Time Cross Academy [ABO Anthology]

Time Cross Academy was one of the greatest schools that travel in the time rift. It opens once every five years and every supernatural creature or magician wants to send their children to study in it. The list of applications was long even though the entry criteria were stringent. Time Cross Academy's principal was a fearsome woman, as the archmage of the time rift who held power over an entire academy that didn't get destroyed in a dimension crack, nobody wanted to offend her.

On top of that, Time Cross Academy was known for one other thing apart from its superior education. For clans and countries who are looking for potential marriage partners for their children, it was the perfect place to be. Testimonials have said that while the methods were weird, the results were fantastic. 10/10 would recommend sending their children there to find a potential mate if the family has no problems against receiving a male bride or offering a male bride. Amanda Lucifer guarantees happiness in every couple that leaves her academy if it was fated.

The second gender was a thing that nobody truly understood. Amanda Lucifer always sends a potion to be drunk by the student applying to go to her academy. There would always be an explanation note defining what the second gender was and how the second gender worked.

When Soubi's father heard about the academy's application deadline, he quickly submitted the details of his only son and paid the fees. The clan head of the fox demon also force-fed his only son the mysterious potion without questions and Soubi cursed his father in his head. The potion was vile and he didn't want to be sent away for five years to an all-male school to find a male bride. Yet, he wasn't given a choice. Being born in the snow fox clan, Soubi was the only male heir. All his other older sisters were married to mortals or wandering around seducing them. The powers of a kitsune fox can only be passed down from male clan heads to their sons. Soubi resented his fate.

After drinking the potion and resigning to fate, Soubi packed his things with a heavy heart. He tried his best not to cry and tried to recall what he learned about the Academy.

Time Cross Academy only accepted males and they must be of legal marriageable age. Once they enter the Academy, they must take the second gender test regularly to confirm their second gender identities. There is no leaving the Academy until five years is up once they enter simply because the rift portal will only open for three days once every five years. Amanda Lucifer's words were absolute in the Academy and if she arranges a marriage for two students in the Academy, they must sign the marriage certificate with the principal as the witness to be sent back home to their parents. Sex was encouraged during mating season but safe practices must be enforced. Pregnancy was not possible in the Academy without consent from the clans of both students, for clans who wanted heirs early and consent to it, baby-making room facilities were available in the Academy and there were very capable medical staff at the campus in case of labour.

The more Soubi read it, the less sense everything made. Was his father really sending him to that kind of school just because he said he wasn't interested in girls? how could this happen to him?!

The poor snow fox demon sobbed. It's not that he didn't like female foxes. It's just that the female fox demon candidates in his omiai were too scary. His father didn't know their true nature and Soubi didn't want to get devoured. His father was already in his eight-hundreds so the man was anxious to get his young son to settle down and produce grandbabies. However, the old man kept matching his seventeen-year-old son with vixens who were at least two hundred years older than him. The legal age for sex was eighteen and the moment Soubi turned eighteen, his father said that he was sending him to the Academy for five years out of desperation. How was this fair?

Soubi cried bitter tears that night even after packing his things. He didn't want to get eaten by scary old vixens who looked at him like he was fresh meat. Then again, he didn't want a male bride! Why couldn't his father understand that he was still young? Also, his sisters were being very rude. They started betting if Soubi would take home a male bride or bring home a husband. Poor Soubi could only swallow bitter tears of frustration as there was nothing he could do to defy his fate. His father had ordered his personal attendant and guard to follow him to school so there was nowhere to escape. Kenma was a great pal to hang out with and he had taken care of Sobi ever since he was a child. However, the bodyguard was a stiff woodblock sometimes and Soubi just knew that he would be frustrated to no end with his guard sticking to him like a shadow.

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep!" Soubi decided and shut his eyes before drifting to lalaland without difficulties. Thinking always made him sleepy.

>>Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX<<

The next morning, Soubi ate quickly without tasting the food as he chewed. He was too nervous about attending the mysterious school to think about anything else. His father babbled on excitedly and bawled when they had to leave. Kenma carried Soubi's bag as the fox heir waved goodbye to his family. They travelled by cloud and arrived at the meeting point ten minutes early. The Academy's rift portal had yet to open so many people gathered around to socialise but Soubi decided to stick to himself. He touched the collar hidden beneath his yukata and swallowed. There were many people and the chances of meeting his arch-nemesis who was also attending the school should be very low.

Soubi frowned at the thought of his bitter rival. Sei Kurohebi was a black snake demon and the youngest son of the black snake clan. Ever since they were young, the man had always beaten him in all their games and bullied him to no end. Sei was a sick person who enjoyed making him cry. He always stole Soubi's toys and even made Soubi's playmates like him more, leaving the poor fox lonely throughout his childhood. If it wasn't for the good relationship his father had with the clan head of the black snake demons, Soubi wouldn't even want to have anything to do with the prick!

"What are you thinking about?" Kenma asked. Soubi had a wistful expression and if the caretaker was right, the young fox must be thinking of his childhood friend again. No matter how Soubi claims to dislike or hate Sei, he never really did anything to push the black snake away.

"Are you thinking about young master Sei again?" he asked and instantly Soubi's face turned red.

"What? No! Are you crazy? Why would anyone think about that bastard? Besides, it would be better if I didn't meet him at all in the academy. He must have told his father to enroll him when he heard that my father submitted my application without me knowing. The sick bastard must be mocking me..."

Kenma was thoughtful and chose to refrain from saying anything. The truth was very different from what his young master thought. As usual, Soubi was a very dense fox and different from most foxes who were manipulative by nature. It could be because of his age or due to the fact that Soubi had been pampered from a very young age but the snow fox was very innocent even for an eighteen-year-old. His view of the world was still pure despite knowing about the crafty ways of demons. Soubi made everybody worry about him but because he was so cute, they also couldn't help but bully him sometimes to show their affection.

Soubi hated it. He tried very hard to be masculine but was only as tall as Kenma's shoulder. He couldn't bulk up and had a figure prettier than most girls. The one thing that the snow fox demon excelled in was the shrine dance. As the successor of the snow fox clan, he had to learn to do the spiritual dance to bring prosperity to the clan and grant the prayers they received from their devotees. Usually, the bride of the fox clan who shared the mating bond with the clan head should perform the ritual but since Soubi's mother passed away many years ago, there was only Soubi and his old father who could do it. Being the filial son, Soubi offered to take up the responsibility.

Kenma smiled slightly. The first time Soubi performed the spiritual dance, everyone was mesmerised by his beauty but no one more so than Sei. It was an open secret to everyone that the youngest son of the black snake clan fancied Soubi. Still, as the caretaker and bodyguard, Kenma would only watch as their love story unfolded. Ordinarily, it would take about a hundred years for Soubi to even realise that Sei liked him and maybe two hundred more to eventually settle down with the black snake. However, Amanda Lucifer was a very capable woman and a master of tying the red string. The clan heads of the Kitsune and Kurohebi clans decided to send both their foolish sons to the Academy in hopes of getting grandbabies quicker but Kenma would keep that information to himself.

The portal appeared and excited cheers could be heard. Soubi watched the purple portal grow in size and shivered. Once he stepped into that place, there was no escape for five years. Could he survive?

"Come on, young master. Let's go. It's not good to be tardy on the first day, we must make a good first impression."

With a heavy and reluctant sigh, Soubi got up and dragged his feet over to the portal, not wanting to go and hating to squeeze with the thrums of excited students.