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Asta entered the university’s auditorium following captain Yami and Finral. The room looked completely different than usual, all the usual, all the desks have disappeared, now great tree branches formed booths and tables instead, enough for ten groups of four people, all facing the big screen and empty space on the side that was the only thing that was hinting that it was actually a lecture room. Bottles of beer were waiting for them on the tables, along with snacks. The whole auditorium what lit up with small suns hidden behind leaves.
“WOOOOAAAAAAHHHH!!!!” Asta gasped loudly.
“Be quiet, you’re embarrassing us!” Noelle nudged him on the side with all her might, making Asta flinch in pain.
“Shut up, both of you!” Yami groaned. “Fucking Vangeance, fucking trees...” he muttered to himself. “I’m so fucking sick of trees...”
“Hey, our booth is there,” Finral pointed out an empty one on the right. On the side of the tree branch that served as seats, there was a small, glowing bull similar to their club logo.
Few of the tables were already taken by other clubs, he could also see a few people running around in Golden Dawn jackets, making the final preparations. He couldn’t recognize them in the dim light but he wouldn’t be surprised if one of them was Yuno.
They sat down and Asta could barely contain himself, mesmerized by all the magic around him.
“And the leaves are glowing a bit that’s so cool! And the seats are so comfy! And...” he rumbled on loudly, mesmerized by the room. “Probably beer is really good too...”
As he reached his hand to grab one, Yami’s fist hit the table, making Asta immediately retreat, like an animal running back to safety.
“They are all mine. If you want your own one, go ask someone else.”
“Yes, sir! Sorry!”
“Yami, I can get one, right?” Finral asked hopefully. “I’m the vice-captain, after all, right? And your close friend...”
“No.”
“Come on...”
More people were gathering in the auditorium and Asta even recognized a few of them, especially famous club presidents. He was also surprised to see Yuno by the computer next to the screen, looking as he was hastily going through the presentation slides.
“Captain! Is it okay if I look for more beer and say hello to my friend?”
“Just shut up and go away.”
“Bring one for senpai too, Asta,” Finral reminded him.
“Sure! Noelle? Want some beer?”
“I don’t enjoy such peasant drinks,” she muttered sulking a bit.
“Okay. Sure, so I’ll take just two,” he was ready to stand up when Noelle yelled right next to his ear.
“Stupid Asta! I didn’t say I won’t drink it if you’ll get me one!”
Asta didn’t really get Noelle at all times so he just shrugged and left to say hello to Yuno who was still looking at the computer screen with a focused expression. Still half-deaf from Noelle’s shriek, he passed next to Nozel’s table and then next to the gardening club. He tried to smile to Charlotte, their leader and Yami’s girlfriend but she ignored him, as she usually did. Resigned, he approached Yuno.
“Yuno! You’ve been chosen for the club representative too?!”
“Oh. Hi Asta,” Yuno looked up. “Not really? I was supposed to but our club vice president Langris came down with the flu yesterday and I was told to step in and help William as much as I can. And William put me in charge of changing the slides during his presentation. But congratulations on being representative.”
“Wow, that’s really like being his right-hand man!” Asta congratulated Yuno with enthusiasm. “And about the representant thing, you know, I earned it,” he proudly boasted. “So hey, I’m looking for more beer, captain Yami took all of ours and you’re technically in the organization now so...”
“William-senpai told me that was to be expected from your club. But I don’t know where the beer is, go ask him or Patri. Better Patri since we’ll be starting soon. You know who Patri is, right?”
“Of course I know! I met him a ton of times, you know! But why does he have the beer? He’s not in the Golden Dawn.”
A few weeks ago Yami got Asta involved in a certain spying in a teahouse incident during which he had met an elf who according to captain Yami was ‘the drama queen of the century’ and who kept complaining about the whole spying thing. Only later Asta had found out he was one of the most powerful mages in the university and also the elven magic club president, responsible for the Flying Egg/Shadow Fortress which was a thing of legend on the campus. It kind of clashed with the elf’s overdramatic personality but still, Asta respected him a lot.
“William trusts Patri. And he always says that Patri knows his way around trees so maybe that’s the reason. Good luck, Asta. If you find William with him, please, ask him to come back here already. I found a spelling mistake in one of the slides and I don’t know if it was intended pun or I should fix it.”
