When Leon reached the waiting area with a soft smile on his face, he immediately saw his friend and roommate waving to his with a wide smile on his face. Zeke was still on a high after being assigned to class A.
"How did it go?" Zeke asked when he joined up with Leon. Together, the both of them made their way out of the waiting area.
"It went great, I guess." Leon shrugged.
"You guess? You didn't get to class A?" Zeke looked sad, his little ears splaying across his head.
"No, it's kinda complicated," Leon shrugged, "I'll be having mixed classes." He said.
"Mixed classes? Wait. No way! You're a versatile mage?" Zeke's eyes nearly popped out when his brain finally managed to process that bi of information.
"Yeah, but it's no big deal." Leon laughed and playfully punched Zeke's shoulder.
"No biggie? Haha, you should be the only person I know that would take this as no biggie!" Zeke burst into a fit of laughter and slapped Leon's back, sending the smaller boy stumbling forward. Leon playfully glared at him, but they soon got back to laughing as the made their way through campus.
While they were walking, a strange and unrelated thought suddenly crossed Leon's mind. He hesitated, but eventually settled on asking.
"Hey, Zeke." He called.
"Yeah? What's up?" Zeke turned to look at him while maintaining his forward stride.
"I don't know if this rumor is true, but do you have a human form?" Leon asked. He remembered that some time ago, while he was browsing on the internet, he came across a post that had to do with the supernatural races that came from God's Sanctum. The post stated that most races there had a more 'human' form that had enabled them to blend among human society for centuries before the Sanctum was reopened.
"Oh, yeah. The rumor is true, and I have a human form." Zeke paused, and then nodded his head.
"Why don't you use it instead? Like, you're fine like this, but I'm just curious." Leon raised his hands up as he explained what he meant.
"Don't worry, I get what you mean." Zeke smiled.
The two of them made their way to the school's cafeteria and stopped by a vending machine just outside the door. Leon slipped a couple credits into the cash slot before turning to Zeke.
"What are you having?" He asked.
"Anything. I'm not too picky." Zee shrugged.
Leon nodded and turned back to the vending machine, punching in the digits for a couple different bags of chips, and two cans of soda. The bags of chips and cans of soda soon came out of the machine, and Leon picked them up. He handed a soda and bag of chips over to Zeke before turning to leave.
The two made their way to the park on campus, picking a bench to rest on.
"I used to hang around in human form before. That was about five years ago, or so." Zeke suddenly started speaking as he popped open his soda. He took a sip before raising his eyes to look ahead.
Leon was surprised, but kept quiet and waited for his friend to continue. Zeke appreciated the silence.
"Everyone in my high school used to think I was human. They trusted me. And I trusted them too, but I still did not let them know I was not human. That was until one day when the school was involved in a shooting. I did what I had to so that I could save my friends, but they felt betrayed. Said I was deceiving them, lying to them. Called me names and whatnot." The large minotaur shrugged. He did not feel like speaking any more and silence reigned for the next couple of minutes.
Leon raised his hand and placed it on Zeke's shoulder. Zeke turned to look at him.
"Those guys must have been some really stuck up assholes. Who wouldn't want an awesome minotaur for a friend?! Ungrateful bastards!" Leon clenched his fist. He honestly thought that those kids must have been sick in the head or something.
"Hahaha!" Zeke couldn't hold back his laughter. Leon's response had honestly not been expected. "Maybe I should hang around in human form a bit more from today onwards."
"I don't mind." Leon shrugged, popping a handful of chips into his mouth before washing it down with soda.
They remained there for the rest of the hour before returning to their room.
"I'm going to take a shower." Leon announced as he slung a towel around his neck.
"I'll go in after you." Zeke absently waved from his bed. He was reading through some weekly magazine, looking fairly bored.
Leon stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He sat on a stool and faced the mirror, looking at his reflection.
"Mixed classes, huh?" He murmured and ran a hand through his dark brown hair. Piercing green eyes met his gaze in the mirror for a moment before he turned away and stepped into the shower.
.
.
When Leon emerged from the shower, Zeke rushed in. Leon sat by his table and put on the desk computer, a holographic screen popping up. He began to browse through the campus forum, something he often did, but now he had much greater access than before he became a student.
While he was reading through, the door to the bathroom clicked open and Zeke strode out. Leon turned to share a rather interesting post he had stumbled upon but froze with an open mouth when he saw Zeke.
"Uhm... What's wrong?" Zeke looked confused.
"Y-you... You know what? I prefer your minotaur form." Leon palmed his face.
"What? Why?" Zeke was confused.
"I want to get married someday, Zeke. And with you around me, I don't think that would happen. You will probably woo all the girls who look your way."