Like Rabbits

"Good morning." I greeted my teacher, Ms. Sommer, who was looking somewhat distressed. I was still ten minutes early, and seemingly nobody else came in earlier than they needed to.

"Good morning Fenton", Clara said while looking at me with a somewhat apologetic expression. Maybe she still felt bad about her role in yesterday's embarrassment, or maybe it was only my rabbit-like appearance playing on her maternal heartstrings. In either case I just gave her a quizzical look.

"Are you alright from yesterday? That is, you aren't having any issues are you?" She asked gingerly, playing around sensitively with the topic.

"Perfectly fine." I replied. "Even if I look like this, I'm aiming to be a knight, you know." Smiling softly while the words left my mouth.

"Ah, that's, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply... I just, I can try to tell the students to be nicer to you." She stammered, somehow becoming flustered by her own words.

Frowning a little, I started to worry for this Ms. Clara. She was too nice.

Noticing the first student other than myself walk through the door, a tall human male with a set of swords at his side. Unusual to see someone with two weapons. The student looking my way with a disdainful look.

"It's alright, I am most grateful for your concern, but, I believe it would be better for me to deal with this on my own." Smiling wryly.

If she actually did try to tell the class something like that, I'd expect it to have the opposite effect. Growing up in the beastkin district had taught me a lot about surviving in harsh environments. If people thought you were weak, they would act on it. And to be honest... everyone here already thought I was weak. Unbelievably so. Imagine what they'd do if tried to hide behind an unimposing female teacher like Ms. Clara.

Taking my own seat, I waited for class to begin. Wondering where exactly the Rabbit God had disappeared off to, having grown accustomed to him following me around for all of yesterday, I was somewhat surprised that he hadn't shown himself even once this morning.

The classroom having filled up most of the way now, the school's clocktower struck nine times. Its rhythm only interrupted by a panting Ella who burst through the open doorway into the room.

"I'm not late," She panted. Looking at Clara, who just nodded happily in agreement.

The energetic girl shooting sharp looks at anybody who dared put on a smirk as she made her way over to her desk next to mine.

Giving me an especially evil eye that warned against so much as greeting her, Ella took her seat quietly before staring pointedly forward, making it obvious to all she was ignoring me.

"Okay class, we're going to start!" Clara said, putting her endlessly positive energy towards teaching.

The lesson focused mainly on the code of honor, the duties of a knight, and instilling in us the importance of our future. Things that all of us had to already know quite well, given that we were qualified enough to enter a school like this, but the refresher was light enough that it wasn't a bad choice for a first lesson.

Our second 'class' for the day, as it was, was really not a class at all. It was measurements. Height, weight, and well, magic aptitudes. Getting a baseline on everything to start the year. All very important considering that we were not a traditional university, but rather a school for knights. Training our bodies was just as important as training our minds.

Like how my position was in class, similarly I ended up at the very back of the line. All of us queued up outside of the nurse's office, waiting to go inside. The line shrinking gradually before a proud looking Ella emerged, indicating it was my turn. Apparent to all that her magic appraisal results had gone just as well as her blessing ceremony.

I entered the familiar room. Looking around and finding the same fox woman I had met the day before.

I think her name was... "Ms. Rena? Hello again." I waved.

"Mm, Fenton. Just Rena is fine."

The poorly socialized fox nurse waved back before beckoning me over.

"Stand here, please." She said. Pointing at a manual scale, which I promptly stood on. Receiving a tug on the shirt before I realized what the problem was.

"Take off clothes."

"Ah, right." I said embarrassedly, taking off most of it before I was down in my underwear. Waiting nervously as the woman stared at me, her eyes flat and expressionless, seeming to be focused on my last remaining piece of clothing. "I don't need to take this off, right?" I asked with some hesitation. Remembering the Rabbit God's teasing from the last time I was with her. She wasn't really interested in that, was she?

"No." She answered my original question, before getting to work. Her fingers sliding the weights around on the scale I stood on, the lever arm eventually balancing out at 120 lbs. Something I could have just told her myself, but seemingly they took this all quite seriously. She wrote the number down before continuing. Having me stand against a wall with measurements drawn all along it on a vertical line. 5'2". She wrote that down as well.

Next was the magic aptitude. I secretly had hopes for this, but I knew Rabbitkin often had no such luck. Given we apparently weren't even fit as knights, it was even more impossible sounding to be a mage.

There was a small glass bowl full of water laid out on top of a desk of hers, along with an glass jar with a small amount of silvery liquid left in it. Taking out a dropper, Ms. Rena filled it with the remaining liquid. Paying careful attention to the amount.

"Not enough." She commented. Setting it back down on the table, before she started looking through cabinets under the desk. Bending over lower and lower as she searched. Her fluffy tail wagging almost like a dog's, lifting the hem of her skirt up enough that I could clearly see her panties underneath.

