Chapter 15: Danger noodle!

Third POV

Chaos and destruction, what were the two words that could say what transpired last night?

Heavy casualties, reported were 109 deaths and 753 injured ranging from simple scratches to physical disability, like loss of limbs. It could have been way worse.

Damage with a total cost of a little less than 143 733 500 (1M €) Yen in this single night. 

And it will continue like this until the Black Market becomes somewhat fully operational again, it will take somewhere between 5 days and 2 weeks, with a loss of 8 300 000 Yen (57 730 €) each day, a huge loss.

After what transpired last night, anger and fear were the main emotions felt. The fire was uncontrollable and very destructive, firefighters were absent for more than obvious reasons, the fire could even be seen from the Cherryton Academy.

Tension was at an all-time high between the four Gumi, the fire affected them just as much but more indirectly. The Shishigumi, the current rulers of the Black Market since they won the last Turf War.

They saw their hold over it being shaken. They are the 'protector' of the Market after all, if it suffers damage like this under their 'care', they are also held responsible.

They will need to find a culprit since this event shouldn't have happened in the first place.

Who was to blame for this event? 

The 'main' culprit is Cahaya and Legoshi to a minor extent but they didn't know it was them, not even Cahaya knew it and how could he? 

It snowballed quite ridiculously out of control, he only put 4 stands on fire by 'accident', adding to that the destruction he made when he bulldozed through everything, this resulted in the panic increasing, to mass panic then devolved it mass hysteria.

Animals ran like headless chickens only made the situation considerably worse.

Luckily the blazing market was put off by the heavy rain but the damage was already done. 

The only visual of the culprit was only a photo of two lavender orbs with a black blur and the slithering marks left on the ground.

This information about the eyes made their leader of the Dokugumi, Savon abandoned the manhunt immediately; he knew about the Naja's unique eyes and that they controlled way too many things, to only quote one they have a firm grasp on a big part of the distribution of petrol in the world. 

The Naja never show themselves in public, making their peculiar eyes and species a fact only known by a few. Making the situation even odder and more hazardous than it already was.

Even if the eye's color might be an error like an optical illusion they won't touch anything possibly related to them with a ten-foot pole. They didn't want to have the same fate as the now 'mysteriously' disappeared Tengugumi.

They were followed by the Inarigumi, Ten was smart enough to not intervene and follow the example of the eldest of the Gumi, even if the red fox didn't know why the komodo dragon abstained and she was incredibly curious about the reason behind this choice.

It wasn't so much the case with the other two, the Madaragumi who wanted to capture the culprits and gain popularity with it, and the Shishigumi for their pride and reputation as 'Kings of beasts' they would let an animal do what they want in their playground and go unpunished. 

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Two days later early in the morning, in the drama club.

Third POV

'So this with this… hmm not the worst punishment Dad made me do and it's not really a punishment, at least for me. Even if he was quite mad about what I have done… and rightfully so. He seemed more worried than anything… and he might be irritated that I'm doing this here too.', Cahaya thought while transcribing a copy of a damaged book from the Human Empire, from Humana to Old Seaspeak, a difficult process that takes a lot of time but he liked doing it. 

He was only wearing the drama club white shirt, clearly too small and tight, it was annoying him, he grew way too fast. He will need to ask one of the male big carnivores to give him one if he doesn't forget again, he uses most of his free time studying or training thanks to his Dad pestering him about it when he was just a larva.

"Good morning!", he didn't hear the excited voice of Juno, and he didn't react to her footsteps too engrossed in his lecture. His barely open backpack was at the base of his coiled serpentine body, it was the position he has when 'sitting' since he can't use chairs.

'Rude.', she thought, not taking any offense at him ignoring her. She walked next to him and peaked at what he was doing, seeing him scribbling on papers with a fancy fountain pen, it was his 12th hatching day present not that she knew.

She hunched over to have a better view. The calligraphy seemed perfect even at the speed he was writing at but she couldn't understand anything that was written, 'Is this Seaspeak? But it doesn't look the same at all while being familiar at the same time, strange.', she thought, confused.

She could inhale his scent, he didn't smell like any other thing she had ever smelled before. It was a mix of rain, spice, and the sea. She liked it. She was always curious and fascinated about the mystery hidden in its depth when she walked next to the sea. The sound of the waves and the smell of it was soothing to her.

His thoughtful face while he jotted down on his notes, how his gills twitched with each movement of his eyes, making the individual scales on them shine under the light of the projector. And the way his shirt couldn't hide his flexing mus-'No bad wolf we aren't even of the same classes...', she chastised herself but her blush was visible and also the little wag of her tail.

Juno was getting impatient and waved her hand in front of Cahaya's lavender eyes while saying at the same time, "Hey, Caha-", she didn't even finish her sentence before zeroing at the golden quill millimeter away from piercing straight through her right eye. It felt for her as if time had stopped.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, pumping adrenaline through her body. She was both afraid and strangely excited, to be so weak in front of him, knowing he could do whatever he wanted and she wouldn't be able to defend herself.

Then the hybrid gaze softened and he withdrew his fountain pen from her face.

Cahaya sighed and said apologetically, "Sorry if I frightened you, Juno. I react rather aggressively when someone takes me by surprise like you just did.", while he thought, bewildered, 'She is in shock or something else?', the way she was staring right into his eyes made him feel a bit awkward. 

