Chapter Text
"Po~or Unfortunate Souls~"
"In pain, in need."
The voice permeates the air around the two individuals, one holding the phone and the other listening to the voice as it sings its almost haunting melody. The phone's owner's eyes are transfixed on the comment section of the video as the voice keeps singing, his eyes bouncing from one comment to another, finding the same repeating words over and over again. An expression alike to disgust can be seen in his eyes. The other notices this expression.
"This one longing to be thinner,"
"I want you to find the singer for this video." The phone's owner says.
"That one wants to get the girl,"
"As you wish, I will start searching right away. Though I do wonder what will happen to the dear Oiseau Chanteur?" The other asks.
"Do I help them?"
"Do not worry, I just want to talk to him about a few things."
"Yes indeed."
The hunter leaves, with news of his prey. He gives one last look to his liege whose eyes are transfixed on the repeating words used to describe the voice, the same word that the hunter would use to describe the voice if asked. The expression on his liege's face could be described as jealousy, one that the hunter knows he often falls into, though there's another more complex expression underneath there, one that the hunter can easily see and understands perfectly. Even if his liege doesn't.
---
Beeeeep Beeep BEEEEP BEEEP
Yuu sits up in his bed as soon as he hears his phone's alarm go off, he quickly picks it up and turns the alarm off. A yawn comes from him as he stretches and slowly gets out of bed, making sure not to wake up Grimm as he does so, putting his now unused blanket over the cat who snuggles into it, making Yuu smile at the cute side of his companion. The phone is placed it in Yuu's PJ bottoms before leaving the room, making sure to be quiet as he does so. The door closes quietly without any creeks or squeaks, and Yuu sighs in relief at not waking Grimm, he leaves the door and starts his walk through the corridors. As soon as he starts walking he feels... Off, like being stared at but Yuu can't see anyone, though that's usual at Ramshackle so why does he feel off?
"Good Morning Yuu." The thin and bony ghost says as he greets Yuu, coming from the direction Yuu is walking to.
"Good Morning to you too." Yuu replies with a smile as the ghost jets off, realising that the staring probably came from the ghost.
A smile appears on the prefect's face knowing that the ghosts are probably going to scare Grimm awake, a little chuckle comes soon after. Even after living in Ramshackle Dorm for so long, Grimm still gets occasionally scared by the Ramshackle ghosts, and those said ghosts love to tease him about it and occasionally decide to give him a good scare. It's good for him. They don't try to do it to Yuu as he's gotten very used to being around ghosts in Ramshackle and around NRC in general, so even though they don't scare him, they do invite him to scare others. Mostly Grimm and occasionally the first years that appear at Ramshackle.
BBBBring ring.... BBBBring ring...
A vibrating sensation on Yuu's upper thigh accompanies the sudden sound, he quickly identifies it as his phone getting a call and reads the bright screen to read the name "Azul Ashengrotto". Yuu accepts the call and puts it to his ear.
"Hello?" Yuu asks as he carries on walking.
"Ah Prefect, lovely to hear you up this early in the morning." Azul says, clearly wide awake.
"Hello Azul nice to hear from you too, Has something happened?" Yuu asks straightforwardly, as if most people need him, read Crowley, It's mostly for something going wrong.
"No no no, nothing is wrong. Just thought I'd check in on our singer."
'You sure about that' Yuu thinks, "Well I'm good don't worry about it I-" A yawn comes from the prefect "-Ah sorry about that. I've only just woken up." He apologises.
Yuu gets to the staircase leading to the main lounge, and he descends the stairs.
"Don't worry I was actually surprised when you picked up, I expected myself to be your wake-up call.
"You wanted to be my wake-up call? You need me for something?"
"Well I was wondering-"
"OI SHRIMPY, when are you comin' here?" Floyd's voice can be heard quieter than Azul's though still perfectly audible. Yuu nearly fell down the step, surprised at Floyd's loud voice.
Yuu remembers that he has plans on meeting up with the Octavinelle trio today to study, which is why he woke up early.
"Well, I need to make breakfast get changed, and get there... give me an hour at most maybe a bit more?" Yuu says.
"Okay shrimpy see you then!" Floyd sing songs, his footsteps can be heard leaving Azul's general area and disappearing from the call. Yuu gets to the lounge of Ramshackle, he decides to stop in the lounge to finish the call.
"Well that's that question answered, also if you come to the VIP area of the Mostro Lounge then we can be in relative peace." Azul says jumping back into the conversation.
"Yeah that sounds good, I'll need to remember to bring my stuff. I'll let you know when I'm on my way there."
"That sounds good to me, I hope to hear you soon then. The video has done exceptionally well, have you seen the reception to it yet?" Azul sounds almost excited by the end of the sentence.
"I last checked last night before dinner and It seems to have done well then, I'll check it during breakfast."
"Yes it has done better than I could expect, it'll easily be a full house." A little chuckle comes from Azul before he continues.
"Well I shouldn't keep you any longer, see you later."
"See you later Azul." Yuu says with a smile
The call ends and the phone is placed back in the PJ pants pocket, Yuu starts walking to the kitchen before he can feel sharp piercing eyes on him, he spins around to the top of the staircase and sees no one, the gaze lingers, Yuu expects to see the bony ghost but no one appears at the top, he decides to turn around and start walking to the kitchen. The gaze thankfully disappears. Stepping into the kitchen, Yuu ponders what to make, he often makes food that he used to make back at home which was traditional Japanese food. He would make it for himself and his brother often with their parents out often. He settles on rice, miso, rolled omelette, and some grilled fish, thankfully Twisted Wonderland is similar enough to home that Sam often stocks food that Yuu is more familiar with. He pushed up his sleeves and gets to work on breakfast.
Rice is placed in the rice cooker, which gives him enough time to get the other bits and pieces sorted, he makes sure that there is some extra made for tonight so he can have a quick dinner. Grimm has been offered Yuu's cooking before though dismissed it over his fancy canned tuna, the cook doesn't mind and just makes meals for himself and for whoever was staying at Ramshackle at the time, which happens every so often. Sometimes it's Ace and Deuce for being idiots, other times it's Leona who wanted a quiet place to sleep as well as Floyd who had gotten bored of Octavinelle and wanted to see Yuu. Yuu gets to work with the miso, setting it to boil before he hears a creak of the floorboards upstairs.
