—-
NOTES:

———————
_____________________

So, to start, she really didn't want to be in THIS car.

Like any other car would have been just fine.

But no, she was stuck with Riddle on one side of her, Kalim, Ace (thank god for once) on Riddles other side, Deuce, (same on the previous) who was sort of squished between her and the window, Cater and Lilia.

One could also add Che'nya, but as he was in a different form, and she wasn't entirely sure if he was conscious with the way he was contently snoozing on Riddles lap, rolling towards the sun beams cast by the window, she wasn't sure if he counted.

A car full of semi-strangers plus Adeuce (just for safety measures) would have been probably better.  Less talking and her having to make awkward conversation.

Partially aswell because she was being advertised joining the pop music club in a strangely desperate degree, as if Lilias sort of blackmail sounding thing before the maze had never happened.

When she got drowsy, she couldn't put her finger on it, but it didn't feel like a natural drowsy. Maybe it was the ride up the mountain, because Riddle seemed to get more drowsy aswell, followed by Deuce's quiet yawns here and there.

—————————-

"And Jamil helps make snacks for the...Oh...I think Ophi fell asleep."

The light snoring following the previous noisiness came as a surprise.

Ophelia, Riddle and Deuce had all fallen lightly on eachother in a train like manner. Deuces head leaning towards the car, Ophelias head leaning towards Deuce, Riddles head leaning towards Ophelia... Somewhat like dominos.

After snapping a picture, Cater turned down the music and switched to a more calm playlist.

"Geez, Ophi and Deucey falling asleep I can see, but Rids? It feels off, y'know?"

Ace, however, did momentarily panic at the sound of that, but tried to remain inconspicuous while moving over to check Deuce and Ophelia for a pulse.

Unfortunately, he was caught in the act by Kalim.

"I was sitting with them at brunch, so I know they weren't poisoned then, if that helps!"

It slightly creeped him out how that was the first thing to pop into the guys head, but all things considering, it was good information.

The redhead sighed in mild relief upon discovering they both had pulses, and sat back down.

"Yea, I'll keep that in mind, thanks."

A resounding tapping sound now entered from three different directions, and Ace was nearly 80% sure these three had started texting about his sort of extreme reaction to Ophelia and Deuce falling asleep.

Damn, that obviously though? Seriously? Assholes.

——————————
-

♫★𝑃𝑜𝑝 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝐶𝑙𝑢𝑏★♫

𖣔𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑚𖣔

𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡? 

𝐶𝑎𝑦-𝐶𝑎𝑦

𝑊𝑑𝑦𝑚? 𝐴𝑐𝑒𝑦?

𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐵𝐴𝑇 𝐾𝐼𝑁𝐺

𝐼 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝐴𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑝. <(￣︶￣)>

𖣔𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑚𖣔

𝑌𝑒𝑎!  𝐻𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡  : 𝐷    
𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑠𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝐺𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑦𝑘?
𝑀𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦? (。_。)

𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐵𝐴𝑇 𝐾𝐼𝑁𝐺

𝐼'𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒,  𝑜ℎ. 𝐻𝑒'𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝐶𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟. >^(●◡●)^<

𝐶𝑎𝑦-𝐶𝑎𝑦

(°ー°〃) 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑐𝑒?

𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐵𝐴𝑇 𝐾𝐼𝑁𝐺

𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤. ◕‿◕

𝑆𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑡 1:32 𝑝𝑚

Looking up from his phone, Kalim watched as Cater met eyes with the less than enthusiastic heart. 

"Really? I'm right here."

"Sorry, we're just concerned for the freshies, y'know? You guys have been through a looot recently."

He leaned back, resting his chin on his hand as he faced the window.

"Tell me about it.  I'd be more surprised if we actually caught a break for once."

There was a familiar melancholy to his words. Kalim of all people understood quite well what that was like. Being chased by death.

It's not like he hadn't heard the whispers in Scarabia too.  Or hadn't noticed people trying to get information on the new prefect and her friends. Even Jamil tried asking some of the Heartstabyl witnesses a thing or two.

I mean, An Overblot is a huge deal! Why wouldn't people be curious? Especially when the person who super randomly appeared ended up being the one to lead their group to victory!

Other than the five that had been involved in the incident, alot of Heartstabyl had started singing her praises and wanted her to switch Riddle out as their Housewarden.
Some of them had even gotten a bit...violent, both with the Octavinelle betters and when they found out Riddle was in a coma, therefore unable to fight back and collar them, making their own plans involving truly overthrowing Riddle.

