I thank KatherineOzawa of Wattpad for helping me.
-in the Mirror Chamber-
Crowley clapped his hands to call for attention. "I call to order this meeting of housewardens. Our agenda today concerns the October Spelldrive tournament. Let us begin with the report from the head of the tournament planning committee: Mr. Ashengrotto of Octavinelle house."
Azul stepped forward, a brisk smile at his lips. "Greetings. I am Azul Ashengrotto, and it is my honor to lead the planning committee. I am pleased to announce that we have fully booked the grounds surrounding the coliseum. All of the kiosk space allotted to both internal organizations and external businesses is now full."
"Sweet! This tournament should be a real lively one, then." Kalim jumped in, lively and gleeful.
Azul continued, "All invitations to various royalty have been sent, and public tickets are selling briskly. And, as in past years, we have received numerous request to cover the event from both television stations and print media."
"Sounds like the whole world will be watching. Before I was admitted here, I looked forward to receiving my VIP invitation every year. I imagine you got them too, Leona?" Kalim elbow-nudged the third year. "We might have run into each other at the tournament when we were kids."
But the latter was indifferent. "Who knows? And also, who cares?"
Vil eyed his compact mirror subtly, noting, "This year, I'll have to work extra hard on my makeup to make sure I'm shining like a diamond on the new Ultravision displays. With all the exertion, I'll need to be touching it up constantly!"
Riddle eyed him remotely. "Huh… House Pomefiore is the only dorm that regularly calls timeouts to fix their makeup."
"How can you all be so excited to be on TV? Just the idea of it makes me wanna puke." a voice from the floating tablet perked up feeling like he was gonna be sick. That was Idia Shroud.
"Ahem!" Azul coughed out loudly to put eyes on him again. "As I was saying."
"Oops, sorry!" Kalim apologized.
"Now, as soon as your dorns' player rosters are settled, I'll need your registration documents. ANy dorm that is even a single day late-"
"Will be promptly disqualified, I trust?" Riddle finished, but Azul merely shook his head.
"No. They will be charged a handling fee. Consider it remuneration for rush processing." he grinned slyly, earning an eye squint of disapproval from the ginger.
"What? I don't approve of you changing the rules to allow for policy exceptions!"
"And I couldn't be more grateful for it! Ha ha ha!" Kalim chuckled.
"Let's try to stay on topic. We need to discuss the tournament bracket." Crowley raised a finger. "I had an idea I'd like to propose."
"And that is…?" Riddle hummed.
"It concerns the Diasomnia housewarden. I think we should induct Mr. Draconia into the hall of fame to keep him off the field entirely." was the big idea. Needless to say, eyebrows were raised, or in this case, folded down, in confusion or shock.
"Say whaaat?!"
"What are you on about?" Leona growled.
"Ever since Mr. Draconia enrolled here, no dorm has scored even a single point against Diasomnia. Diasomnia regularly scores 100 points per game, with 90% of them being from Mr. Draconia himself." Crowley recalled by heart.
Kalim nodded. "Now that you mention it, when we had to face them last year, it did feel completely futile."
"The dude totally breaks the game. It's like he's got cheat codes enabled." Idia muttered feverishly.
"Amusement is not the only goal of this tournament. Our hope is that spectators the world over will discover talented new mages. However… Recent matches have been ending without anyone, save Mr. Draconia, casting even a single spell. And that included his own teammates! And that is a less-than-optimal state of affairs."
"I'm all for it. Getting stomped isn't exactly fun for us either." Idia shook mockingly from the headmage's explanation.
Crowley turned his gaze towards Leona next. "I know many members of Savanaclaw House aspire to play in the Spelldrive pro league. Savanaclaw House had never landed in less than third place in the history of this school. And yet in both of the last two years, you've been eliminated in the first round after being matched against Diasomnia House. That's certainly not impressing any recruiters. Thus, this matter of disproportionate performance directly affects your players' future."
Leona looked at the headmage, unimpressed. "And you're sayin' you expect us to make fools of ourselves on the field again this year?"
"It certainly brings me no pleasure to suggest it. Regardless, Mr. Draconia has already agreed to be inducted into the hall of fame. All we need now is this committee's approval."
