Everyone was in Headmaster Arslan Flambe's residence. It was a luxurious mansion built in a gothic style. The ticking and chiming of an old pendulum clock echoed along the corridor.
Evan and the four girls were with the Headmaster in a separate room. The rest of Frida's gang, plus Shaun and Rufus, had their ears pressed against the door. Even so, the thick oak door was a solid sound barrier.
Rufus put his ear to the keyhole, but he still couldn't hear a thing. That, in turn, sent Astrid into a rage. What good were those big ears if he couldn't hear anything?
Inside the room, Evan, Callisa, Frida, Aiko and Morona stood in a line. All of them were tense. The Headmaster sat behind his desk, clearly displeased. He kept snorting softly, and his mane was bristling. All five of them were nervous. Aiko most of all. In a whisper, she pointed out a few details.
In the corner of the room there was some kind of piece of furniture covered by a tarp. It came up to about waist height, wide and narrow like a board. When Evan looked closely, he saw solid wood and a chain sticking out from under the tarp. From under a cushion on the couch, the corner of a pair of women's panties poked out. On one of the shelves stood a bottle of gel. In the umbrella stand there was a riding crop, doing a poor job of pretending to be a cane. One of the lion maid's stockings had slipped down, and the other had a leather cuff around her ankle. Both wore collars around their necks. The air smelled of perfume and expensive wine.
All five of them thought the same thing. They had just wrecked the Headmaster's plans for the evening. They were so dead.
Arslan snorted one more time before he began speaking. His voice was calm, but that didn't make the students any less nervous.
"Professor Gator has already explained everything to me," he said, nodding toward the alligator sitting in an armchair. "Do any of you wish to add anything?"
"I'm really sorry," Callisa said.
Arslan grunted.
"Could you at least not call my old man?" Frida asked.
The Headmaster shook his head.
"Sumimasen," Aiko muttered.
He just rolled his eyes.
"The abyss of purgatory that engulfs my soul is immeasurable," Morona intoned.
The Headmaster let out a heavy sigh.
Arslan fixed them all with his gaze.
"Let's say you understand your mistake and promise to do better, but that's not enough. You will be punished."
Evan wanted to say something, but the Headmaster stopped him with a gesture. A moment of tense silence followed.
"Your punishment will be a week of community service for the academy. You'll be informed in due time about what it will involve."
All five of them exhaled.
"You will also have to listen to a certain lecture."
He gestured to one of the maids.
"Bring in those outside. They should hear this too."
One of the maids opened the door—and everyone promptly fell into the room like books whose bookend had just been kicked away. Rufus ended up at the bottom of a pile of wolf girls, and Shaun didn't miss the chance to tease him about being that close to a bunch of girls.
Once everyone had lined up, the Headmaster began his lecture.
"Alright. Evan, do you know why I told you at our first meeting that you're the only human in Carnivora?"
Evan shook his head. He'd never really thought about it.
"A long time ago, humans formed the greatest civilization in our world. They became famous as masters of cooking, combat, and every art. Including the bedroom arts."
For a moment, Evan wondered if that wasn't an exaggeration. Then he swallowed when a thought crossed his mind.
"And what happened to them, if they're all gone now?"
"It happened about a thousand years ago."
Evan was afraid the answer would be that they were hunted down and eaten.
"Humans suddenly started dying of a plague."
"A plague?"
"Yes. According to surviving accounts, they would suddenly spike a high fever, struggle to breathe, grow weak, vomit, and great black swellings would appear on their bodies. Supposedly, once someone fell ill, they died within three days."
Evan swallowed hard. Anyone, even someone who slept through every history lesson on Earth, knew that disease.
"Sounds like the Black Death," he said.
Arslan gave him a searching look.
"There was a similar disease in my world."
"How many did it kill?"
"Supposedly about half the population."
Arslan lowered his head.
"Humans here weren't so fortunate. The plague wiped them out to the last one."
For a moment, a funereal silence fell over the room.
"Humanity's achievements became part of history, and eventually, legend. Perhaps even an exaggerated one. And now you've appeared, Evan. A living fragment of that old legend."
Arslan looked at the students.
"Or perhaps something more than legend."
The Headmaster sighed. A long, heavy sigh.
"Does anyone know why compulsory education lasts here until the age of twenty-one?"
Frida raised her paw, which surprised Evan. Arslan nodded for her to speak.
"That age is considered critical. You're old enough to drink, smoke, have sex—but you haven't yet learned to control your instinct. That's the role of schools like Tenebrae. They're a training ground for learning that control. But many don't make it. They die in someone's stomach, at the hands of prey defending itself, or by court sentence."
Arslan nodded.
Evan trembled. It was like something out of a horror story. A survival school where you could die at the hands of your classmates any day.
Wait—why was he thinking of it as something abstract? It had almost happened to him, and Shaun and Rufus talked about it like it was just daily life.
Frida shot the Headmaster a sharp look.
"You were counting on an incident like this happening, weren't you?"
"Was I counting on an incident like this? Yes. Was I counting on Evan being the victim? No."
Evan stared at him in surprise.
"On the first day, would you have been able to believe that a girl from school might eat you?"
Evan thought about it and shook his head.
"Exactly. No 'otherworlder' would believe that."
Aiko instantly lit up. Her eyes sparkled, ears snapped to attention, and her tail started swishing. Arslan pretended not to notice.
"Otherworlder?! There were others?!"
"Yes. Quite a few."
"What happened to them?"
Aiko tensed as if expecting a grand, heroic story.
"They died shortly after appearing. The causes varied. But most often… they ended up on a plate. In fact, almost always."
Silence settled over the room once more.
"I need to discuss something with Professor Gator for a moment. We'll be right back."
A moment later, the lion and the alligator stepped out, leaving the young people alone with the maids.
After an hour filled with talking over everything that had happened that day, both of them returned. Evan, Callisa, Frida, Aiko and Morona were given their orders:
They were to report in front of Arslan's residence the next morning with basic luggage.