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"I'm telling you, I'm fine!" Yuu rolled their eyes. "You don't need to do this!"
Riddle pursed his lips. "Yuu, you and I have two very different definitions of the word 'fine'."
The other Housewardens watched them curiously, turning their heads back and forth between the two like a ping-pong match.
"Well, I can move, I'm fine."
"That's- no, Yuu-"
The doors to the Mirror Chamber were slammed open and Crowley strode in dramatically to eye-rolls from everyone except Kalim and Idia, who had just sent his tablet. "Let the Housewarden Meeting commence!"
Everyone stared at him expectantly.
"Ahem." Lowering his arms, he continued with his theatrics. "First, Mr. Rosehearts has an announcement to make."
"Riddle! I told you, I'm fine!"
"Yuu, this has been going on for months and you haven't told any of us, you are not fine!"
Turning to face the other Housewardens, Riddle's gray eyes roved over the other six- well, five plus Yuu and Idia's tablet. "I am here before you all today because all of us- including myself- have missed something important going on for months."
Leona yawned, but his pupils let slip that he was paying attention. Azul leaned in slightly, showing his interest.
Crowley slipped out of the room silently.
"A few days ago, four of my students- two freshmen and two juniors- Ace Trappola, Deuce Spade, Cater Diamond, and Trey Clover, along with myself bore witness to a student being bullied by seven others, one from each dorm."
Ace and Deuce were heading to Ramshackle after their club activities when they saw a commotion on the road up ahead. One student was on the ground, surrounded by seven others, clearly being bullied.
The two Heartslabyul students were about to continue on their way when they recognized the student on the ground.
"So?" Leona yawned again. "What's so important about some herbivore getting bullied?"
"I must agree with Leona," Azul dipped his head. "While the fact that there was a student from each dorm is interesting, I see nothing else of note in your tale so far, Riddle."
Riddle closed his eyes and lowered his head. "The student in question was Yuu."
It was Yuu.
Freezing in their tracks, they stared at the scene before them.
"Now, you know you're just using some strange magic to get our Housewardens to like you, right?"
Yuu glared up at the boy who had spoken, and Ace was surprised to see real malice in their eyes.
"Stop tricking them."
"Your friends are going to leave you when you stop mind-controlling them."
"Why keep lying?"
Leona stiffened in his seat, dropping all pretenses of being tired. Who were the idiots who had dared to mess with his Herbivore?
Azul's eyes darkened as he started planning on how to get them to make a deal with him or get Floyd to squeeze them.
Kalim's usual cheerful grin dropped off his face as he stared at Riddle in disbelief.
Vil started working on how to punish whoever had dared to mess with Yuu suitably. If he must, he could use poison or a curse, but that would be his last resort.
Idia's fingers paused on his keyboard, waiting for the bullies' names so that he could block their internet connections.
The sky above them darkened as Malleus began figuring out how to make sure that such a thing would never happen again.
Yuu stared at their seniors, shocked at the vengeful expressions that appeared on their faces. "Um..."
"If you say that you're 'fine' one more time, it'll be Off With Your Head."
Ace and Deuce had heard enough.
Stepping forward, Ace glared daggers at the group. "What's going on here?"
The seven, especially the one from Heartslabyul froze at the sight of them. The one from Savanaclaw kicked Yuu as discreetly as he could, which wasn't very discreet. Their eyes flickered white for a second before reverting to dark brown.
The Diasomnia student stepped forward, his fist punching his palm. "Trappola. Spade."
"You wanna go?" Deuce growled lowly.
Yuu stared up at them fearfully and Ace realized with a sinking feeling in his heart that they weren't afraid of the bullies. They were scared that Ace and Deuce had seen what was going on.
"Hey, hey." A new voice entered the conversation. "Do you think you can back off?" Cater's voice was polite, but there was anger threaded beneath it that couldn't be hidden. His emerald eyes were for once not bright but rather dark and stormy with rage.
"Indeed," Trey stepped in, his voice low and eyes locked into a fierce glare. "It would be best for you to leave."
"Or else it will be Off With Your Heads," Riddle finished, stepping out from behind the statue of the Queen of Hearts. He was glaring harder than Ace had ever seen before.
The bullies all paled and ran off, muttering about 'damn Cards' and 'we'll need to get back at them for this!'
The five stared after them, gazes still alight with fury. Trey reached down, offering Yuu a hand which they took gratefully.
Once they were upright, they dusted their leggings off. "Thanks. You didn't need to do that."
"Of course, we had to," Riddle stated matter-of-factly. "Did you think that we would leave you to them?"
"Oh for the love of the Seven, please tell me that you didn't think that..." Vil groaned.
Yuu's eyes slipped off to the side as they deigned to answer.
"Here," Trey pulled Yuu off to a bench. "Let's check to see if you're hurt."
"Oh, I'm fine-"
"Nope!" Ace strode over to them and unceremoniously forced them to sit on the bench. "I saw your eyes turn white for a moment, you are not fine."
