Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Life was not easy.

And Yuu knew that very well. After all, she witnessed it first-hand. Not to mention the things the people around her experienced, compared to some of the stuff her best friend would experience, what she saw was nothing.

So, why was she suicidal? She had it good compared to some others. 

Yuu tried not to think about that fact while she stared at the open gymnasium below, tempted to jump but too scared of what might come after her drop to commit. Yuu wanted a lot of things. She wanted to be considered healthy by her country's standards, she wanted to have a lot of friends, she wanted to not care anymore, and she wanted to die. And she wanted so much more than that, but life was unfair, and she wasn't granted what she wished for.

Yuu was sitting at the edge of the rooftop, internally debating whether or not she should take her fate into her own hands and jump or wait for her body to decay and rot away, never to be remembered by anyone again.

The girl thought about her family, her friends, her classmates. How would they react when she died? Thinking about her family in grief because of her suicide brought a strange satisfaction to the girl. She felt disgusting. And even more so when she thought about her friends. They were just teens, they didn't deserve to be subjected to the heavy grief of a close friend's suicide. Then, she thought about her classmates, and she felt nothing. Yuu highly doubted that they would care, especially Quin. 

But, it did sting when she thought about her crush not caring whether she died or not...

Okay, let's get rid of that train of thought before she spiralled.

Yuu walked away from the ledge, now sitting a good distance away. The girl was on a rooftop, more specifically, a rooftop gym that her school rarely used. When she was still in elementary, it was more commonly used, though that didn't say much since it was still scarcely used.

The entrance was to the left of where she was facing, a good few meters away. The ground was painted green, the reason for why was lost on her. Perhaps her school liked their brand way too much. To prevent people from falling, nets were acting as walls. To the right was a small room that presumably led to the school's breakers. It was pretty creepy since it was dark and rather dirty the last time Yuu checked it out.

Yuu stared long and hard at the room, tempted to go inside and see what was actually in there. She remembered thinking that there was a ghost in there when she was younger. And now that she thought about it, it would make sense why she never saw anyone come in or out of there. Perhaps the staff thought there was a ghost as well.

Yuu got up from where she sat and walked to the gate of the room, peeking inside to see if her theories back then were true. As expected, they were not. All she saw was a strange mirror that was definitely an antique from somewhere. Maybe from American countries? Or perhaps European. It looked nothing like any Asian mirror she had seen, that was for sure.

Actually, now that Yuu was properly looking, the mirror looked much like that game she was obsessed with three years ago. What was it called again? Twisted something? All she remembered was that it was a Disney game and that it was from Japan.

'I swear if this is a goddamn isekai plot...' Yuu couldn't help but think. It was impossible, she thought. But on the off-chance that Isekai was possible? Yeah, she was gonna steer clear of that thing. And since it didn't show her reflection, that only heightened her suspicions. Yuu hated her life, but she much preferred to suffer in a familiar world than a world she had no standing in.

Yuu backed away from the closed gate, walked away and sat back down.

Now, you must be wondering why she was just sitting around and doing nothing when it was literally a school day. The truth was that the world was about to end soon. She knew that it was a little weird to go visit her elementary/middle school as a last stop, but that was the only place she could think of that didn't take a long of effort. 

Yuu was just sitting around and waiting for the inevitable, watching as the clouds passed and the sky slowly darkened into a beautiful pinkish-orange hue. Her parents were probably somewhere with their friends, having one last laugh before the meteor hit and the earth's core erupted. Yuu's siblings were most likely doing the same.

Yuu had no friends. Well, at least no one who was near her. Her best friend, Astra, had moved to Korea to study fashion and stuff. Her other friends chased their ambitions and went off to different school's and moved to different areas, far away from her reach.

As Yuu mulled about her life, the meteor that was fated to fall appeared in the sky. It was big and it was heading to the Earth at a rapid pace. In Yuu's mind, she thought it would take only a few minutes until the meteor hit and the earth's very core erupted to finish anything that could've survived.

Yuu braced herself, staring at the sky in silent resignation. After all, she was just an ordinary human, how could she possibly manage to change the course of the planet's fate? What could a 17-year-old failure of a daughter possibly do to prevent the world's destruction? The answer was; Nothing. She could do nothing but pray that perhaps in another life humanity wouldn't be doomed to die.

And pray she did. Pray that a planet would welcome humans, pray that her friends to be reborn into perfectly normal and good lives, pray that she wouldn't live in a a new world and taint it with her sin. 

The universe deserved a much better daughter than she.

Ahh, my dearly beloved...

'What the fuck.' Yuu thought in alarm, tense now that she heard a strange voice suddenly talking. She sat up quickly and looked around the small open-roofed gym, not a person in sight. The girl felt dread pool up in the pit of her stomach, 'Don't tell me...' Yuu looked to the gate of the small room she was just looking at, it was open.

The most noble and beautiful flower of evil...

Yuu wanted to run away, that damned room was literally the scariest thing they had to endure as a kid. But something was compelling them to do the complete opposite of what she would do as a child. She guessed that it was that stupid mirror.

Yuu stayed rooted in place, terrified beyond belief. Normally, creepy old guy voices don't come out of nowhere, so you could understand her fright, right?

Truly, you are the fairest in this land...

Yuu would beg to differ, sure, she thought that she looked pretty cute sometimes, but fairest? Now, this mirror person must be exaggerating. In her adamant refusal to be the fairest, Yuu forgot that this was a mirror person whom she should probably be more alarmed about.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

What a second, isn't this voice...? Holy shit, it is. Dammit all. She was going to be isekai'd into Twisted Wonderland wasn't she? Fuck. Yuu didn't want to be transported into another world, she just wanted to find her place in the world, the world that was about to die. She didn't want to inhabit a new one. Yuu barely had any skills that would be useful. She could barely cook, she wasn't the smartest of the bunch, nor did she have any pretty privilege. Life over there was going to suck. Not to mention how she would need to rely on herself because of the fact that she was a girl, shit. And Crowley? He was as reliable as a pebble.

Who is the most…

And there goes that stupid voice again... Oh well, she would die anyway, might as well wait it out.

...Those who are guided by the dark mirror, for as long as you desire, take the hand which appears from within the reflection.

Against her will, Yuu's body stood up. 'Shit,' the girl cursed internally, panicking now that she was practically being voodooed to enter that creepy ass room with the equally creepy mirror. Despite disliking the religion she was born in, Yuu prayed to God, hoping that the Lord from above would forgive her sins just this once. As expected, nothing happened and she was still walking to the mirror, albeit, a bit wobbly.

As soon as Yuu reached in front of the gate, she tried her hardest to avoid entering, unwilling to let herself fall victim to the common isekai/transmigration troupe. Look, she enjoyed them as stories, but that was it, as stories. As much as Yuu would like to lie, she would never survive if she ever got isekai'd.

Despite the girl's strength, she was still pushed inside, and her hand moved on its own to grab the one from the darkness of the mirror. It was pale and its grip was rather... light? Yuu honestly expected their hold to be tighter, considering how it was going to be her anchor and main navigator.

For me. For them. For you… We are all running out of time. No matter what… Never soften your grip.

'Fine, I'll play your game.' Yuu relented, giving up on resisting this force that drove her to this isekai plot. And so, the hand pulled her into the looking glass. Everything blacked out as soon as Yuu's whole body went through the mirror. 'Hello, world of villains...' Was her last bitter thought.

Chapter Text

Yuu awoke inside the void, which she now remembered to be a coffin. She lifted a hand to feel around the space she was in. Yep. It was a coffin alright. Now, to get out of here...

Yuu kicked the lid of the coffin, and it rattled. She kicked again, another rattle. This process went on for about a few more seconds until the lid made a gap, albeit a bit small. Yuu was going to give the lid another bang, but this time with her whole body. And so she did.

The lid came off with a loud thud, and Yuu emerged, wearing the ceremonial robes that had been slipped on her by magic. She grabbed the shoulder she used to ram the lid off, groaning at the dull pain. As Yuu sulked about the pain, a door opened and closed, revealing a feline monster.

Yuu blankly stared at the monster, and the monster stared back before shrieking. "GYAAHH!! WHY ARE YOU AWAKE?!" It exclaimed loudly, which was Yuu hiss at the sheer volume of its vocal cords.

If she remembered correctly... Then this was Grim, the cat-like monster who she would be forced to take care of. Quickly, Yuu fiddled with her robes, trying to take it off before she suddenly noticed that he didn't have a hijab on. For fucks sake... Yuu didn't like wearing those things, but because of the fact that she had worn them for literal years, she felt a little naked without them on.

Gritting her teeth, Yuu mumbled curses, frustrated. See Yuu's original plan was to save herself the trouble and just give Grim her outer robes and use the clothes under them only, but thanks to the fact that she had no hijab on, she was forced to make up a different plan.

Grim, who had recovered from the shock, got angry now that he noticed that Yuu was ignoring him. "Hey! Are you ignorin' me-YAAH!!"

Yuu grabbed Grim by the neck and faced him away from her. Normally, she wouldn't be so cruel to felines, but she held a grudge against Grim for being such a brat and also giving the MC more trouble than they should get. Yuu wasn't about to let this puny thing trample over her and treat her like some goddamn canon fodder.

"Shut your mouth and don't you dare do anything to me or else I will snap your neck, understood?" Yuu snarled, glaring at the monster in her hold. Grim, now terrified of being killed, quickly shut his mouth and went docile, a smart choice for someone like him. Honestly, Yuu was surprised that worked, but she held her tongue and went out of the room she was in, not bothering to search the room. If her journey is like anything in the game, then she should search for an authoritative figure and let them take care of Grim.

As she explored the halls, Yuu admired the architecture, finding the building's design very pretty. If only Crowley's competency matched Night Raven College's beauty...

She ended up getting lost. It was kinda hard not to when the campus was gigantic and a place she was unfamiliar with. But Yuu was undeterred, she kept searching for people and decided to just wait a bit until she saw a ghost or person walking around. Which didn't take too long, since after she waited a few minutes, she saw a stout ghost floating around.

Overjoyed, Yuu ran up to it, hoping that it was some of NRC's staff or someone acquainted with this labyrinth of a school. "Uhm! Hi, hello! Could you, uh, could you show me where I can find one of the staff or a, uh, a dorm leader?" Yuu quickly asked, braver now that she was speaking to a ghost.

The ghost she was talking to raised an eyebrow, looking at her suspiciously. "And who are you, lad...?" He questioned, wary. Oh, shit. Right, introduces first, and questions for directions later. It's just a minor oversight; calm down, Yuu.

Yuu breathed in shakily, nervous to talk now that she noticed her mistake. "Ah, right, sorry, uhm... My name is Yuu-" Fake name? Fake name. "-o Nakajisa, I'm one of the new first years."

The ghost's suspicious expression softened, "Nice to meet you, Yuuo. If you're looking for staff, you should head to the mirror chamber." The ghost advised, and Yuu almost made the terrible mistake of thanking him and then leaving before she realized that she had no idea where the mirror chamber was cause she got lost. 

"Uh, sorry, but could you show me the way? I got lost..." Yuu sulked. Hopefully, she seemed pitiful enough to convince the ghost to show her the way. And pitied she was. 

It took a few seconds until the ghost sighed in resignation, "Alright, fine. Follow me." Yuu was really grateful yet also felt bad. She promised that if she ever saw this kind ghost again, she would make sure to do him a favour or something along those lines... Either way! She needed to get Grim under control.

The ghost then walked in the complete opposite of where Yuu was planning to go, leading the girl to where she hoped was the mirror chamber and not just a trick so that he could kidnap her.

...

What? You can't blame a girl for being wary, could you?

Anyway, it was silent while they walked, except for Grim's occasional struggles to make Yuu let go, to which Yuu just responded by tightening her grip slightly. Grim immediately shut up and just went limp, temporarily giving up on trying to set himself free. 

It didn't take too long to reach the mirror chamber. Thank you, unnamed ghost man, you have done a great service to us all.

Yuu turned to the ghost who led her to the mirror chamber, a soft smile on her face as she bowed slightly. "Thank you for showing me the way, sir..." The girl thanked the ghost politely, remembering his generosity for future endeavours. Hopefully, he was a bleeding heart and liked to help people. God knows that she needed all the hospitality she could get in this god-forsaken school.

The ghost smiled back and just nodded before drifting off to somewhere else, literally.

It was kinda trippy, seeing someone just casually float off to another place instead of walking, but Yuu wouldn't lie and say that she didn't envy that fact. She wanted to float as well. 

Shaking her head, she shook away the envy she felt and turned to the door, swallowing her saliva to prepare herself. And so, Yuu opened the big doors, her anxiety skyrocketing when she noticed that the ceremony was still ongoing. For the love of God. Part of the reason why she left was so that she could wait out being seen by so many people, she hated too much public attention.

"Who's that?"

"Is that another first year?"

"He wasn't in any of the gates when I checked..."

"Maybe he broke himself out?"

Yuu forced herself to move from where she stood and walked over to one of the teachers, who wasn't wearing a robe. She could clearly see his face. Wracking her brain for the characters' names in the game, she remembered Crewel, based on Cruella. 

"Uhm, sir." Yuu meekly said, catching the man's attention. "Could you... restrain this thing? I found it after I woke up." The girl requested, and Crewel was visibly about to speak before Grim got irritated and started to struggle. "Myah!! I ain't a thing!-" He quickly shut up after another firm grip.

Crewel stared at Yuu blankly before sighing and going somewhere. Fuck, did he abandon her? Oh, wait, never mind, he just went to grab someone else. The person Crewel grabbed was pretty short, a few inches shorter than her, which said a lot since Yuu had those Asian genes. He also had a stern expression, one that strangely reminded her of her mother.

"Is this the cat you were talking about, Master Crewel?" The red-haired boy asked as he took a good look at the cat in Yuu's hand before diverting his attention to the other man. The half' n' half-haired man nodded, "Indeed it is Rosehearts, so, could you be a dear lock it up?" Rosehearts... Ah, right. Riddle Rosehearts, was one of her favourites back when she was still obsessed with the game.

Riddle nodded and then swiftly pulled out his pen and chanted his unique magic, "Off with your head!" And a collar appeared, cutting off Grim's magic. Yuu had let go of Grim before her hands could get stuck. However, she had let go a little too late and got a small part of her skin stuck in the collar. It didn't last long since Grim was quite heavy all by himself and paired with that heavy ass collar, it dropped and ripped a small part of her finger.

