Anubis tried to find the right words to say. She didn't know whether to greet her formally or just stay quiet until she spoke. The woman opened her desk drawer and pulled out a paper and pen.
"My brother came back injured from his last mission. Were you responsible for that?"
"No, ma'am. He protected me from... that thing."
"So, you were the one responsible?"
"Well... I guess technically yes, but-"
The woman began to immediately write down an entire paragraph on her paper in under a minute. Anubis quickly caught on to what was happening. The woman before her was trying to turn her into the villain so she'd be executed.
"Why do you want to attend our academy?"
"Because I'll be killed otherwise."
"And you'll be killed out there. That's not a reason." the woman said while writing down two more sentences. "You'll see some of the most disgusting, vile, horrid shit out there that you couldn't even have nightmares of. What you saw at your school is a pleasant vacation for people like us. My brother reported back to me how you acted. You cowered in fear. If you're doing that in that situation, then how do you expect to process something much worse?"
"I only reacted that way because I've never seen anything like it before."
"Not a good response. I've seen enough."
"Wait-"
"There's nothing to wait on, leave my sights."
"Hold on, freeze frame." a female voice said from behind Anubis. She looked behind her and saw the white-haired woman again. "That's not how we test students, Willow."
"Don't call me by my first name. You address me by Kasai-san."
"Aww, why not? Teachers in anime are so much hotter when the students address them by their first name."
"Did you come here to insult me?"
"No, of course not. If I wanted to do that, I'd bring up your brother. But that's beside the point. You're not giving Anubis a fair trial. You didn't test her skills or anything."
"And that's a problem why?"
"Because we could be losing a gem here. You should at least trial her in combat before you reject her. If it would make you feel more secure, I could oversee the trial."
"Break it with me here, Taiyo. Are you only protecting her because she'd your master's daughter?"
So that was the white hair woman's name. Taiyo.
"Kinda yeah. But even then, I'm not that shallow-minded. I see potential in her abilities. You need to trust me. When have I ever led you astray.... don't answer that."
Willow sighed. "Fine. You get three months. When school starts again, I'll test her. If she fails, I'll kill her."
"Ok, yeesh. Calm down."
Taiyo brought Anubis outside, where Yoshi was waiting for them. Yoshi looked back inside the room to see his sister, who was greatly annoyed and didn't look him in the eye. With the flick of her fingers, Willow slammed the door from several meters away. Taiyo drew their attention to her.
"Alright, listen you two. We have three months to train Anubis. If she fails, she'll be murdered like it's Macbeth. We gotta lock in and make her stronger. Yoshi, I want you to undertake her training. If she succeeds she'll join you as your partner. So, don't fuck this up, alright buddy."
Later that day, Anubis was sitting on a bench in front of the school's track field. A lot had happened over the last 48 hours and she was trying to process it all. It was a lot to take in and she still wasn't sure if she made the right decision.
She thought back to another memory with her dad. It was when she was 3 and he and her mom were fighting. She watched through a hole in the wall as her mom threw her father into the stove, breaking his back. She watched as her mom walked out of the house her dad was left crying on the floor.
She ran over to comfort her dad, who tried to put on a strong expression for his daughter. He got up and hugged her, despite being in immense pain.
"D-Daddy, where did mommy go?"
Her father didn't respond. Anubis noticed him fighting back tears as he hugged her even tighter.
Suddenly, she was snapped back to reality by someone calling her name. She looked to her side and saw Yoshi, leaning on his katana.
"Gotta a lot on your mind?" he asked.
"Did you... know my mother?"
"No, but sensei never shuts up about how powerful she was. Why do you ask?"
"No reason..."
Anubis crouched up sadly. Yoshi could see similarities between him and Anubis. He sat down next to her and leaned on the handle of the bench.
"Hey, wanna talk about it? I know telling other people your feelings can make you feel better."
"..."
"Oh, right, you barely know me. I don't blame you for not trusting me. Forget what I said. How about we just try to focus on keeping you alive for now?"
It has been a week since Anubis arrived at this school. Both Taiyo and Yoshi helped her move what few things she had at her house to her new room. It wasn't much. Just some mangas and some toiletries.
There were no classes. Yoshi was responsible for informing her of everything over the next three months. He would train her during the day and teach her during the night. All Anubis did was train and learn.
Over the past few days, she trained with Yoshi at the track field. Anubis was vastly stronger than Yoshi, at least physically. Though, even their strength was an unbreachable gap for Yoshi, he didn't have to breach it. His skill and experience put him on a different level than Anubis. Not only could Anubis not land a single hit on Yoshi, but he thoroughly embarrassed her every time they sparred.
After that and an hour-long break, Yoshi would go to her room and teach her about their new world. He explained to her the four different types of soul weapons. Supressers, which focused on defense. Nukers, which focused on offense. Assisters, which focused on support. And Trainers, which manifest the user's beast powers into the weapon.