The creak catches Yuu's attention almost immediately, the creak was long and had some weight to it, Yuu can recognise Grimm's footsteps easily, they are light and fast, the complete opposite of the sound Yuu was hearing. On instinct, Yuu grabs the wooden spoon he has been using on the miso and holds it tight, in retrospect it wouldn't do good against an intruder but Yuu didn't have time to grab anything else. The creaks keep on moving towards the staircase and Yuu moves to the kitchen door, wooden spoon in hand, he opens the door and peaks around the corner and up the stairs. No one is there, the creaking has stopped.
Yuu stands there eyes unmoving from the staircase waiting for a head or foot to appear from the corner of the staircase, his knuckles turn white as he holds onto the spoon for protection. A shiver travels though Yuu's body as he feels a predatory gaze upon him, he feels cold as he feels this sensation of staring, analysing every aspect of his body. His body turns around without his input a he feels the gaze, but not from the inside of the dorm, but from outside, he looks at the big window in the lounge. He expects to see someone staring right outside the window but he can't, he stares at the empty yard hoping to see anyone, someone but he doesn't.
Creak... Creak...
The sound of creaking floorboards, which are getting closer and closer to the Prefect, they doesn't reach his ears. His eyes are still transfixed on the outside and on his invisible stalker.
Creak... Creak...
His breathing is getting more ragged and he squirms under the sight. His legs tell him to run but he can't, he's chained there. Eyes are aimed at him, they feel sharp enough to pierce.
Creak... Creak
He holds his breath as he feels the eyes lock onto his throat, he finds it hard to breathe. Yuu is fully focused on the outside view.
"Good Morning." A calm voice says
Yuu turns around wooden stick still firmly in his hand ready to attack the strangely calm attacker before he recognises who it is. Jade Leech. Yuu lets out his held breath and calms his grip on the wooden spoon a bit.
'Oh thank god it's just Jade.' Yuu thinks, internally sighing, before staring at the man for a second, realising something.
'Wait a second I didn't let him in.' Which is true, he last saw the man yesterday when he left with Azul.
"Jade... what are you doing here?" Yuu asks nervously, he trusts the Octavinelle trio more than most, though he also knows how two-faced they are.
"Well, I was keeping an eye out for Crowley around the dorm, which he did appear, and got some work from him. I finished it up by myself but the workload was fairly substantial, so I let myself into Ramshackle, I apologise for the intrusion, I stayed as silent as I could but the floorboards are fairly loud." A false innocence covers Jade's face.
"But I lock up Ramshackle every night? How did you get in?" Yuu asks still puzzled.
"Ah well... You remember back when you wrote up that contact with Azul? With relinquishing Ramshackle? Well, we had an extra set of keys made as there was only just one, so two extra keys were made, Azul had the original, and myself and Floyd had the copies. We don't use them regularly and they are usually both locked in the safe in the VIP area, though I took one for the sake of this whole predicament." He finished eloquently.
"That... Makes sense." Yuu lets out a sigh and relaxes his posture, after looking at the one twin, he realises the other isn't present. "By the way where's Floyd? You two were both keeping an eye out Yesterday."
'Perhaps Floyd is outside, and that sharp stare came from him? but...' Yuu mused in thought.
"Ah no, he stood out for a few seconds last night before he decided that it was boring and went back to Octavinelle, it's just me here." Jade answered.
Initially Yuu thought that Floyd was just hanging out outside and was just playing with Yuu but he then remembered the call with Azul, Floyd was in Azul's call, which was less than five minutes ago. Even at Floyd's level of agility, you can't run from Octavinelle to Ramshackle in that time, Deuce once ran to Ramshackle from Heartslabyul and it took him just over ten minutes. And he's in the track club.
Ice trickled through Yuu's veins as he stood still like a statue if Floyd isn't outside.
Then who is?
"... By the way were you about to hit me with a wooden spoon?" Jade asks with his odd eyes looking at the spoon in question.
The ice quickly thaws over and Yuu's gaze wanders down to the wooden spoon in his hand, he was using it to stir the miso for his...
"Crap my miso!" Yuu shouts running into the kitchen to focus back on his now-forgotten breakfast.
The Miso was fine though Yuu wasn't sure how long he has been focused on Jade or the piercing gaze out of the window, though he did need to start focusing on the other elements of his breakfast, he prepares the fish to grill as he eyes the timer on the rice cooker, he's good on time. He breathes a sigh of relief.
"That's quite a breakfast." Jade comments as he steps over the boundary into the Kitchen.
"It's something that I ate often back at home, I personally get me ready in the morning. It's going to be rice, miso, omelette, and grilled fish." Yuu says, he pauses in thought for a second before he turns to Jade and adds "Do you want some?"
Jade seems surprised at Yuu's offer, perhaps due to how two-faced and selfish most people at NRC are, with people like Kalim, Silver and Yuu, who are more selfless and are as easy to read as a book, it can be a shock sometimes. Yuu's smile still invites him to some food.
"Wouldn't you need to take some extra time with getting more rice or the Miso?" Jade asks
"No need, I was going to make some extra for tonight, I'll just have to pick something else for tonight." Yuu answers.
"Well if you insist, At least let me make some tea for us two."
The pair make quick work of their preparations, Yuu getting out some extra eggs and fish and getting those started, with Jade starting to make tea and getting the necessary dinnerware down for Yuu. Who is thankful for the other's height. The tea was finished quickly and is set in the lounge, with Jade returning to help Yuu when needed. And soon after the rest of their breakfast is made and is being moved into the lounge as they sit down and get ready to eat.
"Thank you for the food Yuu." Jade says
"Thank you for helping me out Jade" Yuu returns as he takes a mouthful of rice.
Jade takes a bite of his food and savours it as he compliments Yuu's cooking who thanks him as they go back to silently eating though not in cold silence. Yuu peers over to Jade and watches him eat, he eats it like Yuu would expect, very normally though the slight changes in Jade's expression show that he is very much enjoying it. Yuu smiles as he goes back to his breakfast. Jade finishes first and goes to clean his plate, Yuu attempts to stop him but Jade refutes saying that Yuu made breakfast so he should clean up, Yuu couldn't find a good enough argument and gives Jade his dinnerware as he has just finished.
"Thank you for the meal, it was rather nice." Jade says as he returns to the Lounge and sits down next to Yuu.
"It's no problem, I'm glad you liked it. You haven't had anything else this morning have you?" Yuu asks, he's been wondering if Jade has had any breakfast.
