“Okay, okay.” Nova gave up and faced the problem head on. “Excuse me, can I come in?”

Some minutes passed but he didn't get any response.

He tilted his head towards the door trying to eavesdrop on the conversation inside. The thought of the classroom being empty soon disappeared when he heard a mixture of voices coming through the door. He couldn't clearly understand what they were saying but a lot of people were talking, that's why nobody replied to his call.

“You knocked. Just open the door,” Ryuu insisted.

“Can you stop pressuring me? I'm doing my best.”

Nova opened the door to be welcomed by someone's yell.

“MARK, I'M NOT GOING TO TOLERATE YOUR BULLSHIT ANYMORE! I AM TIRED--NO, EVERYONE IS TIRED. IF YOUR LIFE SUCKS BLAME THAT ON YOURSELF, NOT US!”

The panda couldn't process the situation. The number of things out of the ordinary were impossible to account for.

The class itself wasn't a class. Desks and chairs were nowhere to be found. There was no floor. It was a mountain path removed from somewhere and glued in the room with rocks everywhere. It reminded him of yesterday, when the gym morphed in front of him with the only exception made for the teacher's desk, the only thing that belonged to a real class. On the desk, a big giraffe cuddling a young sloth slept peacefully. Was that the teacher? Why are they sleeping together? The majority of the students were grouped in a circle watching two animals, a female beaver and a male cheetah, fighting in the middle. Others were scattered all around the class minding their own business like the crocodile Nova saw yesterday. He was laying on the window, staring outside as if he didn't mind how things were going.

“Nat, how many times you need to hear this? I don't give a fuck. You wanna fight me? Bring it on punk,” the cheetah taunted.

“I swear to God I have never used this knife to cut anything but materials I needed to craft, but if I have to I will stab you!”

“Please guys, stop! Violence is never the answer!”

“Let them fight. I'm curious.”

“I bet twenty dollars on Natalie.”

“Interesting offer. Will you accept if I bet fifteen on Mark?”

“Deal.”

The students commented on the scene but nobody stopped them, and the ones who wanted to were too scared to interfere.

Nova didn't feel welcomed at all. The scene seemed so unrealistic like coming out of some dumb book a child wrote.

“Okay no, this is too much for me.”

He hysterically laughed and smashed the door shut. He shut himself and Ryuu out to where everything still made sense.

“Confused enough?” The wolf laughed.

“I have so many questions right now and I'm not sure what I want to ask.”

“Take your time.” He moved past him, curious to see the reason of that reaction.

Ryuu gave a quick glance around and shouted, “NOVA'S HERE! FIX THIS MESS ALREADY!”

The classroom froze instantly and the students turned to the wolf. What they were doing didn't matter anymore. Rox walked back inside, reached Ryuu and handed him over one dollar.

“I see. The usual,” he replied to his silent friend, heading back to the panda.

“Hey Ryuu, listen, I don't really feel like going inside… I'm not the type of-"

Nova mumbled some excuses that the wolf didn't consider at all as he stepped past, leaving him behind.

“Wait! Where are you going?!”

“I'm going upstairs. You coming or you wanna stay there?”

He truly wanted to go back to his mother, but he didn't have enough courage to confess.

The door opened again before Nova could say something. When he turned he saw the cheetah glaring down at him menacingly.

“Ah-I'm coming! Wait for me!” He freaked out and chased after the wolf without looking back.

The cheetah glanced down, disappointed, and walked away in the opposite direction.

“Ryuu!” Nova panted, “Slow down, please!”

“I wasn't running.”

“Just let me catch a break…”

The wolf looked at the stairs in front of him, then back to the tired panda. “I'm not carrying you.”

“No...no. It's alright. I can do this.”

“Why don't you ask me one question? I have a feeling it will take some time anyway.”

“Okay… tell me what's wrong with this school?”

“Nothing. It's a question you should ask to the public ones.”

“At least the public schools have desks to work on and chairs to sit on.”

“I'll consider it a question for the playgrounds.”

“...Playgrounds? I have another definition of those in mind.”

“Are you going to say something useless everytime I try to explain things to you or are you done?”

“...Sorry.”

