Chapter Text
Students crowded in the hall, all scrambling to see their rankings. Grim pushed his way to the front of the line, expecting to see his name somewhere among the top fifty. Ace was close behind, saying that he surely had to be in one of the top fifty spots if the average score was over ninety.
Any doubts Riddle had about Ace falling victim to Azul were immediately quelled as he watched the boy’s future self scan the list. Riddle sighed as he felt a headache forming, “I shouldn’t have hoped.”
Cater and Trey shared a look over Riddle’s head, not knowing whether to be concerned for the freshmen or proud of Riddle for keeping his cool.
Grim counted up as he checked the list, growing increasingly fearful as he got closer and closer to fifty. Afraid, he announced that his name wasn’t on the list, Deuce confirming that he wasn’t on it either. Ace looked at the scores next to everyone’s names and pointed out that the top thirty scorers got a perfect five hundred. This news had Grim and Deuce repeating the words in shock.
Riddle huffed as he crossed his arms. “This only goes to show that they can get good scores if they put in the effort, they simply refuse to put in the work.”
“To be fair, none of them would’ve been able to do that on their own.” Vil replied, the judgment in his tone clear as day. “That’s why they went to Azul in the first place.”
“Is it even possible for thirty students to get perfect marks on every test?” Yuu wondered aloud. Grim ignored the boy, mumbling something about a breach of contract if he didn’t make it into the top fifty.
Rielle tilted his head, his smile still in place as he recalled the mention of contracts back during his junior high days. Azul really liked his contracts! Maybe it was due to his admiration of the Sea Witch!
His words stopped Deuce and Ace in their tracks as they turned to look at him. “Wait, ‘contract’?” Ace stared at the dire beast, nervous. “Oh, no. Grim, did you…?” He didn’t finish the thought.
Riddle scoffed, his eyes glinting with annoyance. Ace, Deuce and Grim gulped nervously; even though they weren’t sure what exactly their future selves had done, it was clearly irritating the housewarden.
Judging by the look on Ace’s face, Deuce seemed to come to the same conclusion about the redhead. Before they could finish their conversation, a light surrounded the trio and strange blue and purple anemones had sprouted from the crowns of their heads. Yuu’s own head remained vacant as he watched the three in confusion as to what was happening.
Floyd laughed as he pointed at the three on screen. “Look, look! They’re like little sea shrubs!”
“Indeed, Floyd.” Jade held a hand over his mouth as he let out a chuckle at the sight. Next to him, Rielle let out a nervous laugh.
Grim tried to look at the object on his head, barely able to see the top of it and identify it as a sea anemone. He shouted in fright at the appearance of the object. Deuce chided the dire beast for making a contract with ‘that guy’ too, and called him a cheater. Ace chimed in just as spitefully, pointing out Deuce had done the very same thing since he had his own anemone.
Grim yanked at the anemone on his head before shouting in pain. “I can’t take it off!” He cried out fearfully.
“What’ve you guys gotten yourselves into now?” Yuu let out a sigh, one that was reminiscent of a much older man. “I’m gonna start getting grey hairs from hanging out with you people.”
“Youngsters sure have a lot of energy these days.” Lilia threw his head back as he laughed.
Youngsters? Yuu thought. How old is this guy?
“What in the world did you do?!” Yuu exclaimed, the shouting gaining the attention of a familiar face.
Jack asked what all the commotion was about, his hands perched on his hips. Deuce asked if he also made a contract before he noticed the lack of anemone on the beastman’s head.
“So much for looking like a bad boy. You’re pretty studious, huh!” Ace quipped.
Vil let out a curious hum. “Was that meant to be an insult? I fail to see the joke.”
“I agree. In fact, you could learn a thing or two from him.” Riddle crossed his arms as he glared down at Ace. His comment caused Jack’s tail to start wagging, something that didn’t go unnoticed by his fellow freshmen. Epel snickered at the sight.
Jack crossed his arms, not responding to Ace’s provocations. He didn’t understand why they had sea anemones growing out of their heads.
“Yeah, I wanna know about those, too!” Ace huffed. “My future self really isn’t giving me any breaks.”
