Eve walked stiffly beside River, ducking behind him to avoid the obscene glances that pierced his body like venom. The students' bizarre and stunning stares made him feel small and befuddled, as if they were looking at some other species from another world. However, much to Eve's chagrin, this isn't the reason they're staring at him; it's because of who he dared to walk with.

Not only that, but he even dared to have a peaceful conversation with that person.

"Yes, we call him Alpha here because he's far from a normal human," River turned to Eve and pointed his finger toward his own head looking like a maniac himself. "You know, completely messed up in his head, he's like an untamed animal. Hey, don't make such an ugly face, my best friend is a nice guy too, the only problem is that you can't get along with him."

"This is not his real name?" Eve asked innocently.

Eve gasped as he suddenly found himself struggling to breathe and walk, while they crumpled through the crowd of sprinting students. He wondered what the commotion was about. River rolled his eyes at the students for disturbing him and his Luna's conversation. He yanked Eve's wrist violently and dragged him away from the crowd.

But when the scene became clear, Eve's face broke out in disgust and shock as his eyes fell on a boy whose face was being pummelled repeatedly with punches in a short distance. The boy sobs in agony as blood pours from his mouth and nose. A short while later, the boy passed out, but that didn't stop the attacker from striking.

Eve unconsciously glared at the cheering boys who were screaming excitedly at every punch, instead of helping the boy getting the severe beating. Eve

froze on the spot, eyes fixed on the scene as he clenched his fist. He kept on repeating in his head that this is not normal, that's not how students in his

previous school behaved. These boys are not normal no matter how he looked at them. But then he remembers he's not in a normal school.

"Ignore them, let's get our dinner and get out of here," River started walking completely unfazed.

Eve tugged on his sleeve, which made River return his gaze. "B-But what about that boy? He's not moving anymore, shouldn't someone help him?" he inquired anxiously.

River narrowed his eyes and he could see the pity in Eve's eyes for the boy with a hint of curiosity and that's what scared River. He was wondering why Eve wasn't enjoying the show like everyone else. He carefully studied Eve more but couldn't find any other emotion besides pity which made him sigh, but also made him confused.

Because he knows it's not good for a newbie who has no idea how the survival system works here to have an emotion like that.

"Take a look at that blondie who is beating him. Now watch his batch," River asked him, and Eve cast a glance at the boy, who was twice the size of his unconscious victim. As the blond bully pants profusely, his face twisted in that hostile manner.

Though Eve felt sorry for the passed-out boy, he unknowingly shudders and hopes to never swap places with him.

"His batch is identical to yours," Eve hadn't given it much thought before, believing that they functioned similarly to ID cards.

"Yes, it is a red colour, which indicates danger. Now I want you to pay close attention to what I'm saying. Never, and I mean never, get involved with them because they're psychos who belong in a mental asylum, not here. While the person being beaten has a yellow batch, this means they have done nothing but minor gang fights and robbery," River elaborated. Eve's eyes widened as he realised what he meant.

River laughed, "Oh no, don't worry, I will not harm you; you're safe with me. Unless someone pokes me, I'm not as bad as these. Instead of seeing me as a threat, consider me a friend because I'm not letting you go now."

Eve doesn't know how to react to his words.

"Then can you save him?" Eve asked with hopeful eyes. "Kinda," River nonchalantly let out.

"Then please help him."

"Aww you are so kind-hearted but I'm not," River cooed at him before starting to walk again toward his dinner.

"You are the kind-hearted one," Eve runs behind him.

"I'm not kind-hearted Luna, I'm hungry," River entirely ignored him.

When they were about to walk into the cafeteria. Eve too, like his new friend, decided to try to ignore the fight because, again, who wants to get involved in a fight on their first day? Regardless, he turned into a block of ice when he saw the bully on the top pulling out a knife and yanking his hand back with full force, his eyes flooding with pure madness.

Eve's eyes widened so much that he thought his eyeballs were going to fall out, his head went numb, and his legs became so weak that they turned to jelly. He had no idea what came across his head. He yelled so loudly that all the hooting and screams died away just as the boy was about to stab him.

Then there was silence.

"NO!" He heaved heavily, his face filled with dread. The silent stares and

painful attention he drew to himself only made him a prey for many gawking eyes. He became the target of every curious student.

River was astounded as well, and he abruptly twirled to Eve, who appeared to have turned into a statue, with no movement or expression on his face. He felt a tingling chill run down his spine.

"What the hell did you do?!" River approached the frozen boy, jerking Eve by his arm and pulling him back to reality.

Eve blinked flabbergastingly up at him, he couldn't believe what he did. This wasn't the part of his plan to live here peacefully, he wasn't supposed to do something so outrageous just after a few hours of his arrival here. He could feel the sharp gazes gawking at the back of his neck which left him trembling.

"B-But he was going to s-stab him," Eve let out in a hushed voice, he didn't feel safe speaking when so many eyes were on him.

"And?" River whispered with a scowl, he didn't care about the students who were drowning them both under their gazes, whispering about them. He is not afraid of any of them because they are afraid of him. But he understands how wrong Eve was; it was against the rules of this school. "That's their

problem."

The blond on the other side looked at them with death in his eyes. He stood up after one last punch to his victim, throwing him away, and started walking like a maniac toward Eve.

The audience, who were enjoying the ongoing drama, gasped. Watching him getting nearer, Eve felt like his time had come, witnessing his death

approaching him.

When River saw the terrified look on Eve's face, he turned back. He acted instinctively and quickly blocked Eve becoming a shield before the bully boy could get his hands on him.

"Back off, knox," River exclaimed in a dangerously serious tone. "Only touch him if you don't want your hands attached to your body."

Eve gulped, he couldn't see River's expression but his tone alone left him shaking and making sure that he wasn't kidding. He felt quite overwhelmed upon encountering this River for the first time. Which means he was clearly going easy on him on purpose, and Eve would have been grateful if his heart wasn't filled with apprehension.