Leona, however, crossed his arms in defiance, a semi-irked look in his eyes. "So you're sayin' we need a handicap. Listen and listen well, Teach… Ain't nothin' I hate more than someone tellin' me "you can't win" before I even begin to fight."
Crowley was tongue-tied at the third year's tone of voice. "No, that is not my intention-"
"Then what is?" Leona challenged. "First of all, Spelldrive ain't a game about power. It's all about what's up HERE, in your head!"
"I'm pretty sure my head can't beat Malleus's." Kalim admitted softly. But Leona heard him due to sensitive hearing.
"I don't doubt that. But mine can. Sure, in battle of brute force, no one's beatin' him. But in a battle of wits- that's a different story." Leona smirked.
Azul, piqued at the conversation, hummed, "Intriguing…"
Leona began, "The King of Beasts from the Great Seven won his throne through cunning and persistence. You all should be wrackin' your brains, trying to come up with a way to beat that monster! Whichever team figures that out is gonna be sittin' REAL pretty on the world stage. Are you gonna let a once-in-a-lifetime chance like that get yanked out from under you?"
The room was silent as they processed his words. Then, Vil was the first to speak. "For once, Leona is making perfect sense. I agree- this plan is utter nonsense. It reeks of some kind of unconscious bias on your part. And I despise that sort of thing."
Riddle mused in agreement, "I am in complete agreement with Housewarden Vil. As one of the foremost mages here, the last thing I want to do is give up without a fight."
"Don't you wanna see that self-important, stuck-up jerk's crestfallen face get broadcast to the whole world? Doesn't the thought of it make you wanna roar?" the lion smirked triumphantly, knowing his persuasion had gotten the others on his side.
"Heh heh. That would certainly boost the ratings!" Azul grinned.
"Well, I certainly don't want to be on the losing side of this." Kalim jumped in.
However, Idia was baffled at the change of words, "Seriously? I'm the only one who wants him in the hall of fame?"
Leona disregarded him and turned with smugness to Crowley. "I think we have our answer. The hall of fame idea is officially shut down."
Crowley was shell shocked, to put it. "Fine, fine." he relents. "But if this year ends up being a repeat of the last two years, he's going in next year for sure."
"That's your call." Leona scoffed.
"Well, that was the last item on today's agenda. Everyone, remember to submit your registrations. Not that I would be upset if it were to slip your mind… Heh heh heh." Azul signaled the end of discussion.
But Vil raised a hand. "Incidentally, where IS Malleus? Did everyone forget to invite him again?"
Everyone felt their hearts plummet at that as an "oh shit" air took up the room in 5 milliseconds.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Two Heartslabyul students were talking amongst themselves while walking down the stairs.
"The Spelldrive tournament rosters should be final any day now."
"Have you come up with any flashy new spells?"
"You know it! I already showed one to Professor Crewel and he seemed pretty impressed. I can't wait to show it to Housewar- BWAAAAAH?!" Suddenly, as if he were a marionette, the first guy had squatted down and leapt forward, jumping as if he were diving off a diving board. Skipping the last huge flight and handed at the bottom on his FEET; a sickening crack was heard as he fell forward, his hands clenching around his leg. "Gah! That hurt!"
His friend, who had witnessed the sudden jump flight, ran down the stairs, kneeling at the fallen student's side. "Hey! What just happened?! Why'd you tumble down the stairs like that?!"
"My ankle… It hurts!" the first guy groaned, teeth clenched in pain as he held the area that was hurt.
"Oh no! We gotta get you to the nurse!" The second guy wasted no time hauling his friend up and onto his feet, supporting him with his arms around his shoulders and carefully hobbling to the new destination.
From another hallway, a small figure peeked from around the corner, seeing the two students head off. He laughed victoriously, "Shyeheehee!" and ran away, hidden by the shadows.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Niho and the newcomer, Rajni, were back at Ramshackle House. Niho was in the middle of giving a tour of the place to the newcomer when she heard….an all too familiar sound: dripping.
She felt her paranoia on alert, quietly muttering to herself. "Oh, no. Not now."
Rajni looked over to see a scared look cross Niho's face. "Is everything alright?" she wondered, a little worried herself.