Grim had begun to explain only to be cut off by a yowl of pain, shouting that the anemone was pulling him. Deuce cried out as well, muttering something about ‘absolute obedience’ before all three of them screamed as they were dragged off by the anemones stuck to their heads.
Azul couldn’t hold back his grin at the sight. It seemed his plans were going along wonderfully. It confused him, knowing that his overblot was imminent. What could possibly occur to cause such a thing to happen to him? He was fine, things were going well, his business was thriving, and he was soon to have the Ramshackle building as a second location! Nothing could ruin his good mood.
Jade observed Azul’s mannerisms, finding them to be more curious every time the other’s future self appeared on screen. His mood seemed to change in an instant, going from nervous to proud within mere moments. Jade turned away from his housewarden and nodded to himself, taking note of every possible indicator of the impending overblot. He then felt a pair of eyes on him, turning to look at Floyd, who stared back at him with a raised eyebrow. He simply tilted his head and smiled at his brother, causing Floyd to tear his gaze away, annoyance clear in his body language.
“What’s going on? The way they were walking, it was like the anemones were pulling them in that direction.” Jack spoke, taken aback. “What an idiotic turnout.” He added as he watched the trio turn the corner.
Epel stifled a laugh in his hand at the future Jack’s words, earning him a glare from Vil. He quickly schooled his expression and turned his head back to the screen before his housewarden could start lecturing him.
Snickers came from the twins, causing Rielle and Azul to look at them with confusion and exasperation respectively.
“Poor little fish, caught in a net.” Jade’s smile was covered by his hand but both housewardens could see the mischievous gleam in his eyes.
Yuu stared at the spot his friends had been standing before telling Jack that they had to follow the anemone trio. Jack blatantly refused, asking why he had to join since he had nothing to do with what was happening.
“What he said, this has nothing to do with me.”
Ace pouted at the beastman. “C’mon, you’re not gonna help your new friends in their time of need?”
With a raised eyebrow, Jack crossed his arms. “Since when were we friends?”
“Ouch, that’s cold.” Ace clutched his chest dramatically. “Really hurting my feelings here, Jack.”
Putting on a hurt expression as he rubbed his head, Yuu told Jack that his injury from the Spelldrive Tournament was still sore. The beastman made an annoyed sound as he crossed his arms, telling the Prefect that he was being influenced by NRC and calling him bold.
“He was corrupted before he met us.” Ace replied, though the future Jack couldn’t exactly respond.
Yuu shrugged, “You’re probably right. I don’t think you guys influenced me that much.”
“Fine, I’ll go with you for a little while.” Jack ran a hand through his hair as he sighed. He glared at the shorter boy as he claimed that he was only tagging along because he was curious about the cause of the chaos.
“Right.” Ace gave Jack a skeptical look, his lips curling upward into a sly grin. “Pure curiosity, definitely just that.”
Idia laughed quietly. “What a typical tsundere line from the lone wolf character type.” He mumbled, earning him a confused glance from the subject of his mockery.
The duo followed a sea of students with anemones attached to their heads. They all made their way into the Hall of Mirrors, flooding through the one that led to Octavinelle. Jack stared, pointing out where they were in confusion.
A group of students could be seen in the back of the crowd. The student from Heartslabyul complained that he was sure he would make the top fifty, the one from Savanaclaw cursed that he’d been had by ‘that cheating octopus bastard’.
“Cheating?” Azul gasped in mock offense, keeping his smile in place despite the familiar insult, allowing the words to flow off his back like water to a duck. “I offered them a perfectly fair deal. It’s not my fault they couldn’t hold up their end of it.”
So what if people insulted him? They were simply scrambling for power where they had none. Unlike them, Azul held power, he had control, he was sure those unfortunate souls would fall in line eventually.
The student from Scarabia was dragged through the mirror, claiming that his school life was doomed.
“I’m sure my future self warned the freshmen about Azul.” Jamil put a hand to his head, holding back a sigh. “This is his own fault.”
“It hurts my heart to know how little you think of me.” Azul frowned, Jade and Floyd copying his expression. “I run a completely legitimate business, all with the permission of our illustrious headmage. I see no reason to warn your freshmen about me when I have been nothing but helpful.”