“Sure thing! Is it funny as a pun?” he asked out of curiosity.
“Not really. He just wrote 'Snoozle Silva' instead of Nozel. But I don’t get William’s sense of humor sometimes. Or maybe it’s an inside joke.”
“Club president Nozel doesn’t look like someone who enjoys sleeping,” Asta pondered. “Do you think he sleeps in his braid or he untangles it every night?”
“I don’t think he would be comfortable sleeping with it but... You could always ask Noelle, she should know, he’s her brother after all. And text me when you find out, now I’m a little curious.”
“No problem. Well, I should get going. Don’t embarrass our village and Sister Lilly, Yuno!”
“Never, Asta.”
Yuno rolled his eyes and then pinned them back to the screen. Asta took it as his cue to leave. He wandered around the room until he finally noticed familiar platinum blond braids in one of the darkest corners. He stood next to a man in a colorful tacky mask decorated with pompoms and feathers. It was so weird it made Asta take a step back at first. As if the mask wasn’t enough, the mysterious man was wearing an ornamented shirt made of shiny material.
“Club President Patri,” he interrupted them politely after gathering his courage since he was a bit hesitant about approaching such a weird person. “Captain Yami stole all our beer and Yuno said that maybe you’d give us some.”
“Why are you asking me?” Patri cocked his head. “I’m not in the Golden Dawn I may have the beer but I don’t have the authority to give you any.”
“Must be your natural charisma, Patri,” his friend laughed and Asta almost jumped up in shock when recognized that voice.
“Club President William! I’m sorry! I didn’t recognize you! Yuno told me to ask you to come there too,” he added, bowing. “He has some issues with the presentation. And sorry again! That mask does cover most of your face.”
“ No problem, Asta, after all, this is my special occasion mask. I should go back to Yuno, soon we’ll be starting. Patri, be nice and give the boy a few beers, okay?”
“Sure. Should I bring you one too?”
“Trying to get me drunk again?” William smirked. “If you find a Radler, I don’t mind. Or apple cider. Now, excuse me, on my way to Yuno I want to frighten a few people who haven’t seen the mask yet.”
Both of them watched as William walked away for a few seconds.
“Is it just me or William is really weird?” Asta pondered out loud and immediately felt something like a light speed slap on his face. It wasn’t too strong, more like a warning. And even though Patri was standing a meter away from him Asta knew it was his doing. It always amazed him how fast the light magic was.
“William is a wonderful person, don’t you dare call him weird,” Patri reprimanded him.
“Sorry!”
Patri glared at him for a moment, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Finally, he sighed and straightened up.
“Fine, I’ll give you some beer. Come with me.”
Asta followed him to the elven magic club table. He politely greeted all the members who mostly ignored him or just nodded, fully engaged in their conversation. He didn’t really know them safe from the pink-haired girl named Fana who was going out Mars, an exchange student from the Diamond Kingdom who ended up being Asta’s gym buddy.
Patri pulled out a whole box of beer bottles from between two tree branches and gave it to Asta.
“Give some to Yami too and tell him it’s from me and William. And go already, we’re about to start. You can carry it, right? It’s heavy but you’re always swinging those big swords when I pass by fencing club so you should be alright.”
“Yes, sir! It’s not heavy at all!” Asta bowed energetically and run back to the Black Bulls table.
It turned out that when he was gone, Yami managed to finish two beers already.
“Captain! I brought more beer! It’s from the drama queen elf and Club President William!”
“Whoa, Asta, that’s an impressive box,” Finral brightened up and took one for himself and another for Noelle.
Yami had just reached out his hand and Asta politely passed him a new bottle. Then, finally, to took one for himself and only then he understood that he could not open it without magic. He poked Noelle begging her for help. She rolled her eyes and concentrated her magic on the cap, making it jump straight into Asta’s face. He could not guess if she did it on purpose or by accident so he just groaned in pain instead of complaining.
Suddenly the lights dimmed for all the auditorium and brightened up near the front, concentrating on William who stood by the still turned off presentation screen with a Radler bottle in his hand.