While Riddle was going off on Grim and saying rule thousandth of whatever, Yuu let out a pained hiss, bringing up her finger to inspect the wound. It didn't look all that bad, however, the pain itself was... unpleasant.

Crewel, noticing her small hiss, looked at the injured girl and narrowed his eyes. "You." He called, and Yuu flinched, wondering if she got in trouble, for some reason. "What's your name?" The professor asked, scrutinizing the girl−not like he knew she was a girl, though...

Yuu stumbled with her words, cradling her injured hand as she tried to remember the fake name she gave the ghost. "Uhm... I'm Yuuo Nakajisa." She answered. And Crewel hummed and stared at her for a few minutes longer, which made the poor girl squirm. He sighed and shook his head, almost as if exasperated with her. Great, Yuu landed in a new world and annoyed a teacher in the span of... an hour? Minutes? Whatever it was, it was quite short.

In her internal pessimism, Crewel spoke, "Do make sure to visit the infirmary after this, pup." He ordered, his voice was stern yet it had a hint of care within the tone. Yuu was reminded of her mother. She wondered if her mother was also transported into another world... Probably not. Unaware of Yuu's wandering thoughts, Crewel continued to speak. "Now, go line up with the others over there." He pointed at a large group of students, presumably the ones who hadn't been sorted.

Yuu nodded meekly, hurrying off to go stand with the ones unsorted. She grabbed a hold of her hood and made sure that it hid her hair and her face, slouching in the process to make herself small and hide her chest(also because it was way more comfortable than standing up straight). Yuu didn't like the multiple eyes on her, but her anxiety lightened when most of those eyes looked back to the front.

Yuu let out a breath, relieved that those eyes weren't on her. Her eyes also drifted to the front, watching the other students be sorted into different dorms, and then she saw one of the characters, what was his name again...? Se...

"SEBEK ZIGVOLT!!!"

...

Well, that answered my question... Yuu thought, mildly amused at how loud Sebek was, though, she was more annoyed than anything. She couldn't stand people whose voices literally shook the whole room. Actually, Sebek loosely reminded her of Quin, because of the extreme volume.

Yuu wracked her brain, trying to remember his character. He... He was the one who put that horned guy on a pedestal, right? Yuu mused, staring as Sebek was sorted into Diasomnia. She snorted when he turned around, looking very pleased and proud that he was sorted into Diasomnia. And for the rest of the ceremony, it was pretty boring. Seemed like Yuu missed the other first years sorting... Oh well, Yuu doubted that it could be any more interesting than Sebek's.

And then when the second last student went over to stand with their respected dormmates, Yuu's anxiety spiked and she was about to hurry over to stand in front of the dark Mirror... If it wasn't for Crowley bursting inside like the dramatic peacock he was.

Dramatically, Crowley tried to stop the ceremony, "Wait!! we were missing stu- huh...?" Crowley stared at Yuu, and she stared back, like a deer in headlights. Murmurs started, and Yuu sweated, even more nervous as the worry seeped into her brain. Crowley stood there, dumbfounded. And she noticed that... there was another student? Was that..?

Yuu squinted, observing the person next to him. That was Yuuka! The second MC in the Manga! Praise be Allah, it's Yuuka!

Yuu felt excitement blossom in your chest when she realised she wasn't going to be the only girl in this god-forsaken school. At long last! She was going to be accompanied by... Wait a minute...

Behind Yuuka, if Yuu squinted harder, she could make out... three others?! Are you serious!? OH MY GOD. OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD

OH MY GOOOOODDD!!

Yuu regretted every bad thing she thought and said about her religion! She begged for forgiveness, Allah! You truly are the most generous and merciful God! Yuu could literally cry if it weren't for the fact that she would be laughed at if she cried. So, for now, she'd just smile happily and wave at the four MCs. And guess what? THEY WAVED BACK! EHEHEHH-

Ahem. Uh, you didn't read that, okay? That was just your imagination. Yuu definitely didn't start to giggle inside her head, nope, nuh uh.

Crowley, coming back to his senses, cleared his throat and led the other MCs until they were lined up behind Yuu. "Well- I suppose we shall continue the ceremony!" Crowley boisterously said, his voice booming throughout the room and shutting up almost every gossiper in the crowd.

Now that Yuu has come to her senses... She suddenly felt nauseous from nervousness. Right. She'd be causing a scene for having no magic now... Hahh, alright. Time for embarrassment.

Yuu stepped up in front of the mirror, pursing her lips as she waited for it to talk. Actually, was the mirror even an 'it'? After all, it had consciousness, and a 'face'. If that counted-

"State thy name."

...And now she was just stalling. Great.

"██████ ██████." The girl whispered, careful not to only share her true name with the dark mirror. After all, Yuu needed it to be as accurate as possible, even if it would inevitably end in the same spot.

"Your soul...." The dark mirror took a few seconds to think and then gave her its answer. "...Is unclear to me." 

Knew it... Yuu bitterly thought, keeping her head down and moving away, letting the others step up. The whole of the mirror chamber was quiet until the whispers came loose. It was humiliating, to not be chosen. Yuu ignored the way the dark mirror and Crowley went back and forth.

Yuuka gave Yuu a concerned glance before stepping up after Crowley was done questioning the mirror and standing in front of said mirror, then she recited her name. "Yuuka Hirasaka," she said, staring down the mirror like the queen she was. Praise Yuuka, guys!!

"Your nature is.... Unclear as well." Yuuka seemingly didn't care and jogged away from the mirror, standing next to me. Crowley sputtered and just told the next MC to step up, which was Yuuken. It was the same outcome, with Yuuken's soul described as having no colour, shape, or magic. And this happened with both, Yuuta and Yuuya. Urgh, trying to remember which Yuu was which was going to give Yuu a headache... Ahhh.

"Isn't it funny?" Yuuka mused, smiling a little as she turned her attention to Yuu. The one who was given the attention buffered a little, tripping over her words like a newborn. Embarrassing... "Wha- Ah, What is...?" Yuu questioned, directing her sight to Yuuka instead of the school's headmaster, who was having a crisis over the dark mirror summoning magicless teenagers.

Yuuka seemed amused by Yuu tripping over her words. "That we all have the character Yuu in our names." She let out a scoff. Well, it would've been a scoff if it hadn't been for the fact that her tone sounded much too light and airy for it to be a scoff. 

"Ah, yeah..." Yuuken jumped into the conversation, his lips curled up when he realized that small detail. Yuuta noticed the little trio and joined in with a pleasant smile, "Strange, isn't it?" He thought aloud. It was remarkable how unfazed they were by the whispers circulating around about their little group. Meanwhile, Yuu and Yuuya were... intimidated, to say the least.

Yuu stared at the three Manga MCs, amazed by their confidence. If it were any of the TWST cast, she probably would've died on the spot. But, thankfully, it was the MCs (+ Yuuya who was watching them interact with a pensive look, maybe she should get him to talk?). 

"Huh." Was all Yuu could vocalize since she really had no words. The whole reason why she even had the name Yuu was because she begged her mom to let her officially change her name to Yuu back when she was still obsessed with Twisted Wonderland. "Huh, indeed..." Yuuya hummed. Okay, Yuu didn't need to do anything at all to get him to talk.

"This is absurd!!"

Yuu and Yuuya flinched when suddenly someone yelled, that someone was Dire Crowley, the sorry excuse of a headmaster.

Chapter Text

"Not once has a student with no magic been admitted, so why have FIVE magicless students been summoned?!"

Ah, it's just Crowley having a crisis again... Figures. Yuu turned her head to Crowley, watching him panic over the five magicless kids. Yuuka looked unimpressed, Yuuken watched Crowley and sweatdropped, Yuuta's expression wasn't all that different from Yuuken's. Yuuya and Yuu stared at the birdman passively. Twinning for real...

"Myahh! Then let me take their place!" 

What the fuck... Yuu couldn't help but think, watching as Grim suddenly burst inside by burning down the doors with his flames. She wasn't all that alarmed, after all, this would all eventually turn out fine. The others, however... were much less stoic than she was. Yuuka and Yuuken readied their stances, while Yuuya and Yuuta backed away a little. It wasn't all that surprising since the two were inexperienced when it came to violence. 

Yuu sighed, stepping backwards until she was properly protected by the other nameless students(her meatshields for now).

"Unlike those humans, I can actually use magic! So let me take their place! Let me show ya! My spells are the cat's meow!" Grim inhaled a big breath, preparing to release blasts of blue fire.

Riddle, who noticed that Grim was about to use magic, shouted an order. "Everyone get down!" 

And everyone did, including Yuu. Thanks to Riddle's warning, she only got a small patch of her robes singed. The girl looked up at the rampaging beast, wondering how it managed to release itself from Riddle's collar... Never mind. Riddle probably took it off after the thing was kicked out and somehow managed to sneak in again.

Stupid thing... Always ruining things... Yuu thought bitterly, glaring at the cat-like monster that ruined the beautiful ceremony. Out of everything she had to deal with, Grim's lack of common sense and gigantic ego was by far the most irritating thing she had the misfortune of experiencing. At least, when she was going to apply for a job, she could say she had experience in dealing with difficult children. No... Even babies were easier to handle than this fool.

As you can see, Yuu was quite sour when it came to Grim.

"AHHH!! Help! I've been set on fire over here!!"

Ah, and that would be... Yuu turned her head to where the voice came from, finding a boy with ruby eyes whose literal rear end was on fire. She wondered whether she should help or not. Ah, what am I kidding, I'm not some damn knight in shining armour... The girl tried to reason with herself, conflicted as she averted her gaze from the boy, only for her eyes to land back on the flamed boy.

Mustering up her courage, Yuu jogged over to the boy, wondering what she was going to say. There was no way Yuu was going to take off her ceremonial cloak just to help this guy. Oh wait. This was a school for mages. All she needed to do was ask him to put out the fire with water magic or something.

"Uhm..." Yuu started, panicking when she realized she hadn't planned out how to converse with the boy. This albino-haired guy looked at her, equally as panicked, probably more so. 

"...magic." She muttered, too nervous to speak clearly. "What??" The boy questioned, rather loudly too. It just made Yuu want to shrivel up and curl up in her bed. Yuu was a girl with little traits that could redeem her... shortcomings. And bravery was not within the traits she possessed. ESPECIALLY when it came to boys. Yuu just... freezes up when she talks to a boy. Not counting online, of course.

Yuu wanted to inhale to lessen her nerves, but there was a lot of smoke at the moment, and there was no way she was going to sound like she smoked for a living. "Put yourself out with water magic..." Yuu clarified. Although her voice was still as meek as a mouse, at least it was audible.

WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT???? WHY DID MY SENTENCE SOUND SO AUTHORITIVE AND BLUNT???? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, YUU?!?!??!?!

Unaware of Yuu's internal turmoil, the white-haired boy's mouth opened into an 'O', like that one Pikachu meme. "Oh, right!" He laughed, all of his panic simmered instantly when he remembered that he had magic. 

The boy pulled out his magic pen, chanting out the spell. "Respite in the scalding sands, a neverending party... Dance! Sing! OASIS MAKER!" He exclaimed with a large grin. A second later, it started to pour. Indoors.

What...?? Oh. Right. I don't need to bend over backwards trying to understand magic. Silly me. Yuu sarcastically thought. She didn't like her clothes getting wet, but what could she do? This guy's spell came in handy to stop further damage Grim could make. She had no right to complain when it benefitted other people.

Whilst Yuu was preoccupied with the white-haired beauty, everyone else was doing their own thing.

Just after Grim tried to set everyone on fire, a man with lion ears and a tail yawned, grumbling. "Ugh, so, can I leave now...?"

A blonde-haired beauty with purple ends turned to the beastman, unimpressed. "Oh? I thought you fancied yourself a hunter. Go and help yourself to that plump little morsel." He sneered. But even then, he still looked like the fairest in the land.

The beastman, although mildly annoyed, remained impassive when the beauty remarked and chose to give him a retort of his own. "Nah, too lazy. Do it yourself."

And then, clouds formed from above and water started pouring from the ceiling. No doubt, someone had taken the liberty to put out the flames themselves. However, the water was less than ideal for some people. Most of those people were beastman and the ones who spent hundreds of madols on their make-up. Like Mr Kitty Cat and Sir Drag over here.

Yuu loved the rain. But she didn't like getting rained on. Most of the time, anyway...

Yuu pulled her hood further down as she tried to shelter her head from the rain, the waterdrops hitting her body. It was like light slaps, it didn't exactly hurt but she could still feel it land, even through the robes she wore. This could easily be ignored, and Yuu tried to do exactly that in favour of searching for the MCs. 

Looking around, Yuu found Yuuka and Yuuta hiding behind a coffin with their heads peaking out slightly, near them, Yuuken and Yuuya were behind another coffin, with Yuuya sitting down looking all panicked while Yuuken was standing, trying to make sense of what was happening. Seeing them so shaken was kind of funny, but also very pitiful. Yuu felt a little guilty for thinking that, however true it may be... Whatever, she can pity herself later, Yuu needed to stop being selfish and focus on more important matters, like talking to Kalim, for example, or perhaps watching Riddle and Azul chase Grim around to see if the Canon was still set.

Yuu resisted the urge to sigh and turned her attention to the white-haired boy, who had (arguably) the biggest smile in the world. He truly was the number one sunshine...

"What's your name? I wanna know the name of my saviour!" He exclaimed as he beamed with optimism.

Yuu couldn't help but feel like her eyesight worsened from staring at such a bright light. "Saviour is a bit much. Ah, anyway, I go by the name Yuuo Nakajisa. What's your name?" Yuu answered, of course, not without sweatdropping a little at his shine. She felt like she was staring at the sun at that moment.

Her words technically weren't a lie, she did go by the name Yuuo Nakajisa. She could be called Yuuo Nakajisa, but it is not her true name. 

The white-haired boy's carefree smile only seemed to grow, if that was even possible. Yuu wondered how he hadn't frowned out of exhaustion, actually, he seemed quite refreshed. "I'm Kalim! Kalim Al-Asim." Kalim introduced himself with a smile, and almost like sickness, that happy-go-lucky spread to Yuu, her face now harboured a soft smile. 