Jamil let out a sigh. “Of course you don’t.” It wasn’t worth it to argue, Azul was too persistent.
In the midst of all the chaos, Jack stared in surprise. He noted that it wasn’t just their friends who sprouted anemones but a bunch of others, too. He even saw some upperclassmen among the growing group of people.
Riddle could only stare at the screen, wondering how his own dorm members fell victim to Azul’s schemes when he often tutored them himself. “Do they really dislike me so much that they’d rather sign away their freedom to Azul instead of asking me for help with their studies?”
Ace and Deuce both flinched, as the question was directed towards their future selves. “Well, you see…” Ace trailed off, not knowing how to continue.
“I bet Ace just wanted a shortcut.” Yuu sighed. “Grim, too.” He began rethinking Azul’s offer from the start of the viewing. He’d have to wait and see what Azul was actually planning before deciding but things weren’t looking too promising. While Ruggie had defended the housewarden, he was also revealed to be someone that Yuu couldn’t completely trust. “Deuce was probably just desperate. Your teaching style probably didn’t work for him.”
Riddle took the last part in stride, already considering different teaching methods that could possibly work for Deuce. He seemed to be more of a physical learner, learning by doing. Perhaps if Riddle somehow translated that into a study method, Deuce would benefit from it. It was easier said than done for certain classes but Riddle believed himself up for the challenge. He made a mental note to revisit the thought later.
Yuu stood next to Jack, taking in the sight with more calm than his companion. His expression grew thoughtful as he wondered aloud who the mentioned ‘cheating octopus bastard’ was. Jack suggested they check out what was going on, leading the shorter boy through the Octavinelle mirror.
“Wow, the mirror for your dorm looks really fancy!” Yuu turned to face the trio from Octavinelle as he spoke, still hesitant about interacting with them but willing to wait and see the whole thing through before coming to any conclusions. He had been proven wrong before, after all.
“I agree!” Rielle grinned. “It’s really nice, I can’t wait to see what the dorm itself looks like!” He preferred the surface world, but pocket dimensions were always cool even if they were ocean themed.
“Thank you,” Azul said, though his voice sounded strained.
Yuu looked around the pocket dimension, noting that it was the opposite of Savanaclaw, which had been covered in dry sand for miles. Beside him, Jack grinned. He excitedly took in the view, stating the obvious by pointing out that the dorm was underwater. “Night Raven College is so cool!”
Vil held a hand over his mouth as a laugh escaped him. “He’s like an excitable puppy.” He couldn’t help the comparison, his mind conjuring images of Jack as a small dog jumping around a room to look at all the new people.
“Getting excited over something like this…” Leona trailed off, not bothering to finish the thought as he yawned and closed his eyes. He already knew what was going to happen so he decided to nap while he could.
The beastman quickly came to his senses, letting out an awkward cough as one of his hands rubbed the back of his head. He warned Yuu to stay alert since they were on another dorm’s turf. Yuu nodded and the pair followed the crowd through the building.
They all ended up in the Mostro Lounge, their final destination by the looks of it. Yuu stared at the amount of people in shock, saying that they appeared to have found where the Anemone Gang went.
“There are so many of them.” Riddle noticed, placing a hand on his chin as he tried to estimate how many people were in the room. Each time he saw a Heartslabyul student, his eye twitched, but he kept his mouth shut. “How did he even manage to convince the second and third years to sign contracts with him? Shouldn’t they know better considering the incident last year?”
Vil nodded in agreement, as it was certainly a large turnout. “They did this to themselves.”
Rielle tilted his head in confusion. He still didn’t know what was so bad about the contracts.
Jack looked around, counting aloud. He concluded that there were probably two hundred people all crowded in the area before wondering where they were. He looked around and spotted a sign with the cafe’s name on it, reading it aloud in confusion. “Where did Ace and the others go?” He added as an afterthought before the lights went out.
A spotlight shone abovehead, revealing Azul standing in front of the crowd. He spoke in a condescending manner as he took in the sight of the anemones.
Azul watched his future self, nodding in approval at his carefully controlled expression and body language. No cracks in the mask, just himself in the spotlight and in control of everything. He could keep it up, he would be fine, no way was he going to overblot. The video shown at the very beginning of the viewing had to be wrong.
