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Classes were out once again for the day, so everyone had gone to their clubs or went back to their dorms to study their homework. All was quiet in the Ramshackle Dorm, save for the sound of a sweeping broom. Yuuki hummed as she swept some dust off the floor and into a dustpan that Grim was holding with a look of boredom on his face.
“Are we done yet?” he asked. “I’m starvin’!”
“We’ll take a break, soon enough,” Yuuki said as she swept some more dust into the dustpan, accidentally sweeping some right into Grim’s face, causing him to cough and sneeze. “Oh! Sorry!”
“Whatever…” Grim grumbled, when all of a sudden, there was a knock on the door, gaining Yuuki and Grim’s attention.
“Delivery!” a voice outside called.
“Huh?” Yuuki muttered as she took off her do-rag and apron. “I don’t remember ordering anything.”
“Ooh!” Grim chirped in excitement as he scampered to the door. “Maybe it’s a special tuna delivery from Crowley!”
“Somehow, I doubt it,” said Yuuki as she followed after him and opened the door, finding a small package at the doorstep.
“That’s it?” Grim asked, sounding disappointed. “I was expectin’ somethin’ bigger, y’know!”
“Hmm…” Yuuki hummed as she picked up the box and read the label.
DELIVER TO: IDIA SHROUD AT NIGHT RAVEN COLLEGE
“Idia Shroud?” Yuuki muttered as she looked at the rest of the address, only to find that the rest of it was smudged with ink.
“Well, I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth!” Grim exclaimed. “Let’s open it up and see what’s inside!”
“Hold it, Grim!” Yuuki exclaimed. “This isn’t ours, so we can’t just open it!”
“Why not?” Grim asked. “Who’s gonna know?”
“The one who ordered this is gonna know!” Yuuki argued. “Look, we’re gonna take this package and bring it to its rightful owner.”
“Do we have to?” Grim asked in irritation as he crossed his paws.
“Yes, we do,” Yuuki answered as she went to grab her jacket to protect herself from the chilly autumn breeze. “Come on, let’s go see if we can someone who knows where we can find this Idia person.”
“Come to think of it,” Grim said, “didn’t Trey mention someone like that?”
“Oh, yeah!” Yuuki exclaimed. “Let’s go ask him!”
~TWST~
“You’re looking for Idia?” asked Trey as Yuuki stopped him in the hallway as he was about to head to Science Club. “You say you’re looking for Idia?”
“Yes,” Yuuki answered as she held up the package. “This package was brought to the Ramshackle Dorm by mistake, so I’m hoping to return it to him. Do you know where he is, Trey-senpai?”
“Well, he and Cater are in the same class,” Trey answered. “Usually, Idia would be in Board Game Club by now, but you can usually find him in his room.”
“Who is this Idia guy, again?” Grim asked.
“Idia Shroud is the Housewarden of Ignihyde,” Trey replied. “He’s a third-year, like me and Cater, but he’s a bit… introverted, though.”
“Right,” Yuuki said. “Didn’t Cater-senpai mention that he mostly stays in his room?”
“That’s right,” Trey replied. “He prefers to stay in his room to play video games all day and he takes all his classes online, except for P.E.”
“I see,” Yuuki muttered before casting her eyes to the floor, furrowing her brow in thought. “Hmm… poor guy…”
“What was that?” Trey asked.
“Nothing,” Yuuki replied. “So, Ignihyde… I just get there using one of the mirrors, right?”
“That’s right,” Trey answered, “but… maybe you should have someone go with you.”
“Hey!” Grim spat. “Are you sayin’ I can’t protect my minion?!”
Yuuki could only giggle as she gently pat the cat monster on the head, causing him to pout as a blush formed on his cheeks.
“I’ll be fine, Trey-senpai,” she assured. “I’ve got Grim with me.”
“If you say so,” Trey said. “Good luck.”
Soon after, Yuuki and Grim headed to the Hall of Mirrors, where they stood before the entrance to the Ignihyde Dorm. However, this one looked rather… foreboding. Both sides were bordered with huge, creepy skulls, and at the very top of the mirror, Yuuki stared into the eyes of a fierce, three-headed dog that snarled at her, causing her and Grim to gulp nervously.
“Uh… maybe this guy’s not even missin’ his package, y’know,” Grim said, nervously.
“We’ve already come this far, Grim,” Yuuki said. “I’m sure it won’t be that scary.” Taking a deep breath, she and Grim soon entered the mirror… and as they came out the other side, they found themselves standing at the bottom of a spiral staircase that was lined with torches that burned with blue flames, which led to a huge building that was in the shape of those Greek temples that Yuuki would read about in her textbooks back in her world. The building itself looked like four gigantic skeletons with glowing blue eyes were holding it up.
What made it more foreboding, though, was that Yuuki shivered as she felt this unearthly chill.
“Yuuki… this place is givin’ me the creeps, y’know…!” Grim whimpered as he clung to her leg, his fur bristling in fright. “Can’t we just leave the package here?”
“It’ll be okay, Grim,” said Yuuki. “Just stick with me, okay?”
“I-if ya say so,” Grim muttered as he glanced over at the statue of the same three-headed dog from the mirror, causing him to yelp in fright before he clambered onto Yuuki’s shoulder. “Let’s just hurry and find this Idia guy!!”
Yuuki nodded as she began to make her way up the stairs, climbing higher and higher until she finally reached the entrance to the dorm, and upon entering, she found herself in a large room that was brightly lit. It had a bit of a mixture of Ancient Greece with a bit of a modern aesthetic. Actually, it was way more modern than what Yuuki was used to. It felt more like Yuuki was standing in the setting of one of her favorite sci-fi anime shows back in her world. It even had those floating touch screens, all in blue!