Niho froze and turned towards Rajni and hesitated, before speaking, "A-Actually...I haven't been completely honest with you. There's...a reason why you were brought here."
Rajni raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Is that so…..?" she reiterated.
"Y-Yea…." Niho shifted with anxiety.
"Well, let me hear it." Niho looked up at the lioness with surprise at her brash tone. "I've shown you my scar. Now you must show me why I am here."
"Alright..." Niho sighed, knowing it was futile leaving the question hanging on an odd note. The tour was paused and Niho rencountered what happened since she got here: from orientation, and hiding her true gender, to the damaging of the chandelier and encountering a blot monster in the mines; from the unbirthday party as of last month to Riddle unleashing hell upon the entire dorm and she and the guys having nearly made it out by the skin of their teeth, as well as confronting Mrs. Rosehearts and Riddle vowing to change his ways. "...And that's the whole story…." she finished quietly.
Rajni stood there, a hand tucked under her chin, her other arm under her elbow as she absorbed the information with an indescribable face, making Niho more anxious to hear what she had to say.
"What I mean is I have to protect these students from going down the wrong path, and it's too much for me to take on alone. I need help from other Beastmasters like me and you." Niho finished on a persuasive note.
"...This is atrocious." Rajni said after a while. "This overblot you're speaking of….it's just like the prejudice many have faced back in the Savanna, and those who have been prejudiced will go to great lengths to see that their selfishness is complete. And I'm not one to stand by in the face of evil!'' She walked towards Niho with a confident air. "If it's my help you seek, then I'll do so."
"Thank you, honestly." Niho smiled slightly as she and Rajni moved to the lounge, where Grim came in and flopped onto the couch, a sad look in his eyes.
"Man.. If I can't be in the Spelldrive tournament, then what's even the point anymore?" he sighed dramatically.
Niho rolled her eyes annoyed. "You're still not over that?"
"What's wrong, Grimmy? Something got ya down?" The ghost trio decided to make their appearance and see what was wrong with the fur ball. Niho made a mental note to give introductions later.
"He's sulking because he can't play in the Spelldrive tournament."
"If you wanna play Spelldrive that badly, why, we can play with ya! I was the team captain ninety years ago, y'know. The girls in the stands couldn't get enough of me!"
Rajni was baffled. "Spelldrive? What is that? And who are these three ghosts anyway?"
"Explanations later." was all Niho mumbled.
Grim leaned up to stare down the ghosts: "Yeah, but wouldn't we need seven people?"
"It's not a real match, so who cares? Let's just play!"
"Don't sweat all the rules or particulars for now. Just control the disc with magic and lob it right into the goal." This seemed to make Grim happy as the group moved to the front lawn of the dorm. The ghosts summon a Spelldrive discus as the girls stood off to the side, Niho deciding to give her new recruit the rundown of who the ghosts were exactly as well as Grim while having their little practice session.
Grim bragged, "No problem! You ghosts are gonna eat my dust!" he controlled the disc with all he had.
"Mind you, the disc carrier should expect some magical interference! Heehee!"
"Ready… Set… PLAY!" even though the teams were evenly matched, it seemed like the ghosts had gone easy on the newcomers.
"Booyah! All I gotta do now is get it in the goal, and-" Grim, after a while, started getting the hang of it.
"BOO!"
"GYAAAH!" Grim flew back, caught off by the sudden jumpscare. "Wh-wh-what's the big idea?!"
"Hee hee! What, you didn't think we'd try to block an enemy goal?" The disc was swiped by the other two ghosts.
"Well, ain't nothin' magical about THAT interference!" Grim frowned. But he kept going regardless.
"Myaaah! This disc sure is tough to control!" After several more minutes, Grim was starting to feel himself losing focus.
"Heh heh! Even if you did get in the tournament, you'd be out after the first round."
"Hey, give him some credit. He's not bad for a first-timer!"
"Wh-whatever! I'm a whiz and nothin' less! I'm gonna be a Spelldrive ace in no time!" Grim boasted, just as a familiar figure walked up outside the gates.
"Good day. Playing some Spelldrive?"
Grim's ears turned down when he saw who it was. "Aaand here comes the Fun Police. There goes my good mood, right down the drain."
"I'm pleased to see you're all getting along. Quite pleased indeed."