"I need to control that better," they muttered.
"Hey, Yuu, how many fingers am I holding up?" Cater asked, shoving a hand holding up four fingers into their face.
"...four?"
Trey sat down beside Yuu, hands hovering over their shoulders. "May I?"
"...sure?"
Gently but firmly, he began prodding at their shoulders and ribs, the others watching Yuu carefully for any reaction.
Gritting their teeth, they tried to control their eyes and expression. On the fifth poke, they failed, their iris fading to white.
"Your ribs?"
"Mhm."
"May I see them?"
Absently, they raised the hem of their shirt, still trying to pull their eye color back to brown.
A gasp startled them out of their thoughts.
"What?" Leona pressed for more information when Riddle paused. "What was it?"
"It was... the worst thing I'd ever seen." There was a haunted look in his gray eyes.
A mass of unusual color covered their stomach. Fresh purple bruises, bright and painful, were layered on top of older ones that had faded into brown and yellow. They drew in a quick breath, clamping down on a wince.
Cater stared at them, unusually still. "Yuu. How...long has this been going on?" His words were hesitant and quiet as if he didn't want to know the answer.
They shrugged nonchalantly. "Since the Spelldrive Tournament."
"That long?"
"It wasn't that bad. I've dealt with worse."
"Since the Spelldrive Tournament?" Azul repeated incredulously.
Yuu nodded. "It was just Quintus and Sondergang at first, and the others joined over time."
"Quintus Cor, Second-Year, Class B, Number 17?" Riddle asked.
"And Sondergang Solis, Third-Year?" Leona growled.
"Yeah....why?"
The two exchanged furtive glances. "Nothing."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Yuu stared at the ground, biting their lip. They muttered something that the others couldn't catch.
"What was that?"
"They threatened to hurt you and everyone else if I told anyone."
"Ah," Riddle's eyes bored into them. "Well, if anyone tries anything like that again, it'll be Off With Their Heads."
"C'mon, let's get you to the Infirmary," Trey urged, pulling Yuu into a standing position.
"Bastards."
"Rest assured, this will never happen again."
"Yeah! We'll make sure you're safe, Yuu!"
"Even if they try anything, I believe I can handle them."
"Ugh, normies suck."
"I will do everything in my power to prevent another incident like this from occurring again."
"..."
"If you try to claim that you are 'fine' one more time, I suspect that you will be chained to one of us for the remainder of your time here at this school."
"No, I just-" A sigh escaped from their mouth. "Thank you. All of you."
Kalim tipped his head to the side in confusion. "What for?"
"For caring. About me."
"Why would you thank us for that?"
"It's just- I- people don't tend to care about me."
"Do you know how badly you're injured?" Trey asked them on their way to the Infirmary.
"At least five of my ribs are broken, possibly others, but none of them are displaced. There's a lot of bruises over my ribcage and chest area, and there's some scrapes over my back and hands."
"Wait, how do you know that?" Cater asked.
"I have a lot of practice with diagnosing and treating my injuries."
"Wait, why?"
Their eyes widened and darted to the side. "I was a pretty active child."
"Well putting that aside," Trey muttered. "At least five broken ribs, that's going to be pretty troublesome..."
"I've been worse."
"I'm sorry," Vil began incredulously. "Did you just say you've been worse than how Riddle described you looked?"
Yuu smiled mysteriously. "Perhaps."
"Give me a straight answer."
Their smile dropped and they stared at the floor. "My parents..."
The mood in the room dropped even lower as everyone caught on to what they meant.
"They aren't the best."
Everyone frowned, but before they could comment on that, they reached the Infirmary.
Reaching out, Cater pushed the door to the room open, sticking his head inside. "Yoohoo! Nurse Gothem! You in there?"
"What is it?"
"Can you scan Yuu for us?" Riddle asked, pulling said teen to stand beside him.
"So? Final verdict?"
"Seven broken ribs, one cracked one, and severe ecchymosis over the rib and chest area," Yuu rattled off absently.
"Seven?"
"And this has been going on since October?"
"Mhm."
"When did your ribs start to break?"
"Around December or so."
"And you still dealt with all of the Overblots?"
"Wait, shouldn't they have healed in that time?"
"No, they only heal when you actually rest and give them time."
"Do you know the names of everyone that hurt you?"
"The Octavinelle student is Kavour, the Scarabia student is Paprika, the Pomefiore student is Vogle, the Ignihyde student is Rodi, and the Diasomnia student is Roda."
"Alright."
"...do I want to know what you'll do to them?"
"Maybe not."
"I thought so."
No one complained when the seven students got collared, beaten within an inch of their lives, squeezed, lost their signature magic, lost all of their social status, mysteriously ended up poisoned and cursed, had their internet connection suddenly blocked off, and were repeatedly tormented by mischievous Fae.
They got what they deserved.