"It's nice to meet you, Kalim." Yuu politely said, pleasantly smiling.

Under normal circumstances, Yuu probably would've started to freak out a lot more than she already was, but because she was in another world, one she thought to be fictional in the past, Yuu was quite... let's say used to it, for lack of a better term. Handling her inexperience with men was the least of her worries, at least, for now. Plus, she had Yuuka's presence to retreat whenever the boys got too much. It wasn't all that bad. Everything was fine. She couldn't complain about this yet.

Then, she heard a loud yell ring through the Mirror Chamber, most likely a unique magic chant.

Wait... Did I really miss out on Riddle and Azul chasing Grim? For fuck's sake... Yuu sulked, grieving the loss of witnessing two of her ex-favourites chase Grim. However, that grief quickly disappeared when she saw the Yuus coming out of their hiding spot, with Yuuken just looking extremely lost and confused, no doubt because he got a scolding from Riddle because of his kabedon-style intervention. Silly Yuuken.

"Kalim!!!" Yuu heard from a little bit of distance, she recognized that voice to be one of the few dark-skinned characters in the game. What was his name again? Jamie something??? Yuu wondered absentmindedly as she turned to see a dark-skinned boy push away some other students to get to Kalim, a rather panicked expression on his face. Ah, right. He was Kalim's servant, wasn't he? Yuu mused, staring as Jam (the first part of his name was something she was sure of, at least) took hold of Kalim's wrist and pulled the white-haired boy to him, his face morphed into a stern expression. 

"I told you to not run off, didn't I?" Jam stressed, making Kalim had no injuries on his body before he turned to Yuu, his stance tensed almost instinctively. "And who are you...?" He inquired, rather suspiciously. Kalim, who probably noticed Jamie's wariness, made an effort to introduce Yuu to him. "This is Yuu Nakajisa, Jamil!" Ah, right. Jamil was his name... "He helped me out when I was on fire!" Kalim put a hand on Yuu's shoulder, to which the girl only responded with a terribly obvious flinch. Kalim didn't say anything about it and just moved his hand away. Sweet boy.

Jamil definitely noticed Yuu's tensed form and narrowed his eyes before he sighed out of resignation and accepted that Kalim would be best friends with Yuu. "Whatever... Don't run off, again, okay? I was worried sick." Jamil chided Kalim, to which was responded with a short laugh from Kalim and words of relaxed reassurance, as if he was unbothered. 

Yuu stared at the interaction with a certain dullness in her eyes that was alarming, almost as if she was dead while she watched them banter. Perhaps that worrying emptiness was because of her envy, envy of Jamil's care for Kalim, even if it was mostly out of necessity. Didn't think she'd notice, did you? Yuu wasn't a girl of many talents (actually, she frequently brought misfortune upon herself with her own actions, but that topic was for another time), but that kind of codependency never failed to escape her, not after all those analyses about recognizing patterns in relationships and whatnot. Plus, it helped that this duo was one of her favourites back when she was still obsessed with Twisted Wonderland, so she still remembered quite a lot of facts regarding Jamil and Kalim's relationship.

A hand rested upon her shoulder, which caused Yuu to flinch from the sudden touch, successfully snapping her out of her musings.

Quickly turning around, Yuu was met with Yuuka's worried gaze. "Are you okay?" Yuu could hear Yuuka ask, but her mind was blank, unable to form a coherent sentence or appropriate response. So, the girl only replied with a timid hum and nodded. Yuuka wasn't convinced but decided to drop it. Yuu was thankful for that.

Yuu and Yuuka looked toward Riddle, and the silver-haired beauty with glasses was standing over Grim, with vastly different expressions on their faces. Riddle's face was difficult to read, almost stoic while the silver-haired beauty with glasses had a conman smile. Conniving little vixen... Yuu would need to recollect what she remembered in the game to see if that conman was somebody she needed to look out for. And judging by how he slightly dramatised his movements... Yeah.

Yuu observed with a passive expression, only really shifting her face into one of amusement when Crowley stopped speaking and got some ghostly staff to throw Grim out. Even if it was just the slightest slight. Karma, bitch... Yuu thought, stifling a snicker. From beside her, Yuuka felt a little troubled when she saw Yuu almost laugh at the feline's misfortune, thinking that the girl was a bit odd. Of course, no hard feelings.

Kalim and Jamil walked toward the other Housewardens, gathering to discuss what happened. A little off to the side, near the Housewardens, Yuu saw the other Yuus near Crowley. Yuuta waved at them to get closer and huddle up together like good comrades. That was something Yuu definitely could use, especially in a school for villainous students.

"Come on." Yuuka led Yuu over to the other MCs, as any good person would.

Yuu trailed behind Yuuka like any follower should.

Once they got close enough, Yuu heard tidbits of their conversations, something that sounded like dragon and insomnia?? She'll wonder about that sometime later, after all, Twisted Wonderland will be her new home, so it's only natural she at least tries to adapt to Twisted Wonderland's culture. Hell, maybe she could try to live in the eastern continent, considering that was the closest thing to Asia she would ever get.

Yuu pushed those thoughts aside for now, choosing to focus on the conversation that was going on. She stood next to the other Yuus, silently watching Crowley and the other Housewardens discuss.

"Hold on... Did nobody invite him?" Kalim asked, a sympathetic expression on his face. Yuu wondered just how this sweet boy managed to land himself in the villains' lair. The fair beauty scoffed, "Maybe you should've invited him yourself if you're so worried." To which Kalim responded with, "Yeah, but I'm not too familiar with him..." Kalim sulked, guilt slowly eating his heart. 

"I'm sure he would appreciate your considerate thoughts, Kalim." A man with black hair and pink highlights walked up to the small group of Housewardens and a vice (+ Crowley). He was the old man, wasn't he? His name was... Lily? Probably close enough, right? The man sighed, disappointed but not surprised. "It seems the invitation never arrived. Again."

Silver-haired beauty with glasses stepped up, an empathetic tone in his voice. "I do apologize. It was not our intent to exclude him." He woefully apologized, like he was in a theatre. Yuu was reminded of a classmate from middle school. Both of them were popular two-faced assholes. Though, Yuu was sure that this silver-glasses guy was better than whatever her classmate was.

Riddle joined in the conversation, "Well, you can't deny that Housewarden Draconia is... unapproachable, to say the least." He grimaced, clearly remembering something that had happened before the game started. Not like Yuu would know, she didn't keep up with the personal lore aside from a select few.

That was when Yuu stopped listening, remembering that the conversation would lead to nothing interesting until the students left for their dormitories. The girl chose to focus on the other Yuus instead of the colourful bundle of pretty people. Yuuka was talking with Yuuken, something about martial arts? While Yuuta talked to Yuuya about Grim, presumably. It seemed that Grim found them first and then gave up and opened Yuu's coffin. Honestly, Yuu would've given up chasing them as well. Work smarter, not harder, guys.

Yuu had stood next to Yuuka, clinging onto her presence to seem more unnoticeable. The girl didn't like a crowd's attention especially not from a male's. She much preferred the company of a girl's. It was calmer, safer. Yuu could comfortably relax in a girl's presence. A boy only made her anxious.

Yuu watched as Yuuka discussed with Yuuken about the mysterious firecat that literally blasted them out of their coffins- gateways. Their gateways and demanded them to take off their robes. Just silently eavesdropping like she always had. 

Yuu really didn't know what to feel when Crowley had called her and the others to come up in front of the mirror one by one after everyone had left to go inside their dorms. Yuu could only blankly stare at the ground and think with no thoughts. Then a gentle but firm hand came to rest on her back, pushing her forward. Startled by the sudden contact, the girl turned her head to who had moved her forward and found Yuuken's stiff face with his lips curled up into a comforting smile. At least, it was comforting to her. She hasn't had a stranger smile like that toward her in a long time.

Yuu backed away from Yuuken and stepped forward in front of the mirror, and joined her hands, intertwining her fingers and raising her hand to her face, praying that she wouldn't be sent back to a destroyed world.

"Oh, Dark Mirror! Send this soul back to where they hail!"

...

"O-once more...! Oh Dark Mirror-"

"There is no such place."

"...Pardon?!" Crowley squawked, shocked to hear the Dark Mirror's words.

"There is no such place. This soul has no home."

Well, the dialogue is a bit different than what little Yuu remembered. But it was still the same outcome. Yuu had no home. Not anymore, at least.

"W-well... We will get to you later."

Gah. So bothersome... At least Yuu could wait around and put her attention elsewhere. Yuu hummed and backed away from the mirror, giving it one last glance before sitting down with her back against a pillar and staring at the intricate details above. The game's visuals were already good, but the real thing was much better. It was so much beautiful. It was too bad the person who designed this building was probably long dead, You would've begged them to take her as their apprentice.

Yuu's thoughts were occupied with something else, while the other Yuus stepped up and were met with the same answer: no home to turn back to. She thought about her dearest friend Astra, who no doubt had something similar happen to her. Yuu let a small smile slip, wondering if Astra was given a second chance too. Yuu couldn't see why not. That girl was subjected to all sorts of life's punishment. The torture of living another time must have been added to the list. That was what Yuu would like to think, at least.

Yuu perked up when she felt a presence next to her, she then saw a boy who had taken a seat next to her, Yuuta. He was just as bored, and the second to step up only to be met with disappointment. By this time, he probably still thought he was dreaming, which wasn't farfetched. Maybe all of this was just a dream that Yuu had. Maybe it wasn't the end of the world. Maybe she was in a coma and dreaming about her favourite game back when she was still in middle school. But she hoped it wasn't a dream. She didn't wanna go back to that world. That place was a pain to survive. And she'd rather not live in such a confining household.

Yuu stared at the boy for a few seconds before looking away once she saw that Yuuta was about to turn his head to her, acting as if she hadn't been observing him intently. In the corner of her eye, she could see him smile before opening his mouth to speak. "So, you're Yuu Nakajisa, right?" Yuuta asked, smiling. It wasn't really warm, nor cold. But it was... relaxed? Unbothered? Something along those words. Yuu nodded. She didn't spare any hesitation. After all, that was her identity in this world.

Yuuta's smile faltered a little when Yuu didn't give a verbal response but remained relaxed and calm throughout the ensuing one-sided conversation. "Well, not sure if you were listening back when we were getting sorted, but I'm Yuuta Mito." He reintroduced himself to Yuu, who only nodded and averted her eyes from Yuuta after a second or two. She couldn't handle eye contact with people who were practically strangers for too long. "...Not much of a talker, eh?" Yuuta sweatdropped, a bit surprised by Yuu's seemingly aloof personality. She did wave at them quite happily. Not that Yuuta minded, of course!

Yuu shook her head. "I don't talk much, no..." She confirmed Yuuta's rhetorical question, which got Yuuta to brighten up a little. At least he got her to talk, even if it was just one sentence.

Yuuta was about to speak some more before Crowley's obnoxious voice cut him off. "Well this has been quite the unexpected conundrum!" Crowley exclaimed loudly. He must really love the sound of his own voice... Yuuta's attention shifted from Yuu to Crowley, making him stand up from where he sat. Yuu released a breath, relieved that Yuuta wasn't talking with her. Nothing on the guy, Yuu just really hated attention. But enough of that. It was probably time to go and head to the library.

Yuu groaned internally and got up from the ground, walking towards Crowley with Yuuta in front of her. She watched as Crowley interacted with the other Yuus, not really making much effort to check for her stuff other than a pat down. Then she felt a rectangular device when she check one of the pockets. Not paying any mind to the others, Yuu hurriedly grabbed whatever was inside and was met with the relieving sight of her phone.

Oh, her dearest phone! How lovely it was to see that it transmigrated with her! Today was really her happiest day, omg‼

While Yuu was busy worshipping her fucking phone, the others had moved to the library to search for their homes'. Yuu already knew that it was a futile attempt, so she didn't really need to join them. But Crowley was her only guide then! She was doomed if she needed to interact with more people, she couldn't have people think she was a weirdo!

However, that was a problem for future Yuu. Current Yuu was too focused on her phone to give a fuck.

Yuu prayed as she attempted to turn on her phone, hoping that it would work. If it didn't, then it was really time for her to have a depressive episode. 

But THANK THE LORD, IT WORKEDD!!!

Yuu could only smile happily as she saw her homescreen, all of her apps and games still installed. A single tear of pure ecstacy rolling down her cheek when she saw that she still had all of her accounts, which she hurriedly wiped away, a bit embarrassed to be crying about her phone of all things. A change she noticed was that there was a new peculiar app that she had no knowledge of ever installing called; Magicam.

...

Yuu would ignore that and save it for later. She needed to check out her other apps and accounts first. Especially her PJSK and CRK accounts. She spent HOURS on that shit. If she lost it all, she'd lose it too.

A few quick minutes passed with Yuu checking out her accounts. She got distracted for a little bit, but she mostly stayed on track and checked what she needed to check. Key differences she noticed about her phone was the system. It had these extra bits where there were, versions of the normal things but with Twist, Magi, or Wonder in the name. Obviously a sign that her own device had been altered when she was transported into Twisted Wonderland. All of her accounts, although left as they were, had an odd atmosphere to them. It actually felt like everything mattered now, like she couldn't afford to lose a battle even once.

All in all, this seemed more like an upgrade rather than a downgrade, which Yuu was very grateful for. Yuu thanked the God above for allowing her to take her phone with her. It was quite literally the flex tape that kept her sanity. 

Yuu sighed and pocketed her phone safely in her breast pocket before turning to where the others should have been if they hadn't moved ahead. Quickly noticing the lack of black-haired beauties (+ Crowley), Yuu panicked, her soul leaving her body once she realized that she had been left behind. 

Yuuka looked up from the book she was reading when she noticed something off in the atmosphere, then turned to Yuuya who was nearest to her. "Hey, don't you think that something felt off just now...?" She asked curiously. Yuuya looked up from what he was reading and then shook his head, "No, not really..." He lied. "Right... Must've been the wind," Yuuka shrugged off that feeling before going back to reading.

Yuu was now in the halls of Night Raven College, desperately trying to find her way to the library. She wanted to ask some of the paintings, but she feared that she would be disturbing them, so she chickened out when she wanted to try talking to them and just settled on suffering in silence.