"Yeah, they just keep comin' back anyway. Might as well get along, I guess. Did you want something, or…" Grim demanded in a rather haughty tone.
"I have a request to make of you both. Why don't we take this inside?"
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"Seriously? MORE requests? I ain't a part of your janitorial staff anymore, y'know!" Grim snapped.
"Oh? You DO recall that I never promised to cover the living expenses you've been racking up, yes? Hard work can be a beautiful thing, Grim. I'm sure you agree, Niho." He looked over the two with but a simple glance.
"I don't seem to be in a position to disagree." Niho glared at Grim.
"Ahem. I'll get straight to the point. There has been a rash of students being hurt in suspicious incidents on campus lately. I'm here to ask you to investigate the matter."
"Suspicious incidents…?" Grim repeated.
"Yes. Students falling down stairs, getting burns from boiling water, and so forth. The specifics of the incidents differ, but the nurse's office has had a clear spike in patients over the last few days. With yesterday's incident on the stairs, we now have ten wounded students. We're just fortunate that none of the injures have been life-threatening…yet."
"If you ask me, they're merely babies just causing nothing but riff-raff." Rajni stuck up her nose.
"Yea. Ya sure it ain't just kids bein' clumsy?" Grim agreed.
"I'm sure many of our students are too distracted by the upcoming tournament to focus properly. But this is far more accidents than we've had in past years. Furthermore, all of the wounded students were considered contenders to make their dorms' teams."
"Oooh, NOW this is gettin' interesting."
"So you don't think they were accidents, then?" Niho theorized. Crolwey tapped his nose, saying she was right,
"An excellent deduction, Niho. However, we have no evidence of foul play. All of the accidents happened in public spaces, and all of the witnesses said the same thing: "It looked like he was just being careless.""
"Sounds like they were just bein' careless, then. Case closed! Glad we could sort that out. Bye!" Grim said with obvious bluntness.
"Grim!" Niho whacked him, making Grim wince at the physical hit.
"Not the most thorough of investigations, Grim." Crowley frowned, agreeing with her on his behaviour.
Grim folded his arms and scowled towards the two, "But this has nothin' to do with me! I can't even participate in your dumb tournament! So what do I care what happens? Ptooey!"
"I'm sorry to hear that- especially after I'd prepared such a magnificent reward for you…" Crowley tried to persuade him into helping by using this to his advantage.
"Ha! I ain't fallin' for that line again! I wouldn't do it even for a hundred cans of tuna!" Grim scoffs.
"But what if I allowed you to participate in the Spelldrive tournament?" Crowley began.
"PARDONNE-MOI?!"
Rajni said as she watched, "A reverse Psychology move...he's pretty clever..."
"Should you solve the case, I'll generously permit your dorm to enter the Spelldrive tournament. What do you say to that? Surely you're dazzled by my altruism?"
Grim was obviously "Myah… Myahaha!"
"As a participant , the whole world will lay eyes upon your majesty. Just imagine the cheers echoing from the sold-out stadium seats. "This year's most promising rookie, the mighty Grim, has taken the field! Hurrah!" And so on."
"Oh, man. It's like I can already taste it…"
"Ah, but of course, you have refused my offer. How unfortunate. Let's forget this ever happened." he began to walk away, smiling under his mask.
Grim waved his hands rapidly to stop him. "No, wait! WAIT! I'm in! I'll do it!"
Crowley feigned surprise as he turned to look back at the creature. "What's that? You'll do it, you say?"
"If you'll let me into the tournament, you bet! Right, Niho?" Grim was now on board with the search.
"Let's catch the culprit and enter the tourney!"
"I shall assist you in any way possible." Rajni nodded to Niho.
"But hold on a sec. Don't we need seven players? What are you gonna do about that?" Grim asked once he remembered that one rule.
"As school headmage, I will simply perform a magical miracle to fill out your team somehow." Crowley assured.
"Sold! You got yourself a deal, good sir! C'mon, Niho, Rajni, we got a crime to solve!" Grim agreed with that.
Niho smiled smugly, "This should be interesting."
