"Do you like architecture, Child of Man?"

𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑶𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝑨𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈.

𝑨𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒄 𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆, 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉.

Attempting to gather her non-existent confidence, Ophelia gazed up at the building.

"I guess you could say that.  I've always wanted to explore old ruins and stuff, but where I'm from, you can't find ruins like these anymore.."

Malleus tipped his head slightly.

"How it that so?"

"Most have been graffitied all over, remodeled into big ugly buildings or tourist attractions, or torn down to build other things in their place.  Oh, and you'd be surprised what the British Museum can steal and transport back home. "

It was nice to actually be honest for once, even on such a small topic, simply allowing the words in her mind to flow.

"I always wanted to explore untouched ruins and castles. Speaking of, whats the history behind this place?"

Somehow, it surprised her that he was surprised she asked that, but he began, nonetheless.

"This chapel was erected to honor the memory of two beings, Ray and Evangeline.
They never received the chance to be wed prior to their death, so an unknown party built this chapel so that they, and all spirits that are yet to leave this realm whom fall to the same unfortunate circumstances, may wed, if they so choose. 
The very first of its kind resides in the Southern Swamplands of the Shaftlands....."

——————-

The awestruck reaction of hers was telling as he came upon it, even before she had faced him.

Not many amongst those who bore the courage to speak with him found deeper interest in architecture.
To witness the wonder in her eye emerge anew at the tale felt too good to be true.

"Tsunotarou, is there any more ruins around here you know about? If its ok with you, I'd like to hear more."

The illumination of the fireflies added to the light of brimming curiosity along her face.

"Certainly. Follow me."

With but a nod, she tailed at his side, listening to all he knew with honest intrigue.

Here and there, a small quip or two would arise. As the night went on, her jests became more commonplace, and it was her who would lead to something unusual she had spotted, and thought he might find interest in.

Oh yes, He quite liked this unusual Child of Man.

———-

Whilst they journeyed, the Child of Man fell into a slumber shortly before dawn, so he set forth to return her to Ramshackle.

Perhaps it was fate they had met previously to her orientation. If not so, it was high likely she would fail to understand nor speak with him or any others she came across.

Truth be told, he had not yet ever found use for learning Fluency Charms until she had spoken in a tongue he knew not.

Upon arrival, two tomes lay forgotten on a bench, one in study of fae, the other in mermen, beastman, and the like.

This brought forth a query he would pose in the next encounter they may share :
Where did she hail from to have such little knowledge?

"Child of Man, may I enter your residence?"

Her response was but a murmured permission, but it was enough to allow his entry inside.

————————————-

𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔...𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕..

"Ophelia? Wonderland to Ophelia?"

"Is she okay?"

She woke up to Ace and Deuce hovering over her, which took several moments to process.

"What...?"

Deuce let out a somewhat sigh of relief, one hand over his chest, where as Ace just grinned.

"See? Told you she wasn't dead."

"Shut up! She was lying so still, I...—Oh, right, we came to pick you up."

She shoved off the covers, stretching as she stood.

"Already? Meh, my sleep schedule was already fucked, its fine."

"Huh?!"

"What? Whats wrong?"

Snickering, the redhead leaned against the dorm frame, only for his eyes to widen upon realizing her alone attire was simply shorts and a plain t-shirt.

"So thats why you picked a hoodie the size of the Coral Sea."

"My apologies for having big tits and more working braincells then you both, now get out so I can get changed."

Now finished processing the backlash to her current attire, the Spade flushed, yelling several apologies as he grabbed Ace by the collar, dragging him out.

"-We'll be waiting downstairs—Grims already there!"

——————————

When she put on the uniform, it felt like she was cosplaying, but this time, it was for real.

However, there was a severe problem.

Grim scorched her hoodies at some point during his zoomies, without her notice.

To the point it would apparently take Erza a few days to fix them.
Thank god for a ghost gramps roommate who can knit, croquet and sew, but not for a fire spouting hell demon cat.

It took everything in her not to strangle him, because Crewel apparently had made her uniform to fit, and did not inform her he chose the ruffled sleeve blouse for the under shirt too.