She then felt him touch her right cheek, instantly making her heart skip a bit and her mind froze, he then started to clean the cut he made with his earlier strike that she didn't feel due to adrenaline, he disinfected it, and she didn't even wince from the sting, finally, he put a bead of greyish cream on the injury and gently spread it on it, she noticed that it smelled like him but the spicy scent was missing.

A tingling sensation spread under her right eye, she felt the cut to her complete disbelief slowly heal. Then followed by a very short feeling of euphoria making her shiver in pleasure.

"What is this?", she asked, her eyes wide open in shock as she caressed the area with her paws.

"Oh nothing really.", he said dismissively, she didn't believe him one bit but didn't question more, he thought, 'Well it's just my diluted spinal cord made into a cream and it worked as intended… might need to dilute it a little more.'

"How's life in the club so far?", he asked her while packing his things in his backpack.

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19 hours later.

Cahaya POV

I was in the corridor, alone and at night on my way to the beautiful sea of this world.

I looked up to the vent behind me and said sharply, "Can you please stop hiding and show yourself? I know you are here and you know it too."

I then heard a heavy thud and saw the biggest snake I have laid my eyes upon, not that snakes are usually noticed. She had a security guard cap on her head and multiple eyes symbol on her back, her scales were light orange.

"We finally meet… Cahaya Naja.",  she declared in a deep feminine voice, a flick of the tongue and a rattle of her tail at the end, producing a rattling sound. A rattlesnake, the first time I saw one and she is huge compared to what was documented in the books.

"So that's my family name…", I muttered under my breath while tapping my chin with my finger and thought internally, 'Naja isn't this the genus for true cobra why would a family have the name of an entire genus… unless they are the last of their genus. It explains why cobras are not seen on Zoopedia; they are simply extinct and it must be tied to the wars or something similar…I will ask Dad about this.'

I noticed that she was staring at my arms with envy and admiration, no maliciousness was in her body language. If we don't count how giddy and exaggerated her coil around herself was, she was in the shape of an 8.

"Who are you? And how do you know this information?", I demanded calmly, taking the situation more seriously than before. She must already know that I'm a hybrid and more about me, I don't like it, however, she doesn't seem to have any ill will against me, so she has a pass.

She chuckled and adjusted her hat with her rattled tail then declared openly, "Me, umm I'm the one and only security guard of this Academy… My name is Rokume or also known as Hexeyes, a diamondback rattlesnake, and for my more than peculiar knowledge about my idol; let's just say that age and experience make you learn and understand many things and that applies even further in my lines of work…"

'Idol? That's a new one and this coming from an animal possibly multiple times my age.', I thought while noticing that, true, there aren't any other security guards, which is strange for an establishment with multiple thousands of students and that it shouldn't be the case. She must be capable but she isn't omnipresent nor infallible, Tem murder proved it.

"Could you tell me why you stare at my arms so much?", I inquired again, I already have an idea as to why. I'm still sometimes bitter that I don't have legs, yet my body is ten times better than any of the leggeds animals will ever be. But they have everything tailored for their body shape, not mine.

"Oh, yes, yes, sorry it was impolite of me. They are what every snake like me would desire to have… but you, you are perfection in blood, flesh, bones, mind, spirit, and soul!", she exclaimed taking me a bit by surprise with her zeal, she calmed herself then went on, "You have unlimited potential, have status, knowledge, physical appearance, physical prowess and the most important, the will and ability to use them all!", her body contorted hiding her head from my sight, she was honestly a bit unnerving in how fanatic-like she acted, read and described me. Right in front of my snout and in the middle of the corridor, like it was natural.

"Thank you, I guess… oh,  and why did you decide to present yourself only now? You've been stalking me for some time already.", I inquired, to the overzealous snake, I did ask her to come out but only now did she show herself.

"I must inform you that what happened at the Black Market might have caught the eyes of Ruhin and Ruhan, your biological grandfathers. I don't want the World to lose you. You will need to be more careful of what you do in the future. Goodnight Cahaya-sama.", she declared with worry in her voice before disappearing into the ventilation, the grid still open. 

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In the sea.

Cahaya POV

I was swimming and I kept thinking about what Rokume said. I have two biological grandfathers, probably twins or they are bicephalous not that I especially care about them but the way her tone changed when she mentioned them, and knowing that Mom and Dad ran away from them and would have died without Gosha told me more than enough about the danger they potentially represent.

Even if I miss some part of the puzzle about what happened, I have an idea of their power. It should be around or superior to the Horn Conglomerate.

I'm not particularly surprised about my heritage it makes sense. Why would Dad, a sea-scholar, something of an international scientist, have me secluded for 15 years? The sea wasn't an option either, eyes are everywhere. And money or threat would sway even the most stubborn of marine animals to speak.

It's not all bad, if at 15 I can finally live outside, that means my life isn't directly threatened by them and it could help me in more than one way if I'm not stupid that is.

But like she said I was reckless not that I can change my personality on a whim, you don't simply think it and it happens. But I can help it, for example bringing food or an electronic collar might have helped me not nearly lose my mind to my instincts like before! I'm still angry at myself.

It still baffled me how a single mistake can potentially fuck you and your close one over so badly. What happened with Legoshi was a very good wake-up call.