“Whoa…!” Grim whispered in awe. “This is weird, but in a cool way, y’know! So this is Ignihyde?”
“Trey-senpai did say that they work on magical technology, here,” Yuuki replied as she looked around, but did not really find many students around. “Although… this place sure seems deserted. I wonder how we’re going to find Idia-senpai?”
“Hello there!”
“BWAH!!” Yuuki and Grim shrieked as they turned around to see what appeared to be a young boy.
“Oh, sorry!” he said. “Didn’t mean to scare you!”
Yuuki’s eyes widened as she looked at the boy. He looked like he was at least her brother’s age… maybe a little bit older. It looked like he was wearing some sort of black armor with a triangle motif, and these bright amber eyes that seemed to say “Hello, I wanna be friends!”. Also, he had sapphire blue hair… that seemed to be flickering like flames, and even though his mouth was hidden beneath some sort of mask, Yuuki could almost make out a smile.
‘A little boy?’ she thought. ‘Although… Trey-senpai did say that child prodigies do enroll in this school, sometimes.”
“Um… excuse me?” the boy asked. “Do you need help with something?”
“Huh?” Yuuki muttered. “Oh, right! Are you a student from this dorm?”
“Kind of,” said the boy as he extended his hand. “My name is Ortho Shroud! It’s nice to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you, too, Ortho,” Yuuki replied as she shook the boy’s hand. “I’m Yuuki Hajime, the Prefect of the Ramshackle Dorm, and this is Grim.”
“That’s the Great Grim to you!” Grim corrected.
“Ignore him, he has a bit of an ego,” Yuuki replied. “So, Ortho, do you know someone named Idia Shroud?”
“Oh, yeah! He’s my big brother!” Ortho replied as his eyes seemed to sparkle with admiration. “He’s also the housewarden here! Isn’t that cool?”
“It certainly is,” Yuuki replied with a smile. “So, do you know where your brother might be? I’m here to bring a package to him that got delivered to my dorm by mistake.”
“Oh, yeah!” Ortho exclaimed as he saw the package in her hands. “That must be the video game that Idia is waiting for! He was really excited about it, so he ordered it 3 months ago when it was first announced! Come to think of it, he did seem pretty anxious. I guess he thought the package got lost.”
“I can take it to him,” Yuuki said. “Is he here?”
“He’s in his room on the top floor,” Ortho Shroud as he pointed at the elevator nearby. “Just take the elevator!”
“...There was an elevator…?” Grim asked in disbelief. “Why the hell did we take the stairs?!”
~TWST~
The elevator dinged as Yuuki and Grim walked out into an open hallway.
“Let’s see, now,” Yuuki muttered as she looked around. “Where could Idia-senpai’s room be?”
“That Ortho kid said that we’d know it by the giant skull on the door,” said Grim as he walked alongside her. “How do we know if we found… it…” he trailed off as he and Yuuki found themselves standing in front of a large door with a giant skull printed on it.
“This is it,” said Yuuki as she looked at the plaque at the side of the door.
IDIA SHROUD
HOUSEWARDEN
ROOMMATE: ORTHO SHROUD
“Okay, we found his room,” Grim said. “Let’s just leave the package here and go!”
“We have to let him know we brought it, first,” Yuuki reminded before she knocked on the door. “Hello! Is there an Idia Shroud here? Hello~!”
A pause… before Yuuki heard the sound of the doorknob click, followed by a creak as it opened, ever so slightly. As she looked up, that’s when she saw a pale face with golden yellow eyes and icy blue lips. His hair was so long that it reached down to his ankles… and just like Ortho’s hair, it seemed to be made of blue flames.
“Hi!” Yuuki greeted.
“EEK!!” the guy cried as he quickly slammed the door.
“Well, that was rude, y’know,” Grim deadpanned while Yuuki knocked on the door, again.
“G-go away!”
“Are you Idia Shroud?”
“W-why do you wanna know? What do you want?!”
“My name is Yuuki Hajime and I only came to bring you your package! It got dropped off at my dorm by mistake, so I thought I’d come and bring it to you! It’s the video game you ordered, right? Your brother told me you waited a long time for it!”
There was no response.
“Okay,” Yuuki muttered. “Listen, I’ll just leave it here in front of the door, okay?” She soon did exactly that, gently placing the box down on the floor. “I have to go now… but it was nice meeting you!”
Once again, there was no answer from the young man on the other side, so she decided to just leave things at that. She picked Grim up and carried him off as she headed to the elevator, only to find Ortho waiting for her.
“So, did you see him?” he asked her. “Did he get his package?”
“I left it in front of the door for him,” Yuuki answered. “He acted like he wanted nothing to do with me.”
“He was pretty rude, y’know,” Grim added.
“He’s not rude!” Ortho shouted, his hair flaring up a bit, which did startle Yuuki and Grim just a little. “He’s just… really shy. My brother doesn’t interact with people very much… so it’s hard for him to make friends… but he’s really nice!”
“Is that so?” Yuuki asked as she glanced back at Idia’s door, where she saw that the package had already been taken inside. “Hmm…”
~TWST~
Idia sighed in relief as he opened his package, revealing the video game that he had waited so long for: Eternal Fantasy IX . It got announced earlier this year and he had pre-ordered it on that very day since doing so would get him the deluxe weapon and armor set that was guaranteed to boost his stats. Now that he finally got it, he couldn’t wait to start playing, especially online with his gamer friends. Soon, he sat down cross-legged on the floor and inserted the disc into the console.
As he waited for it to download, his mind momentarily wandered to the image of the girl who brought his video game… the way she smiled so brightly… the way she talked… he knew that there was a girl attending this school, now, but he never once thought that he'd actually meet her.
'What an… oddly cute girl…'
Idia felt his heart thump inside his chest… but he just passed it off as him being excited about playing his new game.