To say Kuro was surprised by how willing his teacher was to sweep the very obvious signs of him being in a fight under the rug was an understatement.

  He had been dreading trying to come up with an excuse on the way back to class. After leaving behind the blood and fear radiating from his new underlings he started to regain clarity. No longer under a haze of dark instincts and simmering rage he began to fret over possibly being expelled. Temporarily or otherwise.

  His father would hear of it and he was not yet ready to face what was in Kuro’s memory a “hard” man. He knew his father cared for him but that had not stopped the man from being relentless in Kuro’s education and did not want to be on the receiving end of one of those “lessons”.

  Thankfully it seems Kuro or his father had arranged for this kind of thing to not affect his day to day. If the man was gonna dismiss these things then the least he could do was play nice and be respectful with this teacher.

  He even took the chance to slip his note to Ren, he had assumed he would need to be more subtle about it, but that like his other worries was unfounded. His teacher did not even blink when he passed the note along.

  And now he had what was presumably a reply from his new friend. Which proved his growing suspicions that Ren did indeed like him romantically.

  If the picture is of what I think it is then you might get more than my number.

  Did you take so long getting back to class because your fight was difficult or was it because you got lost my directionally challenged puppy.

  -XOXO :3

  He could feel his blood pressure spike and a vein on his forehead throb. He was not directionally challenged, but how was he supposed to explain that he had no idea where everything was because he was not the original Kuro and his memories were too hazy to navigate properly.

  Worst of all was the fact that he did get lost on the way back to class.

  ‘Whatever I will learn how to get around eventually. What am I gonna do about Ren though?’

  He had never dated in his past life. He was too busy getting through life day by day, barely scraping by each week off of government aid and a job that paid mostly in tips to get through college.

  ‘Ren is cute but he just met me today, why does he like me so much?’ It was something to consider.

  This was originally a dating sim, maybe people were predisposed to getting into relationships in this world. Could he even pursue someone right now?

  He had new urges he was failing to control, he was hungry and was lashing out at people. Sure they deserved it but that reason did not make him feel better. He needed to break apart supernatural criminal influences in the city since there was no protagonist to do it. He had powers to learn, a new family to try to avoid. So many problems that required his attention.

  He did not have the experience to deal with this, any of it really, but especially not romance. He had also never thought of himself being with another guy. Sure Ren did not look very manly but that did not change much. He did not hate the idea as much as he thought he would, which made him have to consider things about himself he was not sure he was ready to confront yet.

  ***

  He found himself zoning out throughout the class barely paying attention. The class was a "Foreign" language class. The game having originally been Japanese meant the language taught was advanced English. Being a native speaker before becoming Kuro meant he barely had to pay attention at all.

  His teacher's lecture came to an end a few minutes before the class was scheduled to stop and was dismissed early.

  While getting up to file out he found a bronze skinned girl with orange hair sneaking glances at him while talking to her friends.

  ‘Why is Carmen doing that?’ He was puzzled by her behavior.

  ‘She didn’t discover me when we crossed paths at the start of the day and now she is once again stealing looks my way.’ His thoughts were interrupted when a soft fist hit him in the arm.

  “You aren’t even paying attention.” He looked down to find Ren giving him a small glare with his cheeks puffed out.

  “Sorry. Someone keeps looking at me and it is distracting.”

  “Uh-huh sure tall, dark, and brooding whatever you say.” HIs glare slowly morphed into a smirk as he spoke.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “I am starting to think you just enjoy insulting me. Are you gonna give me your number or what?” I held my phone out.

  “So you can call me a gremlin but I can’t say anything back. Didn’t know you were the type to dish it out without being able to take it.” He giggled while typing into my phone. Next thing I know I hear the sound of something vibrating.

  Ren handed me back my phone then pulled out his own and started adding me into his contacts. I look at what he put into my phone to see “Cutie <3” listed into my contacts. I decided to make a quick change. Now I had the number of someone listed as “Cute Gremlin <3”.

  I look up to see Ren still typing on his phone. I peek over his shoulder to find him texting a message to someone named “Puppy” with a long string of emojis that’d make a nun blush. Then he pressed send causing my phone to gain a notification that listed an address link.