"I am counting on you three." Crowley saluted as he took his leave.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
The Demi-lioness, tanuki and Niho took their leave, deciding to go for the student infirmary as their first checkpoint. With beige brick walls, and windows covered by glass with metal wiring, several beds lined the walls side by side like dominoes. with a small nightstand holding a candelabra for light. Medical curtains divided each bed, for student privacy, and a clear glass medicine cabinet stood off to the far side of the room.
"All right, where's this guy who hurt his ankle?" Grim scanned the room, ready for interrogations. But Niho beat him to the punch and found him, his casted leg held up in restraints.
"Excuse me, we need to speak with you." She went up for a light introduction. the student, no doubt from Heartslabyul alongside his friend, who sat in the chair next to the bed, looked up at her.
"Huh?" the first scratched his head, confused.
"Hey, it's the ones from Ramshackle House!" His friend said, "They were at the unbirthday party! What are you guys doing here?"
"Get a load o' that! We're totally famous!" Grim smirks. But when the two before Niho looked over her shoulder at Rajni, eyebrows were raised in confusion.
Niho answered for her, "She's going to be part of a new program at this school. Anyway, we'd like to ask about your accident." Getting back to the topic at hand was what they're supposed to be doing.
"I wish I knew what happened myself, man." the injured student sighed forlornly. "I was walking along talking to my friend. And next thing I knew, BOOM! I was tumbling down the stairs."
"Yeah. I didn't even see him stumbling or anything." his friend backed up his alibi.
"It was like my body just lurched forward by itself. I can't really explain it." the first guy recounted vaguely.
"Hm Hmmm. Interesting. Veeery interesting." Grim pursed his lips in thought as he looked like he was smoking a tobacco pipe like an old-school detective. Niho jotted down the witness testimony in her notebook on a clean sheet of paper.
"Thank you for your cooperation." She looked up with a small smile. But just as she turns to leave, the two boys stop her before she could take another step.
"Wait, so who is the new girl exactly? And why is she here?"
"My name is Rajni, and if you didn't have cotton in your ears, you'd have heard what my comrade said earlier." The lioness bit back harshly.
Niho rubbed the bridge of her nose exasperatedly. "We need the headmage to call for an announcement before we continue." Rajni couldn't help but agree with her.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Back at the headmage's office, the two females made it clear to the headmage to at least get word out to the student body that Rajni was securing her place here at Night Raven from here on out alongside Niho. He, surprisingly, agreed to the notion and let them speak over the PA system. It chimed to life and Niho was given permission to speak. She drank a sip of water and spoke.
"Attention everyone. Now as some of you noticed, there's a girl at a boys' school. But she's here because me and the headmage have decided to start a new program. A Beastmaster program. It's for people who have the traits of controlling monsters. There are few Beastmasters out there, so we need all we can find, even if they are a girl. More will be coming later on." Once she had moved away from the mic, Crowley took over and repeated what she said.
"You heard what was told: do take into mind if anyone considers joining their squadron! With Dear Niho here being a fine specimen of his talent, Rajni is under his care so no one, and I mean, NO ONE, will bother them in any way shape or form lest you require extra detention work! That is all!" He clicked off the PA with a happy grin.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
The next stop was one of the classrooms where one Pomefiore student was sporting some white gauze bandages across his hand, a few spots of blood seeping through the bandages.
"Now that that's taken care of, we can get back to the investigation." Niho shut the door behind her.
Rajni nodded with a, "And I assume this one must be the next victim… Let's see what he has to say."
Grim wasted no time in doing so, "Hey, you. You had an accident and almost got hurt real bad, right? Give us the deets."
"And why should I answer you, exactly?" the student sneered.
"He was in peak condition for the Spelldrive tournament and got hurt so bad that he can't even play now!" his friend told them, but the first man wasn't having it.
"And you're here to…what, rub salt in my wound? We throw down the gauntlet! Duel us!" he challenged. Niho was about to speak, but Rajni gently pushed her behind her whispering that she would handle it.
"You made a rather crude mistake: challenging a lioness to a battle of strength...it's your funeral." she said coolly. This caught the two off as she punched the first student in the solar plexus harshly and knocked him off his balance by tripping him over his own feet with a foot sweep. The second tried to grab her from behind but she was faster and ducks out of the way of his wrapping arms, turns behind and delivers a solid upper cut into his jaw and kicks him away. The two boys wheezed, lungs screaming for air as Rajni smoothed out her flyaway hairs down and gave Niho and Grim a petite smile. She scowled at the beaten down boys and asked, harshly, if they're willing to talk now. They relented.