It got to the point Lilia asked Nevermore to watch over the comatose students. Cater and Trey had been working hard to keep the freshman that had fought blissfully unaware of this and Riddle safe. It was a doozy of a week, thats for sure.

He kept the drawings in his notebook a secret. Well, more like...if he understood it at all, he still wouldn't tell.  Unless someone like Jamil asked. She didn't need that kind of stress, right?

Kalim couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew she was here to help everyone.

It seemed like Ace, and maybe Deuce too, were her version of what Jamil was to him, the only person he was sure he could truly trust.

He wasn't sure why, but he had a similar feeling with her that he had with Jamil, he was oddly certain she would never intentionally hurt him, and that they'd been close for awhile. Or...more like he had been aware of her and felt that way once upon a time. That she was important to him somehow.

Which was really strange, considering they had just met. But he was so sure of it. That she had sorta been on the other side of a screen helping him, that was the best comparison he could think of.

Weird, right?

Anyway, those three really deserved a break. Vyr too! They'd been working hard!  Maybe he could plan something for when they got back!

Oh, and didn't Lilia say something about helping train....

A pale hand waving infront of his face derailed his train of thought.

"Kalim? Cay-Cay to Kal! Your turn on the aux!"

———————————

Staring at the slumbering trio, now quad, as Ace had fallen asleep halfway through the drive, the Pop Music Club members sat in silence, debating.

"They seem so peaceful...Are you sure we have to wake them up soon?"

"I mean....if we take a pic to prove they're here, do you think that'll count for the head count?"

"Perhaps....Well, we can simply tell them the news later."

————

———-

What did she do to deserve this shit.

Apparently, she and everyone on her side of the car fell asleep, (mildly suspicious information) and nobody decided to wake them up (Riddle was thoroughly pissed about that, and boy did he let it be known) but heres the basics:

One: They were staying here for another week and a half.

Two: They left for fucking Noble Bell after that until the barrier was fixed so they'd be atleast at a school in general, and since the event was happening, they'd meet up with Trein and leave back to NRC with everyone else. And because Crowley is just soooo gracious, they got to stay for the Cultural Exchange.

3: Discovered later and nearly had a mental breakdown about before assuring herself it was
probably lost in the labyrinth: Her notebook was missing. 

In Translation: Glorious Masquerade was about to go down and she was noteless on her planned codewords with Che'nya if shit truly hit the fan. When did EVENTS become a thing? Did that mean ALL events were free game? She fucking hoped not.

But now her temper was going to have to fight for its life, except this time, for a week. Or more.

And so with all the free time she had now, she might as well use it.

So it was to the books. and planning. And now avoiding Adeuce when she did so, and just the whole mess of a cast that was at the hotel, so she could get shit done.

After mentally scoping through Aristocats lore for any possible ideas, she found a secret area located in the former "Butlers Quarters", which was now apart of the library, and settled it down as home base. 

Bringing in and pouring over books, setting up a place to hold the tablet within range so she could read, but far enough to muddle any footage or recording, remembering the mechanisms of the place, mapping out Noble Bell and its plot, the changes and alterations to the plot, Safety Measures for Lilia and Elephys due to the whole magic sap thing, all the damned possibilities....

Given the fiasco with Ace with the notes the first go around, she characterized her notes as her role of "Ophelia.", and what "Ophelia" would or could know at this point about everyone, and skipping around making seem as if she knew more.

Speaking of Ace, she also had to—well chose make separate plans and ideas for his upcoming birthday.

Once notes started piling up, she got her hands on special blacklight ink from Vyr, and went back through the notes, putting her actual planning as "Estelle", which, unless you were Ace, Che'nya or Vyr (whoops on that last one) wouldn't be sure was the same as Ophelia.

After a while of planning, notes began to line the walls, and she had less room to write.

Unsurprisingly, considering it was a paid resort and not a public library, nobody came through or caught her leaving, except Riddle, which left her in a stalemate for an hour attempting to explain why she was in the cooking section of the library when the last workbook she had to finish was on practical magic.

One thing that caught her eye was a worker, older guy, that seemed to always be taking notes when she passed. Something, Something AMS, she had heard him mutter, whatever that was. He offered her tea once or twice, but she turned him down, because in all honesty, the guy was a little suspicious.