Yuu kept wandering hopelessly, hoping to find someone, anyone who could help her. At this point, just send me a ghost or something... She thought, a shiver then ran up her spine. ...I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

Yuu was graced with no answer before a tall man with white and black hair walked from the hall in the corner. Yuu stopped in her tracks freezing when the man had stopped right in front of her. She recognized him as the man who brought that red-headed guy to deal with Grim, Crewel.

Crewel looked down at the girl, his stance ever-confident as his eyes hardened into a glare. "Aren't you one of those problematic puppies who didn't get a dorm? What are you still doing here?" Crewel interrogated, his presence looming over Yuu like a tower she wouldn't dare climb. Yuu was unsure of how to respond, or at least, respond coherently. Crewel was quite intimidating. Even if he was the local father in the fandom.

Yuu stammered, so close to having a nervous breakdown. She was never good with people. "I- Uh, I'm... I'm looking for the head mage." She stuttered, her face burning with embarrassment the moment she opened her mouth. God, why was she so nervous? It was just a man asking questions. Keep in together, dammit.

Crewel's hardened gaze never faltered, he raised an eyebrow. "And why are you looking for the head mage, pup?" When Yuu didn't give an immediate answer, Crewel pressed harder, "Well?"

Yuu was so close to crying. Today had been stressful, and she didn't need a man to ruin it even further. "B-because I was supposed to follow him, but I got distracted and was left behind..." Her face burned, but her body felt cold. God, this was the worst thing ever... This kind of fear was the worst... Yuu wanted to cry.

Crewel's gaze kept searching for any slip-up in her explanation. Then his glare softened into a gentle stare. "Well, I suggest to go his office and wait for him there. Or do you not know the way, pup?" Crewel asked, placing a hand on his hip as he looked down at Yuu. Unable to find the rest of her voice, Yuu shook her head meekly. 

"Hm. Come along, then. I'll show you the way." Crewel's words weren't a suggestion or an offer, it was a command. Something that Yuu would need to get used to while she stayed at Night Raven College.

Yuu just nodded.

Chapter Text

Yuu was in Crowley's office.

The walk to Crowley's office was... awkward. Crewel was mostly silent, but he spoke here and there. That did very little to ease the tension, but at least he tried? Yuu was grateful for his efforts, even if it didn't work.

Now, all she needed to do was wait for Crowley to come in and sort stuff.

...

God, it's so quiet and creepy here.

The fact that the paintings of the villains were staring at her didn't make it better either. Yuu felt like they were scrutinizing her, trying to see what made her tick. She felt like she was going to go crazy if she stayed silent for longer. However, she didn't dare speak, nor did the paintings. The silence was uncomfortable but peaceful.

While that happened, Yuu did anything to distract herself from the passing time and her weariness that was slowly creeping up. Her eye bags were already bad, how could they get any worse? 

Yuu pulled out her phone and played around with it, experimenting a little to see if there were any other changes. Aside from the system and addition of Twisted Wonderland's largest social media platform, everything was in its rightful place. And apparently, this school had free wifi. So... lucky her?

Yuu messed around with her phone for a little bit before she set it right back in her pocket, feeling as if she had been rude to the villains' paintings who were watching her. The girl finally lifted her view from the desk and onto the portraits of the villains, lifeless eyes staring right back at their own dullness. They didn't look very alive. Maybe it was because they were dead in the world of Twisted Wonderland.

She locked eyes with Maleficent, and a silent conversation took place as soon as her eyes met Maleficent's. The lack of conversation made Yuu feel small like she was staring right into the eyes of an apex predator. But isn't that true, in a way? If Maleficent was an animal, she would be at the top of the food chain, no? After all, she is stronger than a god. But then again... Maybe Twisted Wonderland's history wasn't correct. You could never know with different worlds. Such mysteries weren't for her to solve. Yuu's own biases would cloud her judgement. It happened far too many times for her to make decisions blindly.

On another note, Yuu wondered how long Crowley was going to take to walk back to the campus... assuming he was going to come here first instead of the cafeteria to grab meals for the newest residents of Ramshackle. Which Yuu highly doubted. The ghost battle in Ramshackle didn't seem to take quite long other than a few minutes and then Crowley came back with food and a request for them to demonstrate their ghost-busting capabilities... so perhaps she was forced to wait for an hour or so.

This sucks.

Yuu finally looked away from Maleficent's unfeeling eyes, her gaze wandering over to the structure of the room.

It was a purple-themed circular room with purple curtains draped down at the sides of the windows. Yuu had a feeling that Crowley liked purple, but idk. 

Yuu quickly caved into the boredom and decided to open her phone again, scrolling through Tiktok. She wondered how long it would take her to consume every video on there. Probably a few years, and then she would officially migrate to Magicam as her main source of entertainment. Yuu remembered vividly that Magicam was the Twisted Wonderland equivalent of Facebook or Instagram. She wondered if Twitter here would be called Twister.

Yuu snorted, a bit amused by her own thoughts.

The girl stopped her doom-scrolling to scour through Doodle PlayStore (which was Google PlayStore's Twisted Wonderland counterpart if you couldn't tell). She found that Twitter- sorry, X was called Twister here. Magicam was Instagram and Facebook was... StoryBook. Yuu truly wondered how unoriginal these names could get.

Fortunately, she found the Tiktok equivalent as well, which is more akin to RedNote, actually. It was called HareHole... It didn't seem too bad.

Yuu downloaded every app until she realised that she didn't have an email for Twisted Wonderland.

After a very rough facepalm, the girl searched for Twisted Wonderland's version of digimail, making a mental reminder to organize her apps from TWST and her own world. As soon as she found something that remotely looked like a letter, she opened the app and was met with the name Dletter... D was definitely from Doodle and letter was a synonym for mail... Yuu's brain was going to explode.

Yuu sighed as she set up her account, just about done with the amount of information that was needed for it. Age, birthday, and name weren't a surprise, but why the fuck would her blood type and magic type need to be inserted?? It was a little ridiculous... Anyway, Yuu just put in her actually blood type and rather not say for magic. It may or may not come to bite her on the ass in the future, but that's future Yuu's problem.

Yuu felt a wave of relief flow in her when she was finally done setting up the basics of her... account. She set up her accounts as quickly as she could, making sure to at least check it out for a minimum of five minutes before moving on to the next app, only to make sure her feed would be the things she found interesting, at least. Twister was... a little tricky, considering she didn't want just to see celebrities on her timeline, and she wasn't into any fandoms at the moment, so she just searched random mangas to try filling her feed with manga or of the like.

Yuu placed her phone down on the table in front of her and yawned, acting as if consuming new brainrot was a goddamn workout (it really is!! >_<).

Silence followed, and Yuu was starting to feel her eyes droop. It has been a while ever since she stayed up so late. What was the time again? Somewhere near 1 a.m.? Either way, she was tired. It has been a long night for her, and a long day as well, if you count her hopelessness back in her world. No, back on Earth. That planet isn't hers anymore. Yuu's home is now... Twisted Wonderland.

"Hah." The sound was barely audible, a soft whisper of disbelief, a hint of humourless laughter. Yuu often had those after she reached high school. In that moment, Yuu wondered how long it would take until she gave up this time. Probably no more than a few months, she hummed, closing her eyes as she leaned back against the chair, exhausted.

It'd be fine if I nap a little, right? I mean... It's already night, so... Yuu tried to reason with that small voice in the back of her head, the one that was protesting out of paranoia, which was perfectly understandable, because of how incredibly dangerous Twisted Wonderland is if you think about it a little. But the voice was still small compared to the whole of her exhausted body. So she gave in to the sleepiness, dreaming about... well, dreams! It's a little hard to explain without having to make a whole cutscene for it.

"--There's no doubt about it! You four have a talent for beast-taming!" Crowley praised, comical sparkles appearing beside him, which dimmed and fell when Yuuka's face turned into horror. 

"Did... Did you say four?" Yuuka questioned, her eyes darting around the room in search of a specific person, who was NOT as present as she thought. The others looked around the room, the same expression of worry settling in. Crowley didn't seem to know why. "Hm? Of course-?" This was followed by Yuuta's worried exclamation. "WE FORGOT YUUO?!"

Crowley's confused stare turned into shock, a hint of his own version of worry seeping in. "Oh my! I didn't even notice we were missing one person..." He mumbled, thinking back to where there were FIVE magicless students. Slightly shaking his head, Crowley placed his hands on his hips, looking at the group of magicless teens. "Fret not! I shall search for them while you four sleep. It has gotten rather late." Crowley waved off, ignoring the group's protests of helping him search for Yuuo. They were still young, after all, matters like these should be handled by the adults.

"Do find a room to stay, I'll be sure to inform them of your stay inside Ramshackle." Finally noticing that Crowley mysteriously became hard of hearing after they protested, the group of magicless and that little monster thing relented and went to find the least dusty room with decently clean beds.

Crowley released a smile when they left, pleased to see people care for someone who was practically a stranger. It was a fresh sight, considering Night Raven College students'... mindset.

He hummed and then went out in the rain, walking back to the main campus.

Yuu was still sleeping by the time the conversation at Ramshackle ended, snoring peacefully as she rested her head on Crowley's desk. Her dreams were odd this time too. Another apocalypse, more monsters less zombies. And she also had powers too. Immunity and ice, like Elsa. Yuu's dreams have always been a little odd.

She was back in her old school, but wearing a completely different uniform. Her best friend was also there. Astra was so close yet so far. If Yuu had tried, would she still reach her?

Somehow she doubted that.

The dream continued, almost cruelly, like psychological torture. The more Yuu tried to hold Astra, the further she seemed to get. Yuu couldn't handle it anymore and began to actively chase for her. But like all dreams, Yuu's running only seemed to slow her down. Astra... looked different too. Was it her eyes? Or the way her smile looked far too wide? Yuu couldn't tell. She just wanted to hold her, beg her to stay, even for a second longer. 

Her screams were silent as she tried to call out for her best friend, her frame rooted into the spot she had always been, never changing, never disappearing. While Astra? Her footsteps left a glittery paint as she walked further, Yuu felt like the warmth in her voice mocked her helplessness, despite the kindness it contained. 

"What are you waiting for? Come on!" Yuu heard her laugh, so sweet and innocent, yet...

Yuu woke up with a racing heartbeat and a scrambled mind. Sweat sticking to her neck like a watery parasite. Yuu readjusted her position, making sure that her neck wasn't in such a weird position like before. Bringing a hand to her face, Yuu wiped away the sweat with her sleeves, her body feeling much heavier than before she fell asleep. Yuu sighed and just... sat there, waiting. Like she always did.

God, what's with the depressing undertones? She should focus on something else...

Yuu looked up to the portraits of the seven villains, who were all still staring at her. Their face held indifference, just like from before she slept. Yuu envied their apathy. It would be much easier to live if she had that kind of disregard for everything, as childish as those wishes may seem.

Yuu exhaled, waiting for her heart to calm down and stop beating so wildly. Only to be ruined by the sound of a door slam. Yuu jumped, quickly turning around to see Crowley standing there, tall and proud. Her impression of him fell quite steeply.

Crowley, noticing the girl in his office, immediately began to fuss and squawk over her. "There you are!! By the Seven, not even first years are as disobedient as you are, young man!" Young man? Oh. Did the mirror not mention anything feminine about her? Should she correct him? What if it led to more difficulties? Hrhrh... "Young man!! Listen to me when I speak to you, won't you?!" Crowley loudly called out, bringing Yuu out of the rabbit hole she called her thoughts.

Yuu perked up, surprised by the sudden rise in volume. "Oh! Um, yes, sir..." She meekly relented, feeling small under the literal glowing orbs of the man. And Crowley suddenly went quiet, scrutinizing the girl like she was a rare artefact, which naturally made her uncomfortable. "Um...?? Sir-" "Are you a woman, child?" Crowley cut her off, staring at Yuu emotionlessly. Did he notice the slight femininity in her voice? God, she hoped this wouldn't come to bite her in the future (though it definitely will, Yuu just liked being delusional).

Yuu unsure if she should lie or not, paused, considering the choices she had. On one hand, telling Crowley the truth could probably benefit her and provide her with the necessary supplies she would need as a girl. On the other, there may be the chance that Crowley would actually cast her out of the school and send her somewhere else. Yuu didn't want to be alone, and she at least knew little bits of what the future had in store because of her access to the game, but she also wasn't willing to risk her health for this piece of control... Time to commit a life-changing decision!!

"I- Uh... Yeah?" Goddammit why'd she sound so unsure...

Crowley (seemingly) raised an eyebrow and leaned a little closer, now staring at Yuu suspiciously for her conflicted tone. Then he suddenly leaned back, sighing exasperatedly. "My goodness... Why did you not say so earlier? This changes quite a lot of my plans..." Crowley hummed, walking behind his desk and opening a drawer, rummaging through a few... stuff. Yuu wasn't one to snoop around (unless necessary). Then the birdman pulled out five papers, most likely one for each magicless student. 

"No matter, that shouldn't change the arrangements I have agreed with your fellow housemates," Crowley said, giving Yuu one of the papers. She looked curiously at the paper, thoroughly reading the conditions, and just in case, she read the fine print as well. Yuu has seen too many scams to not read the fine print. 

"What's this for?" She questioned, despite having at least some idea of what it would be, from what she remembered in the game and from what she read. Crowley just cheerily smiled, pushing a pen towards the girl. "Well, to appoint you as a handyman, of course! I can't have you living for free after all, so your form of payment shall be to clean the campus and do odd jobs here and there." "Sir, isn't this child labour?-" "Apapapap!! No, it isn't. Shush." Crowley quickly shut down Yuu's concerns, tapping at a box. Yuu sighed, thinking things over. And she decided to sign, at least this meant she had a source of income...?

As soon as Yuu signed it, Crowley immediately took the paper and shoved it back into one of the drawers, smiling all the while.

"Wonderful! Now, I shall escort you to the infirmary to sleep, for I suspect that the rain will not cease until morning. Ohoho, my graciousness knows no bounds!" Crowley preened, as always... Yuu sighed, getting up from the chair and following after the proud crow. 

While walking to the infirmary, Crowley and Yuu engaged in a mostly one-sided conversation. Guess who's who.

"I take it that you're from another world as well?" Crowley started the conversation. Yuu was surprised that he actually wanted to talk to her. "Uh, yeah... Wait, what do you mean also?" Holy shit, she almost forgot that she wasn't supposed to know that the others were also from another world. Hopefully, Crowley wouldn't notice that small mistake. 

