"...I see," Riddle murmured, crossing his arms as his face darkened. "That's what the Headmaster said, is it?"

"Ahhh," Cater sighed, twiddling a lock of hair between his fingers. "Yep, I knew it... Gri-chan coming all the way over here for an ordinary, run-of-the-mill get-well visit? Didn't think so."

"Hey-- I WAS actually worried about Trey, FYI," Kat shot back. "Please don't lump me in with HIM, okay?" She nodded down at Grim.

"Wh-- HEY!" Grim protested, looking up at her with a scowl. "You don't gotta be RUDE, Kat! It's not like I'm not worried, either!"

"Heheh-- I know, I know, Prefect-chan," Cater grinned, waving a hand soothingly. "We truly don't deserve you!"

"Mmm," Riddle mused, face still dark as he put a hand to his chin. "To tell the truth, I found the incident quite odd, as well... So, I've asked Cater to look into it a bit for me."

Turning his head, he raised his eyebrows at Cater, who nodded. "Yup," he confirmed, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "And it looks like what the Headmaster told you is right on the money, Kat-- all the victims so far have been some seriously talented Magishift players, just like Riddle and Trey."

"...Yep," Kat sighed. Leaning forward, she put the half-empty glass down on a coaster on the coffee table, reaching down and pulling the notebook and pencil out of the schoolbag at her feet. "Okay... So-- Riddle, would you mind telling me what happened?"

Nodding, Riddle sat up a bit straighter. "Of course," he confirmed.

Nodding back, Kat flipped open the notebook to a blank page, jotting down a messy header.

VICTIM/SUBJECT/WITNESS #3: RIDDLE/TREY

Once she was finished, she glanced back up at Riddle, eyebrows raised.

"To be clear," Riddle began slowly. "It-- wasn't as if I had been pushed... Nor even as if I'd tripped. But..."

Frowning, he closed his eyes, black-gloved fingers beginning to tap against his upper arms. "...There was a very... Odd sensation. It was as if-- how should I say this... As if my body-- was moving of its own volition."

Grim, still on Kat's lap, grumbled loudly. "Rrr... That's exactly what all the other guys said, too!" He complained. "Dangit-- an' here I thought we were gonna get a lead..."

"Sshhh," Kat interrupted, scribbling furiously.

Body moved on its own? Again? Riddle deffo not the clumsy type; unlikely to slip/etc.

"At this point, I believe we can safely surmise that powerful potential Magishift players are being targeted," Riddle continued.

"So, basically... Somebody's going after strong rivals and trying to get 'em out of the way for the tournament?" Ace asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

Riddle nodded, arms still folded. "This is, after all, no mere school game-- the entire world will be watching," he stated. "Many professionals' careers have begun thanks to exemplary performances in this very tournament... Considering that, it's really no great surprise that some may resort to underhanded methods to gain an advantage."

Kat hummed thoughtfully again, tapping the eraser of the pencil against the notebook. "So... At this point, we all agree that-- it's GOTTA be magic, right? Whatever this is-- it can't be anything besides magic."

"Almost certainly," Riddle agreed, giving one more nod.

DEFINITELY MAGIC, Kat wrote in large letters. She circled that several times, even underlining it with a bold scribble for extra emphasis.

"Yeah, I agree... But, it's kinda weird," Cater sighed, fiddling with his hair again. "I mean, if somebody used, like... A gust of wind magic to push you off the stairs, you'd definitely notice, right? And you didn't mention anything like that, Riddle-kun..."

"Indeed," Riddle confirmed, putting his elbows on his knees and steepling his fingers. "There was no external force that I could feel..."

Cater nodded, propping his arm up on the armrest of his chair as he turned sideways a little, frowning. "Plus, some of the other victims had THEIR accidents during class... How's THAT supposed to work?"

He sighed heavily, ruffling his hair. "This doesn't make any sense..."

"Hmph," Riddle said curtly. "Well-- as for that, I'm sure the culprit, once captured, will be able to THOROUGHLY enlighten us."

Standing up sharply, he put his hands on his hips, looking at Kat. "And, to that end-- we intend to help you do that, Kat."

Kat blinked. "...Huh?" She said after about half a second. "Wait-- r-really?"

"HUH?!" Grim repeated, standing up in her lap with his eyes wide. "Wait a sec-- you guys are gonna help us?! How come?! What're you after? 'Specially YOU, Cater!"

"Awww..." Pouting, Cater got to his feet as well. "Come on, Gri-chan-- you wound me! One of my own dormmates got wrapped up in all this-- why WOULDN'T I wanna pitch in to find whodunnit? Especially since it's Trey-kun!"

"Yeah-- Cater-senpai's right," Ace added. "So-- you might as well count us in too, Kat." Grinning, he stood up, clapping his hands together. "Right, Mr. Serious?"

"Right!" Deuce agreed, jumping to his feet with a dangerous grin as he drove his fist into his palm. "Whoever this jack--" Glancing over at Riddle, he cleared his throat. "This JERK is, we'll get 'im back! For Clover-senpai!"

Kat blinked, then blushed, putting her hands to her mouth. "Ah-- y-you guys..."