“Welcome all to the meeting. Before we start, I would like to remind you that we are too many to have a civil discussion if we all interrupt each other, therefore only club presidents are allowed to speak. Before someone else speaks up they need permission from me or their president. Please, do not ignore that rule, we don’t want to repeat last year. Or the year before.”
“What happened last year?” Asta whispered to Finral.
“Everybody started yelling, Patri got pissed, he stole the last magic stone he needed from Fuegoleon, made the Giant Flying Egg and destroyed half the campus. And almost a huge part of the city,” Finral explained.
“Wow, Patri sure is awesome,” Asta gasped.
“He’s just annoying little whiny bitch with braids,” Yami lit up his cigarette.
The screen brightened up as well, displaying the rules that William had just mentioned.
“Now, I will explain the purpose of the meeting since I see a lot of first years here. As you probably know, this week the applications for the club funds were submitted. It is widely known that only around 20% of the evaluation is the actual evaluation of research or educational programs and 80% is based on how much Julius likes the applicant’s magic. Now, we are even more sure of that than before since there is absolutely no way Patri and the elves would have gotten almost Golden Dawn size of funding with their shitty application last year.”
“I really think the elves should be punished for breaking out of schedule with the Egg,” Nozel spoke up.
“Maybe if you humans had come up with a rational and just schedule instead of yelling at each other, then I would have followed it,” Patri protested.
“Patri, don’t argue, he has a point. For your information, Nozel, the elven magic club was forced to found most of the beer for this meeting,” William calmed the public down. “Back to the introduction. As you know, we have quite a lot of clubs in our university and if they all decided to impress Julius at the same time it would end up chaotic and unfair to the smaller clubs. Therefore, we, representatives of all the most influential clubs, are meeting here every year to come up with ideas for our activity and a schedule that I later pass down to the rest so they can make their own plans without worrying us stealing their thunder.”
“I swear I saw Patri wearing this shirt last week,” Noelle pondered looking at William. “I even complimented it. It’s a nice shirt. And very good material. Why is William wearing it?”
“Probably because it's a special occasion and it matches...Are you really looking at shirt when he’s wearing that weird mask?” Asta cocked his head in confusion.
“The mask is a little too colorful but it’s very stylish too,” she judged.
“Now, I will proceed to the main part of the meeting if you let me,” William spoke up a little louder, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “All the club presidents sent me propositions last week so first I will go through the ones I believe we should reject. Then, I’ll show you the ones I find better and we’ll add the other clubs for support or side of the conflict.”
Yuno started switching slides, perfectly following Williams speech.
“I’m sorry Dorothy but I believe that organizing a nap room won’t gather enough attention. Do you have something to defend your plan?” His words were met with a quiet snore. “Any objection?”
No one raised their hands or spoke up. Yuno obediently chose the button on the presentation to cross the nap room out and marking it in red, then moving on to the next slide. William nodded and then turned to Yami.
“Yami. Your proposal was just one sentence ‘Beat the elf up’. I have no idea what is this sudden animosity against Patri but I won’t have my boyfriend and my best friend beat the shit out of each other for money. Rejected.”
“I could see them fight again,” Jack raised his hand.
“But I reject it,” William stated rather coldly. “Moving on, Patri, I love you but we are not doing zombie apocalypse on the campus.”
“But... We have this guy who knows a spell...” Patri tried to protest.
“You are not doing a zombie apocalypse and stealing our money again!” Nozel spoke up harshly.
“Zombies are disgusting,” Charlotte scoffed.
“You guys are mean,” Patri sighed. “It would really mean a lot to our first-year with zombie magic, you know? It’s not all about the money.”
“Disgusting,” Charlotte repeated.
“William and Patri are always getting more money than it’s fair,” Kaiser, Purple Orcas Swimming Club Captain, said. “I propose they do something much less showy or even embarrassing this year.”
“We should just have them have a date on the tree next to Julius window this year!” Rill yelled with enthusiasm. "They would be happy and we could get a bigger share of the money! Because love..."
“Fucking shut up!” Yami hit the table with his fist but it was not exactly clear what he wanted to achieve.
Asta leaned to the side and whispered to friends.
“Hey, what is wrong with captain Yami today?”
