02. The Sea Prince Roommates

After having a mental breakdown, Raphaēl collected himself again. He only agreed to come to this school to benefit himself, but it may now just be his worse mistake.

His grandfather convinced him to attend through bribery. If only he didn't yield to the temptation of literature and books he would not be in a situation where he lives with not only a vampire, merman, and entity, but the leaders of said species.

"Are you okay?" The young-looking boy who was most definitely older than him, stared into his eyes. Although he referred to himself as king he actually held the title of third-born prince of the sea but had a bit of fame.

Knowing his grandfather some parts of the stories may be exaggerated but he held great titles. "Axul the Iridescent…" he stopped himself before he could finish.

The small boy giggled. His eyes widened but he looked quite happy rather than mad at him. Five princes, though he was the only with peachy colored eyes of the children. His fins were said to be gorgeous and outshined even the king and first-born son, that he gained more notoriety.

He was also a participant in the war, if he were right they had no real issues with vampires or a lot of species, except a certain few.

"So you have heard! What about you?" He asked tilting his head to the side. He could tell his every move was analyzed and only gulped.

Having a sea prince gaze at you like a potential threat was not what he signed up for and borderline scary beyond death but perhaps this was a chance. "Raphael, no last name. Though the name of my village is Underwood," he paused catching his breath, "A human representative." The school was still new and was trying to integrate everyone, though there will obviously be unwanted fights.

Either he dies now by the wrath of a sea prince who could crush him with a finger… or he lives and he gets left alone because humans are abnormally weak compared to everything and the boy losses interest.

The boy tilted his head further. Are mermen that bendy? "Is that like a subspecies of like elves?" He asked trying to look at his ears while twirling his own hair lightly.

Oh my goodness someone save him he thought. "No, we're a race. Before the war, humanity lived in public while the outbreak happened we have begun to decline with only a few of us who remained…" he explained carefully.

Clapping with a jump the small boy interrupted. "Woah I remember! The humans are almost all gone… that makes you super rare! Is it true you can't you magic? Low life expectancy? You can't survive being pierced through the heart?" A rapid fire of questions ensued.

With a shake of his head he answered the questions slowly until they stopped, causing a sigh of relief to escape before his breath hitching immediately after hearing the young prince's thoughts on the matter, "Wow so my roommate is a human! Glad to be your friend from now on, Raven."

This was not what he was expecting- an almighty beast to want to be friends. Secondly who on earth was Raven? "What classes are you in? Rael We're all first-years but our classes are different right?" He asked, changing the name once more.

Either this guy really didn't care for him, or he was the worst in the world with remembering names. That was not his name, also.

He hadn't even remembered being handed a schedule so he quickly flipped through his papers he slipped in a folder somewhere in his bag earlier. "You're so organized." He muttered.

"Ah there! Oooh we are both in the E course!" He said happily while clapping his hands. He looked awfully happy for someone who happened to be a bad student.

At the top read classes were assigned based on smarts. And as he'd expect of a human his knowledge was limited. He had common sense at least!

He still had an entry test and subjects such as math were simple until the large numbers which took longer… but he was the only one in the village to pass or understand anyways and still got E.

He braced himself for the worse but that hurts. "Humans have limited knowledge without any books… this may actually be a great chance to learn as much as possible." He decided that being in the E course wasn't for worse.

"Hmm? Like none?" The iridescent-prince asked after hearing the small murmur. No. He didn't think nothing of him, he thought of him as a small curiosity.

He wanted to sigh but held it in upon realising, and took to not questioning it. This prince likely saw him as a mystery he wanted to know about. "We have a few, along with my grandfather's tales but other than that our resources are limited from staying in hiding, in the woods." He responded explaining to him as to why.

For now he'd put up with him. Better to be bothered than bleeding. The boy blinked. "But you seem so mature compared to the others who have books." He gasped. He could say the exact opposite back, he seemed so immature for someone that's a prince.

Putting his papers back away, the two, mainly the prince pushing him, sat down at the large dining room table and begun to talk. He had to admit the inside was larger. "Have you ever swum?"

His mind really did wander quick. "We do have rivers to bathe in, separated into what my grandfather calls bathing springs, and we occasionally go to the deeper waters to get fish." He explained.

He'd heard tales about luxury bathrooms most homes had before the war but those were tales. No one had known how to use technology anymore nor could they with their resources.

"Really?!" He almost kinda actually shouted while slamming his hands down. His mouth was wide agape and could not comprehend.

He proceeded to calm himself and fix his clothes while sitting. "Oops, a pretty king shouldn't be so undignified." He murmured. While a bit feral, he couldn't deny what he said to be true.

He originally thought the women and men of his village were pretty compared to the students he had seen, but the mermaid was a bit beyond gorgeous with a mixture of cuteness with his cotton pink hair. His hair was light and fluffy, small curls at the tips, the colour nearly matched the pinkness of his lips he wondered if they were natural.

No one in his village had those lip shades, and he did hear some students gossiping about makeup, though he only knew the gist of how it worked while he avoided others. His eyes too, we're very light and welcoming compared to a normal merfolk's blue-green-pink-grey colours.

His skin was a bit pale, there was no sun under water he presumed, and with a close look there was some small scales? gils? around his neck with the shininess nearly blinding him.

Catching his gaze the prince turned to him. "Do you have questions?" He asked, to which Raphael nodded. The conversation was one sided originally but now he's jump.

"How do you have a human body?" question one, "How do you not dry up?" question two, "Are your eyes special?" question three, "Mermaids are said to live in the very depths of the sea, is it true you can survive any temperature and condition so long as you remain in the water?" question four, all piled out. He was curious.

"I'm so glad you asked! I made my own very special potion which turns me into a land-creature for a period of time though in the works was very successful." He bragged.

Subtle flex on everyone in his kingdom but he allowed Axul to continue. "My eyes are gorgeous. Unlike my brothers it shows that even as the third of the princes and youngest attending at the moment my superiority is obviously evident as I am next king."

This small creature had a huge ego. "Finally that's because my species reigns supreme of water species, though the temperature thing is a myth and we get cold and possibly run a fever."

That was interesting! New knowledge he thought frantically before pulling out a notebook and writing everything down. "Mermen get sick…" he begun to violently fill in the knowledge until the whole page was consumed.

"You don't need to draw a diagram…" he failed to hear as he wrote up following questions to how sick they were, temperatures, how do they retain body heat?

Finishing and nearly hurting his wrist before a single class, he clasped his notebook and let out a little noise, the smallest of hums.

Day one of five before classes to move in and prepare and he learned so much. Mermen were truly fascinating and so were all the others he thought, enjoying his new knowledge. He even failed to notice the sea-boy waving his hand in front of his face, nor the overpowering presence of the silver haired leader.