He also informed her of the ten different beasts. Dragons, phoenixes, anubis, kitsunes, beetles, minotaurs, orcas, goats, nagas, and arachnids. The people who can transform into these creatures are called keepers.
Keepers are all given one passive skill and one active skill. Passive skills are abilities every keeper of that beast type has. This would be like a pheonixes fire or a dragon's elemental breathe. Active skills are unique abilities that are given to the user, though they will be somewhat similar to other keepers of their kind. For example, one kitsune could have the ability to to manipulate metal while another could have foresight. These powers greatly very and usually manifest from the users past experiences. Unlike passive skills, not every keeper has an active skill. Mayne need to unlock their active skills through hard training and a bit of luck.
Yoshi quizzed her on all the information, and she failed twice. Though, on the third attempt, she managed to pass.
As the days went on, everything became more and more intense. However, Yoshi always motivated her to do better and would reward her with his cooking, which she enjoyed every time. Sometimes, he'd even bought her a volume of a manga she liked.
Nearly a month had passed since she first arrived at the academy. He was once again teaching her in her room.
"Every time you kill an anomaly (what Seiko turned into), you'll be forced to watch their life. If you think the effects of an anomaly are bad, it's nothing compared to the pain of watching their tragic life unravel and turn them into the monster they became. I've seen things that nearly drove me to suicide."
"..."
"But that was because I had no one. If you succeed, we'll have each other. If we see something that makes us... you know, we can talk about it to each other."
"Well, that's nice."
The two grew closer as friends as the days went on.
Yoshi was once again sparring with Anubis. Though she still had yet to land a blow on him, he could notice significant improvement. She was faster, more tactical, and even harder to hit. Eventually, she managed to connect a punch on Yoshi, though he blocked it with his sword. Though the blow was so heavy, Yosh flew several meters back. Yet he still managed to land on his feet.
"Hey, Anubis, I think we should change your name."
"Huh?"
"Do you really want to have the name of your species? That would be like naming a human, human."
"Oh, uh... what should I name myself?"
"That's not my decision."
"... What about Alice?"
"Ok, for now on, I'll address you by Alice."
Nearly 20 days later, Yoshi brought Alice to a shed filled with weapons. She was shocked by the sheer variety of weapons on display.
"Since you are always in your beast transformation, you don't technically need a weapon. But nearly every keeper has a weapon and they make combat easier. I think you're ready for one."
Alice looked around the room for several minutes. She couldn't decide on a weapon. None of them really felt right to her. As she was about to give up, she saw a weapon in the corner of the room. It was a golden and blue scepter-like weapon. The top had a spiked ball and the bottom had retractable buzzsaws. She chose it as her weapon of choice.
Alice and Yoshi were practicing one again. During the fight, Alice swept Yoshi's feet, which he was not paying attention to. Alice was about to uppercut Yoshi, which could have been lethal. But she didn't realize he wouldn't be able to take a blow from her. So, right as she connected, he transformed into his beast form and was knocked back into the wall of the gymnasium.
"Ah, Yoshi! Are you ok?!"
Suddenly, Yoshi came out of the room, but he looked completely different. He was an anthropomorphic scaly dragon man with blue and white scales. He had no hair and had 8 horns sticking out of his head. He also had 4 wings. He wore nothing but black shorts and a belt, revealing his defined body with eight-pack abs. He had really muscular arms and thighs. He also had a thick tail coming from his back. Though his muscles were well proportioned and his body was fit and not too bulky. Once Alice saw Yoshi like this, her heart skipped a beat and her face turned red.
Yoshi rubbed the back of his head while groaning. He walked back up to Alice, who knocked him far away.
"Damn, I didn't think I'd survive that, to be honest. You are way, way too strong."
Alice didn't respond. Instead, she averted eye contact with him. She hid her face with one hand and had her other hand on her crotch.
"H-How did you change?" Alice asked shyly.
"Huh... oh, right. I forgot to mention this. A keeper's beast transformation and their human body exist in two separate dimensions. Whatever you wear in your human form will be different from your beast form and vice versa."
"Ok, but... w-why do you look like that?"
"Oh, I like looking manly and showing off my abs. Actually, fun fact. Your beast form is tough enough to survive most blows from an opponent. So, many forgo defense completely in order to look better for themselves. Most men wear things that displayed their abs and biceps, and most women wear things that displayed their cleavage and thighs. And no, we don't know the science behind this."
Yoshi detransformed back to his human state. He popped both of his shoulders back into place and cracked his neck.
"Most can barely hold their transformation for a minute. Even the most skilled individuals can only hold their transformation for around 3 or so. That's why you always being transformed is so peculiar, Alice."
"I've always looked like this... I don't even know if I have a 'human form.'"