  “Where is this?” I couldn’t help being curious and asked while opening it. It was a small amusement park.

  Ren gave a big smile while blushing. “It is where you are gonna take me for our date this weekend.”

  “We’re going on a date this weekend?”

  “Yup, you don’t get a choice I’m afraid. It’s the rules.”

  I couldn’t help but scoff. “What rules?”

  “The one I just made up.”

  “...”

  “Anyway let’s go to our next class, I can’t let you be late to all of them and I have to make sure you don’t get lost on the way puppy.” He had that smug little smile on his face I was beginning to realize gave me a headache every time he made it.

  “Also make sure you send me that picture you promised.” I could hear the excitement in his voice as he looked forward to seeing his bully beaten up as he practically skipped to the next class in joy.

  ***

  Sure enough in every class he shared with Ren the guy had a smile filled with satisfaction, it was a bit frightening how much happiness filled him when he glanced at his phone and the picture on it.

  Kuro decided to let it slide. He imagined he would also be ecstatic if he were in the same position.

  Eventually he had a break period between classes near noon and decided to grab lunch. Unfortunately the only person he had a good relationship with was Ren who did not share his free period so he would have to get lunch without him.

  Getting food was simple, the cafeteria had many meals available for purchase or you could grab food nearby if you had enough time between classes. Kuro settled for a simple lunch of a cold sandwich and vending machine chips. He knew it would not completely sate his hunger. No normal food could, but it would hopefully help until he could go home and get a blood bag from his refrigerator.

  It was easy to find a spot to eat. Everyone was scared of him, and in the hours since the rooftop incident was enough for word of mouth to spread. When re walked towards a table with only a few people they got up and scattered like rats.

  He hated the way people looked at him. Like a barely restrained and dangerous animal allowed to roam around. Something primal reveled in it, something that with a now clearer head made his stomach twist in disgust at himself.

  He expected to finish his meal alone, but halfway through eating he spotted someone at the same time they spotted him. He had mossy green hair and eyes to match, and a chin that was a little too pointy. The man came over and took a seat opposite him despite not having any food to eat.

  “What do you need Resh?” He asked meeting the man's eyes while chewing on his sandwich.

  He cleared his throat clearly trying to weather the courage to ask something.

  “Ahem… I was told we had new recruits. The bruises match what you usually dish out onto people but I wanted to double check with you about them joining us. I went to check your usual spots where you rest during break but couldn’t find you. I even stopped by here to find you while you grabbed food but you must have not been here yet and I missed you.”

  In truth he did not know where the original Kuro usually spent his time. His memories did not include that info, and in game the protagonist avoided Kuro so why would he know where he was when the game avoided him early on.

  As for not being here earlier during his break. Well he embarrassingly got lost and he could not ask someone where he needed to go. Every time he started to approach someone they would either run, or begin shaking like a small animal in front of a hungry lion.

  He hated it but he actually did need Ren to lead him around to classes they shared. He would never admit it to him though. He would rather die than let that little gremlin get one over on him.

  He realized he got distracted too long when Resh cleared his throat still waiting for him to reply.

  “Yea they wanted to start trouble with me since I decided to lead your group. After beating them up I decided since we needed more people anyway then might as well use them.”

  Resh’s brows furrowed. “Aren’t you worried they might betray us to spite you after beating them up?”

  ‘That is a good point actually. Seems he was not the leader for no reason.’ He could not help but raise the respect he held for Resh in his mind.

  He went from a good guy who disapproved of what his subordinates were doing and making things right with Ren. To actually competent group leader who had trusted his men to follow his words and was burned for it. A lesson he likely would not repeat.

  “It’s fine. If they do turn on us then we make an example of them. Then the next group we bring in will know what happens when my mercy is tossed aside out of revenge.” It was not a hard conclusion to draw. Either they made themselves useful and stayed to gain benefits under him and Resh, were kicked out for being worthless, or slapped away the carrot Kuro gave them after the stick and were beaten with it again harder.

  Unless they proved they had no place among the group he was forming then one way or another, Kuro would profit off them.

  Resh had a smile as he also thought it over and started nodding.

  “I knew with your background you would be perfect to lead us. Once again…” he reached out a hand for Kuro to shake. “...I look forward to working with you boss.”