He absolutely, without a doubt, refused to go back to being a stupid crying octopus hiding in his little pot.
Similarly, Jade took in the sight of Azul on the screen. He seemed calm and collected on the outside, but…was that a slight shake to his hand, just for a millisecond? Jade frowned.
The housewarden welcomed the group to the Mostro Lounge, going over the circumstances that had brought them all there in the first place. He reintroduced himself to the group, stating his name and title as a housewarden.
“And as of today, I will be your master.” The calm smile on Azul’s face turned utterly gleeful, even a bit unsettling.
Jamil couldn’t stop the frown that formed on his face when he took in what Azul had said. Kalim noticed his friend’s posture tense and looked over in concern.
“Jamil?” He whispered. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Jamil forced a smile onto his face.
Hidden in the crowd, Jack mumbled a ‘what’ as Azul continued. The housewarden went on to say that the people with anemones on their head had made a bet and lost. “As per the terms of our contract, you are to be my servants until the day you graduate.”
Servants. Azul wanted servants? Jamil had already known to avoid Azul, but now he knew for a fact that it was the right decision. He was Kalim’s servant, stuck in that position for life, he wasn’t about to willingly become one for someone else who would arguably be worse as a master. Not to mention the fact that becoming Azul’s servant wouldn’t free him from Kalim’s hold anyways. He would just end up having two masters at once.
“Being the octo-punk’s servant till you graduate? Yeah, sounds like a real nightmare.” Leona voiced aloud. Azul snapped his head at him, annoyed. “This is where being stupid gets you.” Leona continued, ignoring the other’s stare. “Nothing good comes from being associated with the octo-punk of all people.” Azul gaped, looking offended.
Ruggie snickered quietly before commenting. “Oh yeah? Where was that confidence when you made a deal that landed you in Azul’s debt?” Leona just glared at him as he whistled.
Ace’s voice cut through the sea of people, calling the whole thing a scam. Azul looked at the younger boy with a blank expression as he called such accusations insulting. He had upheld his end of the bargain and provided a study guide, with which Ace should have gotten at least a ninety.
“The fact that he’s following the rules is the part that is irksome. You cannot complain because the terms are all laid out before you sign the contract.” Riddle crossed his arms as he frowned at the screen. The only reason he wasn’t berating Ace and Deuce was because they hadn’t technically done anything yet and they wouldn’t do so in the future if he had anything to say about it.
The ginger irritatedly confirmed that he had gotten a ninety two, which caused Azul to smile. It was wonderful news and he was happy to have been of service. Ace put his hands on his hips as he continued his complaints, as Azul never informed him that so many more people received the same study guide.
Deuce agreed with Ace, saying that not all of them could be in the top fifty. Grim added that even with his eighty five, his place in the rankings didn’t change that much since everyone else was getting over ninety.
“Please, what kind of businessman would I be if I disclosed the terms of my contracts with uninvolved parties?”
Floyd nodded along with a lazy grin. “Yeah! Client confidentiality or something like that.”
“You are correct, Floyd. We have a responsibility to our clients to keep their information private. We cannot discuss individual contracts like that, it would be bad for business.”
Rielle took the trio’s words to heart, internally agreeing with the explanations. “That makes sense!”
However, Riddle’s thoughts were going in a different direction. If Deuce did well with Azul’s study guide, then could Riddle himself feasibly recreate something similar for him? Would that help? And not just for Deuce, but for Ace and Grim as well?
Likely expecting discontent and complaining, Azul fired back that he adhered to client confidentiality. Many people came to him with similar complaints:
“I want an easy way to score high marks.”
“I don’t want to fail.”
“I want to goof off until the night before the test.”
It was easy to tell who Azul was quoting. Ace wanted the easy way out, Deuce wanted to pass, and Grim actually waited until the night before the exam to study. Yuu could only sigh, feeling only a little bit of pity for the trio. “Deuce is the only one who was actually serious about studying, you two have no excuse for what you’ve gotten into.”
Azul almost slipped and called them fools before correcting himself, continuing on to explain that he kept each person’s request private. After all, who was he to divulge someone’s personal information to a third party? He was a man of integrity.
