#dbcst

Naoya finished rearranging the potted plants on one of the desks so it could be used and went to take his notes from his bag, “I think I should find out if I can put hooks in to hang some of these.” He smiled at Jezi, “It’d hide that my walls are kinda plain too.” He hadn’t quite gotten around to actually decorating his room, the walls were bare and the most colorful part was the side occupied by the young plants in their pots.

“There’s probably going to be lots of things hanging around drying eventually,” He laughed, taking a seat on his bed. Jezi and Vergil could take the chairs if they wanted, “That will help.”

The Promenade was clear this time of night. Everyone who knew better was likely already in bed, or at least in their dorm room where they belonged past midnight. Not Naoya though. Oh no. He was wandering the campus, because, for whatever reason, his mind had decided that tonight was the night he would get no peace.

Naoya had been here for almost a month and everything had been going well. The classes were fine, much less terrifying than he’d anticipate, and he’d only missed a day over the shedding incident last week. Best of all, he’d been sleeping. No nightmares or terrible memories needling him.

He sighed as he wandered near the flagpole in the center of The Promenade. Maybe he’d just been far too concerned about his work to worry about other things lately? That made no sense, the work was only ramping up from here. No, that wasn’t it...It was just old memories bubbling to the surface to haunt him some more.

Naoya was on the roof as the bell, signalling the end of first period, rang. He felt a little guilty about skipping, but honestly, the feeling of having his skin slough off was worse...And, frankly the most disgusting part of this whole transformation he’d gone through.

So that left him here, on the roof, in a hoodie, in the middle of August. All so he could be waiting for Jezi to show up here, and he could explain why he was missing in Homeroom and probably the rest of the classes today.

It was such a miserable situation, sweating in this hoodie and itching because his skin and scales were peeling. He pulled a hand out of his pocket to pull the hood around his face better and to rub at an itch on his forehead as he heard the roof access door open and shut.

~

Naoya wasn’t sure what to think of this place. This academy for the magical arts...He knew he felt pushed away, as if Malcolm found him to be a burden while he was around, and this was his solution. A boarding school. It wasn’t the school’s fault, of course, but the feeling he got from being sent here had a finality to it, almost. He had brought everything he owned with him.

It really hadn’t been much. You could tell from how his dorm room pretty much still looked empty after he put his clothing, and other possessions, away. That might change once the school supplies, that had been ordered for him, arrived. After that, it sounded like Naoya was going to be here for a long time. He’d probably gather more things along the way.

He looked around the room one more time before going over to the window to see what the view was like. It wasn’t much at the moment a big, deserted circular path surrounding a platform, with a tall flagpole in the center. He hadn’t even seen anyone who looked like they might be a student yet. Maybe they were all busy elsewhere. It didn’t really matter for now.