Which meant her identity was slap you in the face in broad daylight with a neon brick obvious.

Regardless, she apparently had been invited to Heartstabyl for breakfast, so the bitching could wait until AFTER she ate Treys cooking.

Riddle greeted them when they reached the mirror, and noticed her lack of sleep surprisingly quickly, doctors kid stuff, she guessed.

But this lead to the current, which was being lectured about it all the way to the tea garden, where a dessert predominate breakfast set up awaited them.

"Should it come to pass you are unable to return to your homeland, it crucial for your academic records to exceed to cover for your lack of primary education records!
What possibly could of been so important you failed to get proper rest to prepare for your first official day of classes?"

Lilia and Che'nya, the two uninvited members here, continuously stole from each platter, then flew just out of reach.

"Up all night gaming, perchance? I've done my fair share of all night raids and such."

"Nyaaaa, purrobably writing or planning."

"Ooh! Or a midnight rendezvous in the woods!"

She practically felt the Bat and Cat duo grin, aswell as Cater, Trey and Aces eyebrow raises as she nearly choked at Lilias comment.

𝑲𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝑲𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆.

Ginger number 2 at the table ( Cater ) decided to be her saving grace, to her full surprise.

"Ophi and the freshie squad are campus celebs! If that happened, It'd be totes everywhere! Plus, who wouldn't pass up a chance to get a pic with the illusive female student?"

"Perhaps someone who isn't one too talented or enamored with technology, or a social recluse, like Shroud?"

Stabbing at her crepe, Ophelia nearly dropped her head fully onto the table when Riddle piped up.

"Did you not meet with Shroud at quite early morning of the day Trappola and yourself awoke from the coma? He does fulfill those traits."

"If you're going to ask if I was visiting Ignihyde or hanging out with Idia and or Ortho, the answer is no. I was not. "

Ginger number 1 (Ace) was, as usual, nothing but an instigator, wagging a loose piece of pancake in her direction.

"So you're not denying you had a midnight rendezvous then?"

"Would it kill you to let me exist in peace for two minutes?"

"I'm not hearing a no~"

"I barely know anyone here, not to mention someone I could go running around in the middle of the night with!"

Trey joined in with a small smile as he confiscated the sugar cubes from Grim and Che'nya .

"Deuce, you've been really quiet...."

"Huh?! Is that bad?"

"No, not at all. Just pointing it out."

As she was slowly getting desperate to have the attention off her, the first out of place thing was her go to conversation switch.

"So, I just noticed, wheres Elephys?"

Cater made something of a frown, but it snapped back to his usually cheery smile instantly.

"Long story short: He's in Scarabia now! Apparently he got super lucky, and doesn't have a roommate either! No offense, Trey Trey."

"None taken."

"If you want the more complex deets, ask him or Vyr. Oh, and speaking of Scarabia, Kalim's been dying to meet you! He's in the Pop Music Club with me and Lils, so you should totes stop by after class!"

The priorly mentioned fae, now hanging off the branch of one of the rose trees, brought a hand to his chin momentarily, then grinned.

"Thats a splendid idea, and you just gave me another aswell, Cater."

"Is this a "Stage Dive while holding live fireworks" idea or...."

"Nope, very different, I assure you!"

𝑰, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅.

A drop of weight onto her lap told her a certain hellbringer was somehow satisfied in his gluttony.

"Hey, Henchhuman, we should come here every morning for breakfast!"

"If it was just this little group all the time, maybe, but for now, nope.  Also, this isn't our dorm."

The Housewarden of the dorm in question cleared his throat.

"As long as you cease from breaking any rules, you are welcome to visit Heartstabyl at any appropriate hour."

Che'nya, who had acquired (probably stolen) a Heartstabyl dorm ribbon, dropped it on her plate, the metal crest clinking with the china.

"In othepurr words, Riddles deems you an Honorary member of Heartstabyl!"

"Am I supposed to wear that...?"

In a split second, it was replaced by a Diasomnia ribbon, in another second, it was back to Heartstabyl.  Then Diasomnia again.

Lilia and Che'nya were her top suspects, probably just a mini prank war.