"No I haven't, I expected the work to not take that long so I didn't prepare any breakfast." Jade explains
They sit in quiet silence for a second before Jade begins to look around, Yuu looks quizzically at Jade.
"What's wrong? Did you drop something?" Yuu asks.
"No, I'm surprised that I haven't seen Grimm yet. He usually arrives at the mention of food."
"Ah he's still asleep, though he should be woken up soon. I would say give it a minute or two." Yuu says confident in the ghost's wake-up call.
Jade looks confused at Yuu and just keeps quiet, not even ten seconds later Grimm screaming can be heard followed by the chuckle of the Ramshackle ghosts, quick and light footsteps can be heard making their way to the Lounge.
"Ah I understand... what a nice wakeup call." Jade says with a glint of... something in his eyes and his wide smile showcasing his sharp teeth.
Grimm can be heard getting closer and closer to the pair until he's on the corridor which leads to the staircase.
"YUU! The ghosts scared me awake again!" Grimm shouts at the prefect as he comes bounding down the stairs, not noticing the guest's presence.
"Well maybe if you woke up early they won't scare you in the future." Yuu says.
He gets up and moves into the kitchen, he is there for half a minute until he comes out with a plate of fancy tuna for Grimm, who was laser-focused on Yuu and didn't notice their guest who has been silent watching Grimm the entire time. Also seemingly wanting to scare the cat, noticing that the cat hasn't noticed him. Yuu puts the plate on the table in view of Jade who smiles at the cat who has been watching the plate arrive, as Grimms gets to the table, he notices the long black pair of legs behind the plate and follows them up to Jade's face.
"Good Morning Grimm." Jade says with his usual calm face.
"JADE?!" Grimm nearly screams in surprise as he launches himself back.
"What are YOU doing here?" Grimm asks as if he's the housewarden of Ramshackle.
"Crowley had worked for you two but I took that responsibility upon myself and Yuu gratefully offered me breakfast." Grimm gave Yuu a look to which Yuu just gave a shrug.
Grimm continues to interrogate Jade as he eats his tuna and Yuu just sighs, though he just remembers the phone call with Azul from earlier and that he should start to go otherwise he will be late, he walks to the staircase and addresses the two.
"Anyway I'm going to get change, If you two don't try to kill each other that would be nice."
The two give their confirmations to Yuu and he starts to ascend the stairs.
Yuu realises that he hasn't felt the stinging staring for a while, or he has been preoccupied with Jade not to notice. Though he makes sure to pay attention, he walks through the hallways of Ramshackle and looks out of the windows as he walks even just to see a piece of hair of his newfound stalker. The thought of why Yuu could have a stalker is fairly easy, the most recent development is his current collaboration with the Mostro Lounge, stalker-san may have found out that Yuu is the singer and is just waiting for him to slip up and sing perhaps, that could be one reason, Yuu silently hopes that the stalker wasn't there last night as he sang though "Be Prepared" in front of the Ramshackle ghosts. There could be a slim chance that the stalker was from Yuu's previous endeavours, overblots and events included, with Yuu's fairly odd and important group of friends, from two princes and a movie star, to the son of a famous restaurant manager and the eldest son to one of the wealthiest families in Twisted Wonderland, so perhaps it's due to something that happened then. But to Yuu the timing is impeccable and must be due to the Magicam promo.
Yuu gets to his bedroom without seeing anyone, he steps in and quickly gets changed into his school uniform. He doesn't want to get the Octavinelle dorm uniform dirty nor did he want to go in his PE kit so he just decides to go in his normal uniform, he wore it most days so he wasn't really that bothered. He's about to leave his room when he remembers that they're studying at Octavinelle and Yuu would need his next books and pencil case, he goes to his desk and picks them up as he starts to walk back. His eyes are still looking out into the empty streets and courtyard outside, his eyes also look at the trees but he can't see hide nor hair of anyone, though he can still feel someone looking at him. He sighs as he's close to reaching the stairs, but he doesn't hear either Jade or Grimm and thinks that they did kill each other, though that thought didn't last a second longer, he soon hears Grimm complaining.
"I can't believe we have exams starting next week, it doesn't feel like we have studied at all." He bemoans as if he hasn't been skipping out on revising.
"Well, you can study today whilst Yuu is out." Jade says.
"I know I know, I'll get to it soon, I've only just eaten breakfast."
"You better be revising today Grimm." Yuu says from the top of the staircase, eyes pointed at Grimm.
Yuu descends the staircase and walks next to Grimm, giving him a look, Grimm looks nervously back into Yuu's eyes. Jade stands up and walks next to Yuu, he looks down on the little cat monster.
"Well you two are going now, aren't you? Going to Octavinelle right?" Grimm says nervously not looking at Yuu, Yuu had told him yesterday that he would be going there to revise.
Yuu sighs as Grimm is correct but he doesn't want Grimm to shift his studies, seeing as they're both one student it effect their grades wholesale. He would like someone to keep an eye on Grimm but due to how busy he and his friends are he can't just spring Grimm-sitting on them. Sending him to Heartslabyul would be the best and for Riddle to look over his studies but there are way too many issues, the late timing, how Grimm will probably come back with one of Riddle's collars on his neck, and Ace and Deuce being distractions. A pang goes through Yuu's head as a headache starts to arrive, he's about to just trust Grimm to revise by himself before the three Ramshackle ghosts make themselves visible, which gives Jade a jolt and Grimm gets surprised.
"If you want to we could look after Grimm." The boney ghost says.
"We'll make sure he focuses and doesn't get distracted." The chubby one says.
"Really?! You three would do that?" Yuu says in surprise, they never offered this before.
"Yes, we've seen how focus you are with your singing and we don't mind taking care of Grimm for a while." The third says.
"Thank you, really. I am kind of stressed with this so this is a big help. Let me know if there is anything I can do in return." Yuu says.
One of the ghosts disappears and another picks up Grimm and puts him close to the table, the one that disappeared comes back with books, some from their room and others covered in dust.
"We've got Grimm all under control so you two have fun today." The boney ghost says putting his focus back on Grimm.
"Well I think that's settled, are you ready?" Jade asks.
"I think that I have everything." Yuu replies, books and stationary in hand, he mouths another 'thank you' to one of the ghosts before he heads towards the door.
