The school was huge. Immensely huge. There were towers that looked large before you, and seemed like the modern version of Hogwarts. It had that old kind of architecture that looked like it could belong to a museum.

"This is humongous," You muttered a complaint under your breath. It was almost as ominous as your fate—though your parents had excitedly boasted to every relative you had in sight that you had gotten into Daisei Institution, with all of your school fees—including boarding and food—covered.

Most of the alumni here went on to become entrepreneurs, millionaires, and some even celebrities. It was famous mostly because of the student's free rein over activities: the student council was essentially the government of the school and managed its students, punishments, and rules. It essentially meant freedom. Which was an attractive compromise, you admitted. A relief, in a way.

But first, you had to somehow navigate your way to the admissions office.

"Hey," you tapped on a student's shoulder, making them jump and whirl around, "where's the office?"

"Oh, uh," when he turned around, you saw that you had interrupted him mid make out session, and he had some gross sauce smeared all around his mouth, "it's to the left."

"Sorry about that." You patted him on the back as thanks, peering into the direction he told you. You didn't see anything, only the vast expanse of nothingness. Oh, and a forest. Did that qualify as a school garden?

"Yeah...just go." The student waved you off quickly, looking strangely guilty. Was he ashamed to be kissing another guy? No harm even if they couldn't reproduce, it wasn't like you liked kids. Half the time you saw them to be sociopathic monsters who lived on sugar highs and survived on their little electronic gadgets.

"Looks like a forest."

"It's the..." the poor guy was stammering. He seemed extremely embarrassed, to your amusement. "The school garden," he babbled.

Oh, so it was the school garden! You approved deeply—it made sense the school garden would be big, considering the sheer size of the budget the academy had. You heard the money that it spent on amenities and education rivaled large corporations.

"I support," you grinned, before he stared and skedaddled. So this was the environment of the elite. Did all children of super rich people act this way? Whatever. It still wasn't as weird as your mother.

So, go to the left and go through the forest—garden...

As you neared, you squinted your eyes at the sign. Beware, poisonous snakes and possible sightings of crocodiles. You shrugged, brushing it off. Why did that matter, when your father had once proudly brought home a venomous cobra bigger than you? Said cobra had very nice cuddles: it liked to squeeze you. Or perhaps it had been trying to kill you, now that you looked back on it.

"Hm," you said thoughtfully, "this doesn't feel right..."

No one here to greet you, or take you through the garden. It could only mean one thing.

...Oh! You snapped your fingers, you knew.

This reminded you of the time your mother had you got lost in some jungle and slid down the hills. Sure, your clothes had snagged on some twigs and you had sustained a broken ankle, and your mother had nearly died as the doctors had claimed, but...

Oh, I get it, this is a test, you grinned. Count on such a prestigious place to give the students a test!

Was it supposed to be this easy though? Snakes and crocodiles weren't even that bad...

You walked in confidently. Whatever it was, you were sure to ace this.

.

.

—

.

.

"He fell for it," Akio was giggling about in a corner uncontrollably, "are you sure he's a scholarship student? He's so stupid."

Akio had paid a student to direct [Name] to the forest which was commonly out of bounds for students. He had doubted the plan would work: what he truly wanted to see was the student fail, and he would have to come here, stammering and brimming with humiliation. His true plan was to link [Name] and that student together, and make [Name] attempt for revenge. Because the minute the [h/c]-haired boy landed a single finger on anyone, it was game over.

"Not as stupid as your plan," Jun furrowed his eyebrows, "I have mine set in motion."

"Hah," Akio scoffed, "you mean the whole gambling trick you pulled last year? Getting the student to be in debt..."

"No," Jun smiled. "Not this year."

"Then? Tell me! Tell me!" Akio started to poke Jun in the arm, making the glasses boy shove him away, adjusting his glasses which had grown lopsided with all the prodding.

"No. But it's something you won't be able to come up with."