"Well, those peers of yours who weren't admitted into a dorm were from another world, just like you were." Crowley didn't notice her slip-up... or maybe he simply ignored it. Yuu shits on the guy a lot, but she couldn't deny that he was much more observant than he showed. She'd have to be more careful in the future. She was lucky that Crowley ignored her slip-up this time, but she can't expect Crowley to keep ignoring every mistake she made- "I have to ask, Miss Nakajisa," Uh oh. "How did you figure out you were in another world?" ... Never mind, he was still showing mercy. This was an easy question to answer.

"Well... Just the floating objects alone were evidence enough that I wasn't in a familiar place, and I also met a polite ghost after I got out, so..." Yuu looked down at the grown, staring at her moving feet as she followed Crowley to the infirmary. Speaking of the infirmary... She just remembered that she had an injury.

Yuu lifted her arm, staring at the bloody finger, a small part of her flesh ripped open. The girl shuddered and immediately pulled her eyes away from the sight of her injured finger. She never dealt with blood very well... The only time she wasn't too bothered about blood was when she was on her period, and it has been quite a bit ever since she had it. How many months has it been now? 3 months? 4? Either way, she was sure that she should be getting it soon. 

By the time they made it to the infirmary, the ghosts that were in the halls disappeared as well, leaving the campus feeling empty and abandoned... If Yuu ignored all the lights, Night Raven could feel like a truly abandoned, gothic castle. It didn't help that Crowley told her that after 3 A.M. candles would replace the lights, just to conserve electricity. Admittedly, Yuu had to commend him for not wasting power. Being a cheapskate had some benefits too, ya know, she sure as hell would do the same (the conserving electricity part not Crowley shirking off his responsibilities onto someone else).

Yuu spaced out for the remaining conversation, only occasionally nodding to Crowley's incessant rambling. She didn't even realise they already made it to the infirmary. Crowley's voice was muffled to Yuu, her mind completely elsewhere. When Crowley looked at her, he could only frown at how spaced out she was before leading her to an infirmary bed and talking to the nurse (who was a ghost, by the way) about having Yuu stay in the infirmary for the night due to the heavy rain. 

"In addition, I must ask you to keep an eye on that girl, Jasper... I fear her absent mind might damage herself and others." Crowley added as he stared at the short ghost, his musings going unnoticed by Yuu, who was staring at the white sheets and her newly bandaged finger. Her thoughts were a blur as she stared blankly at the white bandages, which were soon dyed red by what was left of the blood that leaked from her wound.

The ghost, known as Jasper, looked at the girl that was behind Crowley's back, his corporeal form imitating furrowed eyebrows and what worry he felt for the girl. "I'll keep that in mind, Headmage... By the way, what are you planning to do for that Ramshackle situation earlier?-" "Oh, dear! Look at the time! I must go and finish my paperwork, apologies, Jasper!"

Crowley ran away.

Jasper could only stare at where Crowley stood, closing his eyes at the absurdity of the Headmage of Night Raven College (since he doesn't have the lungs to release a sigh, literally). The ghost looked back at Yuu, still sitting lifelessly on a bed of clean white sheets. His eyes softened upon witnessing her dull eyes, feeling pity for the girl. He has seen his fair share of odd students, and this girl was a little different from the ones he interacted with. She had this unique aura around her, like an all-consuming shadow. Jasper knew very well that people with such a presence would only get shunned by her peers. He could only hope that she at least had people who saw past her peculiarity.

Jasper averted his eyes away from the girl, floated to his desk and looked through the medical documents of the first years, making small notes on a checklist to call in a few students and give them a check-up.

Yuu eventually laid down on the bed and fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Yuu woke up in the infirmary with a blanket on top of her. That wasn't there when she fell asleep last night... No wonder she felt warm and sweaty mid-dream. Yuu would have to make a note to thank whoever put that on her, and perhaps subtly say that she liked the cold.

The girl stayed with her body lying on the bed until the sun fully rose. She didn't bother trying to get off the bed until a few minutes later, though. 

Yuu stood up from the comfortable mattress as she rubbed away the sleepiness from her eyes, looking around the desolate infirmary in which she stayed. What happened again? Oh, right. Crowley led her here to sleep for the night. Unsurprisingly, nobody except for her in the infirmary at that moment. Yuu slipped on her shoes and looked around the infirmary, trying to see if there was any sign of anybody working in the infirmary. She found a little note on a desk, which read; "I'll be out for a while, try not to leave before I get back. - Jasper..." Yuu read aloud, wondering if Jasper was that white blob she had seen briefly the night before. 

Yuu just hummed and put the note back on the table and went back to the bed she slept in and leaned against the wall, of course, not before taking off her shoes. She raised her knees close to her chest and pulled out her phone from the pockets of her ceremonial robe, doing what she did best and wasting away the time she had by playing on her phone. She was setting up the rest of her accounts, making sure to at least organize her algorithm to a certain celebrity. She remembered him as one of the characters. Although, she couldn't recall of he gained a sprite... Whatever, she could see for herself after she set up her accounts. Social media seemed to be important, even in another world.

The girl continued to do this for a few minutes, occasionally getting distracted by a few posts. But she got back on track... eventually.

After that, she logged into Twisted Wonderland, finding out that most of her progress had reset. Yuu was frustrated, pissed off, even. All that hard work trying to complete the game and she got sent back to the very start? Yeah, she was very tempted to crush her phone. If it wasn't for the fact that she would lose EVERYTHING and never get it back if she did, she probably would've caved to her emotions and thrown it across the room, but she held it in. 

Yuu sighed as she redid what she could, happy that at least her team wasn't reset. She would've lost it if she couldn't just pass through everything. To be honest, it was kind of her own fault as well for not logging in a few years. 

Time passed by like a breeze for Yuu while she redid the game, minutes turned into an hour. It was around 5:30 A.M. when she woke up, now it was 7 o'clock. Yuu seriously need to get a proper life. She couldn't afford to waste so much time. There was no adult she could rely on anymore, she was all alone in this world... Yuu felt a bit saddened by the thought. So, she did what she always did and ignored her negativity, continuing to play until she made it past book 3. She skipped most of the cutscenes and only watched the backstories. Yuu could confidently say that she related to Azul on a personal level. She too, was mocked and shunned by her classmates.

To prevent herself from worsening her eyesight, Yuu put down her phone and just stared ahead, spaced out as she waited for someone to arrive to tell her what to do.

Fortunately, her wait was not long, for a ghost passed through the doors of the infirmary with clothes and a backpack. Strange how similar that backpack looked to one of Yuu's own backpacks... God, she missed her stuff, she'd have to find some kind of alternative, and FAST. Yuu needed her little hoard of trinkets and thingamabobs.

The ghost tapped her shoulder, which felt a little weird because he was a ghost. Yuu felt goosebumps start to rise when his hand touched her shoulder, and the cold, gooey texture of the ghost's hand left the sensation of ice cubes. Yuu's head twitched from the sudden freezing temperature, the small movement was reflexive, something she couldn't control. She guessed that the ghost noticed it because he immediately took his hand away from her.

The ghost smiled, albeit a bit... strained? No, it was something more like... sympathy. Yes. Sympathy. "I'm guessing you don't remember my name from last night, Miss?" The ghost questioned as he put the clothes on Yuu's lap, the soft fabric of what looked to be her new attire landed gently. Yuu stared at the ghost for a second before she nodded, his suspicions confirmed.

"Well, my name is Jasper. I'm the nurse, if you couldn't tell." The ghost introduced himself. And Yuu couldn't help but avert her eyes, unable to hold the eye contact for long. Jasper didn't seem to mind though, instead, he took a look at the clock. "You should get changed now, it's almost time for your shift." Then he turned back to Yuu who nodded silently, despite her clear confusion on where to change. The ghost chuckled, "Just go behind the desk, kid, there should be a bathroom there..." 

Yuu nodded, AGAIN. She got up from the bed, slipping on her shoes with ease. "Thank you, sir." And then swiftly walked over to the bathroom door, immediately going inside.

It was pretty clean. Spotless, actually. Which was a surprise since Yuu was pretty sure that it should've been dustier, considering ghosts wouldn't need to use a bathroom... Or maybe they do? It was hard to know when she was in a different world. She'd dwell on that fact later, she needed to get out of these robes, as comfy as they were.

Yuu changed as quickly as she could, of course, not without taking a good look at her reflection in the mirror, but not too deeply, she'd start to notice her imperfections the longer she looked at the mirror, and she'd rather not experience body dysmorphia in the morning (or at any time, really). So, Yuu'd fool herself and gaslight herself to make herself think she looked perfect when that small voice in the deepest part of her mind said otherwise. For now, she'd ignore those nagging thoughts in favour of focusing on leaving the bathroom before she worried... Casper? Whatever his name was...

Yuu sighed and readjusted the jacket she was given, a bit uncomfortable because of the stiffness she felt while wearing the clothes provided by the ghost. But it wasn't like she was going to say anything, he had already done enough for Yuu.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Yuu shrugged, trying to loosen her muscles in hopes that it would lessen the tautness of the clothes. Yuu didn't want to trouble the ghost who took care of her. And the ghost (who was called Jasper, she recalled after seeing his nametag) turned to the girl, his eyes brightening to reveal fondness, Yuu couldn't understand why he was looking at her in such a way.

"Oh! That was quite fast... And would you look at that? It fits perfectly!" Perhaps a bit too perfect, sir... "Now that you're dressed properly, you should wait here for the Headmage, I suspect he'll be arriving soon-" And just then, Crowley burst through the doors with the other Yuus behind him, who were trying to take a peek inside. "No need for the way, Jasper! I have arrived punctually to guide the child, aren't I so great? Ohoho!" Yuu fought the urge to sigh out of exhaustion.

Yuuka, who was directly behind Crowley, brightened when she saw the only other girl in their group of non-mages. 

"Yuuo!" Yuuka exclaimed, jogging up to the shorter girl. As soon as Yuuka reached Yuu, her eyes began to search Yuu's body, trying to find... something, I guess. Yuu was a bit confused as to what Yuuka was doing. Soon enough, Yuuta and Yuuya also joined, while Yuuken was with Crowley and Jasper, paying attention to their conversation to let the others check up on Yuu. "Okay, so you're okay... And you got that wound fixed up, good for you." Yuuka sighed out of relief, backing away a little to give Yuu some space, who looked a little overwhelmed.

Seeing her confusion, Yuuta spoke up for the group, "We were worried because we found out that you weren't following behind..." Yuuta sheepishly explained, averting his eyes from Yuu's bewildered stare. Yuuya mostly stayed quiet, just watching them interact with pursed lips until he spoke, "...We thought you were missing, so we're just relieved to see that you're fine." Oh, okay then?? That was... It was nice to know that they were worried about her. Yuu felt a slight warmth blossoming, it was unnoticeable.

Yuu hummed and nodded her head, a strained smile forming. "I... I appreciate the concern."

The three Yuus stared at her before nodding and then looking away. God, this was so awkward... "Well, we should join in on Crowley's conversation with Yuuken to catch up on what we missed." Yuuka suggested, and Yuuta agreed with a; "Yeah," While Yuuya and Yuu just nodded, quiet for the most part.

Walking towards the two, Crowley turned his head to the other four, "Finished worrying over Yuuo you three? Well, either way– Today you five will working as the handymen of Night Raven College. Now, since I can't expect for you five to complete such a herculean task in one day, you shall first clean up the main street! Ohoho, I am quite kind, yes..." Bro didn't even let them answer... Whatever, Yuu was just grateful that she wasn't thrown out. She disliked Crowley, but she couldn't deny that he was indeed generous. 

"Gah!! She's still here too?!" Oh... Yuu forgot about that little rat. 

The girl turned to the monster on Yuuken's shoulder, frowning at the sight of Grim. It might take a while for her to warm up to the creature, like, several months. In fact, it might even take until the end of the year for her to finally grow fond of Grim. He was quite... annoying, after all. "Yes, yes– We must go! We are behind schedule." Crowley interjected, cutting between Grim and Yuu. He then began to walk and led the five– six Ramshackle students.

Yuu followed behind quietly, minding her business as she observed her surroundings. Staring at the architecture of the school's buildings, she occasionally broke out of her admiring gaze to catch up with the others at the others at the sound of Yuuka's calls. God, she seriously needed to lock the fuck in! The others didn't need another burden.

...

Yuu ended up holding onto Yuuka's arm to prevent her from getting left behind. She was a little disappointed that she couldn't admire the building for a little longer, but it was for the best.

Yuuka sighed when Yuu got distracted again, exasperated yet also fond of Yuu's short attention span.

It took a few minutes to reach the desired location. Around 10 minutes or so. Yuu, being extremely unathletic, was dying from just that alone. Her feet felt like they were going to shrivel up and disappear into the earth at any moment. Yuu's legs wobbled as she stood with Yuuka, trying her best to just drop down and take a seat on the dirty ground.

Yuuka snorted when she saw Yuu's suffering figure, the corners of her lips twitching upwards as she tried not to smile from the sight. Fortunately for Yuuka, Yuu didn't notice this.

Yuu could barely pay attention, she didn't have the energy to clean anymore, she just wanted to go sit somewhere and laze around, plsplsplsplsplsplsplsplspls–

"Here we are! Go on then, chop chop!" Crowley clapped his hands, smiling. Yuu had the urge to make his words a reality and cut him to bits– I mean whaattt, who said that??

Yuu blinked slowly, already very done with Crowley's antics.

Suppressing a groan, she just followed behind the others, too lazy to clean, but that was her literal job now. If she wanted to get paid, she'd have to clean, and that also included her feet having to suffer a little more. Yuu swore that she felt a real tear fall at some point.

The girl frowned constantly as she worked with the others, having already given up the first minutes on the job. She was delicate.

Yuu's boredom stayed even when a ginger came into view, answering Grim's questions like some angel. She just stared at them for a while before going back to working while Yuuken kept watch over Grim. She, along with Yuuka, Yuuta, and Yuuya, worked together to sweep the streets. Yuu grabbed any trash that was on the streets, Yuuka swept them into one place to make it easier. For Yuuta and Yuuya they were the same, with Yuuka picking up the trash while Yuuya swept. Yuu was grateful that they were given proper gloves because hell knew that she would riot if she had to touch something unsanitary this early in the morning.