Yuu leads the way to the entrance with Jade following, he peers back for a second to confirm that Grimm is studying. He is and Yuu relaxes, he's been worrying about Grimm's studies for a while. The double doors of Ramshackle open and Yuu gestures to Jade to go ahead, which he does. Yuu follows and closes the door behind himself, he doesn't lock it so Grimm can get out and so that any of Yuu's friends can easily get in, the thought of the stalker walking into Ramshackle snaps through Yuu's mind but he quickly shoves it out. They both walk down the stairs of Ramshackle and onto the street, Jade opens and closes the gate for Yuu. A few steps are taken before Jade starts a conversation.
"So I'm guessing everyone at Ramshackle knows of your involvement with the Mostro Lounge?" he asks.
"Hm? Oh yeah. With Grimm I had to otherwise, if he found out himself, everyone would have known. As for the ghosts, they won't tell anyone and if I start singing songs out of nowhere, it will be really weird and they would try to find out themselves. But other than them no one else knows about my involvement." Yuu says, it feels weird to say 'involvement' than 'singer'. Though the eyes of the stalker made him more cautious.
'Well... there may be more people who know...' Yuu thinks, his thoughts lead him to yesterday with the other first years. There were some that didn't notice a thing though like Sebek and Deuce, Sebek didn't really notice anything if It doesn't concern his 'Waka-Sama' and for Deuce it really needs it to be said out loud, while Jack didn't seem bothered by it which makes sense in Yuu's book, as Jack doesn't seem like the guy to be down to listen to Poor Unfortunate Souls. But there are two others that may find out the truth, Ace and Epel. Ace did seem to recognise the voice as familiar at a first listen but didn't connect the dots, he was thinking about it later when studying during a break and was looking at the promo on his phone, it was easy to say that Yuu's blood froze over when he saw that. But Epel worries Yuu more than Ace does, Epel either has a strong hunch or knows that the voice is Yuu's, Yuu is sure of that. He reaches into his pocket and opens his phone to look at his messages, but nothing from Epel. Yuu half worries that he will tell Vil that Yuu is the singer but Yuu knows deep down that Epel wouldn't. 'I have faith in Epel.' Yuu thinks. Before putting his phone away he remembers that he told Azul that he would let him know when he's on his way to the Lounge, he sends him a quick Magicam message before putting his phone away.
"Have you seen how well the video has been doing?" Jade says bringing Yuu back to Twisted Wonderland, Yuu looks up at Jade.
"Uh, no not yet." Yuu admits, he remembers that he told Azul that he would be he never got the time to with Jade as his guest.
"Here have a look." Jade says pulling out his phone and opening up Magicam.
---
"And I fortunately know a little magic~"
"It's a talent that I always have possessed."
"It's him isn't it?" Epel says to himself in his room. He listens through earphones to the Mostro lounge promo, which is currently very popular at Pomefiore. At breakfast nearly everyone was talking about the promo, mainly the singer's voice, they chirped about its tone and how beautiful it was, there were some people who were talking about a new post Vil had made but most people were gushing at the promo. It is so popular in fact that some people in Pomefiore are actually searching for the singer, most have ruled out that it's not a member of Pomefiore and suspect it to be from one of the other dorms but no one has a clue on who it may be, though a good few people have said that it sounds familiar but they can't pinpoint where it's from. But Epel can.
"And dear lady, please don't laugh, I use it on behalf,"
Epel sits hunched over his desk focusing on his phone, just listening to the voice of the singer. Ever since he heard it yesterday at Ramshackle, he had a suspicion about who it was, Yuu Seishi. When it was played yesterday and Yuu was holding it after swiping it from Grim, Yuu had an obviously shocked expression on his face, he then flushed red and looked to Grim before turning it off, he acted really weird in Epel's opinion, and not just a one-off weird, when Ace was talking about it later that evening Yuu practically stopped what he was doing and focused on Ace. There are a limited number of realities as to why Yuu acted so weirdly. And that most probably one is that Yuu is the Mystery singer of the Mostro Lounge.
"Of the miserable, lonely, and depressed (pathetic)."
Epel closes Magicam and goes to his photos and videos, Epel's hunch that Yuu is the singer isn't just because of how oddly he acted, but for a few more reasons. Firstly Yuu can keep a beat, when the NRC Tripe was practicing for the SDC Yuu kept on clapping or snapping his fingers to the beat, and in the early days, he just did it more steadily, which helped Epel and Deuce when they were starting out. Another reason is back when Yuu, Grimm, Sebek, Idia, and Jade all went to Harveston with Epel, and when they were all playing instruments together, and Yuu played the flute so pleasantly, so Epel does have something to base his hunch on.
Epel starts looking through his videos, mainly the ones from when he was practicing for the SDC as there's one video that may give more evidence to his hunch, he scrolls down and down until he finally sees it, the video itself isn't that important but more the sound. Epel initially recorded himself singing so he could listen to it later to improve on, but it later caught Yuu singing. If this is anything close to how the singer sings then this would give him something more than just a hunch or coincidence.
Epel presses play on the video, it shows the ceiling of the ballroom as he was in the corner of the room, trying to get his lines down as well as the best way to enunciate them.
"Itsukaa!- Ringo no yona aka, KuChitE ku~" Epel sings, it's weird for Epel to hear his past voice, especially when he was still making mistakes.
"Da-re no koe renai." He stops, as he was listening and knew that Jamil's and Vil's section was next. he hums their part as he waits for his part to start again.
"Hizamazuku Chikara! Anatanimo! Andeshou-" Epel's singing gets cut off as someone can be heard saying something, Epel pauses the music on his headphones and pulls them out just to make sure that the music wasn't playing. But that did allow the phone to capture all that was being said.
"Huh? What was that Deuce?" Epel asks.
"Apparently the hedgehogs from Heartslabyul have been accidentally let loose and I think I've just seen one in the Pomefiore gardens." Deuce explains.
"Wait really? Let me see." Epel says as he gets up, his footsteps can be heard getting further away until they reach the window.
"Here's where I saw one, it's one of the blue ones, it's in that bush." Deuce says a bit quieter.
"Huh let me... AH! Yes I do see it!" Epel nearly shouts, he didn't actually expect to see a pure blue hedgehog.
"I should probably go get it, I'll be back in a bit." Deuce says, Ace had left to use the toilet a bit ago whilst Rook and Vil had some Dorm leader and Vice dorm leader jobs to do during their break.
"I'll come with you to help." Epel says and two pairs of footsteps can be heard leaving the ballroom.
A few minutes go by of silence before very quiet footsteps could be heard before the ballroom's doors open.