She got a free pass out of alot of the groups events via "Oh noes, I have a broken leg, I can't", but as today was the fourth day since that, it was wearing thin.

Ace and Deuce had no doubt been becoming more and more suspicious of her early leaves to the library and late returns, and it was really only a matter of time before Ace decided to start snooping and may or may not get the other first years on the project.

Her fate was sealed when she fell asleep in her hidden spot, missing Riddles Curfew by a whopping 2 hours.

—————-

"She's still not back?"

Lilia, ever the night owl, er, bat, whatever, hung loosely from the ceiling above the redhead, who had been waiting infront of A103 to question the prefect for her consistent tardiness, frowned as he continued stroking a purring Che'nya's fur in attempt to soothe his fury.

"Unfortunately not. If it were anyone else, I'd have their head for this!"

The other simply smiled, eyes flickering briefly to the corner before returning to the conversation.

"Well, it seems staking out here will do you no good. Where did you last see her?"

Going back through his memories for a moment, Riddle recalled their last encounter.

"The library, in the cooking section of all places."

Flipping from ceiling to floor, Lilia began walking towards the elevator, Che'nya leaping onto his shoulder.

"We'll go take a looksie then, and you can go rest and question her on the morrow, alright?"

With a huff, Riddle nodded, returning to his room.

After scanning a moment to make sure he was gone, the fae once again looked to the corner he had previously with a knowing grin.

"That goes for the eight of you aswell. Go now and I'll keep this between us."

With a ripple, the entirety of the first year troupe appeared, bickering slightly amongst themselves while the alchemist in the middle fidgeted with a gadget.

"Vyr, I thought you said they wouldn't be able to see us!"

"Yea-Riddle wouldn't! I'm still figuring out how to fine tune it so it covers people with heightened senses, Ace! How was I supposed to know he would show up?"

"Why did you make this thing anyway?"

"So I can sneak past Cassidy easier when she's mad at me. Deuce, as an only child, you probably wouldn't understand the dangers of an older sibling in a bad mood."

"Guys, let's take the deal and head off, besides, I need a solid 8 hours of sleep before my run tomorrow morning."

"What time you plan on running? Maybe I could join you."

"6 am."

"Nevermind."

"Yup, i'm with Brutus. Thats a no from me."

"Lazyass."

"Epel, you threatened to kill us three times when we tried waking you up this morning at 8 am. I'm afraid you can't talk."

Elephys's words were the last to catch his ears, as the youths voices faded off when he proceeded into the elevator.

———————-

The library was silent as ever, lights left on, although the presence of anyone was missing from underneath.

Except one.

A human man loomed strangely in the corner, Lilia gave him a small wave, but he did not receive one in turn.

Finding the cooking section was no hard task, but sadly, browsing it would have to wait.

Within one of the shelves lay a small button, which revealed the way to a tiny cove.

Draped over a small stack of paper was the missing prefect, pencil in hand now loosely balanced in her palm.

As he moved closer, the contents of the paper began to be readable, although the handwriting was admittedly quite messy.

𝐷𝑎𝑦 1

𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡: 𝑁𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑝 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑝 𝑏𝑦 𝑔𝑢𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑡

𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑡𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑡𝑢𝑠?

𝑈𝑝𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 : 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑡𝑢𝑠'𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝐼𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐 + 𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑖𝑡, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘.

𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙??! 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑚𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡.

𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡. 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘.

There was more, but it was nothing of note.

Something simply didn't fit here. No source to how the writer discovered this information, and the papers felt heavier in weight than a simple pencil writing would add to it. There was ink used.

A revealing spell bounced right off, strangely. But a blacklight spell however...

The notes changed quite a bit.

𝐷𝑎𝑦 1

𝑆𝐻𝐼𝑇. 𝐺𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑠?? 𝐼𝑛 𝑎 𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘? 𝑓𝑚𝑙

𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡, 𝐿𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑒, 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐿𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎'𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒...𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 7... :/ 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑘𝑦𝑘, 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑖 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠

.....If his intuition was correct, then she had been calculating in his current state of his fading magic. "Book 7" had been priorly mentioned in the Journal aswell, connected to both himself, Silver, Sebek and Malleus.