"Hmph… You're better than I thought. All right, then. I'll give you the skinny." The first coughed as he got to his knees. He went to help up his friend, who picked up his wording.
"It happened in the laboratory. We were boiling up a potion when his hands suddenly shot out and grabbed the screaming hot cauldron. He dumped out every last drop. It was bizarre! Made a real mess too."
"Oh, so YOU'RE gonna do all the talking?!" his friend glared him for stealing his thunder.
"Hm. Hmmm. Interesting. Veeery interesting." Grim nodded slowly as Niho jotted down her findings.
"Let's head back to the dorm for now." She felt like this was a proper stopping point for them to get their detective hats on.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Back in the Foyer, the three started looking over Niho's note copies with keep eyes. Grim paced the floor as the girls scanned the notes word for word.
"I dunno, this just looks like a bunch of absent-minded kids hurtin' themselves to me. If there's a scandal here, I ain't seein' it!" Grim gave a one shoulder shrug.
Niho countered. "But I feel like there's more than foul play at stake here..." she bit her lip, reviewing the statements. "Each victim claims that they felt like they weren't doing it on purpose..."
"Almost like they were...marionettes?" Rajni theorized. "It may be a shot in the dark, but their alibis are rock solid. The two confirm it wasn't on purpose, like you said Niho, but right now, we can't trust just anyone's word...not unless there's another victim involved..." A small silence swept the group until a knock at the door sounded.
"Huh? Whozzat?" Grim perked up and all eyes turned to see Ace entering.
"Mornin'." He saluted lazily. "Guess you're feeling better now, huh, Grim?"
"Oh, it's you." Grim scowled at the cheeky redhead's presence. "We're kinda busy right now. No time for kid stuff. Scram."
"Busy? What, you got a lot of homework?" Ace looked between the shoulders of the girls trying to see what's going on. Niho sighed through her nose and grabbed his arm.
"You might want to sit down…" she said. After dragging him to the lounge, she explained the premise behind the Headmage's deal and interrogation of the strange accidents that occurred recently. Ace looked at the notes and looked over the edge of the paper with a raised eyebrow, he too was visibly confused.
"Injuries from suspicious accidents, huh?"
"But nothin' we heard sounded all that suspicious. It seemed like they were all just excited about the tournament, got distracted, and hurt themselves somehow." Grim shrugged, giving his answer, but the doors being thrown open startled the four as they turned back. Deuce ran inside, huffing and wheezing for air.
"Ace! We got a big problem!" he said fearfully.
"Dial it down, Loosey-Deucey. What is it?" Ace stood up lazily, stretching his arms.
"Trey fell down the stairs! He's hurt!" This made everyone stop what they were doing.
"What?!"
"Myah! He's the sneaky one with the glasses, yeah?" Grim tried to remember the third year's face.
"He never struck me as being absent-minded." Niho sounded like she didn't believe Deuce's confession.
Ace, knowing Trey as much as anyone, nodded in support. "Yeah, Trey wouldn't just trip and eat dirt."
"Let's go see what he's got to say!" Grim nodded, knowing Rajni's words of 'another victim being involved' were just what they needed for their second jumpstart to this mystery.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
The group made it to Trey's room by the skin of their teeth. Trey sat on top of his bed, with a green clover patterned quilt covering a twin bed as red curtain draped around the bedframe for privacy. The walls were red and black striped with but one window off to the left, standing before a work desk, books aligned with one another, additional ones in a small bookshelf where two hats on stands stood for decor. A small wooden nightstand with a rose-shaped lamp stood between the desk and bed and a large heart-shaped wardrobe was flush against the wall at the end of the bed.
"Yo, man, how's it going?" Ace greeted upon arrival.
"How are you feeling, Trey?" Deuce asked.
"I'm sorry about the accident." Niho was sympathetic as she stared at the cast around the bottom half of his leg. A green pillow propped it up for comfort as a few messy scribbles of black marker dotted the cast here and there with get-well messages. No doubt from the dorm members.
