A loud ringing sound suddenly broke out, making everyone that heard it plug their ears.
Kaoru disabled his alarm clock and got out of bed.
There was nothing more fulfilling than a glass of blood in the morning.
After a brief shower, he put on his uniform and left for school.
It was six in the morning, and his head was hurting.
He stumbled upon some of his classmates, one of them being Nanami.
She shortly greeted him and continued on her way.
It seemed that she was not comfortable with waking up early, although it was understandable.
Kaoru was never really one to easily wake up in the morning. And since Nanami was technically the oldest "vampire" in their class, her body was in need of sleep.
In contrast to traditional beliefs, vampires slept. More than a human, even.
Anyway, Kaoru was now heading towards his school alongside some of his classmates.
It was the normal ever-changing route to school.
The cold wind was caressing his face, his nose becoming red.
Some minutes later, they arrived.
Inside the school, there was warmth. He appreciated the warm atmosphere and followed his classmates.
Their classroom was empty, meaning they were the first to come.
He hurriedly sat down, opened his phone and started reading a manga.
It was quite interesting, but his brain was still asleep, making him unable to focus.
A few more students arrived. And more. And more...
...Every student was sitting on their chair, some were talking, brimming with enthusiasm.
The same could not be said about Kaoru. He had gotten a good night's rest, but his mood was foul.
The class went silent, hearing the door sliding open.
Tsukishiro entered, dark circles under his eyes. He was more... tired?
Taking attendance, he sat down.
He simplified the rules of the exam and repeated them.
"Well, you seem ready enough, so let's go."
Finally, what they were all expecting was happening. They would leave for an uninhabited island for three days aboard a ship.
They waited a bit outside the school gate, before the principal came and chatted with Tsukishiro for a bit.
Tsukishiro himself signaled them to follow, and they left the school.
They passed the dorms and Kaoru learned that the academy he was attending was located in a huge island.
He was quite surprised, but he more or less expected something like this.
And in a few minutes... they were going to be traveling to an uninhabited island.
***
The sun was scorching hot, the winter air as cold as ever, and the sea had a vibrant color of blue.
Even though it was early in the morning, the sun was weirdly hot.
Kaoru was walking along the deck of a massive ship with his hands in his pockets.
The wind brushed his face and shuffled his hair, while he stopped and leaned on the deck's railings.
He looked at the sea with an indifferent expression, spacing out.
His pocket moved with a vibration, which brought him back to reality.
The phone in his pocket had just received a notification from the school, one that Kaoru was waiting for.
'Finally.'
He turned around and went inside the ship. Three digits were displayed on his phone.
143.
It took him some moments to find what he wanted.
He stood outside a door with the number "143" and knocked on it.
"Excuse me." He uttered before entering.
The room was dark and the only thing he could make out was a wooden table and chairs in a corner, a person already seated. On the table was a lamp emitting a faint orange light.
The person was scrolling on his phone.
Kaoru approached the table, pulled out a chair and glanced at the person.
He set down his phone, stared at Kaoru for a second, and closed his eyes.
"So you are part of my team, huh?" He sighed.
Kaoru took out his phone and showed the person a message.
The message said that Kaoru was supposed to go to room 143, where he would meet his teammates for the exam.
This roundabout way made it possible to keep your allies for the exam secret, choosing to hide your team's color, leader and members.
"That's what it looks like." Answered Kaoru.
The one across him was Akira Nemu, his white haired classmate.
Suddenly, he felt relieved. His strange peer was one of the biggest threats to Kaoru.
Not only was he very strong and had excellent physical abilities, he did not reveal any information about himself either.
'I might have a chance to win this exam, after all.'
There was a lot that Kaoru wanted to know, but for now, it would be wise to wait for his other teammate. Who knows, it might be someone like Nanami.
As if able to hear his thoughts, someone knocked the door from outside.
"Excuse me."
He opened the door and peeked inside.
Two people were seated in a corner of the room, their faces illuminated by a faint orange glow.
Taking his seat, he looked at both of them.
They were all awkwardly staring at each other, not knowing what to say.
After a while, Kaoru broke the silence.
"So you are the third teammate?"
The person scratched his cheek and nodded.
"Yes? So the three of us will be teammates for the next three days?"
Kaoru and Akira shook their heads in agreement.
Akira eventually spoke up, grabbing the attention of Kaoru and the other person.
"How about we introduce ourselves? We could share some details that are bound to help us in the exam. We may not have another opportunity. We don't know when, where and who is listening to us, after all."
Kaoru put his phone back in his pocket and was the first to speak.
"My name is Fujimoto Kaoru. The upcoming exam will be focused around our physical abilities. I'm kind of average when it comes to that. Even worse, I have very little experience as a vampire."
The person beside him was the next one to introduce himself.