“I heard he went on a double date with William and Patri this weekend,” Finral answered quietly, tossing worried glares at Yami. “They went to botanical garden and Charlotte and William really got into it, being plant nerds they are. So he was forced to spend too much time with Patri. And also,” he lowered his voice even more, “first-years who bumped into them told me that Yami’s probably upset that Patri may be a better boyfriend than he is.”
“But that’s not possible,” Asta whispered back in outrage. “Capitan Yami is the awesomest!”
“As much as I appreciate everyone’s faith in my relationship,” William said after a long sigh, “I am not putting it on the same level the other plans we have on the list,” Wiliam gave them all a crooked, cocky smirk. “And as much as Julius likes us, I doubt it would be enough to impress him since he has already stalked us on a few of our dates. Still, I’m crossing out the zombie apocalypse since I don’t like it.”
“Not even a small one?” Patri asked hopefully. “Like ten zombies. Or just one but really strong.”
“No zombies,” William repeated. “Next. Nozel. You didn’t submit anything. Why?”
On the screen, there was a bright red ‘Snoozle’ written in capital letters. Asta noticed Yami’s mouth twitch in a small smirk. It made him sure that it was an inside joke between captains after all. Especially since Nozel seemed to completely ignore it.
“We royals shouldn’t even take part in this. It is peasants that have to impress Julius, we don’t have to.”
“As I expected,” William sighed. “Now, let’s move on to the ideas that we can actually accept. Green Mantis sushi pop up restaurant. I vote yes. All those who agree, raise your hands.”
Most of the captains raised their hands. William nodded and Yuno clicked on the green button approving the proposal.
“Next, Purple Orcas's trip to aquapark. It’s neither good nor bad. And it doesn’t sound that spectacular. Care to elaborate, Kaiser?”
“We plan to go to the place that is rumored hunted and kill the monster to show off.”
“Seems fine to me. Everyone?” the second proposal got accepted. “Now, the ideas I really like. Crimson Lion's fire beast tournament. This is a really nice proposal by the way, clear, well written. If Fuegoleon is okay with that, I will send it to you later because I wish your applications would be half as good as this one. A tournament mostly dedicated to the club members but it’s open to anyone. One has to make a fire beast by magic or use a magical item. Little chance of the contestants since getting harmed since it’s the beasts that are fighting. The only thing is securing the area... Dorothy, can your club help?” she nodded in her sleep. “Great. Any objections to Fuegoleon’s plan?”
“They will burn the university down to the ground,” Yami stated.
“Anyone else? Great. Accepted.”
“Hey, Finral,” Asta whispered again. “Does William decide on everything? That seems kinda unfair.”
“Well, it looks like he does but all the decisions are pretty reasonable. Also, when he was a first-year and other people disagreed with him, he made them regret it by getting twice as many funds for his club as all the other clubs combined. Biology club went on an exotic two weeks long research trip that year.”
“Next, we have a really good plan, cooperation between Charlotte’s gardening club and Rill’s art club. They plan to try to fix the area near the city that was devastated by the earthquake a few weeks ago. If you two don’t mind, I would add Yuno from my club, I think he would be very useful. You can also have a spectacular fight there, I think Julius would appreciate it. Everyone okay with that? Patri, get me another beer please.”
“That’s not a beer, that’s a fruit juice,” Yami stated loudly.
“Thank you for your opinion, Yami. It’s just lovely how awkwardly you are trying to ask me out for a drink. We can drink vodka tomorrow at your place. Anyway," he went back to the main subject. "Unfortunately, that ends the good applications. Still, our count is not bad, half of the clubs already know what they are doing. So, for the clubs that are left, Patri, how about attacking Nozel’s chemistry club to get your hands on their hair products? We all know how much you want them, there’s no need to be ashamed. I think this sounds like a very believable motivation to start a war.”
“My club is not fighting the elves!” Nozel stood up. “No way.”
“Hahaha, are you scared that you’re going to lose, Nozel?” Jack laughed.
“There is no shame in admitting opponent strength and avoiding fighting them alone,” Fuegoleon offered. “I could lend you a hand.”
“No,” Nozel declined. “And us two against one club? That would be a slaughter. But fortunately for elves, I’m not willing to fight them this year.”