I gulped quietly before looking away, somewhat flustered. Looking back to see that the blonde-haired fox nurse had just finished up finding what she needed, taking more silvery liquid into the dropper before adding it into the water basin she had prepared.

"Hand." She said, urging me to hold my hand out palm open over the filled bowl.

I complied, stretching my fingers out like she had demonstrated, while Rena laid her own hands over mine. Surprising me somewhat, especially because she was pressed up behind me, her breasts squishing firmly against my back.

"Ms. Rena?" I questioned. So distracted that I didn't see her slip one of her hands underneath mine, her index finger outstretched such that the end of her nail aimed at the tip of one of my own fingers.

"Won't hurt." She whispered before her nail turned sharper, blade-like at the tip, the demonstration of a foxkin's transformation magic up-close and personal surprising me.

Feeling a small poke on my finger at the same time I felt a pair of jagged points poking against my back.

A small drop of blood fell into the bowl, and the water changed color immediately. From clear to slightly muddy brown. A color that Ms. Rena immediately consulted against a small color strip that she had brought out from the valley between her chest.

She was even storing them in such a place?

"0.8", Rena said finally, and I grew somewhat disappointed. I knew at least that the scale they used for magic power was normalized to the average human's level. 1.0 would be the absolute average, and I had managed to fall even below that. Ears drooping down.

She covered back up my hand for a second before a warm sensation filled my body, and green light poured from her hand towards mine.

"You can use healing magic?" I questioned, examining my hand once she was done. No trace of the poke she had given me.

"Good as new." Rena noted. Her Tail starting to swish earnestly again, writing my final results down in the same book she had kept as last time. "You can go now."

Stopping at the door, I turned back. One thing still on my mind.

"Um, Ms. Rena? Would it be possible to do my test again later?"

I waited, expecting to be thrown out. I knew people could increase their own magic power somehow, whether that was through training or through expensive ingredients and potions, but changing was never that easy and never that quick. I must have sounded like someone who was in denial of their own capabilities, but in honesty I just wanting to verify the Rabbit God's own words. Could I really increase my own capabilities by doing what he said?

"Sure." She said, her tail staring to wag again.

"Ah, that's okay then... wait. What?" That easy?

"You can come test anytime." She added, looking at me with an expressionless face but an extremely emotive set of tail and ears.

"Thanks Rena, I guess I'll be seeing you sometime then." I said while waving goodbye.

Preparing for the next class. The day crammed with lessons, but my mind crammed with other thoughts of Feriha. Remembering what had happened last night, and the promise the two of us had made. The closer it got to the end of the day, the more my expectation rose.

The clock struck three, and we were let out for the day. Giving us an hour extra in free time so that we could pick up our textbooks from the library. And in doing so, with books in my arms, I paused outside the library's building. Examining the building next to it, which was the student administration office. I entered out of curiosity, needing to at least start the application process so that I could get an idea of how long it would take.

Finding myself in a waiting room-like atmosphere, after I had proceeded through the expansive stone-cut building's double doors. Examining my surroundings and finding nobody else but two women who were stationed behind a counter, one brown-haired with glasses and the other with long dark hair in a ponytail. Young, but seeming to be staff for the Academy.

"Um, excuse me." I asked. "Is this where I need to go to apply for student accommodations?"

"Are you a student?" They asked, seeing my uniform but doubting my face, to which I nodded yes. "Can you fill this out?" The brown-haired one said while giving me a form and pencil.

"Yes, thank you." I said. Looking down at the sheet she had given me, it was extremely simple in nature. All it asked for was my name, my student number and an additional section for 'additional residents'.

Filling out the above two, I looked to the two receptionists for guidance.

"What does it mean by 'additional residents?' "

The two of them looked at me, before answering.

"Do you have any servants?" They asked skeptically.

Oh. I get it. Quite a few people here were nobility, or rather the majority of students were nobility. Of course they'd make allowances for servants. Many of the nobility studying here were from outside the city, so naturally they'd be staying in these accommodations.  And I bet they fully expected to bring along a contingent of servants wherever they went.

The moleman groundkeeper's comments this morning suddenly made a lot more sense to me. If they let servants stay in the student accommodations, it made sense that he's seen rabbitkins on the campus before. Given the nature of rabbitkin's employment, well, I would venture that bunny maids were highly popular among the male students.

Laying the paper flat on the table, I jotted down Feriha's name, along with a description of her appearance where prompted. Leaving her last name blank. Second names were more of a human convention anyways, whereas most beastkin, especially in the countryside, only used a first-name.

"Is this fine?" I asked, hoping this would work.

Even if they were skeptical, they didn't seem to care much. Taking the form without complaint. Rifling through file cabinets before they came up with a pair of thick iron keys on a loop.

A letter and a number inscribed on both of the keys indicated which house number it was, which according to the two women should be no trouble at all to spot which house they belonged to. 

This easy? It was this easy? I was amazed. Apparently all I needed to do was ask.

"Thank you!" I added, heading back out the door.

My mind already filled with wondrous expectations for the night to come.