"It hurts me to think you have so little confidence," Akio sighed, "you do know who got you into his council, right? Me. And now you're just salty the prey has taken the bait. [Name] has fallen into my trap."

"...You don't know that. Saito, Kaen, and Inei have yet to move. And you know Inei."

"That bastard is too lazy to do anything," Akio sneered.

"The fact he already accepted tells us all. He's bored. He will entertain himself as much as possible. Similar to Kaen, except Kaen is busy with basketball."

"Whatever," Akio grinned, "the fish is biting. He won't make it out of the forest."

"You could kill him."

"You're saying as if Kaen didn't almost kill the new student last year." Akio whistled, "I didn't know he had it in him, that sports loving brute. Suffocating him in a room, now that's twisted."

"You just lured [Name] to a snake's den."

"Well, I'll pay for the funeral."

"Something tells me that he won't die." Jun murmured, "have you seen his records? It's not just spotless...have you seen the teacher's comments?"

"Pfft, what about the comments? That dear [Name] is a model student? The future of the world?"

"...Forget it." Jun tilted his head. "It's useless to talk to a blockhead like you—"

"You two," Daichi narrowed his eyes at the both of them, "are you two at the council room to do work, or to discuss the game? Kindly keep your mouths shut."

"You're not participating only because—"

"Shut up," Jun hissed, "are you stupid? Don't bring that up."

Everyone knew what happened three years before.

.

.

—

.

.

"Oh, there's snakes everywhere," You brushed the next snake that was clinging on to your uniform pants, furrowing your eyebrows. "Not sure if I simply lost my perception of time, but why is the forest so goddamn long?" You muttered a few curses under your breath. Rich people's problems included struggling to reach a place because it was so goddamn huge.

Besides, nothing could go wrong. You still had Halsey tucked in your pocket. Your lucky rock.

Your phone buzzed.

**

mom

hey!!! have you reached yet?

you

not yet the admissions office is so far I swear to god. You didn't burn anything down yet right??

mom

nope, but the neighbor found out about lily and she's threatening to burn our house down. ugh, I knew she was a prude...

you

i think u forgot you started it. you didn't even cook lily right. poor pig

mom

uh oh, that's her lol, brb. Do you think I'll have to grab that coffee pot that Melanie Trump passed to us? to exorcize the demons out of her? Why does she have such a huge stick up her ass?

you

I'm...pretty sure Melanie Trump didn't give that to us??? also by having a stick up her ass are u referring to Melanie orrrr

mom

you're killing the mood again

you

yeah and u killed a pig. ok I'm sorry. got to go though, I'm still trekking through the forest

**school garden

mom

u guys have a forest as a school garden?? Ong are there crocodiles

if there are crocodiles u have to name one terry

oh shoot i really gotta go she's literally carrying a chainsaw damn

i have a bigger chainsaw but still idgaf

I'm getting rid of her 🎀🎀

bye sweetie say hi to Halsey for me

you

bye, love u too

**

You turned your phone off, sighing. There was that crocodile you had spotted a while back, but it was useless. You had knocked it out with a stick. Should you recircle or...?

Wait, you saw light! Excitement filled your body and flooded in your veins when you saw streams of light entering the forest, and abandoning all thought of Terry, you rushed forward, snake still latched onto you, stumbling out of the forest, er, school garden.

You looked down at the snake. "Hey buddy. You prefer civilisation—ow, you just bit me."

Beads of crimson rolled from your ankle and you glanced around.

You saw nothing.

"Am I seriously in the middle of nowhere? Was I supposed to take a left instead or a right just now...?"

The snake was still on you. Had it imprinted on you? Last time your mother had a vicious dog on her arm, and though you could clearly see the mottled, ugly wound, she insisted it was only because the dog's love language was violence. That didn't even exist.

"I'll name you Terry instead," you said at last, roughly pulling it away and seeing it baring its fangs at you, "you're really small, so it's easy to pull you away...oh shoot, you poisonous."