It didn't take to long because the streets were relatively clean. Then it was time for them to move onto the statues, which were also pretty clean. Yuu honestly didn't understand why the Main Street needed cleaning, it looked perfectly fine to her.

Yuuya and Yuuka went to get more cleaning supplies while Yuu and Yuuta waited. Both were leaning against one of the statues, exhausted. "...I wanna go back to bed." Yuu whined, her legs wobbling as she sweated. She really needed to train her stamina someday, there was no point in her strength and speed when she literally melts in a sunny day.

"Same..." Yuuta agreed sullenly, sweating as much as she was. Despite the Main Street's cleanliness, all of the little pieces of trash were all around everywhere, so they had to move back and forth to grab everything. Being a janitor sucked. Yuu saluted to Yuuka and Yuuya for volunteering to get more supplies.

Then there was a sudden shout, "–ook out!" Yuu heard. "Huh–?" Then she and Yuuta was pushed out of the way by Yuuken, who she now realized warned her to dodge... a blue fireball? What the fuck?!??!??!

"Argh!" She coughed, feeling her ribs get crushed by the weight of a big, buff, burly man. I know I said that I wanted to get crushed by a buff man but not literally, dammit– Yuu sulked, practically flattened under the weight of Yuuken's biceps.

"Are you okay?!" Yuuken yelled, finally getting off Yuu's newly paper thin build. She turned into a real anime character, guys! "Yep– Just peachy..." Yuu rasped out, getting up from her the laid down position she was in.

Yuuken nodded at the confirmation and glared at the ginger and Grim, who were more concerned over the newly charred statue of the queen of hearts. Yuuta had moved out of the way as soon as he heard Yuuken's yell, so that's good. He was at another statue and staring from a distance in concern.

"Holy– The statue's charred!!" Loony toons ahh line, wtf... 'W–woah! God gee willikers!!' Stfu...

And here comes the peacock... "Just what is going here?!" Crowley stepped in like a nightmare after a horror movie. Accompanied by... gasp, Yuuka and Yuuya?!

"G–gah! It's the Headmage! Run for it!!" Ginger and Grim screamed in synchronization. "Not so fast!" Then a sharp slashing sound rang through the air. That sounded like it hurt... They probably deserved it. 

Apparently Ginger and Grim were tied up. Serves them right.

"Yuuo!!?" The girl heard, she was then bombarded by Yuuka's frantic worrying. Why she cared so much? Yuu didn't know, but she sure was grateful. 

"I'm fine–" Yuu tried to reassure Yuuka, she was then met with two hands grabbing her easily and making her stand up, magic-ing away the dirt on Yuu's clothes. "My goodness, I leave you six alone and there's already a commotion..." Oh, it was Crowley.... He sighed and then pointed to the ginger. "You, what's your name and year?" The man sternly asked, staring down the Ginger... He seemed pretty familiar?

"Ace Trappola... Freshman." Ace grumbled, ashamed and salty. Bro thought he could get away from allat scot free? Humble him.

Crowley frowned. "Creating such a scene on your very first day... Even your brother at least had some self-restraint... No matter." Crowley cleared his throat, "As your punishment for charring the Queen of Hearts' statue, you and Grim shall wash a hundred windows, supervised by Mister Enma." Hm? Not all of us? Yuu thought, confused.

It seemed Crowley noticed her confusion, which prompted him to ask, "Is there something wrong Miss Nakajisa?" He questioned, looking down at Yuu.

Startled from the sudden attention, she stuttered. "Uhm, y–yeah, why not Yuuta and I too...? We were also there and didn't stop the fight..." She answered truthfully, well, half-truthful, but it was technically true.

Crowley nodded. "Ah, it seems I forgot to inform you... Well, I have arranged that for each two months, you all take turns watching over Grim, Yuuken volunteered to go first. Hence why he's the only one going. You are the last to supervise him." He explained, to which Yuu nodded. "Ah, okay then..."

Turning back to Ace and Grim, Crowley scowled. "See to it that you make it to your orientation class, Trappola." Crowley then released Ace and Grim from his whip, sending Ace off to wherever it was he was supposed to go to. Yuu hoped it was a ditch. She had zero respect for people who made someone's job harder than it was supposed to be.

Chapter Text

Yuu and the others were currently cleaning up the charred statue of the Queen of Hearts, with Yuuken watching and holding Grim to prevent him from trying to escape. He had a guilty expression, Grim was as arrogant as ever the little brat. 

"Sorry again, guys..." Yuuken apologized guiltily, averting his eyes from the group out of shame. 

Yuuta sighed, an easy-going smile on his face. "It's fine, Yuuken... We're not blaming you for not jumping in. They were literally tossing fireballs and gales and whatnot." Yuuta tried to reassure, Yuuken was not assured.

"But still... Yuu has bruises because of me, now." Yuuken added onto his guilt. Yuuta looked at Yuu and sweat-dropped when he found her gently rubbing the back of her head to lessen the pain, her face twinged in discomfort. "Ah... I'm sure she doesn't mind." She kinda did, but whatever, she wouldn't add onto Yuuken's guilt, poor guy was already struggling trying to watch over Grim, she didn't have the heart to give him more reason to hate himself.

Sensing Yuuken's guilty stare, Yuu just held up a thumbs-up, too busy trying to take away the pain to pay more attention to the conversation.

Yuuta had stopped scrubbing the char in favour of trying to comfort Yuuken, who was quietly sulking. So Yuu had to take his place and try to clean the statue. Yuuka stroke up a conversation when Yuu had gotten close, "So, what were you doing before you got transported here? I already know the others' stories, and they were all pretty similar with mine. You're a mystery." Yuuka smiled, continuously scrubbing at a spot, which was practically shining, by the way.

Yuu stammered to answer, trying to choose between lying and honesty, her big mouth chose for her. "I– I was at a rooftop."

"..."

"..."

"What were you doing up there...?" Yuuka asked in concern.

Yuu stammered out another response, struggling to coordinate a coherent response. "A, that came out wrong! I wasn't– you know, I wasn't going to jump if that was what you were wondering." Lies, she was, she just chickened out again. "I was there to, uhm... I was there to visit my school one last time, before the world ended..." Ah, the atmosphere got heavy. 

"Oh, that's... way different than what I expected... So a carriage didn't run you over?" Bless her, Yuuka tried to change the subject, which kinda worked? The atmosphere wasn't as heavy anymore, at least. 

"Hm, I was...pulled into a mirror by a pale hand." Yuu answered truthfully, she saw no harm in telling Yuuka, not like it mattered anyway. 

Yuuka hummed, turning to the statue and finally moving onto another spot to scrub at when she was met with a ray of light reflected by the spot she scrubbed at for a whole minute. "Ack– Well that's certainly different... We were all run over by a carriage, I wonder what made you so special..." If only she knew...

"I wonder that too..." Yuu looked away from Yuuka, zoning out as her hand continued to move. Her eyes unfocused as she continued to scrub the statue along with Yuuka.

The girl recounted what little she knew, thinking of what happened. Crowley went to personally escort that Ace guy to his homeroom. Crowley also told them to do their best to clean the Queen of Hearts' statue, so they'd probably be spending most of their time trying to undo the char on her. Yuuya was cleaning another statue, Yuu remembered it as either Ursula or Scar...

Yuu took her eyes off the Queen of Hearts and looked around for Yuuya. She quickly found him cleaning up Ursula. 

She looked back to the statue and found that most of it was clean, thankfully. That meant that they were going to get done quicker than she thought. 

Cleaning was much more time consuming than she thought. Or at least that applied to the Main Street.

Yuu sighed and just silently continued to scrub the char, hoping that time went faster so she could sit down. She had enough standing around for one day. She just wanted to eat. Actually, did she even eat breakfast...? Yuu couldn't remember. She would make sure to eat, either way.

And by the time she entered reality, the statue was finally clean. It nearly took an hour, even with the Twisted Wonderland equivalent of Scrub-Daddy. Grim's fire was no joke.

Right, that monster...

Yuu had to remind herself not to scowl so suddenly. People would think that she was crazy. 

Backing away from the statue, she and Yuuka took a good look, one proud while the other was drained, but mostly happy they were done with cleaning it. Time to clean the other ones... Yay!!! 

In the end, Yuu had to take a seat on the concrete and take a break, so did Yuuya. These two had ZERO stamina, unfortunately.

"I don't know how much longer I can last..." Yuu groaned, massaging her aching feet. She was amazed by Yuuken, he had been holding that fatass cat for... around 4 hours, if she were to guess. Yuu wondered if he ever got tired. Must be nice, having good stamina...

"My legs won't work..." Yuuya whined, completely still while he sat beside Yuu, pressing down on the muscles beneath his pants. He was also quite tired.

Yuuka stared down at them with an amused smile, finding their lack of stamina funny. "Come on get up, the ground isn't clean for your bums." Yuuka grabbed the underside of Yuu's arms and pulled her up, making her stand. Yuu struggled to stand, her feet still aching and all.

Yuu looked at the Main Street, finding it nearly spotless. It just had a lot of dust on the ground. That was their first task for the day, the others she could only hope to be easy and quick. She felt a hint of pride, which was a nice bonus

Yuuya groaned as Yuuka did the same to him, pulling him up and making him stand. She patted Yuu and Yuuya's backs, trying to motivate them.

Yuuta laughed, already fond of his acquaintances. "Come on, you can lean on me, Yuuya." He smiled, offering himself as Yuuya's wall. To which Yuuya denied, a little flushed. In the end, Yuuya ended up leaning on Yuuta.

"Let's go get lunch, yeah? I see a few students out, so it's probably around noon now." Yuuka told the four, leading both of them with her while Yuuken and Yuuta followed behind them. Yuuken was still holding Grim, who was passed out and snored in Yuuken's arms. The little guy did NOT help at all. Which got Yuu a little angry because she had to clean up HIS mess.

As the walk went on, Yuu felt more of her life squeezed out of, when she looked beside Yuuka, Yuuya clearly felt the same. The food better be worth it, Yuu swore. It had to be exceptional because she would've started a riot if it was horrible (not really, she didn't have the confidence to start a riot). 

Yuu sighed and continued to walk as she ignored the slight tremor of her legs from time to time, having built up quite a bit of hunger. While that happened, Yuuta spoke up and engaged in conversation with everyone.

It didn't take too long for them to reach the cafeteria. It was much in the center of the building, while the infirmary took a few turns to reach.

There weren't many people, but enough to fill a few tables. A good few were also lined up, some were trying to cut in line.

"Yuu, you sure you don't want me to carry you? You look like you're dying." Yuuka pointed out, pitying the girl, who looked dehydrated. Despite her sweaty appearance, she was so dry, like sand. Yuu needed water, and fast before she succumbed to dehydration.

"I'm fine, Yuuka... Let's just line-up and get our meals, I'm really hungry." The girl rasped out, breathing heavily. She looked like she got rained on. Yuuka just pursed her lips and looked ahead, a bit concerned, "If you say so..."

So they lined up. Yuuka was first, Yuuta was second, Yuu was third, Yuuya was fourth, and Yuuken was the last in line, he said that it was the least he could do for failing to leash Grim, to his protests of having to go first. Yuu personally didn't mind, but she appreciated his kindness. Plus, he offered so she took it, Yuuka had the same idea. Grim wasn't happy.

Yuu had a little trouble picking out what she liked most, so she settled with a bit of rice and chicken, along with edible leaves cause she liked to chew on greens. Grim looked at her weirdly when she chose that as her meal, Yuuken seemed to understand, even said something about having to keep the body healthy.

Yuuka got a plain salad with some kind of spicy sauce, 'cause she didn't have the stomach big enough to fit rice and something else. Yuuta grabbed a little bit of rice and quite a few chunky bits of beef, he said he liked them better than other meat. Yuuya had the most concerning plate, he barely grabbed anything, just picked up a chicken thigh and called it a day. Yuuka had to convince him to at least grab a bigger one. After that... Yuuken grabbed something similar to Yuu, but chose pork over chicken, and with more than just the little leaves, a few cucumbers and... kale? cabbage? Either one.

Grim had the largest tray of food. He grabbed a hamburger, a sandwich, a chicken breast, kimchi (surprisingly), and onigiri but with tuna. He nearly scratched Yuuken when he tried to give the cat more green, so they learned to just leave his eating habits alone for now. Yuu was thankful that the others explained that Crowley had told them the cafeteria food expenses were paid by him, since they had no money to speak of.

Finally done with getting everyone's food, the group stood still as they searched for a good table. Remember when the narrator said there were some tables not-taken? Yeah, scratch that, nearly every table was taken. Most of them weren't even eating, just chatting around, some were doing homework too. Yuu could hardly see a large enough table for all of them, and she didn't want to get separated. 

"Well the canteen's definitely filled up now..." Yuuka muttered, narrowly dodging a guy who almost made her drop her tray. "Can't believe there're so many students." Yuuta added, still trying to look for a good table.

"Mmyaahh.... My paws are gettin' tired..." Grim complained, holding onto his own tray. Admittedly, Yuu definitely would've found this cute if not for his nasty personality. 

Yuu stayed silent, even as Yuuya spoke up in a hushed tone, "Should we ask a group if we could sit with them...? I'm pretty sure that one table has enough spots over there..." When faced with Yuuka's curious look, he turned his head to the direction he was talking about. "Over there, it's pretty empty..."

Yuu looked over and saw that same man with hot pink highlights from the entrance ceremony. Along with him were a few people, the most notable were two, who sat closely to him, one green-haired, another silver. 

Wait a minute....

Wasn't that the guy Yuu had an extremely huge infatuation with? She briefly remembered freaking out whenever he appeared in any fanfic she liked. It was an embarrassing but fond memory, she was always at her happiest whenever she saw that guy on screen. He was very pretty, especially now that Yuu knew how he looked as a real human (ish). Unfortunately for her, she didn't recall his name.

Yuuta, with no hesitation, approached the intimidating bunch, much to the amazement of Yuuya and Yuu. They weren't really social, if you couldn't tell, and in from what they remember about NRC, that kind of mattered, considering they didn't have the luxury to enter their own group of people except for each other. Yuuta was definitely braver in terms of social stands, she admired that about him.

