After Ezekiel leaves, Mael is also quick to leave, followed by their mother and Margaret that said something about going to meet a friend, and lastly Nicolas leaves, saying he must speak with his partner about the news on Eryx. Someone would think I’m really his son, he thinks after hearing a whole nagging session about the importance of safe sex. I wasn’t even intending on having sex.

Before he and Levi leave the house, the door of the mansion slides open right as they were about to open it, revealing another one of their brothers. They sure love making dramatic entrances, Eryx thinks.

Milo Algeo is strikingly beautiful, from all the eight brothers he is by far the one who’s looks are most awe inducing, his droopy red eyes are mellowy, his lips are of a perfect heart shape, his nose is sharp and elegant, his eyelashes long and constantly fluttering due to his constant state of sleepiness and his red hair is wavy like Eryx’s and reaches his eyebrows giving him a soft appearance. As the fourth brother he is considered by many to be the ‘’middle’’ brother, but all the man truly cares is about sleeping and architecture. 

‘’Milo? Why are you here?’’ Levi asks as he grabs Eryx’s bag from the ground.

The man yawns before answering. ‘’Because the baby needs to use his uniform’’, oh right, he has this annoying habit as well, Eryx thinks annoyed, Milo tends to call both Eryx and Luc babies. Because in his eyes they’re still three-year-olds. Which is incredibly annoying to both young boys. He shoves the uniform on Eryx’s chest, ‘’Change up, baby, you’ll be late’’.

‘’Why didn’t you…’’ Levi begins but stops himself with a sigh, aware that there is no use in being annoyed at his older brother. ‘’Just be quick Eryx, you can’t lose the entrance ceremony’’.

✦

During the whole car ride to the Link Academy, all Levi did was nag his older brother while Eryx was busy checking his new phone. ‘’...I can’t believe you left the school! You’re a professor for fuck’s sake!’’ Levi yells as he pulls over alongside the line of cars in front of the Academy. He sighs with frustration, there isn’t much to do when any of the brothers decide to do something, unfortunately all eight of them were born with their father’s stubbornness, that’s one of the reasons why no one was able to stop Eryx from finding the drugs and taking them, even with all the support and attention he was receiving. He always found a way, be it asking friends or looking for it in the dark alleys, leaving his phone at home so his brother’s couldn’t track him, erasing his texts history and even taking the drugs out of home so that they couldn’t see him high.

Of course, now Eryx is completely clean, the scare he had the night before was enough to completely fright him up. Exchanging sexual favors for drugs was easy to do when he was high, but the idea of going further and selling his whole body was… terrifying. And since he became a vampire, everything he ever wanted, he sees no reason to take them anymore, and the addiction was cleaned when his whole body changed so he must refrain from falling down that pit again, as there might be no return if he does so.

I was lucky, he thinks, closing his phone and looking at his brothers, Levi is still scolding Milo, which is just yawning and ignoring every word of his younger brother. Eryx snorts, he truly loves his brothers, remembering his past life only makes him appreciate his family more, as he can’t know when will be the last time he’ll see them. There’s no use being sad over the past, he reflects, even if he misses his older sister, she is long gone and he can barely remember her face and name. All he can do for her is succeed in finishing the game she set up for him and saving his new family, as that’s what she always taught him to do.

After his parents died in that accident and he suffered severe injuries in an accident he barely remembers, he was never able to properly show his feelings, not even able to actually feel them, which he regrets deeply, so now he doesn’t want to regret his choices or never say the words he wants to say. ‘’I love you’’, he says, blushing violently, it’s weird to say that to his brothers out of the blue, but he felt the need to. Maybe he should’ve said that before at the table, where more of his brothers were present. Levi turns to him with a shocked expression, while Milo just reaches back and pats him on the head. 

‘’I love you too, baby’’, Milo says with his low voice followed by another yawn. Levi looks at their older brother with a dumbfounded expression but he turns back to the youngest instead of commenting on the lack of manners of the older one.

