a brief introduction to the setting of book 2 "heaven"

“and now, I would like to introduce you all to your newest classmate.”

his ears were twitching as he spoke, no doubt listening to my heart rate increasing, his thick and silken beard practically cascaded down his hakama and gi, and his eyes glowed a faint red from behind his much too dignified spectacles as he spoke my name in somber, sober tones.

“shinryu no masakado.”

a chorus of gasps fill the room as the words of my name ring out.

“a human? Here?”

“i've heard of him, he's supposed to be like, really strong and powerful!”

“that's a lie! All humans are weak!”

the principal, principal Lhok, turns to face me, his fox ears twitching above his head.

“well human, come in then!”

I'm not nervous.

Just…..really tired.

One step.

Two steps.

The silver light pouring through the classroom windows as I step into the somewhat dim room only make it more difficult for me.

School uniforms for the fox demons are primarily based on three types, male and female kimonos, and typical male student uniforms common to the land of tairo.

I'm wearing the common one, a black suit, high collar, straight shoulders.

I run a hand through my gray hair, mom says the gray is a symbol of godhood, she would know, being a goddess herself.

I'm not too keen on the idea.

It's short, a touch spiky to the feeling.

I inhale with the rest of the class, i'm just as surprised to see that most of my classmates are wearing kimonos.

“uh...yo!”

YO?! what a pitiful response…

the class falls deathly quiet, as though i've committed some capital offense.

One of the students, a girl with silver hair and silvery fur on her ears, stands up.

“principal, can I…..claim him?”
the rest of the class gasps.

It's not unusual, fox demons are supposed to have that degree of power over humans, humans and fox demons live in separate societies but….fox demons are the more powerful race, and the agreement signed after the wars clearly states that humans, due to initiating war, belong to fox demons.

In a way it's kind of them to give us our sovereignty, despite being legally permitted to use us as they see fit.

“might I inquire as to the purpose?” the principal asked.

I kind of wanna sigh, he's a good guy.

Legally speaking I AM human, my mother's station as a goddess does nothing to change that.

Still….

“He'll need a supervisor, and nobody's volunteered...soo...”

“remember the law Ren, the weak are to be stripped of their rights, shinryu is not weak-”

“Sure.” I say, interrupting the principal.

The classroom gasps again, you'd think they were made of air the way they keep taking it in.

“If you want me the law is the law, I don't mind.”

well I don't.

“son.” lhok says, his tone low.

“I understand you wanting to be polite and all, but all things considered, becoming some random student's slave isn't an easy task.”

“thanks for your consideration principle lhok, but I think it would be rude of me to refuse such a generous offer.” I say with a bow.

The principal nods.

“if you're fine with it, just remember to inform your mother of the decision, else she'll be positively livid.”

with that he takes his leave and our teacher, madame selllsu bids me take a seat next to my new supervisor.

“I'm ren!” she says excitedly. “ren yara! Nice to meet you!”
“Name's Masakado, honored to meet you.” I say, trying to keep the informality out of my tone.

She smiles, pleasantly, but a bit hungrily too, as though she's in a war with her own impulse to abuse the power i've given her.

Legally if she does try to abuse it, there's not a thing I'm permitted to do, a fact backed by mother's own will, the law WAS set down by her after all.

After class we eat together and discuss some things, then she takes me for a walk to the cherry tree grove, it's like an ocean of pink in this place, the trees are never white, just pink, the flowers I mean.

She and I continue our stroll.

“shouldn't I be collared?” I ask her and she shrugs.

“I need to know that I can trust the depth of your conviction before I can consider putting one on you.” she explains, flashing me a cute grin.

“what do you want me to do then?” I ask, more unnerved by the lack of protocol being followed than by her acting weird.

She pushes me against one of the trees, and in the light barely filtering through the boughs so thick with sakura flowers it becomes all the more evident that the pink coloration in the air isn't just from the filtered light.

Though it helps to enhance the color of her white...er….

I snap my head away, a bit embarrassed.

She leans in closer, until I can practically feel her breath on my cheek.

“masakado.” she warns and I remember that I agreed to this and turn to face her.

She's probably been staring at me, her face hovering mere inches from mine, for a minute now, and I find myself overly conscious of how i'm keeping her waiting.

Her eyes, red and alight with an internal glow, are narrow slits as her white ears twitch.

“umm.”

she shuts me up with a probing tongue, and I relax and accept the situation.

Rules are rules.

I thrust my hands in my pockets as she takes her time with me.

Legally, there's nothing I'm permitted to do.

Honestly not sure if I would try to do anything other than cooperate anyway, physical strength and a few slight physical differences are all that separate fox demons from their lesser counterparts, the humans.