“Okay,” William sighed. “So I will attack you with the Golden Dawn and my army of ents.”
“No. And I’m supporting Feugoleon’s event,” Nozel stated coldly and sat down.
Suddenly, Rill raised his hand.
“We should have William’s ents and Patri’s zombies fight each other!” he proposed. “It would be fun! All in favor raise their hands!”
Much to Asta’s surprise, every club leader, even Patri, voted for the fight. Only William remained still.
“Patri, even you?” he spoke with displease. “Three, almost four years without a fight with me and you’re throwing it all away?”
“Come on, William!” Patri begged him. “It’s zombies versus ents. And we won’t fight for real.”
“I am not fighting you either way. I will never fight you,” William stated harshly. “So I’m proposing ents and zombies versus everyone else.”
Asta gasped, admiring William’s confidence. Most of the club presidents were impossibly strong and facing all of them this way, especially if they would be accompanied by their club members would be crazy and probably anyone would be obliterated in a matter of seconds.
“We’ll destroy you two in less than twenty minutes,” Captain Jack laughed.
“I bet fifteen would be enough,” Kaiser joined him.
Yami’s fist hit the table yet again, shutting them up immediately.
“Anyone who wants to beat Vangeance up, no matter how weird and annoying he actually is, needs to go through me,” he growled. “Except for Charlotte, I’m leaving her to Patri.”
“Fine, my team is joining William, Patri, and Yami,” Charlotte said. “But no disgusting zombies close to me.”
“It would be unfair,” Fuegoleon spoke up,” to gang up on them like this. That’s why the Crimson Lions are joining ents and zombies. This way 5 clubs will be on each side.”
“Like hell this is fair,” Nozel stood up clearly outraged. “You just took all the strongest captains except for me! And Crimson Lion’s fire magic was the one thing that would make winning against zombies and ents easy!”
“Well,” William smiled, acknowledging his point. “It must be my natural charm.”
“We are not doing this. Let’s go back to the original plan.”
“But you submitted no original plan, Nozel.”
“I’m helping Fuegoleon with his event.”
“First, we need to vote. This is democracy.”
“We live in a monarchy,” Nozel pointed out. “And I’m royalty. You’re just a usurper who happened to get a lot of money from Julius a few times.”
William smirked.
“All those in favor making Nozel’s team support Jack instead,” he said raising his hand.
All but Nozel and Fuegoleon raised their hands. Yuno looked up at William quizzingly, not sure what to mark.
“Fuegoleon?”
“I believe that it would be best if I joined forces with Nozel. His team has an advantage in putting out fires so this way the university won’t burn down like Yami feared. Not to mention that we have experience working together so it would be easy and more efficient to have us cooperate. I do not think it would be wise to dismiss Nozel’s skills out of spite.”
Quiet echo of whispers raised around the room when he finished. William pondered about it for a few moments and then nodded.
“I think Fuegoleon is right. Anyone objecting? Good. Moving on. We still have three teams not doing anything. Yami’s fencing club, Patri’s elven magic club, and myself with my biology club. How about we change Crimson Lion’s tournament into a whole big event? We’ll add Jack’s sushi. Yami, will your club be willing to make another food stand? I will try talking to Julius about giving you two a one-day concession to sell alcohol, I think Vanessa would appreciate it. Golden Dawn will take care of the organization, support and I will make a big tree in the middle. Other clubs will have stands too if they want to. Especially elves, they have great magic, Patri, make them put a few stands up.”
“Fine,” the elf sighed.
“Also, we’ll have magical fireworks in the evening. And Patri, don’t make me regret it but I propose a house of terror or something like that where you can put the zombies. But if they get out of control, Fuegoleon is burning them all immediately.”
“I love you so much,” Patri confessed loudly.
It made Yami cringe but William allowed himself a little smile.
“Now, does anyone want to change something or add anything specific to the idea? Golden Dawn will add some stands too. Like pottery. And a maze of trees. Or maybe the maze will be inside the giant tree, I need to think it through.”
“Maybe make a giant tree with all the attractions festival inside? The entrance could be next to the tournament area,” Charlotte suggested. “Can you make a tree like that, William?”
“I’ll help you decorate it!” Rill offered.
