A young boy walked the halls of the Academy, the most hallowed temple of learning in the monster realm. He wore the white coat of the medical department.
“Ahhh…”
The boy’s face was glum. As the only human at the Academy, every other student stared at him. Glenn was used to it by now, but…
“A voluntary research problem…in a laboratory.”
He sighed.
In his hand was a notice from his professor, Cthulhy, officially moving him up a grade. In the six short months since beginning the course, Glenn’s high marks had earned him a place with the second-years. This wasn’t just unprecedented for the college of medicine—it was unprecedented for the entirety of the Nemea Academy. The rules required a student to obtain professorial approval before proceeding to the next year of study, irrespective of how long that student had been enrolled. Most of Cthulhy’s students repeated grades multiple times.
And then along came a boy no older than fourteen—and a human at that—who advanced to the next year almost immediately, taking everyone by surprise. The other students looked at Glenn with envy.
For his part, Glenn was oblivious to the ill feelings of his classmates. The only thing on his mind was Cthulhy’s requirement for second-years to participate in lab work, of which he’d just been informed.
“Which lab am I supposed to join?” Glenn wondered aloud, rubbing the spots on his arm left behind by Cthulhy’s suckers.
According to Cthulhy, while second-years could undertake lab work alone or in a group, their research had to fall under one of a variety of topics. Glenn looked down at the list Cthulhy had given him.
“Pharmaceutics, herb cultivation, monster origins… whoa, practical application of blood transfusion? Can students really do that? Then there’s studying the development of the outer ear in different races…is that a fetish?”
The students at the Nemea Academy were brilliant. That was obvious from the list of research subjects. Glenn knew Cthulhy wouldn’t allow him to advance unless he proved that he was capable. He wanted to graduate as soon as possible and become a doctor and, if he was going to achieve that, he needed to produce remarkable results.
As a fourteen-year-old runaway, he also had to consider the school fees. Unless he took advantage of the scholarships awarded to exceptional students, there was no guarantee he’d even be able to afford the rest of his study. He had no choice but to complete the curriculum in the shortest amount of time possible.
“Hmm…”
Glenn sighed again.
Most students probably teamed up with their friends for lab work, but he didn’t have any of those. After a single semester, all of Cthulhy’s students clearly considered him an anomaly. He hadn’t really meshed with his roommate either, and had ended up in a room of his own.
“Maybe I should just do it alone…or ask Sapphee…”
Working alone seemed awfully daunting. It was technically allowed, but no student had ever launched a laboratory study entirely on their own. He had no choice but to turn to the only person he knew, which would probably mean joining the pharmaceutical research that Saphentite Neikes had already begun.
Then again…
Saphentite had been a ward of Glenn’s family once. She was basically their hostage, and he’d never expected to be reunited with her here. At first, she hadn’t even noticed him. When they finally ran into each other, Sapphee was extremely surprised.
“I’m pretty sure she’s been avoiding me…”
Glenn’s parents hadn’t agreed with his decision to come here, and he essentially cut all ties with them in order to travel to the monster realm. It was true that his older brother had covered his entrance fees and initial living expenses, but Glenn interpreted this as an olive branch for his return, rather than a promise of more aid in the future. Sapphee was the only person (or monster) he knew in the whole of Nemea, and she was making a point of not speaking to him. Even when he tried to strike up conversation, she behaved coldly. Now he was frightened to even approach her.
“What to do…?”
He had no friends, and his childhood companion wouldn’t even acknowledge him. He could go to Cthulhy, who was betting on his talent, but she wasn’t going to solve his problems for him. Moreover, he didn’t want to wind up on her bad side…or run up too much debt.
Maybe I should just do it by myself…
“Oh, Glenn! Gleeenn!”
His thoughts were interrupted by a lone student sliding down the hallway toward him. Her pigtails were…bubbling? Her body was green and made of a strange gel. She was a striking sight.
“Umm…” Glenn watched the girl approach. “Remind me of your name?”
“Huh?!” The girl collapsed, flinging herself onto the floor in dismay. “I-I introduced myself before, yeah?”
“O-oh, when I transferred in…right? I’m sorry, umm… all I remember from that day is my lessons…”
“Can’t you at least say you were nervous? Even if it’s a lie, yeah?”
“I apologize…”
It wasn’t that Glenn didn’t care about the other students, his studies were just his top priority. Still, it wasn’t right that he hadn’t even remembered her name.
“Uggh…! I’m Sphwllympf, yeah!”
“What…?” The way she said her name sounded like mixing a jar of paste. “Um…is that the slime pronunciation? No wonder I couldn’t remember.”
“Oh, you’re right, yeah! You can call me Lime! They started calling me that because all I eat are limes, yeah.”
Bubbles burst from her hair—or at least the part of her head that looked like hair. She smelled like citrus.
“Lime…”
Glenn remembered her now. She was the most senior student in Cthulhy’s class, though he thought that was probably a reflection of her poor grades. Her pigtails and cherubic face made her look younger, but as a slime, she could manipulate her body however she liked.
She wasn’t wearing clothes, but she’d formed her body into the silhouette of a collar around her neck and a skirt around her waist. The high collar gave her a sense of sophistication, but her speech and overall appearance was more like a very young girl. She didn’t look like an upperclassman at all.
“Ahh, did you…want to talk to me about something?” Glenn asked.
“Ah! That’s right! It’s terrible, yeah!”
“Umm, what’s terrible?”
Glenn was utterly confused. He’d only spoken to Lime a handful of times, but here she was, acting as if they were old friends.
I’ve never been good at making friends…
When he’d lived with his parents, he’d spent his time reading instead of playing outdoors. His brother was the sociable one, his sister young and naive, but Glenn had been a timid child. Even traveling abroad to the monster realm hadn’t cured him of that.
“Anyway, just come with me!”
“Uh…whoa!”
Lime let the human outlines of her body collapse, transforming into an amorphous green blob. She slid her viscous flesh under Glenn and slid rapidly down the hall, carrying him with her. He tried to resist, but with nothing solid to grab on to, there was nothing he could do.
“I’m sorry. We’re in a hurry, yeah!”
“C-could you be a bit gentler…? Whoaa…!”
But it was futile.
The other students and teachers stared, speechless, at the sight of the human prodigy being carried off by a slime.