“Yeah, right.” Ace mumbled, sinking down into his bean bag.
Deuce copied his future roommate, burying his face in his hands as he thought of what his mom would think if she found out what he had been getting up to in NRC.
The housewarden went on, explaining that those details were written in the contracts that they had signed, even pointing out the page and clause. The ironclad argument had Grim nervous as he asked what would happen to the fire magic he put up as collateral.
“So that’s why they didn’t start fighting with magic earlier!” Yuu realized. “They gave it up!”
“Azul would make a good lawyer,” Riddle said grudgingly, though that didn’t mean he wanted his fellow housewarden to be using those skills on his fellow students, especially those belonging to Heartslabyul.
“Why, of course, my stepfather’s a lawyer.” Azul smiled. “I learned from the best.”
A Pomefiore student asked about his own water magic while a Scarabia student asked for his unique magic back.
“At least none of them had a unique magic to give up at the time, or this could have been a lot worse for them.” Riddle let out a sigh. “While still bad, they only seem to have given up one type of magic. They can still use other elemental magic and participate in classes.”
Vil nodded, though he frowned in disappointment at the Pomefiore student on the screen. He’d have to pay extra attention to his dorm members in the future if he wanted to avoid this outcome.
Azul put on a disappointed front as he reiterated the terms of the contract: He provided the study guides, they would leave one thing of value in his possession, and should they earn a spot in the top fifty then they would have their magic returned to them as well as continue to receive study guides for all exams until they graduated. However, if they failed to meet those terms, they would act as his servants until they graduated.
A sound deal on paper were it not for the fact that it was actually entirely in Azul’s favor. He always took up a spot in the top ten, let alone the top fifty, while Riddle consistently claimed the number one spot. He didn’t even risk a full fifty people meeting the terms of the contract and guaranteed himself a large group of people who didn’t fulfill the requirement. It was a trap, and Deuce, Ace, and Grim had fallen into it.
Still not done, Azul went on to say that he had control over every part of their beings, so their magic was his to return or keep as he pleased.
“That’s so unfair!” Ace shouted, almost in sync with his future self.
Ace cried out that it wasn’t fair while Yuu made the connection about Ace and Grim’s magic.
“Déjà vu…” Epel muttered as the future Yuu had the same revelation their own Yuu had earlier on.
Before anyone could say anything else, Jack shoved his way through the crowd. “Y’know, I’ve been listening to this whole spectacle…and all of you disgust me!” Ace, Deuce, and Grim all stepped back in surprise, Deuce asking what the beastman was doing there.
Ace and Deuce turned to Jack. “What? How do we disgust you?!” Ace shouted, glaring at the taller boy.
“You used cheap tricks to get good grades instead of studying or getting proper help from someone else.” Jack’s voice was firm, unwavering. He wasn’t going to change his mind on the matter.
“I agree with him. You could’ve gone to Riddle for help, we could’ve made a study group, even Trey or Cater might have helped! But you all just went for the easiest option and now look what's happened! I’m the one who’s gonna have to get you out of this mess!”
The trio at least had the decency to don guilty expressions. “Sorry.” Deuce said, tugging at his sleeve. “I just didn’t want to disappoint my mom.”
“I’d be more than willing to assist you in your studying.” Riddle offered. “It worked with Cater, did it not? I’m sure I can find a method that suits you. In fact, with a bit of practice, I’m confident I can produce a study guide of similar calibre to Azul.”
His words had Deuce brightening, a smile forming on his face as he turned towards the shorter boy. “Thank you! I’ll gladly accept the help!”
“While I won’t go easy on you, I’ll try to be somewhat lenient since I am now aware that your education is lacking due to your previous…transgressions.” More like his chronic issue with skipping school to the point that he didn’t know even the basic course material, but Riddle was nice enough not to mention that part.
“I’ll do my best!” At that reply, Riddle’s lips tilted up, just a faint image of a smile.
Azul frowned at the loss, he wouldn’t be able to play to Yuu’s kindness if he was unable to get the boy’s friends to sign contracts with him. If anyone was capable of following his steps of making the study guides, it’d be Riddle. Not good, not good at all.