"We came all this way just to see your sorry face. It's cool- don't get up." Grim smirked, but lost it when Rajni yanked him back by his collar.
"Stop being rude. He's in pain. If you don't learn to keep that mouth of yours in check, you just might end up skewered with your life on the line." she chided.
"You're not my mom, lady!" Grim twisted, trying to scratch her hand to make her let go but she didn't let up.
"No, but I CAN silence you forever if you don't show some sympathy." she glared at the gray hairball and he immediately tensed under her cold gaze and stayed deathly silent which pleased the demi-lioness.
"Well, if it isn't Hunting Season! And Grim and Niho too! As well as the new girl. You're rolling deep today." Cater entered with his usual upbeat swagger.
"Hey, Cater… I'm lost. Whaddaya mean by "Hunting Season"?" Ace grew confused at what the third year just said to them.
"I mean it's you guys! You're Ace, he's Deuce- " Cater pointed to the two boys in turn. "-that's what you call an Ace Deuce in poker!"
Each one took it differently. Deuce was adamant, and Ace just...went with it.
"Don't give us a couple nickname!"
"Riiight… Anyway, how d'you feel, Trey? And how'd you get hurt?" Niho thanked Ace mentally for getting them back on track.
Trey sighed, "Slipped on the stairs. I couldn't catch myself, and my ankle got all messed up. I'll be on crutches for a while."
"Damn that sucks..." Niho muttered as she took notes, as per usual.
"Yikes. That sounds pretty bad!" Deuce agreed with her.
"Yep. Looks like I'll be warming the bench at the Spelldrive tournament this year." Trey chuckled dryly to try and lighten the mood.
"Myah.. I was hopin' your injury would be small enough for me to justify keepin' this, but… " Grim, whom Rajni had let go of, walked to Trey on the bed and held out a small silver can with a blue label on it. "Here. I brought ya a get-well can of tuna. Feel better, specs."
"Heh. Thanks." Trey smiled as he put it on his nightstand.
"Ugh, hashtag #fail! Now that we've lost a power player, we have to redo our team roster!" Cater whined, making the two first years perk up.
"Wait, what?!"
"You mean, adding new player to replace Trey?" Rajni summarized with a raised brow.
"Why are there so many people in here? Trey is supposed to be resting!" Riddle, having heard the commotion, entered.
"Myah! It's Ragin' Riddle!" Grim dove behind Niho's leg for protection, but it didn't save him from the glare Riddle threw him.
"I am not "raging." I will be perfectly pleasant if you obey the rules!" He lost his snippy tone and looks to his childhood friend with worry. "How are you doing, Trey? Can I bring you something to eat or drink?"
"I told you, Riddle: you don't need to fuss over me like this." Trey assured, but it didn't do well for the second year.
"But it's my fault that you got hurt."
"What? He didn't tell us that part!" Ace looked at the two.
"How could it be your fault?" Niho asked for the details, seemingly piqued at the news.
"I needed to talk to him, so I went to the junior classroom at lunch. And then…" Riddle forced himself to recall what happened.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Both Riddle and Trey were walking down the stairwell, conversing with one another about Spelldrive.
"I'm going to be late today, so go ahead and start practice without me." Riddle says.
"Sure, will do." Trey nodded, beginning to move.
"All right. I'll see you- Wh-whoooa!" Riddle felt his foot go out from under him as he lost balance and toppled forward right towards Trey.
"Riddle, look out!" Trey on instinct, wrapped his arms around Riddle, shielding him like armadillo's armor as they flew back and down the stairs.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"Trey never would have slipped if he hadn't caught me when I was about to tumble over." Riddle sounded guilty for having caused all this.
"Yeah, but if I hadn't, you would have just broken your fall with a flight spell. It was stupid of me to intervene. So you don't owe me anything." Trey argued gently.
"Still, I…" Riddle was tongue tied as he looked at the ground for an answer.
Ace leaned over and whispered to Niho. "Hey, Niho, d'you think…?"
"Yeah. This may not have been an accident." she nodded, starting to think Rajni was onto something.
"Riddle, come on! It's not gonna do anyone any good to have you harshing the vibe here. It's lame that Trey got hurt, but you'll rock the field that much harder to make up for him, right?" Cater tried to persuade riddle to let his guilt go, which did the trick.