However, it didn't end for the entire rest of breakfast. 

——————————-

Dread. Terror.

Ophelia was confident until about five milliseconds after she had left the little morning meet.

Staring down the absurdly large homeroom door, she wanted to snap-crackle-pop out of existence.

There was also the desire to shake Grim like a pinball for scorching her hoodie, which, by some miracle, she resisted.

Even if it was meant to be a joke, Cater mentioning they were campus celebrities absolutely terrified her. How low were the "flying under the radar" odds now?

Deuce seemed to catch on to her hesitation, giving her a worried look.

"Ophelia? You ok?"

Putting her confident facade back on, she gave him a short smile.

"Yea, I'm fine."

——

Crewel was their homeroom teacher, a blessing and a curse.

"Pups, Sit!"

He fanned out a paper, but he never seemed to look at it when he began roll call.

"Vyr Ambrose?"

"Here, Professor!"

"Good boy.  Ophelia Avillion?"

Leave it to her dumbass to pick a last name that starts with A.

Pushing down her anxieties as far as she could, she shifted around as she spoke.

"Grim and I are here, Professor."

"You bet your Tuna we are!"

Would it be considered narcissistic to say it felt as if all eyes were on her, she didn't know.

The rest of roll call went smoothly, however, once they finished, Crewel ordered her and the idiot squad, plus Elephys and Vyr, to head to their next class early.

Which was weird, but a free excuse from the classroom with your friends is a free excuse.

———————————

They were damned fools if they truly thought he didn't notice some concerning reactions upon her arrival, and her shaky disposition.

He would not have her feeling unsafe in his classroom because of some brutish hounds.

"Listen up, whelps.  Its far from uncommon knowledge that we have a female student in this kennel.
I will not tolerate any sexist comment, actions, and especially not any sexual harassment towards her.
If I catch word or sight of you doing anything of the sort..."

The whip crack that followed spooked several students.  Good.

"You will face severe punishment for your disobedience. Understood?"

—————————-

"Why the hell are there so many stairs?!"

"Its an Astronomy Tower.  Tower is in the name."

The narrow spiral staircase was practically torture, it genuinely felt never ending.

Elephys had tried bubble the stairs so they could bounce up, but Ace and Deuce nearly sailed out a window, so that was off the table.

As usual, Grim was taking advantage of shoulder riding privileges, which was absolutely no help.

The only good distraction was Vyr starting what felt like a questionnaire about her world. Although it was a bit off and on.

"So, you guys don't have Astronomy classes in your curriculum?"

"I've never heard of a high school that does.  Theres not much of a educational use to it in my world, unless you intend to work at NASA or something."

"NASA?"

"National...something or other, Space Administration?"

"Ah,  gotcha, space exploration programs. So I'm guessing if that requires extra education, then Alter-dimensional Travel isn't anywhere near the norm?"

"Nope. Wait, it is here?"

"I wish!  I mean, Inter Dimensional Travel? Yea, duh.  But you are probably the first Alter-Dimensional traveler on record here, well, publicly accessible record, anyway."

Her fellow brunette scribbled something down in his notebook as Grim swapped sides of her shoulder.

"What do ya study if you don't have magic? I'd be bored outta my mind!"

"Math, English, History and Science. Thats usually the main four in elementary and middle school, then its Algebra, and more specific sciences."

The next thing said, courtesy of Deuce, fully made her stop in her tracks.

"What exactly is algebra class like? I know it's a non-mandatory math course. but I never really took it, and it wasn't too popular in my old school, so.."

𝑰𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔?!

Her instant 180 revealed him to have a genuinely contemplating expression. 

"It was a choice for you guys?! You're joking right? You've never had to suffer through Algebra?"

"No? Is it that bad?!"

Ace snickered to himself, then pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of Deuce nearly tripping down the stairs.

"Its an optional course for a reason, only the nerdy guys or the ones desperate for credits took it."

"I took it, it actually comes in handy alot for my experiments."

"Yea, and you're the biggest Alchemy geek I've ever met. Of course you'd find it beneficial."