So I sit back, cooperate, and try not to enjoy this too much.

Her tongue his hot, and oddly sweet.

Or maybe it's just the sense of gratification stemming purely from having someone touch me in this manner, I don't really give half a damn.

She pushes me down and I glance around as she settles atop me.

Nobody is in the grove at this time, probably because lunch is over and class is starting, meaning she and I are skipping class.

The blouse comes unbuttoned.

“ummm..” she begins nervously and I shrug.

“You're the master here.” I concede.

This sort of behavior, while unusual, isn't unheard of, and as a human I'm taught my place early in life.

Tools to be used by the fox demons, our superior brethren.

For any purpose.

The sad part? Thanks to mom's power any and all humans are permanently bound to it, not a single one of us can rebel without dying.

She sits there for the longest time, clearly nervous and unsure of herself.

Is this morally right?

Is it ethical?
Does it matter?

The part that wants to abuse the power is at odds with the part that's clearly saying “you've gone too far.” and she's half considering covering her exposed breasts.

I bring a hand up to her cheek.

“Listen, ren.” I say, trying to figure out the best way to explain myself.

“If this is what you want, I'm fine with it.”
“you sure?” she asked, clearly flustered.

“I signed up for it didn't I?”
I'm half hoping that these are the wrong words, like implying that i'm her slave and thus bound to be a tool might make her feel guilty.

I'm ALSO half hoping that this just makes her hungrier for the only human permitted within this circle of fox demon society for the first time in history.

Turns out the latter was correct, she leans in close, locking me in another kiss.

The rest of the noon is spent beneath the cherry blossoms as she calmly wipes the guilt away atop me, enjoying herself to the fullest, I try to remain stoic, it's improper for a human to enjoy such things after all.

Least that's what I tell myself.

She doesn't seem to care, in fact, she rolls over to let me be the one on top a few times.

Fox demon stamina is legendary.

If I were a typical human I'd not have lasted this long.

But I was exiled from human culture for a reason.

Of course once we're done we head to our next class, by that time she's given me the collar she had purchased.

“it was one time only” she says.

I don't really care.

I'm not sure why, but I get the feeling that I'm going to enjoy my time here at Kazegami university.

Note:

Sooo, yeah I wanted to see if book 2 could delve into relationships.

huh, how bout that?

anyway, for book 2 the chapters involving masakado will be told from first person, whereas the chapters involving a certain someone will be third person.

I'm also considering altering the love scene here to be more explicit, the reason being the dark lord zer0 series isn't exclusively one thing.

it's not romance, high fantasy, or sci fi, but it never strays from these things either.

so when I paint a sex scene or something, I don't want to focus on it as though it's an expected part of the story and therefore erotica, but I do want to put these sorts of things into the book as a way of showing "all extremes" of story telling by not censoring or hiding anything. 

this was just a prototype of this scene I typed out, but expect me to expand a bit more on the love scene in question, as well as descriptions of the classrooms and so forth.

the dark lord zer0 may be inspired by final fantasy, but I want to make it clear that it's an extreme sort of story that visits extremes in all ways, the good AND the bad.

another point of this chapter is that it displays a culture built around strength vs weakness, the structure of the society favors fox demons exclusively, and while humans and fox demons populate the world equally, there is a clear segregation of the races, where the sole interaction between the two species in in slave-master relationships.

in this world humans are subservient, but this isn't "they're subservient and will eventually break free because JUSTICE-" no, there's no freedom for these particular humans because the conflict ended due to the efforts of a particular goddess of death who decided that humans had offended her.

thus she set laws that became the founding laws for human life, a human that rebels dies and their soul is reborn a year later. no escape to the afterlife if you try to rebel.

the fox demons for all intents and purposes are the dominant race and that remains until the end of the book, where I conclude masakado and ren's arc.

as for the name, both the name of the land the setting takes place in, as for masakado's full name, both are references to three things.

first, tairo no masakado, the legendary warrior turned patron diety.

second, this is meant to also be a reference to the masakado from shin megami tensei as well as to imply how powerful he might be.

shinryu, his first name, is a reference to the final fantasy dragon, this was a deliberate name choice both as a reference, and a means to represent masakado's nature as a character.

he's basically like a sleeping dragon, fearful of its own great power because if it moves, it only causes harm.

thus masakado is passive and takes many things in stride, to better avoid being forced to display his power, a trait we'll see yet again during the void arc with another character.

book 2, heaven, will feature the dual adventures of masakado and reaper as the two struggle in their respective realities. 

this is meant to be a reference to persona 3, but inversed, and you'll find out why later.

expect me to rewrite this to be a tad more explicit, but don't expect it to just be erotic all the time.

just once or twice, depending on my mood.