A hand reached out to turn off her Luna P alarm clock. Only to belatedly remember that she wasn't in her room in Namimori. She was in the Ramshackle dorm at Night Raven College, and that she had classes today. She blinked blearily for several moments, mostly to wake up. She had to smile hearing Grim mumble in his sleep.

Yesterday had been...chaotic, to say the least. At least Ace wasn't sleeping on the couch anymore, but she still felt bad for Riddle.

Today she had more important things to worry about. Like getting the WiFi password. She had been informed by Cater that the best people to ask about computer issues was the Ignihyde dorm, and that the housewarden was ridiculously smart.

Fortunately for her, he was a regular at the Board Game Club, which was one of the few clubs she was interested in. The other was the Pop Music Club. Cater had assured her that she could join at any time, because it was just him and two others.

Armed with her phone and tablet, she waited patiently for the last class to end before making a beeline to the Board Game club. Riddle was nice enough to give her directions at least.

She was among the first ones there, as there was another person wearing a dorm uniform she didn't recognize off hand.

"Oh? I didn't expect the unusual prefect to be interested in board games," he said. "Where's that rambunctious familiar?"

"Grim's not here," said Hotaru. "I came to find the Ignihyde housewarden. Cater said he'd be here."

The older boy raised an eyebrow at that.

"Why would you need to see Idia?" he asked, almost amused.

"I was informed he was the best person to ask about computer issues," she said deadpan. "Or at the very least, that he could point me in the right direction of who to ask."

Hearing a snort, she turned to see an older boy with flaming blue hair, golden eyes and pale skin. He wore a blue hoodie with a gloomy disposition. He was rather tall, as she had to slightly crane her head to look up at him properly.

"Why should I help some noob who likely doesn't even know what a LAN is, much less how to debug a basic computer?"

She glared at him.

"This coming from someone who likely trolls the elite players, only to get pwned by people who know what they're actually doing?" she snarked.

Perking up, Idia sneered at her. Azul watched with open fascination as this sparked the most unusual cat fight he had ever seen. It was clear Idia was enjoying himself, and that he had perked up when he realized this new kid might actually know what they were doing an understood most of his gamer speak.

Nearby Ortho was watching the entire byplay with fascination and open amusement at seeing his big brother being so active around a perfect stranger.

Eventually Hotaru conceded defeat, but it was clear she had earned some respect from the older boy.

Ortho knew Idia wouldn't help her for now.

"Hi! I'm Ortho."

"Call me Crow," she said cheerfully. "Is that a cosplay, or are you actually a robot?"

"I'm a Technomantic humanoid, designation ORTHO," he chirped. "So what sort of issues are you having exactly?"

Hotaru perked up and the two sat at a different table while Azul and Idia put together a board game while keeping half an eye on the two.

Ortho looked somewhat sympathetic. The main issue she was having was connecting to the WiFi, since she had managed to find the outlets in the Ramshackle dorm. She could have used the private router that belonged to the Heartsabyl dorm (Riddle had given her permission, and Cater shared the password), but she had quickly determined it wasn't worth it. On top of having to abide by the dorm rules, there was also the fact that Riddle would likely be breathing down her neck half the time to make sure she was using the internet for homework, rather than gaming like she wanted.

Ortho was able to help her resolve the main issue, which made her very happy. With that sorted out, she quickly suggested playing a game of their own, since Idia and Azul were deep in a game of chess at the moment.

Idia was slightly surprised to see his little brother having so much fun playing basic checkers against the odd prefect.

In Ramshackle that night...

Hotaru had a lot of fun in the club, and planned to go again. Ortho was adorable, and she enjoyed their game. Idia was grumpy, but she knew an introvert when she saw one.

It took one to know one after all.

Booting up her laptop, she was relieved to see the WiFi working properly. She had been worried about losing her gamer ranking after ending up in what appeared to be an entirely new world.

Not that she was complaining. Namimori sucked, and the only reason she had been outside at all was for a snack food run. It wasn't like her mother bothered to keep the mini fridge in her room stocked.

She grinned as she logged onto the game.

Gloomurai: Surprised to see you on again Crow

Yatagarasu: Ugh, don't remind me. Got sent to a new school and had to get help to log onto the WiFi. The dorm I'm in doesn't exactly have a router I can use

Gloomurai: sounds rough

Yatagarasu: You don't have to fake sympathy Mr. I-Build-All-My-Gear-Custom. I did see something really cool at this new school though.

MuscleRed: what was it?

Yatagarasu: Hey Muscles. I saw a cyborg today. He was so adorable it was all I could do to not hug him on the spot.

Gloomurai: a legit cyborg? On your left flank

Yatagarasu: He had flaming blue hair and gold eyes. Total cutie, I swear. Cannon fodder incoming in fifteen

MuscleRed: as amusing as this conversation is, shouldn't we be focusing on the boss?

Yatagarasu: true, true. Someone tell those damn healers to start casting! I'm dying here and I refuse to tank this asshole!

Mind now fully on the raid boss, Hotaru devoted her full attention to the raid.

In Ignihyde dorm, housewarden's room

"They thought I was cute?" said Ortho, amused.

Idia snickered, because it had taken him all of three seconds to realize that Yatagarasu was likely in Night Raven at the moment. He was almost interested in meeting them IRL, because he never really got to meet his online friends.

"They said they wanted to hug you, for being so adorable," he said grinning at his brother. Ortho perked up at that.

"Should I track them down?" he asked.