"Hey guys! I've got us all something to drinnn...k." Yuu says as he can faintly be heard entering the empty room, a few seconds pass before water bottles can be heard being put on the floor. His footsteps can be heard getting closer to Epel's phone.
"dun-dun dun-dun." Yuu mutters under his breath as he keeps on walking around, he's singing the start of Absolutely Beautiful.
"Dun-dun dun-dun". He sings a bit louder before a piece of paper can be heard shuffling, if Epel remembers well, when they returned they saw that Yuu was looking at the lyrics of Absolutely Beautiful. " Kowareru Yona~ Kagayaki wa, Keshite ageru~" Yuu sings, very nonchalantly, he was singing deeper than he usually does, more towards Vil's tone but not the same, it had a more professional and commanding tone to it than it usually does.
"Hey! So! Absolutely Beautiful! No Chance to Beat us! No Way! No way!" He's now singing more confidently but also more like himself.
"Hey! So! Absolutely Beautiful! No Chance to Beat us! No One! No way!" He sings a bit louder now, he can be heard tapping his foot to the beat.
"Amai douku wa ikaga? Kuchiniau Kashira, Subete o nigiterru, atashi, sou zettaina no-!" Yuu sings Vil's part with the same command as before.
"Ah~~ Kororo no zawa-meki~" Yuu sings Jamil's part with a similar tone to Vil, a command that you must adder to.
"Itsuka!- Ringo no yona aka, KuChiTe Ku!" Yuu nails the emphasis in 'Kuchite ku' hitting all the right marks, Epel himself struggled to get it the right length and enunciation.
Yuu stops there in his singing, a few moments pass and the doors open to the ballroom.
"Ah hey Ace I was wondering where you all wen-" Yuu is cut off as Epel stops the video, it goes on longer but Epel's mind is made up.
Yuu is the Singer.
His proficiency with music and singing in general is clear and the way he changes his tone when singing in some instances to make it more powerful. As if he's someone else.
This revelation with proof doesn't really change how Epel sees Yuu, he's still his friend and they can still joke and hang out together, but he's a mighty fine singer. Though this revelation doesn't change how Epel sees Yuu, it does give Epel a few questions. Why didn't he participate in the SDC? That is the main one, if Vil heard even a bit of this he would've swooped down and picked up Yuu for the NRC Tribe, perhaps he didn't want to which is fair, but from what Epel can hear there is a love of music in his voice as well as a love of singing. Another is why is he's singing for the Mostro Lounge? Yuu just deciding to sing in the Mostro Lounge doesn't just happen on a whim, maybe Yuu signed a contract but why? Or did the Leech twins force Yuu to do this? Epel's mind is full of questions. Though he does make his mind up on one thing. He needs to see Yuu.
He stands up, yanking out his headphones from his phone and holds his phone, he picks up his magic pen and room key from his desk and walks to the door, opens it, and walks into the hallway, he stands and locks the door as he can feel a pair of eyes on him, he looks left and right but can't find anyone, he focuses on locking his door and as he does so, the sharp gaze fixates on him again. He looks all around him, even out the window below but there's no one except someone outside who is studying, right the exams start tomorrow, Epel has been studying as hard as most, he can have an extended break and ask Yuu, it won't take that long, he just needs to get to Ramshackle. After giving another look around he hurries off to go meet his friend.
A poisonous gaze from amethyst eyes locks onto Epel again. His phone vibrates in his hand and he falls back out of view and opens his phone and at the message revived, and smiles a most beautiful smile at its contents.
---
Yuu and Jade have finally made their way to the Hall of Mirrors, it's not half the walk to school from Ramshackle but it's still a pain, they enter the domed building as they continue their conversation.
"-Still I'm really surprised that it's gotten that popular, It's probably reached outside of NRC..." Yuu says, he feels a bit worried and a bit embarrassed at the attention his singing has been getting.
"Though the praise is entirely warranted, the popularity is actually a surprise for us, including Azul." Jade says trying to give Yuu some confidence.
They walk as they talk and they get to the midpoint of the Hall of Mirrors and Yuu spies the Octavinelle mirror and its company of seashells, though stops when he hears the rippling of a mirror, he instantly knows that it's not from Octavinelle as he's looking at it and decides to see which one it is. He looks at Scarabia and sees that that one is static, same with Pomefiore, Ignihyde, and Diasomnia, he looks to the other side of Octavinelle and can easily see that Savannaclaw's mirror is rippling. Yuu keeps on looking wondering who's coming out of that dorm on a Sunday? The Library is an obvious guess though Yuu still sticks around, wondering if someone he knows is coming through. Jade notices Yuu's curiosity and feeds into it as he looks on as well. After a few seconds, a person emerges from the mirror, a very recognisable one at that.
"Leona!" Yuu says surprised, he didn't expect the Dorm Leader to come out.
"Herbivore, and one of the eels, now that's one of the more odd combinations." Leona addresses them, looking a bit tired.
"Good Morning Leona." Jade addresses him formally.
"Are you okay Leona? You seem a bit out of it." Yuu decides to ask.
"It's none of your concern, shouldn't you be more concerned with the exams starting tomorrow, Herbivore?" Leona decides to ask more sharply.
"I am, I'm going to study at Octavinelle." Yuu states.
"Why Octavinelle? Aren't you buddies with Heartslabyul and Pomefiore? Don't tell me you're caught up in another contract with Azul." Leona says annoyed.
"N-No I'm not, I've been struggling with parts of Twisted Wonderland's history and they offered to help." Yuu gives as a cover story, it wasn't entirely false but not completely true either.
"It's true, Yuu reached out to me and asked for one on one help with certain aspects like the royal line of the Coral Sea and the most known important traders of the Scalding Sands. And it would be rude to not help a friend in need, wouldn't it?" Jade gives, following Yuu's cover story.
Leona just looks at Yuu for a second as Yuu gave a little cough before Leona rolls his eyes and starts to walk away from the duo
"If you say so, but if you are in a messy deal with that Octo Punk then you can count Savanaclaw out." Leona says as he walks out of the Hall of Mirrors. A beat passes before Jade speaks up again.
"Well that went well."
"A little too well." Yuu admitted, Did Leona see through their farce? Maybe. But Leona doesn't seem to be the type to be following the Mostro Lounge on Magicam so perhaps he knows that something fishy is happening, but not exactly what it is.
"Well I think we should go, we don't want Azul to be waiting too long." Jade says.
"Ah yes, let's get going!" Yuu says.