"Deuce is right," Riddle said, walking over to Kat. "As housewarden, I can hardly ignore an attack on one of my own dorm members... Especially not my vice-head. Besides-- we..."

Stopping, he glanced to the side, giving a small cough as his cheeks reddened a bit. "We are... Friends, after all. You and I."

"Aw-- Riddle..." She put one hand to her chest, the other still covering her ever-widening smile. "Thank you...!"

"Don't mention it," he smiled, giving a small nod. "However-- speaking of that..." He turned, cocking an eyebrow at Ace and Deuce. "You two seem... Awfully enthusiastic. Well-- of course, I'd more or less expected this from Deuce, especially with the Prefect involved, but... Ace? Really?"

"Ahh-- hey, I think I get it," Cater piped up, getting up from his own chair and giving Ace and Deuce a cheeky grin. "You two are gunnin' for that open position on the Heartslabyul Magishift team, right?"

"Aw-- heheh, busted already?" Ace grinned back, one hand on the back of his neck. "Was it that obvious?"

"Wh--WHAT?! No!" Deuce protested, raising his hands as he blushed visibly. "That's-- not it at all! I just want to help Clover-senpai and Kat-- that's all! Honest!"

Snorting a little, Kat turned her gaze back to Riddle, catching his eye. He glanced back, corner of his mouth quirking into a very small smile for a moment. Then he shook his head, putting his hands on his hips again as he sighed. "Haah-- goodness gracious... Very well, then, I suppose it can't be helped. Both of your efforts during the investigation will be taken into account during the new team selection."

"Really?! YES!" Both of the first-years cheered in unison, pumping their fists.

Kat shot them a flat, disappointed look, and they winced a little, looking away.

Well, whatever-- they WERE going to help in the end, so... What did it matter what their reasons were? I mean, this whole thing only started 'cause Grim's perpetually too big for his fuzzy little britches...

"Now, to return to the topic of the investigation itself," Riddle continued, folding his arms. "In order to capture this culprit, we can't simply sit around and wait for their next move... I believe our best move would be to strike first, before they have their chance."

"...Huh?" Grim asked, putting his paws on his hips. " 'Strike first'? What's THAT supposed to mean?"

Kat's eyes widened. Oh-- hey, maybe it was...?

Turning, Riddle gave him another small, imperious smirk. "For example-- if we were to deduce which student will be targeted next, and covertly follow them," he said. "Thus, we would both be able to protect the would-be victim and immediately apprehend their assailant in one fell swoop."

"YES!" Kat cheered, pumping her own fist. "Great idea, Riddle!"

She KNEW it! Stakeout time, baby!

Or... Was it still a stakeout if they were watching a PERSON, not a location? A-- tail? An escort mission? She couldn't remember if any of the crime shows she watched had called it anything specific...

"Oh-- but, what about the next target? Or-- targets?" She asked, looking around. "I literally only know you guys here so far, so-- I'm fresh outta leads in that department..."

"Aww... Kat, no need to worry," Cater chirped again, shooting her a wink. "I've got this one covered!"

Grinning, he pulled his phone out of his pocket again, tapping away furiously as he kept speaking. "Actually, I've already gone through and identified a few likely candidates from the pool of promising players. Hang on-- I'll make a group on Magicam and shoot you guys a DM invite, okay? Then we'll have a group chat so we can stay in touch, and you'll have access to the album I put together for possible targets!"

He gave his phone one more definitive tap, sticking it back into his pocket and folding his arms. "Three-- two... One!"

Right on cue, Ace's, Deuce's, and even Riddle's jacket pockets chimed. They all looked down, blinking.

"Huh?" Deuce asked, pulling his own phone out of his pocket and peering at the screen. "Wh-Whoa...!"

His eyes widened. "Diamond-senpai, th-this is... This is, like, a crap-ton of information! That's incredible..."

"Heheh," Cater grinned again, winking as he knocked himself in the head lightly. "Aw, shucks-- it was nothin'! Okay, then-- enough with the chitchat! Those targets ain't gonna watch themselves!"

"YEAH!" Grim cheered, jumping down off Kat's lap and punching the air. "Let's catch this creep once an' for all! C'mon, Kat!"

"Geez-- okay, okay!" Kat huffed, standing up as she reshuffled everything back into her schoolbag. "Don't gotta tell me twice... 'S not like I was the one doing most of the investigation before all this or anything, anyway..."

"Here, Prefect," Deuce said, walking over to her and holding out his phone. "You can take a look on mine..."

"Thank you, Deuce," she smiled. Hoisting the bag back up onto her shoulder, peering over at the screen as the entire group started back out of the lounge.

Author's Notes:

Shout-out to the third-year internship application segment in Chapter/Book 7 for throwing MORE fuel in the fire of my 'Jack Heart from the Villain Recruiters is Ace's older brother' headcanon.

(Working in entertainment? Getting a job at a theme park??? 'His world is entertainment'??? HELLO?!?!?!)

(Also, I knew there was a reason I put Adventurer Cookie with Rook when I was... Assigning? Cookies, or groups of Cookies, to TWST characters for fun, possibly thinking about drawing them together, but who knows.)

(And it wasn't just the hat and the hair color.)

...Tweel cameo next chapter.

Uh-oh.