‘’I love you too, Eryx, but why so out of the blue?’’ Levi asks, blinking slowly as if he’s trying to understand the situation. Sure, he rarely ever said his feelings out loud, but he just doesn’t want to leave this world without ever telling his brothers that he loves them.

‘’I just thought I should tell you’’, he answers, trying not to become redder than he already was, his neck and ears becoming a bright tone of scarlet. ‘’I was always so scared of dying before you that I never thought about telling you that I appreciate and love you guys’’, he says, tuning to escape more of this conversation, almost regretting being honest. 

He grabs his bag leaving the car and finally looking at Link Academy, the place he’ll spend a good part of his next three years and then leave to become an important piece of vampire society. The Academy not only is huge, beating even the Algeo mansion in size, but is also one of the oldest buildings in Iris City, located at the heart of it, it was previously owned by a primordial vampire that died at the war 500 years ago and was repurposed with the goal of teaching the younglings and introducing them into the vampire society as they stop growing.

Its building is made of stone and has not only the main building where classes take place, but also a mixed dormitory for all the students, a cafeteria building where a lot of food options is available, a sports building, arts building and nature building, where students of different courses could spend their free time and further develop their projects and study. A total of six buildings compose the Link Academy, where vampire students from all over the world come to study, not many are allowed to attend though. First you must get a recommendation letter, then you must pay the high tuition and lastly you must pass the first week of admissions where they’ll determine if you have the right profile for the school. Not many people are kicked out of the Academy during the first week, since most students there pay a lot of money to be there, but such can happen if you anger a teacher or go against the established rules.

There are around 80 courses you can choose, however there isn’t even near the amount of students required for each course, so some aren’t always available, it all depends on the students’ choice during the introductory week. In the game you could choose between ten courses, and your choice influenced the likability of the chosen target. After the introductory week you were also supposed to choose your target. So assuming this will be the same, Eryx has one week to make a decision and hope the heroine doesn’t make the same decision. This place is packed, he thinks, it must have around 500 students there, some returning for another semester and others coming for the first time. Compared to human schools, there aren't a lot of people, but considering they’re the elites of vampires, then it’s quite surprising to have that amount.

How was the heroine able to pay the tuition? He questions in his mind, if she managed a scholarship, then there was someone from the inside assisting her, which is by itself a crime in the vampire world, to assist a human to infiltrate one of the most high profile Academies in the world. Not that Eryx was playing by the rules, he was admitted last second and he only got in because of his older brother and family name.

Attending an Academy is obligatory for any vampires over 19, so if he wasn’t able to enter Link Academy he would’ve gone to one of the small ones, which would be negative to the reputation of the Algeo family, since all of them attended it, except Nicolas and Zacharie, because they’re older than the Academy itself.

‘’This place is exactly the same’’, Levi comments as he puts his hand on Eryx’s shoulder. ‘’Take care, Milo will assist you with your feedings, just be careful with your roommate’’. The youngest nods. ‘’And you make sure to keep an eye on Eryx, you always treat him like a baby but never take care of him as one’’, he nags Milo who simply yawns. Levi sighs, ‘’I don’t know why I even try’’, he mumbles to himself before leaving.

Eryx turns to Milo, who starts to walk without a word, but once they cross the Academy’s gate, which is filled to the brim, he stops and turns to the youngest. ‘’Baby, just text me if you feel hungry, and don’t try to leave the Academy grounds, it’s dangerous’’, his voice is low as if he’s about to fall asleep. ‘’Take care’’, he says before kissing Eryx’s forehead and leaving. 

His cheeks burn with embarrassment as everyone stares at him, his brother unaware of what he did, more worried about going to his office to take a nap. He’s a walking disaster, he thinks, and he can almost feel the understanding gaze of Levi on his back although his brother is long gone. The moment he enters the Academy grounds, he can feel it, the gazes recognizing his hair color, the whispers of rumors and when he finally arrives at the back gardens, where the entrance ceremony will take place, it doesn’t take him long to spot his youngest older brother. 

