Silence descended on almost every part of the academy. The hallway, the classroom, the infirmary, the club rooms, the cafetaria, and down to the dormitory which had been automatically locked down after the announcement.
It was eerily quiet inside Kyuten Gakuin at this moment. It was as if time had frozen in this place.
Ayumi's face had long turned aghast as she stared blankly into space. She remained motionless throughout the announcement. Nothing went through her head except the last sentence when the voice wished them a happy hunting. Every omega due for this hunting slumped lifelessly in their chairs.
In Kyuten Gakuin, the female and the male students were separated into their respective buildings. The female resided in the west wing while the male on the east wing. Each grade was divided into ten classes to accommodate the high numbers of students in the academy.
For the female side, they were categorized by following the date of their period which had been recorded when they enrolled into the academy. As their admission arrived at the final stage, a seal would be placed into their body to ensure their period happened exactly on schedule.
There were three dates in the category which were the start of the month, the middle, and late month. This was why the hunting happened three times each month for around two to three days before the start of another cycle.
So, why was this date important? Because this was how the hunter determined their target.
During their period time, the higher class would start engaging by identifying the scent of the pheromone which the females permeated from their body. The scent would be especially intense during this cycle of moon. However, this was only the time where they marked their target and not went in for the sex.
Each pheromone had different scent and different effect on people. For some it could be alluring but for the others it could be unappetizing. However, there was also the case where a female was born with especially strong pheromone that could spread widely and hooked anybody who smelled it.
This was the golden prize, the trophy that everyone would sought after since the stronger a pheromone was the purer their aether would be.
But what could stop the hunter from going after this type of pheromone was when they came into contact with the scent that made them addicted. This would be the scent of their soulmate.
However, an addictive pheromone didn't mean a strong aether. So, they had to choose either going after the strong one that could possibly bring their power to another level or their soulmate which only occurred one time in their whole life. If by any chance, one chose to reject their soulmate, they would have to say goodbye to their happy ever after.
That was what went down in the west wing while in the east wing, the classes were categorized by the stat that the students wished to focus on. So, it was simply divided into three types: strength, agility, and intelligence. Meanwhile, for the omegas who did not excel in any category, they were grouped into one class.
...
Ayumi felt a warm temperature touching her cold skin and that immediately snapped her out of her absentmindedness. She shifted her head to face Chinatsu.
Chinatsu smiled when she met Ayumi's eyes. She mouthed while gesturing at the same time, 'Don't worry. I'll protect you.'
Chinatsu assurance did calm Ayumi a bit. But, she was stressing out.
"Well," the teacher was the first one to break ice, "Our lesson ends here and..." She smiled nervously. Although she was a Beta, her aether fell in C grade. So, the situation wasn't exactly advantageous for her either because there was also a hunting session among the teachers.
"I wish you all the best," she said before she carried her stuff and walked towards the exit. With the sound of the door shutting off, every student in the room began to move helter-skelter towards the exit. They were pushing and squeezing.
Chinatsu stood up and tied her hair into a high ponytail. She prepped her muscles then by stretching. "Ayumi, remember, don't panic."
Ayumi let out a long-exasperated sigh while closing her eyes. "I can do this," she mumbled.
"Yes, you can," Chinatsu encouraged her as he grabbed Ayumi's hands. It was then, Chinatsu noticed some substance slithering down her skin. When Chinatsu looked down at Ayumi's hands, she discovered the wounds caused by Ayumi's nails.
"Now, I know why!" Chinatsu exclaimed.
"Huh?" Ayumi followed Chinatsu gazed and saw the blood staining her fair hands.
Without any delay, Chinatsu grabbed her handkerchief and tied it around Ayumi's wounds. She then yanked Ayumi and dragged her outside. However, Ayumi suddenly jerked back and tried to pull away. Unfortunately, Chinatsu's grip was too tight on her hand.
"Ayumi!" Chinatsu called her name sternly. "Listen, we need to go now or we won't have a chance. If we run now, we can find a hiding place."
But Ayumi was too terrified at the thought of stepping outside. Her feet refused to budge.
"Hey," Chinatsu tried to distract her. "It's okay. Trust me! I protected you last time, didn't I? I can do it again but you need to follow me."
Finally, Ayumi relented. As her tears fell, she sobbed, "Okay."
"Okay? Good." Chinatsu grinned. "Let's go!"
Before exiting, Chinatsu took precaution by checking the hallway. She looked right and left but found no one there. So, she slowly dragged Ayumi out of the classroom and carefully threaded their way along the foyer. Ayumi followed Chinatsu closely from behind as she kept checking her back. From their joint hands, they could feel each other nervousness.
Both hearts were beating in trepidation and it was especially loud in the quiet hallway. When they almost reached the location where the staircase was, Chinatsu guided Ayumi to walk close to the wall.
As soon as they arrived at the junction, before looking over, Chinatsu made sure that no one had followed them silently. After she saw the empty hallway, only then she calmed down and took a peak at the staircase. Nobody was there either. Chinatsu breathed a sigh of relief and slowly guided Ayumi towards the stairs.
All of the sudden, a couple of footsteps were heard coming down from upstairs in a fast pace. Chinatsu's face turned for the worst and she frantically pushed Ayumi back to the corner. Ayumi went pale as well and her feet turned sluggish all of the sudden. Thus, Chinatsu's rushed action made her stumbled on her foot and both of them slammed onto the ground loudly.
Chinatsu's head went blank in that instant and so was Ayumi. Ayumi's tears immediately came crushing down and this scene alarmed Chinatsu greatly. She reflexively covered Ayumi's mouth with both of her hands to stop her sobbing from escaping. Chinatsu herself was holding back her tears.
"Hey, did you hear that?" came a male voice.
"I did. It was loud." and then the second one.
Then, both Chinatsu and Ayumi heard someone sniffing.
"Bro, stop sniffing like that. Are you a dog?"
"Shut up! I'm trying to identify the scent," said the third voice.
At this point, Chinatsu composure was already at the brink of collapsing when she heard those three voices.
'Males,' she carefully discerned the three students, 'Betas. Two C grades. One A grade.'
Knowing that, Chinatsu bit her lower lip. 'Shit,' she cursed inwardly.