“I’ll help you light it all up,” Patri added.
“This is brilliant,” William smiled. “ An oak should do. And we can have the zombies in the cave near the roots. This way I’ll be able to easily cut them off if they get out of control.“
“My club will make snow ice cream!” Rill announced, waving his hand.
“Pardon?” William cocked his head in confusion.
“We use Flangil’s snow magic and add syrup. It’s kind of like shaved ice but better.”
“I would love to try some. Accepted.”
“Oi, you didn’t even ask us for permission, you weirdo tree nerd,” Yami accused him loudly.
“No one in their right mind would object shaved ice,” William shrugged. “By the way, Yami, I have a special task for you and the Black Bulls who won’t be busy with your stand. You’ll be in charge of security during the event.”
“Just so you can slack off and go on date with the elf? No thanks. Denied.”
“I can’t be everywhere, Yami. I need people patrolling the area.”
“Fine. But add some people from other clubs. And Zora will have an escape room full of traps during the festival. He’s always wanted that.”
“Okay, true, the Black Bulls are doing a lot already, and now the escape room... Fine. Every club has to give Yami at least one member to help with the security. Patri, I know probably elves will want a few stands but the remaining ones will help Yami, okay? Same for your club, Dorothy. Would anyone like to add something? You can talk it over in your club and just text me about the other stands you want to make.”
“This plan is good, William,” Charlotte agreed. “Much better than the Egg was.”
“Don’t hate the Egg!” Patri raised his voice. “You all complain about it and look! We all got money and it’s a legend! So it wasn’t so bad.”
“What bothers me is,” Nozel glared intensively. “How did the Golden Dawn get the money last year if William refused to fight Patri and the Egg?”
“A few of my members still helped,” William shrugged. “And the rest will remain my secret. Now, since I see that no one is objecting to this year’s plan, we are left to decide on the date. Does Saturday two weeks from now work for you?”
“Three would be better. Our participants want to have some practice before the tournament,” Fuegoleon recommended.
“Yeah, organizing it in two weeks will be hard, William,” Patri spoke up.
“Okay, so three weeks from now. It’s settled. If the is nothing to add for now, I call the official part of the meeting over. Feel free to drink some more beer and help yourselves to the snacks. You should get an email from me this weekend with the details of the plan and a general schedule. I will also be contacting the Charlotte, Rill, and Kaiser about their plans, please think about the dates. I suppose that’s all. Let’s drink.”
The screen went off and the lights went back to a similar state to when Asta and others entered the room. Immediately, the conversations at each table started. Theirs was no different.
“So, it wasn’t that bad this year, right, Yami?” Finral asked. “With a food stand, security, and Zora’s escape room we surely will get a lot of money from Julius, right?”
“We have to work together with all these annoying weirdos in William’s giant tree. This is the worst.”
Finral let out a burst of awkward laughter.
“And you two, how did you like it?”
“This is so awesome!” Asta exclaimed. “Can I help with the proposal next year? I will add some epic stuff!”
“It was okay,” Noelle said, remaining rather reserved. “Hey, captain, can you maybe ask Golden Dawn to have Sacre take pictures of the event? Her photography course is going great and I think it would be good for her to do it.”
“That’s such a nice idea! Oh, looks, like you can tell William yourself, Noelle, he’s coming here,” Finral encouraged her.
Indeed, William approached the table a moment later, holding a mysterious bottle in one hand and two shot glasses in another.
“Hello, everyone. Noelle, Asta, how was your first time here? Less scary than the rumors say, I hope? Fortunately, the meeting was rather peaceful this year.”
“It was awesome! Do you always have big events like that? William-senpai, how big a tree can you make?” Asta asked beaming with curiosity.
“Not every year, it depends, this year we were lucky enough to agree on doing something together but usually it doesn’t go that well. And the tree... hm... The biggest one I made...” William pondered.
“Field trip in high school,” Yami provided. “Some asshole challenged you and you channeled everyone’s magic to make a tree in size of a mountain. Julius screamed like a little fangirl but you drained us all and we could barely walk back to school.”
“Yeah, but that was me channeling. To be honest, I don’t make giant trees that often, only from time to time when the situation calls for it. Usually, I prefer normal size trees. And bonsais.”
