part of the Disciplinary Committee.
"What happened here?"
The instigator fell silent the moment she stepped in. Seeing as they wouldn't speak up, Shane cut in with a short raised hand.
"Nothing! I was just asking for directions, that's all."
Everybody paused, turning to him.
"Directions...? I doubt that."
Clearly, that was not what happened. The disciplinary officer retorted back, with hands crossed under her chest.
Not only had she heard the commotion, but she had also seen it.
However, before that, it was impossible.
The entrance exams had taken place on this very campus; again, it wasn't too long ago. There was no way they didn't have at least a vague idea of the layout.
Shane was lying.
She knew it.
But it was clear he was doing so to de-escalate the situation, not stir it up. Amused, she decided to humour him.
"Then what's with the crowd?"
She asked, eyeing the group before gazing back at him, amused at what way he'd respond back with.
"A little argument. Nothing worth escalating; as for the crumbs, it's probably because of our identity."
Shane said with a slightly more serious expression than usual, flicking the insignia. To that, lots of them all looked at each other, shocked.
Regardless, not that they could retort.
"Ahh, I see, you must be…"
The female disciplinary officer smiled while glancing around; the students that were originally crowded were starting to leave.
"Interesting. But I could have sworn I sensed the activation of a 'supernatural' there."
Her left hand to the side, while her right was still under her chest, she motioned towards Shane, who shook his head.
"Hm. Must be your imagination."
Shane shot her down.
Naturally, he knew it was Kaiden who had almost activated his powers, not to mention, she can read 'waves' of supernatural activation, huh?
With the slight curl of his lips, he mentally marked her.
The only person that came close to doing that aside from him, as far as he knows, was Kaiden.
"I see, then. I guess there's no point pushing this further. If that's all, you can go."
The disciplinary officer had eventually said that, relenting with a sigh.
"Haah, what a farce. I'm out."
Damian ruffled his hair and walked off, clearly uninterested since the authorities had intervened.
As she dismissed them, the crowd slowly dispersed.
Shane, feeling the lingering gaze of the disciplinary committee member, gave her a quick nod before following after Damian, with Kaiden close behind.
"Shane, what would you have done if she hadn't shown up?"
Kaiden asked as they neared the auditorium. Shane shrugged, walking closely behind his older twin with a grin on his face.
"Who knows? Though I was surprised by Damian's level of control. I half-expected him to go.
'Oi! You were the one who bumped into me, you buffoon. Clearly, you lack respect'
while looking down on him in true Damian fashion."
Kaiden sighed, tilting his glasses up.
"Yeah… I can definitely imagine that."
All this, much to Damian's irritation.
Shane said the weirdest things sometimes, but Kaiden had to agree with Shane on his statement—past Damian "would have reacted exactly like that.
The subject of their conversation walked ahead, his eyelid twitching as he clearly heard every word.
They didn't even try to be subtle. They just said it. Straight to his face. Damian's irritated expression lingered, then faded as he came to a stop.
Before them stood the auditorium.
The same one they—no, all Yosen students—had once entered for their entrance exams.