He strolled into the orientation hall. It was colossal. A sea of students in identical uniforms filled the endless rows of seats, their chatter echoing up to the vaulted, cathedral-like ceiling. Cane yawned, unconcerned. He plopped down in a random empty seat in a mostly vacant row. He wasn’t bothered about finding a solitary spot. In fact, with his newly upgraded Charisma, he hoped some pretty girl might feel an inexplicable pull to sit next to him. A perfect test drive.
Of course, no one did. The hall was large enough to house the entire student body five times over. People spread out. He was an island. So much for instant magnetism. Cane propped his chin on his hand as a portly man in extravagant robes—the headmaster—waddled onto the grand stage. The man launched into a long, droning speech about responsibility, honour, and the great tradition of the academy. Blah, blah, blah. Cane had already read all this boring filler in the novel. He zoned out, his mind elsewhere.
Once the mind-numbing ceremony concluded, he trudged with the crowd to pick up his room key and schedule. The small tag attached to the key had his name and room number. And another name. Kai Fell. So he had a roommate. Standard for freshmen. He shrugged. As long as the guy didn’t snore.
He found the room without trouble, a simple wooden door in a long, quiet hallway of the freshmen dorms. He pushed it open.
And stopped.
Someone was already there, their back to the door. The person was short, with a delicate build. Their uniform jacket was off, leaving them in the thin white blouse. Cane’s eyes travelled down their frame. Silky black hair fell to their shoulders. A waist so slender it looked like he could span it with his hands. The pleats of the uniform skirt strained against the swell of a perfectly round, prominent backside, perched atop hips that were frankly wider than Aria’s. It was a girl’s body. An incredible one.
The person must have heard the door. They turned.
And Cane saw their face. It was devastatingly pretty. Huge, dark eyes framed by long lashes, a small nose, and full, soft lips. But the lines of the jaw, the column of the neck... it wasn’t a girl. It was a boy. A boy with a body that could make a saint sin.
As their eyes met, a deep blush exploded across the boy’s cheeks. He flinched, clutching a book to his chest like a shield.
"H-Hello..." he stammered, his voice soft and breathy. "You must be Cane Valerian. I’m Kai. Kai Fell. It’s... it’s nice to meet you."
Cane stared, his brain a sputtering engine trying to connect the image before him with the name he’d just heard. That ass. Those hips. That face. And it was a dude. The world was a cruel, unjust place. He blinked.
"Kai. Not exactly the name I’d expect for a girl, but who am I to judge?"
A deep blush stained Kai’s cheeks, a crimson tide rising to the tips of his ears. He clutched the book tighter to his chest, his voice a near-whisper. "I’m... I’m a boy."
Cane closed his eyes. He squeezed the bridge of his nose, a profound sense of exhaustion washing over him. Death by chicken car. Reincarnated as a disposable scumbag. A quest to peek at panties. And now, his roommate was a femboy with a dump-truck ass that could cause traffic accidents. What had he done to deserve this?
"Are... are you okay?"
He opened his eyes. Kai looked at him with genuine concern, his large, dark eyes wide. Cane let out a long, slow sigh that carried the weight of two lifetimes.
"I’m fine."
Kai fiddled with the corner of his book. "You’re... different than I expected."
Cane raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what, pray tell, were you expecting?"
"Well..." Kai’s gaze dropped to the floor. "There are rumors."
"Rumors." He let the word hang in the air. "Go on."
Kai shook his head, his black hair swishing against his shoulders. "No, I shouldn’t. It’s not polite."
Cane took a step forward, his shadow falling over the smaller boy. He kept his voice low, a conspiratorial murmur. "Come on. Tell me. I’m dying to know what they say about me."
Something in his expression must have shifted. Kai flinched back as if struck, his face draining of all colour. His eyes grew wide with pure terror. He started to tremble, his knuckles white where he gripped his book.
"I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please don’t kill me!"
Cane stopped dead. He stared, completely bewildered. "Kill you? What the hell are you talking about?"
Kai took a shaky breath, his chest heaving. He looked like a man steeling himself for the gallows. His voice was a quavering whisper.
"Did... did you really kill her?"
Cane’s confusion deepened into utter flabbergast. "Kill who? Of course I haven’t killed anyone!"
A wave of relief washed over Kai’s face. He slumped against the wall, his legs looking like they might give out. "Oh, thank the gods. The rumor... they said you killed a low noble girl last year. Just because she looked at you funny."
Cane just deadpanned at him. A long, silent moment passed. Then, he mentally dove into the archives of the original Cane’s miserable life. He sifted through memories of petty cruelties, failed seductions, and constant humiliations. He found the incident. A girl had sneered at him, and he’d made a scene, shouting and posturing until his father’s guards dragged him away. No murder. Just another pathetic display of impotent rage.
The rumor was false. Thank fuck for that.
He walked past Kai, who was still coming to terms with his new roommate.
I need to sleep.