“That is still awesome!” Asta said.
“William, can our friend from the club be the photographer for the event?” Noelle spoke up.
“Sure, no problem, just send me an email. I also count on your magic, Noelle, when the Crimson Lions will accidentally set my tree on fire,” William winked. “And now,” William manipulated the branches so he had a place to sit right next to Yami. “My dear friend,” he placed the flavored vodka and a shot glass in front of him. “Tell me, why exactly you want to beat Patri up?”
“No special reason,” Yami sighed, pouring them both a glass. “Drink up, Vangeance.”
They both simultaneously raised their glasses and emptied them in one go.
“So? What did he do this time?” William didn’t let go.
“Nothing. If you hadn’t noticed, I hate all your boyfriends as a rule.”
“Oh, I didn’t notice since you always hate on just my one and only boyfriend,” William cocked his head with a little vicious smile playing on his lips.
“Unfortunately, your taste in man turned out to be just as horrible as your taste in clothes just like I always worried it would,” Yami sighed heavily. “This shirt is ugly as hell by the way.”
“Well, I have to say my taste in man is impeccable since I picked you up, my lovely brute.”
“Oi, tree guy! Stop hittin’ on nee-san’s boyfriend!” suddenly a tomboy girl called Sol, the proud vice president of the gardening club, emerged behind William.
“Come on, you know those two are always like that,” Finral tried to settle this with awkward laughter but Sol just tossed him an angry glare and marched off, clearly not having actual business here.
William who ignored Sol all together just smirked. He just poured them another shot, drunk it, and then leaned in to whisper something into Yami’s ear. His friend’s face remained unchanged, retaining its usual tired expression.
“You’re insane. And possibly suicidal. But fine,” Yami agreed. “But as soon as you start making out with the elf in front of me, I’m leaving.”
“You are always such a prude, Yami. I, on the other hand, would love to at least once catch you in some compromising situation with Charlotte.”
“No chance. I have decency. Unlike you and the elf.”
“Fair enough. See you there,” William winked and left, taking the vodka with him.
“What did William actually want, Yami?” Finral asked casually.
“There will be a secret after-party for club leaders in his dorm room later to celebrate that no one almost died this year. Probably Patri’s idea since he’s walking self-destruction. Ten people with strong magic in their small room is a death wish. This will be even worse tragedy that this whole tree event.”
***
Yami was wrong. During the party, only one of William’s bonsai got hit with Rill’s spell and started glowing in the dark in all the colors of the rainbow. They couldn’t fix it so it stayed like that. William claimed that the glow started getting weaker after a few days but Patri was pretty adamant that it didn’t. Also, a bed got burned down but Patri and William weren’t that upset about it since they didn’t actually need two. The very next day just ordered a sofa and hoped that no one from the dorm’s administration would notice.
In all, it wasn’t that bad. However, three weeks later, Yami and William were sitting together on the grass, watching a real disaster unfold.
Just like Yami and most of the captain’s expected, the zombies got out of control as well as the fires during Fuegoleon’s tournament. William closed the giant oak’s main exit in time to avoid raising panic there, leaving Finral inside to handle the guests who wanted to go out and opened a new one just for zombies. While inside the tree no one knew anything was wrong, the outside looked very post-apocalyptic.
Black Bulls, Patri and a few remaining members of the Crimson Lions were working hard on putting out the fires and killing the zombies but it wasn’t going too well. Asta was swinging his giant sword in rage slicing both fire and zombies yet there was little order to his actions and they didn’t seem to change much.
“Feel like getting up and helping them out, Yami?” William asked, looking at the tree but not moving an inch.
“No, let’s let the young ones handle it. They need experience.”
“I agree. They should show off some more before we graduate and leave them alone or they will have trouble next year with funding. But it would be better if it was just fire. The zombies might be too much. That’s why it’s good that Patri is still up there.”
“Where the fuck is Nozel by the way? Wasn’t he supposed to be here?”
“In the end, his club decided on doing hairstyling rescue stand. It looks like they needed every member there.”
“Of course that fucker found a way out from actual work. And Fuegoleon?”
“I’m not sure why but it seems that Nozel is ‘rescuing’ him now. I hope they will braid his hair. I would like to see that.”