A few seconds later, Yuuta placed down his tray on their table, turning to the the group of no-maj, waving at them to come over. Yuu awkwardly followed the others, since they went over when Yuuta waved.

Yuu kept her head down, occasionally taking glances at everyone. At the touch of Yuuka's hand on her shoulder, she gave small smile, "Hello..." It was almost instinctive, since the people around her back at earth used to use subtle signals for her to do something. It took a while for her to learn and grow familiar with the gestures, but it was a good system. Yuu wasn't very good with social cues, but she definitely had the brain capacity to learn a few tricks like a dog. 

Her greeting was met with a friendly smile from the boyish guy, but knowing anime logic, he must be old, like... really, really old.

"Hello to you too! My name is Lilia, Lilia Vanrouge, what's your names?" The newly named Lilia asked, his grin showing a bit of teeth, especially his fang, his eyes didn't hold any warmth, but at least there was some kind of friendliness in them.

"Oh, right– Sorry for the late introduction," Yuuta took the lead, which Yuu handed to him, relieved the spotlight wouldn't be on her. "My name is Yuuta Mito. This is Yuuka Hirasaka." He gestured to Yuuka, who put her tray down on an empty spot, Yuu put her own next to Yuuka's. Yuuka smiled and waved at the group, along with a simple 'Hi'. "Next to her is Yuuo Nakajisa." Yuu looked up at the others and smiled, hoping she looked friendly. "That's Yuuya Kuroki." Yuuta pointed to Yuuya, so he put his tray down, waved at them and took a seat next to Yuuka. "And this big guy's Yuuken Enma." Yuuta patted Yuuken's arm. Yuuken smiled and nodded at them. "Nice to meet you."

"HEY! You forgot the Great Grim!" Grim pouted, staring at Yuuta angrily. Yuuta just laughed sheepishly and introduced Grim to the man.

"Right, right~ And this is Grim. The monster from orientation." Yuuta introduced, Grim huffed, "The Great Grim, henchman!" Yuu face contorted in an unpleasant frown at Grim's loud shrieks (he wasn't being loud, his voice just annoyed Yuu). "I'm not going to worship you." Yuuta said in a deadpan tone, to the amusement of some (mostly Yuu).

Yuuta found his seat next to Yuuya, and Yuuken found his seat next to Yuuta. Yuu was grateful that the chairs were long enough to hold all five of them and two more.

Relieved that her legs got a break, Yuu just stared at her food for a moment, struggling to find the motivation and willingness to eat, despite her body desperately needing it after missing breakfast. She sighed silently, Yuu just forced herself to fiddle with her meal, occasionally taking bites. 

It was weird. She was usually very willing to eat. It'll probably only last for a day. Yuu didn't want to worry about that for now.

Grim stared at Yuu's food for a moment too long, so he asked; "If you don't want it give it to me."

"Hell no."

"But you're just playing with it! So, gimme–"

"Oh my God, you big back stop trying to take my meal–!" Yuu bickered with Grim, dodging his paws and trying her best not to accidentally hurt him. She threatened him at the entrance ceremony, but her grip wasn't tight enough to cause a bruise, she couldn't stand hurting an animal, so she wouldn't have gone through with her threat anyway.

Lilia chuckled, amused by the girl's small struggle against the gluttonous monster. "Well, let me introduce you to my companions then. This is Silver," Lilia gestured to the silver-haired boy beside him, who was silently staring at the harmless brawl Yuu was having with Grim in silent wonder. "And that's Sebek." Lilia pointed to the boy beside Yuu, who was trying to avoid Yuu's jabs with a small frown. He didn't like the company of a normal human, but since Lilia had allowed them to sit at their table, Sebek was willing to stay docile.

"Stop– You gluttonous monstrosity, haven't you had enough?!" Yuu yelled at Grim, keeping herself in check to at least not get too loud.

"Give it!"

"You– Ow!" Yuu's frown worsened when Grim bit her, her momentary bout of pain allowed Grim to slip past through his defenses and take the meal. He even ate the leaves and deliberately chewed in front of her, the little shit. 

Yuuka laughed, patting Yuu's shoulder who looked at Grim with a scowl. "You fought valiantly, Yuuo. Honestly, I'm impressed you held on for so long." Yuuka snickered, and taking a bit of pity on the girl, she slid her salad between them. "Here, we can share." To which Yuu immediately tried to shut down. "Oh– No, that's okay, I'm not too hungry, anyway."

"I insist."

"No, really it's fine, you can keep eating it."

"I don't mind, I wanna share."

"Yuuka, it's fine–" Then they went back and forth, much to the amusement of everyone at their table. 

In the end, Yuu managed to convince Yuuka to keep her salad to herself. She wasn't really the convincing kind, she just annoyed people until they relented. This seemed like one of those times. Except Yuuka looked more amused than annoyed. She snuck a glance at Yuu before going back to try convincing Yuu to share. "You sure? You didn't eat anything this morning–" Then a very loud voice interrupted Yuuka's words.

"WHAT?!!?!?"

Yuu jumped from the sudden volume and quickly turned to the green-haired boy, who Lilia introduced her as Sebek, "WHAT THE HELL, MAN????" Yuu loudly asked, feeling her heart beating faster than normal from the sudden scare. Sebek was no longer sat.

Silver sighed, "Here we go again..." He mumbled. Lilia laughed, enjoying the entertainment before him.

"You–! You didn't eat breakfast today, human?!" Sebek sputtered, staring down the shocked Yuu. She responded with a confused, "NO???"

The green-haired boy sputtered again before he went off on a tangent! "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!! How dare you skip such an important meal!! And to let that thing take your first meal–"

"Hey!"

"I truly wonder how you're so healthy!!–" Sebek didn't seem to have the words to explain how he felt, so he just just made a loud grumbling sound before storming off to... get something, idk.

Yuu stared wide-eyed at where he previously sat, still in shock. That sudden loudness had scared her more than she wished it did.

The silence of the cafeteria came back after a few seconds, but the talking sounded more like whispers and gossip exchange. It made Yuu feel a little anxious. 

"Oh my god..." Yuuya mumbled, almost just as surprised as Yuu was. Yuuka blinked, shocked herself. Yuuta was startled, and so was Yuuken. They were barely paying attention to Yuu's small bickers with Yuuka.

"Pfft– Haha!" Lilia laughed, thoroughly entertained by the look on the five magicless teens' face. Silver had his head down, a bit embarrassed of his companion. "Don't– Hah, don't mind Sebek, he's normally like that." Lilia tried to assure the girl, no doubt hearing her fast heartbeat.

Yuu turned to Lilia, the shock in her system getting rid of her social ineptness. "That does not reassure me?! Hohh..." Yuu exhaled, leaning forward and clutching the fabric of her clothes on her chest. "This isn't good for my heart..."

By the time Sebek returned, Yuu had calmed down and her breath returned to her.

"Human!" Yuu looked to the sound of Sebek's voice, finding him not too far from their table. "I have returned with a new meal for you!"

....

What?

"Huh?" Yuu couldn't help but voice, dumbfounded.

"Are you hard of hearing too?!" With Sebek around, perhaps she would be soon.

"A little– Wait, why'd you buy a new meal for me??" Yuu asked, confused as he set a new plate on her tray.

Sebek looked at her like she was stupid. "Are you serious?"

"Yes???"

"Well, because you didn't eat breakfast!"

"And that's your problem... how?" Sebek looked a little frustrated, and constipated, he should go on a trip to the bathroom soon. He looked to Lilia, Lilia only laughed before explaining to Yuu. 

"Sebek's thought process is– 'If someone isn't healthy, how will they protect, his liege', so he's giving you food so you can stay healthy." Lilia explained, fondness leaking from his words. "I suggest accepting it, he's a very persistent boy." He grinned.

Yuu turned back to Sebek, trying to find the words to decline, but then she saw that determination written on his face. Yuu was a very easy girl.

Sighing, she gave Sebek her answer. "Thank you, Sebek... I appreciate your kindness." Yuu relented, slightly tired. She didn't really want to eat, but now she had to eat to not seem rude. Yuu highly doubted that Sebek wouldn't take it personally if she didn't accept his kindness.

Sebek smiled triumphantly, placing the plate on Yuu's tray. The girl didn't know what to say. This was... a vastly different experience than what she expected, Yuu honestly thought that people would be... meaner, considering the dialogue in the game the last time she played. It wasn't an unwelcome reality, though. There was a chance that Yuu didn't need to toughen up too much to survive this institute.

The rest of lunch was pretty calm, Yuu had spoken up from time to time whenever someone wanted her to engage in conversation, though she remained silent for the most part and just quietly ate while she listened to them absentmindedly. Occasionally, her eyes would wander and stay in a certain spot longer than necessary. Yuu could only hope that she wasn't staring at someone.

When she finished eating, she saw that the others had a little bit left. Being a quick eater was an advantage but also a disadvantage.

The girl looked at her slightly dirty hands, wondering if there was a sink she could use to wash the remnants of the food in her fingernails. It was weird because they were growing faster than she was used to. She needed to go find some nail-clippers before she accidentally scratched someone.

"Yuuo?" Someone called out.

Yuu looked up to find Silver staring at her with a wet wipe in his hand, offering it to her. Yuu looked down and snapped out of her unresponsive state, taking the wet wipe from Silver's hand in gratitude. "A, Thank you." Yuu thanked him, wiping away the barely noticeable remnants. She also made sure to remove anything from below her nails, cleaning them thoroughly. 

Yuu neatly folded the wet wipe, pocketing it for now until she found a trashcan to throw it into. 

Yuu tried to recall what to do. They were done cleaning the Main Street, so they should go ask Crowley if they were done... Or if he had another task for their little group. Yuu wasn't willing to do another task though, hopefully that was all for the first day. 

Oh, wait. They were going to be admitted as students at some point, right? So she should go research a little to at least keep up with everyone else. Or learn elementary level stuff to see the differences. 

A shoulder landed on Yuu's shoulder. She peeked up to see Yuuka's face. 

"Come on, Yuuo. We should go find Crowley." Yuuka said before pulling away her warm hand to grab her tray. Yuu hummed and got up from where she sat, grabbing her own tray. 

Yuuka turned to the group they sat with, nodding at them respectfully. "We'll get going now. Thank you for your hospitality." Yuuka stated calmly before leaving with Yuu following her.

Lilia smiled, waving at their distancing figures. "You're welcome to sit with us again!" He exclaimed, which earned a look and smile from Yuuta and Yuu. Yuuta responded to Lilia exclamation, "We will!" 

As they went away, Sebek spoke up, "Lilia-sama, they're a bit odd." Lilia replied with an amused tone, "You think so, Sebek? I think they're quite nice! What about you, Silver?" ... "Silver?"

Silver snapped out of his dozed off state, blinking away his sleepiness. "...Hn? Oh. Those five? I..." Silver squinted, looking at they're backs from a distance. "I enjoyed their company. Though something about one of them feels a bit off..." Lilia turned to Silver questioningly, a bit curious. "Really? What makes you say that?" He asked, Silver replied, "I'm unsure... Other than that, I liked her presence, she's very nice." Silver himself was confused about what made one of them so... unique. He felt something, but it was unidentifiable to him. 

"Hm, how curious..." Lilia hummed, staring at them until they were no longer in his line of sight. "I suppose I felt the same... Yuuo was it?"

"Mhm."

"Lilia-sama... forgive me for interrupting your conversation, but what are you whispering about?" Sebek interjected, a little left out. Lilia smiled, "Don't worry about that, Sebek! Say–" And then their conversation continued on without anything interesting to note about.

"You sure you're okay with going alone, Yuuken?"

"I'll be fine, Yuuta, it's my responsibility as Grim's handler."

"Hey! Don't go around referring to yourself like you're dealing with some sort of pet!"

After lunch, they had gone to Crowley's office. Crowley didn't expect them to get done so fast, apparently, so they spent most of their time in his office, helping him around with his paperwork and filing them in piles. Of course, they signed their contracts first before that. Yuu had accidentally reminded Crowley when she asked if they also had to sign a contract. 

"Seriously, I'll be fine. Grim's difficult, but I'm good at keeping people in check."

"Don't ignore me!!" 

Yuu had only one ear listening, and the other was left doing God knows what. She was pretty bored, but their bickering was better than helping Crowley organize his paperwork. That said, Yuu was zoned out, with one hand gripping Yuuka's sleeve while the other held Grim. Yuuken got tired, and Grim was less willing to cause trouble when Yuu was the one holding him, cause of how they met and all (the others didn't know though, and Yuu intended to keep it that way).

Yuu sighed as she followed the others to the cafeteria, already missing the infirmary bed she slept on.

Enough of her woeful self, Crowley told them that Ace and Grim were ordered to clean the cafeteria windows first and then the classrooms'. It seemed reasonable, so there were no protests from anyone. Ace wasn't happy, though, according to Crowley's retelling.

"Funyaa.... Can't believe this..." Grim mumbled and Yuu couldn't bring herself to care. "Hey, human." God, what now...

"What."

"Have the others told you why I wanted to become a magician so badly?"

"No."

"Wanna know?"

"Nah."

"Why not?!"

"You're probably going to use some kind of pity-inducing story and make me feel bad."

"!!"

Grim stayed quiet after that, which was certainly music to Yuu's ears. It was nice to not hear his scratchy voice being rude as always (no hate to his voice actor, he did a great job). Yuu wasn't about to let the little guy try to guilt-trip her into doing what he wanted.

To be honest, she believed that Grim wouldn't get accepted even if he was human. He was clearly not skilled enough to do simple spells other than summoning fire, and from what she remembered, the boys in this school were exceptional at magic, even the NPCs. Yuu knew that she was being a bit harsh, but that was the cold truth. Mere wishes could never get you to where you want, even if you worked hard, there will always be someone who worked harder and got better results. Of course, Yuu wasn't about to say this to Grim, she wasn't going to crush his dreams, even if they were unrealistic.

When they made it to the cafeteria, Yuu put Grim down on one of the tables, having grown tired of his grip on her arm. Yuu understood that she certainly wasn't the nicest when she first met him, but she was bluffing dammit! She wouldn't hurt an animal.

Yuu turned to Yuuken who was having a small conversation with Yuuta. Honestly, they kinda looked like brothers.

