Two

It was past 4 P.M., and every student at Rockvale High was eager to get out of the school. People were saying goodbye to their friends while picking up their things from their desk.

Some were in a hurry to get to their respective clubs as the after school activities will officially start once the clock hit 4 P.M.

Well except for one young man who was still on his chair looking at the window, staring at the clouds.

Another boring day has passed, he thought. He had short curly brown hair and pale skin. He sighed and stretched his long arms and legs while remaining seated on his chair.

He turned his gaze to his classmates who were all wearing an identical uniform - white polo shirt, red badge of the school on their chest pocket, and black pants for male while white blouse, red ribbon between the collars, the same red badge on the pocket chest, and red and white checkered knee-long skirt for female students.

He released a sigh again and looked at his mobile phone. He opened the messaging app and started typing on it.

WRU? Let's go to the arcade now, he texted.

Then dancing ellipses appeared on the screen.

Give us a few seconds. We'll meet you at your classroom, someone named Curt replied in the text messages.

He rose from his seat and grabbed his bag and went in the direction of the door, so he could wait outside for his friends.

Sliding the door open, a taller man beamed at him. He had short black hair while his eyes encased by eyeglasses. Behind him, a brown-haired girl shorter by a few inches waved at him.

"Yavin! Looking bored again, huh," the taller man greeted him.

"Stop it, Curt. I'm being killed by boredom right now," he replied in a monotonous tone.

Curt was taller by few inches than Yavin, so he had to tilt his head sometimes when talking to his friend.

"Oh Yavin, you poor thing," the girl said and mockingly pouted at Yavin.

"Not now, Dani."

Curt and Dani laughed at him while Curt grabbed the shoulder of Yavin patting his back.

"Now, now. We're here to rescue you. So what game should we play at the arcade this time?" Curt proudly declared to Yavin.

"You know your class will not be boring if Curt and I were in your class," Dani teased.

"Remind me again, what aren't you in my class?" Yavin playfully asked.

"Well, the faculty repeatedly asked that we, three troublemakers should never be in the same class," Dani replied as if she answered this question a hundred times already.

"So again, what game should we play this time? Can we do a hiatus on Mario Kart? We've been playing that thing for weeks already? Can we do Tekken this time? Or Soul Caliber? I miss my Josie Rizal and Talim. My favorite waifus!" Curt said dreamily altogether imagining those characters in his head.

Dani gave Yavin a look - a look telling him that Curt would not stop pestering them if they didn't play those games for today. Yavin just nodded at her and smiled at his friend.

"Sure! I want to see your face when I defeat you with my Alisa," he said smugly.

"Don't be sure boys. With my Eddy, your sorry butts will be kicked," Dani laughed at them while they headed their way out of school.

*****

They didn't notice the time while playing and eating on breaks when the clock hit 8 P.M. Dani cursed herself when she noticed the time since she had a prior commitment with a friend to do a study session in her house. She had to bid farewell to her friends and left Yavin and Curt at the arcade center.

Both of them halted playing also as it was never the same without Dani's boisterous and loud voice cheering and insulting them during the game. They decided to get home also and left the arcade center which is still brimming with people especially high school students from other schools.

Curt's home was in opposite direction to Yavin's, so they waved goodbye to each other and walked on opposite paths.

Yavin was strolling the street and looking at the colorful stores on the sideline when he spotted his favorite convenience store. That convenience store sells his favorite comic and if he remembered correctly, today was supposed to be the release date for the annual issue of his favorite comic.

He hurried to the store excitedly. Upon entering inside, he went to the comics section and search for the title of his favorite comic. After a few seconds, he found the title and grabbed it directly to the cashier.

After paying it, he could no longer wait to come home to read the comic, so he looked for an available seat in the store. He pulled open the plastic and started leafing through the pages.

Half an hour passed after browsing the comic, Yavin exited the store and went on his way to the direction of his home.

He strolled leisurely taking his time and passing a dark alley where he smelled a faint smell of rotten meat, but then he heard a noise coming from that alley he just walked past a few seconds ago. He backtracked his steps and found the back of a high school girl while facing some sort of figure on all fours on the ground.

Yavin tried to tilt his head to get a better view of the mysterious figure and found a man in a business suit. His face looked feral aiming it at the girl.

Is he planning to attack a helpless girl? Yavin looked troubled at the situation before him. He was not someone who has a hero complex mentality, but he could not stand idly while someone needed his help. Plus, he didn't have the physical strength to knock off a full-grown man, but he could give a distraction so the girl can escape.

He remembered his conversation with Curt and Dani that today was another boring day. Well, things would get a little bit interesting.

He moved towards them grabbing his school bag, readying himself to throw it at the assailant, but the girl threw something at the man. Probably a rock.

The man tried to sniff then growled at the mysterious tiny thing before him.

Then the next thing he knew, the three of them were enveloped by a blinding white light.

*****

The red-haired girl brushed her long hair and looked around her surroundings. They were in the same place. Same dark alley. But the difference was it was no longer stinking of the rotten smell. She could no longer hear also the buzzing noise of the street. The whole area looked vacant except for the two of them.

"Warp successful," the girl announced to the other person in the line.

"Ummm, V-Vanya," the female voice stuttered on the line. She sounded alarmed.

"Yes, what happened?" Vanya kept her eyes remained on the man. But she could feel another presence behind her.

She turned around and found a high school boy standing behind her with a questioning look on his face.

"W-What was that light?" The boy asked while looking around at his surroundings.

Then the man in business suit took this chance and howled loudly in the air. His whole form started to morph into something. His body seemed to grow larger than before while his face started to expanded and forming a snout. Above his head, three horns started growing. As his body grew larger, his suit tore into pieces leaving him naked covered in black fur.

He transformed into a giant bipedal creature who shared a resemblance to a goat with three large horns on his head.

The boy stood frozen after witnessing the transformation of the man.

"What the-"

Vanya returned her gaze to the monster version of the man before.

"Finally, showed your true form huh," she ignored, for now, the boy behind him and focused her whole attention on the monster. Or the proper would be a demon.

"I release!" she shouted.