Luc is laughing, holding a basketball and moving around in the Academy’s basketball team’s uniform, his hair is short and straight, his red eyes are soft and his build is one worthy of any athlete. Complete opposites, that’s what he and Luc are, while one excels in sports and socializing the other is considered a weirdo by many, a bastard by even more and his biggest talent is being able to make fast calculations in his head.

When his bright orange eyes meet his brother’s red ones he can tell that no one told Luc he was going to be there, the pure horror on his face was clear as day, and he was walking towards him as if he was about to catch a murderer. 

‘’What are you doing here, Eryx?’’ His voice is enough to grab the attention of everyone surrounding them. ‘’And why are you wearing these stupid contacts?’’ Just like Levi he grabs Eryx’s chin, analyzing his eyes, and once he realizes those were real he snorts. ‘’You finally did it’’.

‘’Nice to see you too, brother’’, Eryx says, taking a step back. From all of his seven older brothers, Luc was the only one he never got close enough to, maybe because their age difference is minimal, or maybe because he took his spot as the beloved younger brother. Or even maybe because for whatever reason, Luc blames Eryx for their father’s death. Even so, he can’t help but care and love his older brother, even if he’s the person he dislikes the most in the world. Hate is just another shape for love after all.

‘’Ha’’, Luc smirks annoyed, ‘’You should have remained human’’, with those welcoming words he leaves to go back to his friends, but it is already too late as everyone already is whispering that the supposed human of the Algeo family is there and is a real vampire. He can even already see the amount of rumors he’ll need to navigate during the next three years.

But now, he must focus on what is right there in front of him.

Mission Accomplished!

Congratulations for completing your mission (The youngest deserves a good school life!).

Would you like to receive your rewards?

Y/N

Already? Mael and Ezekiel sure are quick… He thinks in surprise, looking around to see if anyone is looking at him weird or noticing the orange screen in front of him, but all looks he’s receiving are those of people surprised by his presence not seeing a weird orange translucent screen showing missions on it. I wonder if I’m hallucinating, but what happened the night prior wasn’t a hallucination, and the fact he was able to see the future wasn’t fake as well.

He discreetly presses Y.

Again, his brain is filled with information, this time his conversations with his sister about the game became clearer, he can even see the appearance of some of them, making it easier for him to even remember who’s route he played.

A Sub-quest was updated!

Introduce yourself to all of the targets (In Progress):

There’s nothing like entering a new semester to meet new people! All of the targets are at the entrance ceremony and it’s up to you to find them and introduce yourself to them all before the heroine!

Win this race and gain +20 likability with your target when you make your choice!

Target’s met (1/7)

Huh? Eryx is in complete shock, not because of the sudden update to the mission, but because of the amount of targets, when he played the game there were only 5 targets, not 7. And he already met one of them? The only one he spoke with there was… Hell no. The mere idea of his brother flirting with the heroine makes him nauseous. Of course he’s never going to choose his brother as his target, but the idea that it is even an option is sick.

That’s when he recalls his sister mentioning extra capture targets they were developing to put in an extra content of the game. No wonder an influential family like the Algeos wasn’t in when I played, he thinks with a sigh, if Luc is a capture target of the extra content, then he would’ve been introduced after I dropped the game. 

Not that he really remembers much of any of the targets, but he at least knows their names, and having one he doesn’t even know who it is… Well, it isn’t hard to figure it out, I just need to see who is extremely good looking. As a clear rule for any romance game with several targets, they must all be breathtaking beautiful, and that makes the fact that Luc Algeo was a target make sense, since he was not only popular, good-looking and from a rich family, but he was also a contender for the next Vampire Olympics as a member of the official basketball team of the Posy Republic, the nation where they reside.