"Well, I suppose that's true."
"All right, peeps, we should let Trey get his rest. Out, out, out!" Cater shooed them out the door, him being the last one to shut it.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Once the lounge came into sight, Riddle looked at Cater with a stern gaze.
"All right, Cater. Was there something you didn't want to tell me in front of Trey?"
"You're always a step ahead of me, Riddle." Cater touched the tip of his nose, signaling he was right. "I get the feeling Niho & co. Know something about it. Want to fill us in?" the older years look to her.
"Right, so…" Niho guided them to the seating area and began to relay what had gone down since the Headmage's arrival.
Once explanations were done, Riddle nodded, now understanding the situation at hand. "Ah… So the headmage asked you to investigate."
"Obviously." Niho scoffed subtly.
"I knew it. Grim coming by for a get-well visit? That's just plain sus." Cater eyed the tanuki like he just spilled a juicy secret for the taking.
"I must admit that I found the circumstances odd as well. I've had Cater looking into it for me." Riddle summarized.
"And I found out that all of the victims have been talented players like Riddle and Trey." Cater finished.
Niho perked up, eager to get some more clues. Riddle continued, "To be clear, it wasn't as if I had been pushed or that I had tripped. But I did feel a peculiar sensation, like… my body was moving of its own volition."
"The other victims said basically the same thing!" Grim remembers.
"Does it seem like a coincidence...?" Rajni tilted her head, unsure.
"I believe we can safely surmise that potential Spelldrive tournament players are being targeted."
"You think someone is causin' accidents to take out threats from the tournament?" Ace looked to Riddle for an answer.
"The whole world will be watching. A good performance can make a player's whole career. It's no surprise that some would resort to underhanded methods to even the odds."
"Sure, but it doesn't make much sense. I mean, you'd know if you got pushed off the stairs by a gust of wind magic or somethin', right?" Cater tried to look at it from another angle.
"Certainly. I felt no external force."
"Then we may be towards the truth: someone was using magic to force people into doing these things..." Niho surmised to herself.
"And some of the other victims had accidents in the classroom! How do you explain that?"
"The culprit can tell us all about it when we capture him. And we intend to help you do that." Riddle looked to the female.
"You do?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Myah? YOU'RE gonna help us? What's your angle?" Grim demanded, not liking where this was heading.
"Grim, stop being rude. We'll need all the help we can get." Rajni snapped.
"You offend us, sir. Once of our housemates was injured- why wouldn't we help him find justice?" Cater swooned like he was just punched in the gut.
"We're all house-buds here. Count us in."
"He's gonna pay for what he did to Trey!"
Riddle looked at Ace and Deuce with a raised brow himself. "You two seem awfully enthusiastic about this."
"For obvious reasons." Niho rolled her eyes.
Cater caught on to what she was getting at and nodded. "Ahh… I get it. You're gunning for that open spot on our team, aren't you?"
Ace had his hands up in mock surrender. "Heh. Was it that obvious?"
But Deuce shook his head frantically like he was caught shoplifting. "N-no! That had nothing to do with it! I just want to avenge our housemate!"
Riddle took a deep sigh in and out, "Fine… Your performance during the investigation will be taken into account."
The two let out a cheer. "Woo-hoo!"
"Now if we're going to apprehend this culprit, we need to stay a step ahead of him." Riddle got down to business.
"And we're gonna do that HOW, exactly…?" Grim pushed.
"By predicting which student will be targeted next and covertly following him. Should the culprit strike, we will protect the target and then immediately pursue the attacker."
"A stakeout, then. Let's do it." Niho agreed.
"Bingo! I've already identified a number of potential targets from among the most promising players. I'll form a group on Magicam so we can coordinate our efforts and then give you access to the album." Cater got to work with his phone, adding in everyone present in the room, with the exception of Niho, who shared Rajni's screen. Soon, paragraph after paragraph of information spilled in.
"How did you get all this?" Rajni asked skeptically.
"I have my ways~." He replied sneakily.
"Whoa, Cater, this is a ton of information!" Deuce scanned the text deeply but quickly.
"Now, let's move!" Cater led the charge, Grim tagging just at his heels.
"Let's nail this creep!"