<strong>Isoke Naota</strong><br/><strong>Second Floor, Roost</strong><br/><br/>Isoke stood at the makeshift batport that would take the returning students to the academy for a new school year. Being his third year, he had grown accustomed to the routine and regarded it with the same casual indifference with hints of social anxiety that students would have for any other student would have when going to a mundane school. Or at least that’s what he suspected since he only spent one year at a normal high school before being invited to Madam Arachne’s School of Girls and hadn’t actually had much of an opportunity to become accustomed to what was normal. As if to punctuate that thought by action, he mounted up on one of the furred backs of a giant bat that would serve as his transportation with an excited flutter in his stomach. Regardless of his desire for normalcy, there was no way he could deny the unparalleled thrill of flight outside of manmade means. His flight from Japan just wasn’t the same when surrounded by an artificial shell that prevented the feeling of the cool night air blowing through your hair or the surge of adrenaline that came with banking and diving.<br/><br/>He had been so focused on the flight ahead of him that he hadn’t initially noticed the gentle shifting in the bat’s weight. It wasn’t until he felt broad feline paws pressing against his abdomen that he realized there were going to be two passengers on this flight.<em>”Hello Isoke, mind if I ride with you?”</em>The airy effeminate voice that spoke gently in his ear combined with the very familiar paws was all he needed to recognize his fellow rider and he didn’t need to turn his head to know who it was. Though he was polite enough to do so in order to greet his friend directly. “Hey Kiju, not at all.” He said to the beautiful sphinx girl who now clung to his back. “Just make sure to hang on tight.” Isoke had just enough time to look forward once more before the massive wingspan of the bat lifted them off the ground and into the night sky.<br/><br/>A subtle grin tugged at the corners of his lips at the irony of the situation; while there were likely countless millions who would give anything to be in his unique situation, Isoke was seeking some measure of ordinary in an otherwise fictional arrangement. Sure, he certainly enjoyed the company of most of his classmates and the… pleasurable companionship they provided, but after two years he was looking for something more meaningful than being the equivalent of a meal ticket. This was going to be his last year at the academy and he was going to be damned if he would graduate without ever having a girlfriend. It wasn’t entirely unheard of and there were actually a few couples he knew that got along marvelously, but more often than not the innate differences between such pairings made for especially rocky situations. After all, it’s not like the guy could simply bring his girl home for the holiday to meet his parents and family, now could he? Still, anything worth having rarely came easily and he was eager to bond with a monster girl in a way that held some significant meaning to it.<br/><br/>Isoke’s introspection was cut short with a short breathless sigh as he felt Kiju’s feline paws slide to his inner thighs rather than his abdomen with a subtle purr that was just barely audible over the wind.<em>Screw it.</em>He thought to himself in acquiescence.<em>It’s your last year here. Just because you’re looking for something serious doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun in the process.</em>With that his expression became gleeful as he savored the flight and friendly company, looking forward to what this year had in store for him.<br/><br/>Several minutes later they descended into the roost, marking the end of their flight. Isoke waited for Kiju to slide down the bat’s back before following suit. His pants felt uncomfortably tight after the strategic placement of the sphinx’s paws, but had long since gotten past the reflexive instinct to hide his excitement. One way or another it would go away and in his experience, such a thing wasn’t as much of a stigma in this academy. In the meantime he begun looking around the roost in search for familiar faces he had missed over the summer. Though several faces, or general appearances in most cases, were familiar there was only a fraction of them he recognized by name. “Hey Hitomi!” He called out with a friendly wave as she was the first among them he spotted.