Never mind. You were immune to poison after all that cooking fails your mother concocted. Sure, the first few times you vomited blood out, but that was nothing.

Terry the snake bit on your uniform and you dumped it in your pocket. About two hours had passed, and still, there was nothing. You probably missed a class or two, and the wound on your leg was steadily turning a violent, horrid purple. It was burning slightly and you frowned.

"[Name], right?"

You immediately whipped around when you heard that name, turning face to face with a tall, slender male. He had the most bewitching pair of golden eyes; ones that caught the sunlight and made them glimmer, black hair that was middle parted with loose strands falling messily down his porcelain like face, and his face was simply so perfect it looked like it had been sculpted.

He was ethereal.

His smile was gentle, and yet you felt no warmth. "My name is Kazuya Daichi. I am the President of Daisei Institution's student council."

President of the student council? You were meeting the literal top of the academy. The one in charge.

The one quite literally above all.

You were a little intimidated, to be honest. Actually, you were very intimidated. Pretty boys were your weakness.

"Ah," you paused temporarily, "I'm [Name]." And as an afterthought from the hiss in your pocket, you took the snake out. "And this is...er, Terry."

"Sorry?"

"Terry the snake," you supplied readily, "he's—"

"Ah, yes. I can see he's a snake," he said softly, "but what I mean is, someone directed you here? Through the forest."

"I didn't quite read the school map, and someone pointed me in this direction." You explained, sighing. "Where is the admissions office?"

"I'll direct you." Daichi murmured, his voice holding a tone of disbelief and amusement, "and you..I'm sorry, is that a snake bite?" His eyes widened with alarm as he dropped to a crouch, inspecting your wound. "And it's poisonous. We can get your admission done later. We need to go to the nurse's office."

"Oh," you chuckled, "there's no need. It may look bad, but all I need is to soak it in water. It wasn't that bad."

"It's poisonous," you never heard such an elegant, quiet shout before: "the only logical decision, [Name], is to get it checked. Surely you don't mean to end your life so early?"

"No, I'm not planning to." You blinked your eyes, "Mr President, I'll be alright if you just send me in to the admissions office. I have to sort out my forms, my—"

"There's no need," Daichi said breezily, "I'll get all of these settled out for you. I'll text you the dorm number later and pass you the keys."

"Text? But..."

Daichi reached in his pocket and grabbed a notebook, scrawling a number down. Well, it wasn't really a scrawl, considering his calligraphy was beautiful. He tore it, before passing it to you.

"Here." He said simply, "don't get into trouble. Wash up, and I'll tell the professors about your delay."

You had...the student council president's number? Was that normal?

"Only after you get it checked out." Daichi added as a warning, "you do know where the nurse's office is, right? No, forget it," he sighed, "I'll bring you there."

And now you were being escorted by him personally?

"...Thanks," you said finally, at a loss of words, "sorry for the inconvenience."

Daichi checked his phone swiftly. There were no new notifications from the student council chat, and since this was the work of Akio, he wondered if Akio knew the kind of person [Name] was. Perhaps he was already dancing in victory—but oh, no. This wouldn't be very easy. [Name] was different from the other prey that had been hunted.

This game seemed like it would go on for very long.

He fixed a smile on his face, guiding you towards the nurse's office.

.

.

—

.

.

"[Name] went to the nurse's office," Akio boasted to Saito, "I sent him there. He's probably there, complaining to his mother to send him home. There's poisonous snakes there, you know..."

Saito barely looked up from his game.

"Oh, really? Because from what I heard, the new student was discharged."

"What?" Akio hissed.

"You lose. Try again next time!"

"You—"

"I was joking. I'm just reading off the words from the game," Saito grinned good naturedly, setting down his game console, "looks like this one is a tough nut to crack. This will be interesting. The other games ended too soon, right?"

"Yeah, whatever." Akio grumbled.

He didn't like to lose.

Shinya Akio already hated [Name].

He was going to be the one to destroy the new student.

.

.

edited.