"Atleast I already have a Majors Diploma in Advanced Alchemy, so it was totally worth it-BOOM!"

This time everyone stopped to look at Vyr, eyes boggling out of each of their heads as he dropped his hands from the explosion gesture he made.

"YOU WHAT?!"

"What? Its not that big of a deal! It only took me like, 2 years."

For the rest of the journey up, there was a long discussion about how that is, infact, a big deal.

——————————————

Gaze stuck down at the practical magic workbook, her mind sifted off again, the ink blurring to her eyes.

𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 "𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒚" 𝒂𝒏𝒅 "𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏"  𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓.

𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔?

𝑺𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇. 𝑭𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔, 𝒀𝒖𝒖..𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕.

𝑪𝒉𝒆'𝒏𝒚𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕?  𝑰𝒕𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕.

𝑾𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆?  𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚.

𝑶𝒌, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕. 

Two fingers snapped infront of her, leading her to look over to the person who's hand they were attached to, and see Ace snickering at her scowl.

"So sorry for waking you, did your midnight adventure keep you up so late you're already dozing off in second period?"

"I wasn't dozing off, I was thinking to myself."

"Sure you were."

——————————-

Time went by surprisingly fast.

The amount of stairs in this school was torturous, but after three long classes and 4 hikes around to get to them, by god it was finally lunch.

She sort of forgot the bakery ghosts are said to come every week, not just in Book 2 for the plot convenience of introducing Ruggie and his unique magic, so when Deuce, Vyr and Elephys started hauling ass down to the cafeteria, she assumed the worst and followed suit.

Warfare. It was literal Warfare.

One good thing about having Grim around was his significantly talented food collecting (see: burglary), so she managed to get her hands on a croissant while attempting to stop him from starting a fight over a sandwich.

The ones who came out with the most in their troupe were Deuce and Elephys, and were luckily more then happy to share some spoils.

Ace finally joined the group after ten or so minutes, as he had taken his time getting to the cafeteria, and payed the price for it.

Seconds after he arrived, someone she didn't recognize was approaching their table, likely following the redhead, so she slid over to hide behind Deuce and listen when Ace stopped midway and turned to the guy.

They had fluffy brown and blonde hair, with roundish ears that moved around slightly. The most noticeable features was his vitiligo standing out a chocolate complexion, and contrasting baby blue eyes.

Since she didn't recognize him, she took the liberty in thinking he was probably safe, if not a bit shifty, after he began talking.

————-

"You don't happen to be Ace Trappola, do ya?"

"Maybe. Whats it to you?"

Alright, this guy was snarky, but he could work with it.

After all, he was his best shot at getting near the new prefect, or at least first hand info, without Diasomnia hiring a hit on him, getting him feasted on by bats, or whatever else goes down to their enemies and guys that don't get them what they asked for after being blackmailed by that den of devils.

Leona was going to get him killed one of these days because of that.

"Word is you're good pals with the new prefect, yeah? Mind introducing me?"

"Yeah? And why should I?"

Redhead seemed about to go on the defensive pretty quickly, but the blue haired guy over at the table he had been heading to tensed up.

Now that he thought of it, that was the same guy who had been two feet from mauling him back at the gym.

Upon closer inspection though, two jade green eyes were poking out from behind him. So she had seen him tailing Ace and used the blue haired guy as a decoy.

Not a bad move, but poking out like a meerkat from over his shoulder definitely was.

Now that he found her though, waiting around for an answer was a waste of time.

Time waits for no one, and time is money, after all.

Just get that notebook to Diasomnias Vice, then he's home free.

Not to mention if he plays it right, he'll get a one way ticket to info on Diasomnia for Leona's up-and-coming scheme without putting his tail on the line or a coin on a table.

You might call it double crossing, but others call it efficient hunting.
Use the prey as bait to catch the predator off guard, simple stuff, really.

———————————————

𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒕, 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒎𝒆

Considering they made direct eye contact, followed by him slipping around Ace and speed walking to their table, it was obvious that he had.

"Hey! Mind if I sit with you guys?"

With her position being physically squished by hiding behind Deuce,