She wasn't hiding whatever it is she knew for malicious reasons, at bare minimum.
Perhaps he could finish his reading of the notebook to explain where she learned this tidbit on him.

𝐴𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝐸𝑝𝑒𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑈𝑀 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑆𝐷𝐶 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑇𝑌𝑋 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒. 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑝

𝐷𝑜 𝐼 𝑛𝑢𝑘𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔??!?! 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑚 𝐼 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠?

Rollo Flamme was the soon to be culprit then. The Chairman is the Traitor. What a classic.

𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑝 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡

Yes it would.

𝑈𝑝𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑦 1: 𝐼𝑓 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑡, 𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡, 𝑝𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑐, 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡, 𝑏𝑖𝑔𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑟 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜 𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠

Well, she certainly knew her history, and it seemed they both shared similar opinions on that topic.

𝑈𝑝𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑦 2: 𝑌𝑒𝑎 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝐼'𝑚 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑎 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑊𝐻𝐸𝑅𝐸𝑆 𝑄𝑈𝐴𝑆𝐼 𝑂𝑅 𝐸𝑆𝑀𝐸𝑅𝐴𝐿𝐷𝐴 𝐼𝑁 𝑇𝐻𝐸𝑆𝐸 𝑇𝐸𝑋𝑇𝐵𝑂𝑂𝐾𝑆??

Quasimodo and Esmeralda? He hadn't heard those names in centuries. Even in textbooks their names had been mostly forgotten.

𝑈𝑝𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑦 2 : 𝐹𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝐼'𝑚 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑂𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑜 𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤.

𝑈𝑝𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑦 3: 𝑂𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑓𝑢𝑙, 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 . 𝐺𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑖 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙.

Not eating? Oh dear, something would have to be done about that. Perhaps he could whip something up tomorrow.

𝑈𝑝𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑦 3: 𝑁𝑜𝑝𝑒, 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙. 𝐾𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤? 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑛, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑧𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒.

Work over fun, what a painfully familiar thought process.

𝐼'𝑚 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦'𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑡. 𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐴𝑐𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑒.

It appears she had the wrong culprit. Detective Lilia was behind this one!

𝑈𝑝𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑦 4: 𝑅𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒!!!

𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑝?! 𝑁𝑜, 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒.

𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟. 𝑇𝑜𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘. 𝐵𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑁𝑅𝐶, 𝐼𝑓 𝐼 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑝 𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑒. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜.

All that was left was covered by her arms, or battle and investigation strategies on the wall.

In their first meeting, he had noticed her baring a similarity to himself long ago, and it seems she was falling into that mindset he once had much faster than anticipated.

Well then, it seemed tomorrow he would take matters into his own hands.

"You're quite ambitious for a juvenile, you know. Knowing as much as you do, yet still so afraid of everyone and everything. It wouldn't hurt to relax now and then."

As she was asleep, there was no response.

Sighing, he looked over the slumbering child, patting the crown of her head lightly.

"It is no sin to be young, enjoy your youth whilst you still have the opportunity."

———————

They had quite the intriguing confrontation with the man in the library upon making way out of the cove, leading to another interesting discovery, one he decided was best to be handled by himself, and perhaps the other third years.

The AMS, hm?  Well, they had quite some nerve.

Perhaps letting the young Cheshire into the fight may have been a tad risky, considering the man's state after however, he likely wouldn't be believed.

Che'nya seemingly hadn't a clue what "Glomas" meant either, tail swishing to the side in agitation, or something of the like, as he read through the duplicated notes, then shoved them into some pocket dimension of his own creation.

Upon arriving to A103 with the prefect, a pair of yellow eyes turned. Then a pair of red and blues.

It seemed the wolf beastman and her two closest companions had decided to wait for her return, or had been the only three who managed to remain awake to do so.

The redhead of troupe seemed insistent on being the one to carry her, all the while muttering what a fool she was.

If she continued trying to fight alone, she's run herself into the ground, after all.

Perhaps just as Baul had once been the Alligator Soldier as his right hand, these two could be the Red Fox and Canine Soldiers, her right and left hands. Lilia gave them those nicknames for a reason, you know.

Well, once this was all sorted out, the day after tomorrow would be a day of fun and relaxation for all of them, he would make sure of it.

Oh, perhaps he should start on that birthday cake in a few hours or so.

——-

This idiot.

Ace had noticed it, obviously. She went into the same focus mode she did back when they had freetime before Riddles Overblot. But worse. Like barely eating