"I'm Kirishima Yoru, and I'm the same as Fujimoto."
Akira Nemu frowned, knowing that he had to introduce himself, too.
"I am Akira Nemu. It has not been that much time since I got bit, so I'm the same as both of you."
Kaoru shook his head.
"I have seen you in the after-school lessons though. You are strong."
Akira nodded.
"Yeah. But that's for another reason entirely, not because I'm a vampire. Anyway, I'm sure you two know where our bandanas are located, so, should we get this over with?"
Kaoru agreed alongside Kirishima.
Akira pointed to the lamp. He reached out his hand and grabbed something from behind it.
It was a little black box.
He opened the box and took out a bandana. Kaoru and Kirishima did the same.
Kaoru looked at the bandana in his hand and got up from his chair.
"So our color is black, huh? I'm not interested in becoming leader, so I took a normal one. You can decide who will become the leader by yourselves. I'm leaving, is that fine with you two?"
His peers seemed to have no problem, so they let him leave. In fact, they left themselves after some time.
Now, Kaoru just had to hide his bandana and keep the members of his team a secret till they arrived at their destination.
The exam was almost upon them...
***
The ship stopped beside a huge uninhabited island that was overflowing with green and brown.
The sun was soaring high up in the sky, as hot as ever.
The students were given clothes similar to their PE uniforms for the exam. Additionally, they had a back pack and a wristwatch that Tsukishiro gave them.
Opening the backpack was not allowed before the exam started, so they had no idea what could possibly be inside.
They had just disembarked from the ship and were standing around, listening to Tsukishiro's explanation.
"...The wristwatches we gave you will help us track your location and monitor your vital signs. In case of an emergency, we will come to your rescue. With that being said, be careful of what you do and don't go too wild."
He looked at his own wristwatch and turned his attention to them.
" I will choose someone to go into the forest behind me first. After two minutes, the next person will go and so on. I advise you to meet up with your teammates as soon as possible."
He glanced at Sugiyama, pressing a button on his wristwatch as he did.
"You are the first one to go, Sugiyama Kiyotaka, go!"
Sugiyama ran off, soon disappearing behind the mass of trees in the forest.
The island was wide. It was full of trees on one side, full of rocks on the other side and a mountain was situated in-between the two sides.
Two minutes passed and it was another student's turn to head for the forest.
It was a student Kaoru was a little familiar with.
Igarashi Isamu. He was the person that had struck him in the nose back on their first after-school lesson.
He was soon gone too. Then it was another student's turn. And then another one's. And yet another one's.
...When Kaoru's turn came, half of his classmates had rushed towards the forest. His two teammates were still there, though.
When his name was called out, they looked at him for a second.
Kaoru knew exactly what he had to do.
He run in the direction of the forest, too, until he entered the forest, the trees shielding him from the burning rays of the sun.
His plan was simple. He would run for at least five more minutes and hide for ten minutes.
Since the forest was vast, he was not going to be too far away from the beach, meaning that he would eventually be able to find his teammates.
That was the top priority for the start of the exam. Being alone meant failing. Kaoru had no intention of losing, however, so he ran.
...Five minutes later, Kaoru stopped.
As he was running, he noticed a student walking ahead of him.
The student had not noticed him, so he hid behind a tree and waited for him to get further away.
He also needed to catch his breath.
Looking at his watch, he walked over to a tree that was near him and grabbed one of the branches.
He found a foothold and climbed up the tree.
'Here should be fine.'
Kaoru was not running around randomly for the last five minutes.
He was running along a trail where there were no trees. There were a lot of fresh footprints, indicating that a fair share of people were running along this trail. He saw one of them, too.
They most likely chose this path for the same reason as Kaoru, because they could run without any trees in their way.
What all of this meant was that there was a possibility that one or both of his teammates would pass by here.
Even if they did not, he could observe the enemies walking on this trail.
He made sure that the tree he climbed had plenty of leaves and was able to obscure him well.
After making sure that no one noticed him, he climbed a little higher and settled on a wide tree branch.
There, he took off his backpack and looked inside. They were not allowed to do that before, so now was his chance.
His bag was relatively small and light, so he figured there weren't many things inside.
And he was right.
There were two bottles of water, one bottle of blood and a change of clothes. There was also a small rope.
Like Tsukishiro had said, they had very little resources to work with.
He would have to use them carefully or a problem could arise early.
...What felt like an eternity but was just ten minutes later, Kaoru saw a distant figure walking along the trail.
He focused on it, tense.
When the figure got closer, though, he relaxed.
Putting his backpack back on, he jumped off the tree and left the trees to make himself visible.
The figure jumped back, startled.
Kaoru showed himself, making the figure relax.
"So we meet quite early, Kirishima Yoru."
"It seems so..."