Jade leads the way to the mirror before quickly stepping in, Yuu gives him a moment before he steps in himself, he opens his eyes and looks on at the ever-so-beautiful Octavinelle. It looks the same as when he came here last... Which was yesterday. Yuu spies Jade a few steps in front of him and walks to his side and they start to walk together through Octavinelle to get to the Mostro Lounge. As they start walking Yuu decides to ask Jade something which has been bothering him since yesterday.
"Hey Jade, do you mind if I ask you a question?" He asks.
"Sure what is it?" Jade asks in return.
"Well, I know you don't like being in the spotlight, correct?"
"Yes, you're correct."
"Okay, well I'm just wondering why you decided to step up to sing with me yesterday?" Yuu asks, he has been confused about that since yesterday when he overheard the three shout about it yesterday.
"You mean with the backup vocals?" Jade asks and Yuu nods, "Well you're going to be the main spotlight, figuratively and literally, there will be a spotlight shining down on you when singing."
"I guess but still, you will be easy to see even not in the spotlight, the most backup singers a song has is six, in which you will still be able to be seen."
"I understand your thought, the general idea of standing up and singing is generally terrifying but hearing you sing it just invites you to sing along if I had to try and explain it. Sorry if that's a bit embarrassing." Jade says as he looks a bit uncomfortable.
A feint blush reaches Yuu's face as he listens to Jade's explanation, being the one to make another sing is weird to hear and makes Yuu embarrassed. The fact that it's calm and mostly collected Jade makes this even weirder. It's common for a musician to get their fans into learning music and instruments but Yuu's just Yuu, the magicless NRC prefect with a dumbass cat. Jade gives a cough and his slightly embarrassed face is gone.
"Anyway, we should be there soon and I expect Azul and Floyd to greet us." he says
"I wonder if they expect us to both be arriving together?" Yuu muses as they keep on walking down the hallways of Octavinelle.
---
Back at the Hall of Mirrors, the mirror to Pomefiore starts to ripple, and after a few seconds of rippling Epel comes running through the mirror, he carries on running as he exits the domed building and starts running up the path to Ramshackle. It has taken Epel more time than he wanted to get to the Hall of Mirrors, whilst he was initially running through the Pomefiore dorm he got stopped by members of his dorm to stop running as it was making his outfit messy, as well as others asking if he wanted to help look for the singer, he declined them as fast as he could. He had to speed walk to the double doors of Pomefiore where he ran as soon as he was outside and hasn't stopped since.
He runs up the path and can see the bridge in front of him that leads to the Alchemy Workshop, Botanical Garden, and Ramshackle, though he spies a familiar face walking ahead of him, Leona. Epel quickly gets to where Leona is and greets him.
"Good Morning Leona."
"Hm? Oh good morning Epel, where are you running to in a hurry?" Leona asks with a neutral look on his face. Epel stops running and walks with Leona.
"Ah, well, I'm going to go see Yuu, I need to ask him something."
"Really? well, he's not in Ramshackle."
"Really?! Do you know where he is?" Epel asks confused, 'Is he at Heartslabyul? or maybe Scarabia? He must be somewhere to revise, so maybe the library or Ignihyde?' he thinks.
"Well I saw him with Jade Leech so I suspect he's gone to Octavinelle." Leona again says neutrally.
'He's at Octavinelle? at this time? So he must really be the singer' Epel thinks, the only thing he didn't have before was a solid connection between Yuu and Octavinelle but him going there at this time with one of the twins is odd. He could've been with the second years at Scarabia who don't have included strings attached. Epel stops walking and turns around ready to bolt to Octavinelle, Leona stops and looks at Epel.
"Thank you, Leona, I'll pay you back by working hard in our next Spelldrive club meeting." He promises before he runs away.
Leona watches Epel leave his side and run on the path back to the Hall of Mirrors, but he doesn't move yet. He leers at the trees behind the Hall of Mirrors, he can sense someone lurking in those trees, it takes a little knowledge of NRC to guess who's in the trees. He notices that the piercing gaze isn't on himself and is satisfied, he gets ready to continue his walk back to the Botanical Garden. But stops. The gaze snapped to himself for a second before leaving again. He turns around still not seeing anyone there. Epel can still be seen running to the Hall of Mirrors, the eyes must be locked on him now. Usually, Leona would take this as his chance to escape to the Botanical Gardens, though he feels like this whole situation will come crawling back to him. A sigh escapes as he decides to be the bigger person.
---
"Finally we're here." Yuu says as he looks at the exterior of the Mostro Lounge..
After taking a while to navigating the halls of Octavinelle the duo has finally arrived at the Mostro Lounge entrance. But unlike how the doors are usually open with a sign outside saying 'We're open. Welcome.' the sign is gone and the doors are closed, Yuu remembers back to Azul's message and that they were going to be in relative peace in the VIP room, perhaps people are studying in the lounge. Though that's just one idea. The duo walk up to the doors and Yuu tries to open it, only to find it locked shut, he then knocks on the door.
"Password~?" Floyd asks muffled from the other side, Yuu looks at the door confused before looking to Jade who doesn't look bothered by this.
"Uhh...Shrimp?" Yuu gives very confused. He definitely remembers Floyd NOT giving Yuu a password and just thinks of the first thing that came to his mind when thinking of Floyd, Floyd's nickname for Yuu.
The doors open suddenly and Floyd is towering over Yuu and decides to give him a little squeeze.
"Shrimpy!! I was wondering when you were goin' to arrive." Floyd says as if he isn't squeezing Yuu a bit more than most. Floyd looks to his right and sees his brother.
"Hey Jade, I was wondering when you were goin' to come back as well."
"I would have been back sooner if you stayed with me. Headmage gave little old me so much work."
"Nah I didn't feel like it." Floyd says with his usually dopy smile.
"Floyd if you don't stop squeezing our guest he may finally feint on us." Azul says coming out of the Mostro Lounge, he looks at Yuu slightly sympathetically though Floyd does release Yuu who still has his stationary in hand. Azul continues.
"Jade if you can get our guest some tea then we'll meet you in the VIP room."
"Sure I'll meet you there," Jade says as he goes past the other three and disappears into the Mostro Lounge, Azul now looks at Yuu.
"Well come on in, we need to get started. I have parts of Friday's event that we have yet to discuss, though I will leave that to after we have finished studying." Azul says as he walks into the lounge first.