"Something tells me we'll end up running into them sooner rather than later, if their comments are anything to go by," said Idia. Ortho beamed at him. It was nice to see his brother making some 'newish' friends.

~*~*~*~*~

Lilia looked up when he heard the door open, expecting Cater or Kalim to be entering. Instead it was the oddball prefect, without their rambunctious familiar.

"Is this where the Pop Music Club is located? Cater wasn't very specific about the room."

"This is the room. Interested in joining?" asked Lilia with a gentle tone.

The teen nodded. They wore a hoodie that went down to their knees and was practically a dress. Their shoes were well worn, but taken care of and their hair was down to their waist. Their bangs concealed most of their features, and it was clear that they took the bare minimum of care when it came to their appearance.

Lilia patted at one of the seats near them. They cautiously came into the room, almost like a scared rabbit.

"I don't bite...much," joked Lilia.

"So...what exactly does the Pop Music club do?" asked the teen.

"Mostly we mess around with instruments, maybe put on a show or two, and eat snacks while chatting," said Lilia.

They blinked.

"That's it?"

"We don't exactly have enough members to have a full band, and for some reason only the three of us have been able to keep the club going, since everyone else left."

"Hey Crow! Glad to see you found the room!" said Cater, throwing an arm around their shoulder.

"It took me three tries to find the right room," they admitted.

"Who's this?" asked a third person.

"Hey Kalim, this is Crow. They're the Prefect of Ramshackle," said Cater.

"Crow?" said Kalim.

"It's a play on my username."

"Oh?" said Lilia with open interest. "What's your handle?"

Crow grinned.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. It's always fun finding friends online."

"I go by MuscleRed," said Lilia cheerfully.

Crow sputtered in disbelief.

"Wait, you're Muscles?!" they said in shock.

Lilia nodded. Crow grinned wildly at this, as they never expected to run into one of their online buddies IRL.

"I'm Yatagarasu," Crow said cheerfully.

Lilia looked absolutely delighted at this.

"I'm confused," said Cater, but he was smiling.

"We're online buddies," explained Lilia. Crow nodded enthusiastically. "Though I am curious as to the origin of your username."

"Yatagarasu are three-legged crows that serve the Sun Goddess Amaterasu," explained Crow. "I would have gone with Tengu, but that was already taken so I went with the next best thing."

"So...if your nickname is Crow, then what's your real name?" asked Kalim, curious.

"Hotaru. It means 'Firefly' in my home country."

Hotaru settled into their chair and enjoyed the meeting. As Lilia had mentioned to her before, it was a pretty chill one where they mostly chatted and ate snacks. It was rather relaxing.

Best of all, the meetings rarely conflicted with the Board Game club.

~*~~*~*

Hotaru held her tools with a determined look on her face. It was the weekend, she had no club meetings, and she had borrowed several items with Riddle's blessing once she explained what she needed them for.

Grim had complained until she told gave him something fun to do. While Ace was stuck living in the dorm until he appeased his tempermental housewarden, she had put him to work helping to sweep the floors. He had complained, but it was a small price to pay for a place to sleep.

Which meant Grim was free to run around 'riding' the scrub brush she had borrowed that was liberally soaked in soap and water to mop the floors. Once he got the hang of it, he was off like a shot having fun.

She planned to have him do the bathrooms next.

She had her phone streaming some music. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. So you could imagine her surprise hearing a familiar voice in the hallway.

"Heard you were planning a major cleaning spree!" said Cater with a grin. He found the sight of Grim sliding up and down the hallway like he was on a skateboard hilarious.

Hotaru gave him a flat stare.

"Which chore are you attempting to get out of?" she said smirking.

Cater smirked.

"Riddle's on a warpath about homework and I still haven't done some of Professor Trein's history essays."

"I won't tell him if you won't," she replied. Cater snorted at that.

"So what sort of music is that?"

"I've got a playlist from some animes that I like to watch," she replied. "Not much I can do since I left my Bluetooth at home, but it's good enough for this."

Cater looks at the room they were attempting to clean, realizes it's way too much for even two people and a small familiar. He winks at her and pulls out his pen.

"I think we need to call in back-up," said Cater.

"I agree," grinned Hotaru.

"Split Card," said Cater. Seeing the multiple copies of Cater give her a wink and a wave, they picked up some cleaning supplies and went to work. "So why are you cleaning this room first?"

"I want to see if I can track down a projector and stream my series on the far wall," she admitted. "This dorm barely has outlets and I refuse to keep my electronics anywhere with a draft."

Cater eyed the far wall, and had to admit, it would make streaming movies a lot more fun. Especially if Hotaru were to position the couch to face it.

"I foresee many, many movie nights," said Cater.

"So long as you agree to help bring snacks. The headmage didn't exactly give me much of a budget to work with."

"Have you thought of a part-time job?"

"I have no credentials or ID," said Hotaru shaking her head.

"Well I know Monstro Lounge is often hiring, and there are a few places outside the campus. Plus a few student do part-time work in the village for extra cash," said Cater.

"What's Monstro Lounge?"

"The Housewarden of Octavinelle made a restaurant run by students in his dorm," explained Cater. "They often hire part-time waiters and the like, though I think they conscript their dorm members into helping."

"Which dorm is that again?" she asked, hopeful.

Of course the housewarden she needed to talk to about a part-time job was that smug jerk from the Board Game club with the silver hair and glasses.

She still got a job cleaning the place after hours though.