“Every class has a special training ground where they can challenge each other whenever they want. Most of us specialize in physical abilities or mix with something else so the guardian requested a terrain that would satisfy the majority of us.”

“So I'm guessing the room morphs like that basketball camp I saw yesterday.”

“That's correct.”

Nova felt relieved. Tiring himself out like that gave him the chance to rest a bit. Ryuu’s presence was also very calming as if everything was fine no matter the situation.

The school, its system, the students...everything looked interesting. He just… couldn't see himself there.

“Shall we go now?”

The panda nodded and followed him upstairs.

“Please tell me more about this…Jungle Madness.”

“You went for the biggest one, huh? I'll try but there's a lot of stuff to say and I may lose some details along the way. You'll learn it better by watching one.”

They reached a small coffee machine at the end of the stairs.

“Before I start do you want something? I have enough to buy two.”

“It's not my money so I shouldn't ask.”

“Nah, Rox always gives me the exact amount of money I have to spend. It means he offers you one.”

“You sure? I don't want to-"

“Yes, I am.”

He pressed several buttons to make a coffee without sugar.

“I'm making the first for our teacher. What do you want?”

Nova turned to the machine and saw a wide amount of combinations but only one matched his taste.

“Can I have some hot chocolate?” He blushed, thinking it may look like a childish request.

“Sure.” He collected the change from the machine to insert the coins back in.

“Rox is the crocodile, right? I heard his name while he helped me.”

“Yes, he's our guardian.”

“Oh yeah, about that. I heard that word a few times but I still don't know. What is a guardian?”

“You know what a class rep is, right?”

“Of course.”

“They're similar roles but a guardian can also be a teacher's substitute. Guardians have authority and power in the school. They help their classmates, fix problems, talk to others, take care of duties and probably some other things I don't know.”

“Okay…makes sense, kinda. What about that sleeping giraffe?”

“She's one of our teachers. Her name is Rosanne but everyone calls her Mrs. Giraffe anyway.”

“What happened there? Why was she sleeping? Why were those two fighting?”

Ryuu sighed as he handed him his hot cup. “All of a sudden talking about the Jungle Madness looks way easier.”

“It's alright. I mean, if this is hard to explain I will just shut up…” He sipped the cup, burning his tongue.

“Rosanne is a hard worker. As far as we know she has three jobs and she never takes a break. We don't know why. The other professors keep it a secret and we just deal with it. We try to help with Jamie, that sloth you saw sleeping with her. He's magic or something; if you're tired you can't stay close to him that you will just pass out.”

Nova giggled, “They looked happy though.”

“We can't keep this up. For now it's fine since we barely started school, but we need to work otherwise we won't be able to spend our time on real school.”

“Real school?”

“I'll explain that later. Now about the cheetah and the beaver. You met Natalie already, right?”

“Yeah…she seems a bit like a bully.”

“It's the character she decided to build for whatever reason. Let her be. She won't hurt you if you don't bother her.”

“What about the other one?”

His expression darkened, hinting that he didn't like to touch the argument. “He is a bad guy. If possible avoid any contact with him. He shouldn't be a problem for you if you pretend he doesn't exist.”

“...Can I at least know his name?”

“Stay away from Mark. That's the only thing I ask of you.”

“Thanks for telling me his name I guess.”

Nova finished his cup and threw it away in the trash can. Ryuu pointed to move downstairs, to get back to the class now that the coffee cooled down a bit.

“A Jungle Madness is a challenge,” he resumed his explanation. “It sounds generic but that's how it is. It's what comes after that makes it special.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can't win a Jungle Madness with only strength or intelligence. It wouldn't be different from any other sport, right? You need both with a bit of creativity. Once the challenged decides the theme and winning condition there are the rules and bans section where you can outsmart your opponent. Whoever wins gets the prize, whatever it was they agreed on before.”

“I think I'm still confused but…overall I got it? I guess I need to see one in front of me.”

“You will. Sooner than you expect. For now you should meet your classmates and comrades in your journey.”

“Comrades is such a weird word choice though.”

“Over time you'll understand.”

“It almost feels like we're an army ready to fight or something.”