Floyd walks into the lounge after Azul and Yuu takes a step forward before looking back, from here he can see the entrance of Octavinelle, he looks at the entrance, just seeing if he can see anyone. He can't, he doesn't feel those eyes on him.
"Whatcha looking at Shrimpy?" Floyd asks Yuu who snaps his head to look at Floyd, Floyd had stopped walking fairly quickly with Azul not too far behind him.
"W-well since this morning I've felt someone watching me, I don't feel that gaze here but I just want to keep an eye out." Yuu explains, Azul's eyes sharpen at Yuu's quick account of the events.
"A stalker huh... Would you mind giving me some more details of this in the VIP lounge?" Azul asks, Yuu gives a nod.
Azul starts to walk again, Floyd stops and holds the door, letting Yuu pass, he does and Floyd locks the door behind himself before he walks behind Yuu, they walk in silence past the empty seats and tables that dot the lounge, it feels weird to Yuu to see it so empty though hearing Jade knock around in the kitchen making tea makes it less quiet. They arrive quite quickly, Azul opens the door and walks to his chair in front of the vault, Yuu feels a sense of Deja vu when looking at the VIP room, once to Friday when Yuu started this whole singer job and once to back when Yuu had to make the contract with Azul to save Ace, Deuce, Grimm and the other students. Yuu walks in next and sits down on the closest couch, as he sits he sees books and pens scattered on the table, he places his stationary on the table and finally free's his hands. Floyd sits down on the couch opposite Yuu in his usual relaxed manner, Jade comes in soon after Floyd sits down with the tea in hand, he can sense that something has happened and puts Yuu's tea down by him and sits by his brother. Yuu picks up the tea and takes a sip, Jade had thankfully cooled it down so it wouldn't burn Yuu's tongue.
"Yuu do you think you can start." Azul says, Yuu feels like he's being interrogated by the police, he puts his tea down and begins his tale.
"Yes, ever since I woke up this morning I felt like I was being stared at, the first time was... probably just before you called me Azul, I felt like I was being stared at though I just put it down as one of the Ramshackle ghosts at the time. The second time was just as I finished my call with you while I was in the lounge, I felt like I was being stared at again but I couldn't find anyone. The next time was I was making breakfast, I stepped out and from the window opposite the staircase I could feel eyes glaring at me, I tried searching but I couldn't see anyone, the gaze was more prolonged and it felt so... predatory. I felt my blood run cold, and I froze up. I was only shaken out of it when Jade greeted me from the staircase. I asked and realised he wasn't behind the staring, nor Floyd who I forgot was in the call with you." Yuu explains he sees Azul focus on his words, Floyd has moved forward and has his arms resting on his legs, and Jade looks at Yuu and has a feeling of realisation. Yuu continues.
"As I was walking to get changed I looked out the windows of Ramshackle but couldn't see anyone outside, though I could faintly feel like I was still being watched. Then as myself and Jade were coming here I often felt the gaze from Ramshackle to the Alchemy Workshop then it stopped." Yuu finishes, that was the last time he last felt the gaze on him.
"I also felt that stare, I felt it when I was scouting Ramshackle late at night when I was waiting for the Headmage to appear." Jade says and everyone's eyes move to him. "I initially thought it was him but I then felt that same stare when walking from Ramshackle to the Alchemy Workshop, so I know it isn't him."
The room goes silent as the other two others take in the accounts, Yuu having a stalker isn't good, even in a normal scenario where Yuu isn't tied to the Mostro Lounge.
"We need to look into this, I can think of a few people that could be behind this but I can't say for sure. I would say that we need to have someone to keep an eye on you but-" As Azul was addressing Yuu, a fast knock pelts on the doors of the Mostro Lounge. Everyone looks at one another, and the thought of the stalker passes through their minds, but would such a person who can keep out of the eyesight for an extended period of time, just hastily knock on the door? Shouldn't it be more confident and slow? After a bit, another round of fast knocking can be heard and Jade stands up.
"I shall go check and see who it is, I'll contact you if needed." Jade says as he walks to the door.
"Be careful." Yuu says, even if he's not confident that it is Stalker-san, Jade should be careful.
Jade gives a nod and leaves the room. The VIP room is plunged into a round of silence, Yuu looks at Floyd and sees him cracking his knuckles, that crazed expression can be seen in his eyes as he puts his hand on his shoulder. Yuu then piers over to Azul who has his phone in his hand and is looking straight at the door, Yuu also focuses on his door as he awaits nervously. The front door can be heard opening and Jade's muffled voice can be heard as well as another soft voice, they converse a bit before they can hear the door closing.
BEep BEep
The electronic sound catches everyone off guard, Yuu and Floyd look to the origin of the sound, Azul, as he looks at his phone, reads it, and gives a sigh of relief.
"False alarm, it's just Epel Felmer from Pomefiore." Azul announces.
"Guppy?" Floyd says confused.
"What's Epel doing here?" Yuu asks what's on everyone's mind.
"Unsure but he wants to speak to you." Azul says looking at Yuu, turning his phone off and placing it on the desk.
No one can say definitively why Epel is here, though Yuu can guess that he figured it out yesterday and wants to confirm it, but Yuu doesn't know what to say. Azul wants to keep it confidential and Yuu's already let everyone at Ramshackle know of his involvement with the Mostro Lounge, if Yuu's going the way he's going, most people at NRC will know that Yuu is the singer before Friday. Footsteps can be heard coming closer and closer to the VIP room, it's obvious it's not one pair but two. Yuu looks back at Azul, he sees that Azul has come to the same if not a similar conclusion to Yuu. No questions are asked between the two but one answer is present "Wait and see." They'll wait to see what Epel says and formulate a response around that, no plans are currently set in stone on how they will deal with this situation. In their silence, they can hear the footsteps get closer and closer until they stop and the door to the VIP suite opens. Jade comes through first with Epel trailing after, Epel looks to the side of Jade and spies Yuu, a look of urgency appears on his face as he addresses Yuu.
"Yuu!" He says and goes to Yuu's chair after Jade has moved out of his way, a smile is on his face as he looks at his friend.
"Epel!" Yuu says, the anxiety he held before becomes near extinct as he sees his friend and a soft smile appears on his face.
"Are you okay?" Is the only question that Epel can get out, though more questions in relation to Yuu's wellbeing. Yuu gives a nod.
"Excuse me Epel." Azul says, Epel's focus is on him "I doubt that you're here just for a wellness check as you easily could have messaged your friend, so why are you here?" Epel looks directly at Azul with little to no fear, a few seconds pass before Epel gives him his answer.