“Fuegoleon’s hair is way healthier than Snoozle’s, it should be him doing the one rescuing. Hey, do you have any fire? I lost my lighter.”
“You know I prefer oxygen to smoke, Yami,” William reminded him. “But give it to me.”
He took the cigarette from Yami, grew a small bonsai and placed the cigarette on its branch. The branch kept extending until it reached the closest flames.
“Cool. But that won’t work,” Yami judged.
“It will.”
“You are going to burn it.”
“If I do, then I have a whole package to practice.”
The branch went back to their side with a perfectly fine lit cigarette. Yami put it to his mouth without any comment.
“Oi, Vangeance, your elf,” Yami suddenly stood up. “Move the lower left branch up a bit.”
Closer to the tree, a mal-aimed fireball was flying straight into floating Patri’s blind spot. They both reacted immediately. Yami took out his sword, sending dark magic to destroy the fireball. William too smoothly moved the bough a little up and grew a new branch one to shield the people inside from both the fire and Yami’s magic just in case. As soon as the new branch got hit by both, it disappeared. Patri barely noticed a thing but still waved to them thankfully.
“Tell your stupid boyfriend to stop floating that high,” Yami growled.
“I think he’s concentrating magic to...”
They were interrupted by enthusiastic clapping behind them. They turned to see Rector Julius, clearly overjoyed with everything that was happening.
“That was such a wonderful cooperation and precise magic use! That was just beautiful!”
“We are on the verge of burning down the university,” Yami pointed out.
“All clubs are doing exceptionally great this year,” Julius continued with enthusiasm. “That’s a fantastic organization, William. So much great magic...”
The whole area suddenly brightened as Patri was finished his spell preparation. Over every zombie’s head an enormous, at least two-meter long, magical sword has appeared. It took Patri another few seconds to let the swords go down, killing all the zombies at once.
After that, even though almost all Patri’s light went out, Julius was still clapping his hands vigorously. Exhausted, Patri flew over to them and pretty much collapsed, laying his head in William’s lap.
“Sorry about the zombies,” he said.
“We told you it was a terrible idea,” Yami reminded him. “And you should have listened. Next year we’re not letting your club do anything.”
“Don’t listen to him, Patri. And nice job cleaning this mess up a bit,” William leaned in and kissed Patri’s temple.
“Yes!” Julius finally let out. “That was some amazing magic! Was that a new spell?! It was brilliant!”
“Rector Julius!” Patri immediately straightened up, seating properly. “Sorry, I didn’t notice you, you were kind of... lurking in the shadows.”
“Don’t stress over it,” Julius dismissed it sitting on the ground next to his favorite students. “Tell me more about the spell.”
“It’s not that new. Me and Licht thought it up when we were killing pests in my mom’s garden a few years ago. We use it also on insects when they attack William’s bonsais.”
“So it was the first time you used it on such scale! Astounding!”
“Oi, don’t give him more money, this zombie apocalypse is his fault,” Yami barked.
“The founds are being distributed fairly, basing on application and research potential, don’t worry,” Julius smiled as he smoothly lied to them. “But I see that the Black Bulls deserve more money for new training equipment since they have so many eager fighters.”
They all watched as Noelle shot water from her wand at the fire in panic, only by chance avoiding hitting Asta who was chaotically running around. The Crimson Lion team clearly gave up since their magic was little help in the current situation.
“Everyone on the inside is safe, William?”
“Perfectly so. No fire inside either. Finral is sending people who want to go out right to the university gate.”
“Great. I think those two had had enough fun. Maybe call someone who can put the fire down now?” Julius suggested.
William nodded and pondered for a few seconds. Then he opened a hole in the tree bark right next to Flangil’s snow ice cream shop. She soon appeared in the newly formed window. When they pointed out to the fires, she immediately understood and cast a spell from her grimoire.
The snow started falling, quickly covering the branches as well as the fires and dead zombie bodies on the ground. Since the tree’s colorful decorations were still glowing, the oak was starting to look like a very strange winter festival decoration.
“Well. This is pretty,” Patri admitted dropping his head to rest it on William’s shoulder.
“Yes!” Julius agreed, gasping at the sight. “Absolutely wonderful!”