"Are... Are you three forcing Yuu to be the singer for the lounge?" Epel states, less like a question but more like an accusation. He holds his pen in hand just in case and puts an arm over Yuu.
A beat sounds out, Yuu and Azul's suspicions are confirmed that Epel knows about Yuu's involvement, whilst Jade and Floyd realise how much he knows. No one answers Epel so he continues
"Ya'll are so quiet, is that true?" His face is in a mixture of anger and confusion he grips his pen harder and magic can be seen starting to form on his pen, he continues, "If ya'll have dared touch a darned hair on Yuu's head then-"
"No- no they didn't force me Epel," Yuu says, his friend calms down, Epel looks as his friend stands up, "Believe me I'm not being forced, I can explain... but do you think you can explain how you found out first."
Silence emanates through the VIP suite as Epel looks at Yuu and vice versa, after a while of silence, Epel stops his magic and loosens his grip on his pen. His expression softens as he sits down, Yuu following suit right after, he explains.
"Well, ever since I first heard the video on Magicam yesterday I kinda had a hunch, mainly as it sounds similar to Yuu's voice, though the tone and pitch sounded a good bit off. But with how nervous Yuu acted while the video was playing and the questions that were asked by the other first years got me a good bit more suspicious." Epel starts, at the mention of Yuu playing the video Azul and Jade looks to Yuu who gives a look of "I can explain later."
"Earlier today I was listening to it and I remembered a video I recorded back when we were doing to SDC in which I caught Yuu singing whilst I was out."
"When was that?" Yuu looks confused at when that was.
"It happened the day that the Hedgehogs escaped from Heartslabyul, there was one in the Pomefiore gardens. I was recording myself practice though I left it recording while I was away helping Deuce look for the Hedgehog" Epel explains as a look of realisation appeared on Yuu's face. Epel continues.
"When I listened to the audio Yuu shifted tones and pitches as he does in the Magicam video. So with his performance in the recording matching up similarly to the Magicam video and how he was acting surrounding the video, I came to the conclusion that Yuu is the singer. I wanted to talk to Yuu to double-check that it is him and that he isn't forced to do it."
A look of understanding comes across the four other people in the room, Yuu knows that he may have acted off yesterday but he didn't expect to be greeted with the promo so soon so panicking happened almost instantly.
"Do you think that the other members of the NRC Trible can come to the same conclusion?" Azul asks as he receives the information.
"I don't think so, well I don't think Ace, Deuce, and Kalim can, can't but I'm unsure of the other three." Epel gives as a response.
"Jamil, Rook, and Vil correct?" Azul asks, Epel nods.
The room goes into another bout of silence as they all think about those three, though mostly Rook and Vil. With Vil's known passion for beauty, both for himself and for others, he will probably be an issue with the Friday performance, mainly with getting more details out of Azul, though Azul has come up with some thoughts on how to handle some situations with Vil. But not all situations.
"Hey Guppy have you been stalking Yuu? " Floyd says out of nowhere, as laid back as ever, Epel looks shocked at him.
"What?!" He nearly shouts and looks at Yuu.
"Well, since this morning I've had someone looking at me from outside of Ramshackle, it only ended at the Hall of Mirrors." Yuu explains in the shortest and most concise way.
"Now that you say it. I've felt like I've been stared at today as well." Epel admits, the others look at him and he continues, "As I left my room to come here from Pomefiore, I noticed someone looking at me, but they stopped looking at me very quickly. I also felt stared at again outside the Hall of Mirrors when I met Leona, but this second stare felt different from the one in Pomefiore."
The four others look at each other with this realisation, that there is probably a second stalker. Although this other Stalker-san may be a coincidence, the timing is yet again perfect, they have to be related to the release of the video and they both are probably in this together.
"So there's probably another stalker, they can't be the same as Yuu's stalker has been there since midnight and has stayed at Ramshackle most of the day, only moving to the Hall of Mirrors after we had left the area I would guess." Jade explains, he adds, "There's little to no way that he was able to go to Pomefiore, then watch you and presumably Leona later on."
"So who can it be?" Yuu asks the question on everyone's mind.
"Well if it's any help Pomefiore is trying to find the singer, they have been since this morning. A few dorm members have asked me to help them find the singer." Epel says this gives the others some ideas, especially Azul.
"Has this search been orchestrated by Vil?" Azul asks.
"I don't know, I've not gotten any messages from Vil to say to look for the singer. But I've also not seen him or Rook all day." Epel says.
"Would you have usually seen them this morning?"
"Yes, Vil would've checked my uniform and Rook usually comes in and makes sure that 'My beauty is being maintained', but they've not approached me and I haven't seen them in the hallway or at breakfast."
This, this is the biggest clue to the two stalkers, Rook has always been an easy guess in everyone's mind, with his already well-known stalking of Leona and the Leech twins making him an easy contender for one of the stalkers. There are other parts that are coming together now, he was also part of the NRC Tribe, and is a self-proclaimed protector of beauty, which is definitely not by coincidence, the comments of the video are riddled with people called Yuu's voice 'A thing a beauty' and simply 'beautiful'.
So Rook is one of the stalkers, probably the one who stalked Yuu, Jade, and Epel around Ramshackle and the Hall of Mirrors, but what of the other? Vil most probably. Vil and Rook aren't too far from each other normally and Vil is always keeping an eye out for the latest beauty and fad, so he's definitely seen the Mostro Lounge video. He has mostly likely sent Rook out to find the singer whilst he waits for the answer, maybe he recognised that the voice was Yuu's and just wants confirmation. Yuu doesn't know, but that would explain why Epel was being stalked by Vil.
"So we're up against Rook and Vil." Yuu states, vocalising the common consensus with a nervous look on his face.
"That seems most likely." Azul states, pushing up his glasses on his expressionless face.
"I would also happen to guess that they are probably on their way here." Jade says, his face focused and serious.
A glance from Yuu is given to his tea, he looks at it but more at himself and the look he gives. He breathes in and calms himself down, he can handle this, and although meeting Vil this soon was one of his greatest fears he has to appear brave, yet the man scares Yuu when talking about Beauty, especially when his envious side is present.
Yuu sighs and a neutral face appears, it isn't how he's truly feeling but it makes him feel more calm about the situation. He takes a controlled breath in and out and looks at himself in the tea again.
He outreaches a hand to grab the cup only to realise he is shaking.