"Sometimes I wonder if those two knew each other..." Someone from beside Yuu murmured. She looked to find Yuuka staring at them with a fond look. She wasn't any better, she looked like a big sister if she had that gaze. "...Yeah." Yuu could only say. 

"Okay, then. You guys should go back to Ramshackle, I'll be fine here." Yuuken nodded, smiling at them with a wave.

"If you need us, we'll either be at the library or at Ramshackle, okay?" Yuuta huffed, though a smile crept up. He wasn't very good at acting like he was angry. Not like Yuu actually wanted to see Yuuta angry. He'd probably be pretty scary if he was angry.

Yuu pursed her lips and gave a wave back to Yuuken as her pressed lips curved into a small, soft smile.

Maybe it was Yuu's imagination, but she could've sworn that she saw Yuuken's smile grow wider. Yuu chose to not wonder about that and instead left that thought behind. It was insignificant, not important enough to dwell over.

Yuu tried to ignore the warm feeling in her chest.

The free time they had was spent in the library, searching for books about space travel, dimensions, and universe-jumping, basically whatever was related to world-hopping. Yuuya was the most diligent of them, he was skimming the books and kept piling them up in no time. Yuu could barely keep up. He was probably the most well-read of them. 

He already had 15 books stacked up in the span of... half an hour? Around that time. Yuuya is amazing, Yuu couldn't help but think, staring at him as he finished one book and immediately moved on to another one. 

"Wow." Yuu blurted aloud, the book she had in her hands forgotten in favour of staring at Yuuya read like a madman. Yuuya was about to grab another book to read, then he realized that he had read all of the ones he grabbed. He sighed and was about to get up until Yuuka and Yuuta suddenly slammed a couple more books down in front of him. Well, slammed was a bit harsh, maybe roughly put down was more fitting? Either way, Yuuka and Yuuta had smiles on their faces, smirking even. 

"C'mon, you're our ace in this. Just keep reading, we'll find the books for you." Holy shit, they were in sync. Yuu shuddered, glad that she wasn't the one who had such a talent. Devious...  Yuu thought. They didn't have bad intentions though, she knew that. They weren't NRC enough for any of that.

Yuuya looked a bit scared, which was understandable. Yuu would've been scared as well.

The rest of their time in the library was pretty uneventful, sure they had a little bit of fun here and there when they were bored, but that was it. Yuu learned a little along the way, a little bit of magic theory, about time travel and the elements. She couldn't remember much of what the topic was about, but it was definitely either of those. It was pretty simple. Probably something they taught in middle schools.

Yuu sighed and slumped over the table, tired of having to look at words and terms she didn't know. "I don't have the mental capacity for this..." She groaned.

Yuuya snorted at Yuu's laments, placing a hand on her back and gently patting it. "Hang in there, a little more and we're done for the day."

"Says the guy who spent the past hour literally skimming hundreds of books..."

"Hey, you were pretty fast yourself, I don't wanna hear you talking."

"Yeah, but you literally read hundreds."

"You're exaggerating."

"Look around!?"

Yuuya looked away from the book he was reading and was met with the sight of several piles of books. He laughed nervously when a group of guys saw them in their seats with the books literally acting as walls. He turned back to Yuu, sheepish. "Okay, so maybe I am faster than most people..."

Yuu scoffed, unable to hide the smile she felt creeping up. "Right." She shook her head, turning back to the book she was reading. She closed it when she was done with the book and placed it on top of a pile, tired out of her mind, she slumped over the table, letting her mind take a break. 

"What's up with Yuu?" She heard someone say.

"Tired." Another answered, definitely Yuuya.

"Oh, well, we're planning on taking a look at Yuuken, you guys wanna come with?" That's definitely Yuuka.

Yuu sprang up from her low-energy state to look at Yuuka and Yuuta, who were surprised to see her so expressive, Yuuya had a similar reaction. "Yes, please. I don't know how much more I can take..." Yuu pleaded. The surprise the three felt quickly wore off, Yuuya laughed, Yuuka smiled, and Yuuta chuckled. "Okay, drama queen..." Yuuya teased lightly, getting up from his seat.

"Are we not going to put the books back?" Yuu asked, worried that they might get yelled at if people found a castle of book piles. Yuuya hummed, realizing that it would take a while until they could actually go out and find Yuuken. "Actually, yeah, how are we going to put all of these back...?" Yuuya wondered aloud.

"No need for that thinking!"

Then suddenly, a burst of faint light appeared, and a rough glow encased the books. Quickly, they flew towards their rightful place, fitting perfectly along with the other stacks of books on the shelves. It looked magical, and that's because it was, but enough of that.

The Yuus turned to the person who sent the books back to their places and found Crowley accompanied by Lilia and... Silver? Yes, Silver. Oh, and that... Sebastian guy. Yuu wasn't the best when it came to remembering introductions. She shook away her thoughts and instead chose to focus on the glowing stone attached to a pen, the hand that reached out to use the magic was Lilia's.

Figures, Crowley would never do so much, as 'benevolent' as he was.

Lilia had a smirk on his face. "Hello again, residents of Ramshackle." He greeted, his hand still raised in order to send the books back. Yuu's eyes were shining as she stared at the beautiful scene. It was almost like a fairy tale. Perhaps it was. This was a Disney world, after all. 

Yuuta seemed surprised as he spoke up, "Lilia? Headmage? What are you four doing here...?" He asked, honestly, if Yuuta wasn't standing as close as he was, Yuu probably wouldn't have heard his question. Yuuta could sound quite meek if he really wanted to.

Yuu stared at the two groups interacting with one another and brought up a hand to grip Yuuka's sleeve in case she zoned out again. Yuuka gave Yuu a brief glance before going back to listening and occasionally jumping in the conversation. Yuuya was similar to Yuu, he wasn't really engaging in conversation, just peacefully observing. Without hanging onto someone's sleeve, that is.

"Ack- I was here to search for a way to send you five back home, of course!" Liar.

"Right... Then what about you, Lilia?" Yuuta, nor Yuuka or Yuuya, seemed to believe him.

"Oh, I was here to help these two review a few subjects." That's nice, old man. 

"Oh, well, okay then... Thanks for putting all the books back, we appreciate it." Yeah, saved a lot of time...

Holy shit, I needed to avert my eyes before I get called creepy. Yuu thought, doing exactly that when Silver was about to find her staring at him, again. Her eyes usually followed their own rules, and one of them was to stare at pretty people. That used to cause a lot of problems for her. 

Yuu didn't miss the way Silver looked a little confused before going back to watching Yuuta and Lilia interact.

The girl kept her head down, just like she always did. Occasionally raising it when she heard her name, but none mentioned her, so she just stared at the ground as they all conversed with one another. Eventually, the chatter around her became white noise, and the next thing she knew, her head was filled with nothing, like a blank canvas. And she? A painter with no paint. They were still in her cabinet of art.

Yuu perked up when she felt Yuuka's arm move, which either meant that they were going or she wanted Yuu to let go. She looked up and saw Yuuta give Lilia a wave. She waited for Yuuka to walk first, then soon followed after her. Yuu blinked as she walked with the other Yuus, as silent as time.

Unbeknownst to her and the little group she was in, the four people who came inside the library, one's stare lingered for a fraction longer. It was almost unnoticeable, but Lilia had eyesight sharper than a blade made for war. He let out a low hum when he saw the linger, wondering what incited the action, as small as it might've been.

"Mister Vanrouge." Lilia heard from behind. He turned to see Crowley with a rather pensive look, or that was what he guessed, his mask tended to obscure half of his face. Putting on a smile, Lilia responded to Crowley's call. "Yes, Headmage?"

"I apologize for such a sudden question, but have you ever felt such a peculiar presence?" Oh, so it was about that...

"Hm..." Should he lie, or should he tell the truth? Well, what harm could befall if he decided to be honest? "I'm afraid I haven't, Headmage. Why so sudden?" Crowley stayed quiet, staring at the door the four exited. Lilia waited for a few seconds before turning to where Crowley was looking, tensing up just a fraction. He blinked and that mysterious feeling disappeared. Was it his imagination? No, surely not...

"Mister Vanrouge, I have a favour to ask of you." Crowley turned to the shorter man, and Lilia looked at the other.

"And that is?" He questioned, interested. Crowley often asked people for things, but he never once truly asked for help as a real favour.

"Well..."

Chapter Text

How did this even happen...

Yuu's gaze was directed at the lovely mess of a chandelier, practically crushing a student. That was... Ace? What a troublemaker. Yuu's eyes turned to the other two, who were a few feet away from the broken chandelier. Yuuken had a worried look on his face, which automatically told Yuu that he had very little to do with this outcome. She averted her eyes from him and onto a boy with blue hair, who was panicked.

Yuuken moved from where he stood and lifted off the pieces of the chandelier, helping Ace get out of the rubble and digging more to... fish out Grim. Somehow, Yuu wasn't surprised that stupid cat had something to do with this.

Yuuka was the first to speak. "What the hell happened?!" Yuu heard her say, running up to Yuuken and checking him for injuries. Then she saw Yuuta move to where Ace was, giving the guy his shoulder and becoming his cane. Yuu and Yuuya just awkwardly stared at the scene, unsure of what to do.

"Ugh..." Ace groaned, he looked up from the ground and saw that Yuuta was supporting him. Soon, guilt crept up and gnawed at him, the words he said back then came to remind him of what he said about the non-magical group. Quickly, Ace shook away the feeling by averting his eyes, which soon landed on the blue-haired boy's figure. "Moron! Why would you do that?! WHY GAVE YOU THE IDEA TO DO THAT?!" Ace yelled, anger taking hold of his rationality. Yikes... Yuu felt bad for Yuuta, who struggled to keep Ace from trying to jump the other guy. 

The blue-haired boy looked sheepish as he brought his hand to his chin, embarrassed. "Right... I probably should've given you a softer landing." I don't think that's the problem here... Yuu thought, exasperated by the scene in front of her. 

Ace was as exasperated as Yuu, "That's literally not the biggest issue here, dude???!?!!? If the Headmage found out−!"

"If I found out...?" Oh shit.

Yuu shuddered when the air suddenly shifted, turning cold to accompany the icy tone in Crowley's voice. She was scared to look and wasn't even the one in trouble! The girl turned her head to the side, looking at the man from the corner of her eye. Yuu pursed her lips and turned back to the view of the other figures. Men are so scary... Yuu lamented internally, terrified out of her mind, it was almost comical.

Crowley seethed as he stared at Ace, practically fuming with a fiery rage. Honestly, Yuu was scared that he might lose control and set the school ablaze... Heh. You don't want to see my bad side... Yuu almost choked over her own thoughts, barely keeping herself together throughout the ordeal.

Yuu was sweating from dread and unintentional laughter. She was trying her hardest not to laugh at the constant jokes her thoughts made, freezing up when she thought someone noticed. Sometimes, her inability to take anything seriously was quite troublesome. This was one of those times, and Yuu couldn't say that her clown-like personality was really helping her, not like it did at any time.

Yuu inhaled a breath when she heard Crowley continue to scold Ace and the blue-haired boy− who she learned was called Deuce− and Grim. She coughed when she was unable to keep a chuckle down, apologizing quickly before covering her mouth to release more coughs (which were just laughs in disguise).  Yuuya didn't look as amused though, in fact, some might even say that he was disappointed. He shook his head and sighed, muttering under his breath. Yuu wasn't able to catch anything he was saying, even though he was close enough, being hard of hearing was not fun, y'all. 

Crowley, noticing Yuu's coughs, began to use them as another reason for his scolding. "−Look! Now even Yuu is affected! Goodness..." Yuu stilled, surprised to hear her name so suddenly, it didn't help that Ace and Deuce immediately looked her way when Crowley pointed her out. She toned down her coughing, slowly bringing it to an end. Deuce looked like he felt bad, while Ace looked more bored than guilty. Grim? Don't even ask, that little guy was conked out, snoring peacefully as if he didn't even start this whole thing.

She averted her eyes and stared off to the side, whistling as she pretended that she didn't nearly lose it in front of seven people. 

She kept on listening though, just in case something else happened. She remembered vaguely that the trio was supposed to go look for a stone, right? Yuu couldn't recall much, it has been a long time since she played the game and watched the story. Perhaps she should go replay it and recount what happened later....

"You two are expelled!" Yikes...

"WHAT??" 

And then quickly came the begging and pleading from Deuce. "No, no, no– Please, Headmage! I– I can't get expelled! I need to stay here!" God, Deuce seemed so pitiful then, with that panicked face filled with dread. Yuu felt sorry for him, but then again, Ace's words before had implied that Deuce– did something?– without thought or consulting Ace.

Yuuken, who felt a little bad, stepped up to give the two boys a chance to redeem themselves. "Headmage, is there a way to fix this? Like... repairing the chandelier?" Yuuken asked, cradling Grim in his arms.

The Headmage paused, the simmering anger cooling down, his eyes softened and his voice smoothened, "Well, the chandelier itself isn't the problem, dear boy. The magestone that powers it is broken, which means we can never hope to light it up again... Of course, unless someone donates magestone, but just the magestone alone costs a million madol! If they want to fix the whole chandelier, they would need to pay 1 billion madol as the estimated price." Just when Ace and Deuce were about to look like kicked puppies again, Crowley added more. "However! The mine that the magestone came from is still accessible, albeit rundown and empty. I do not recommend going there, child, it's abandoned." Man, was it just her, or is Crowley nicer and slightly more fatherly than the original? Yuu distinctly remembered titling him as the most irresponsible adult, and he still is– but... why does he seem genuinely good now...? Whatever, this could be for later.

Deuce lit up like a firework, practically bouncing with eagerness to save himself from getting expelled. "Then I should go now! Ace!" Deuce turned to Ace, who looked almost as eager as Deuce. "You up for it?" He asked him.

"Hell yeah! I don't wanna get expelled on the first day!" Ace grinned at Deuce, then they both turned back to see Crowley with a troubled face, unsure. 

"Boys, this isn't something you can just decide on a whim..." Crowley tried to convey how much of a bad decision that was, but was met with incoherent pleading. Crowley, a bit overwhelmed, relented pretty quickly. "Alright! ALRIGHT! Fine! I'll arrange for you two a trip to the Dwarves' Mine! No more shouting!" They shut up pretty quickly. "But... How about you accompany them, Yuuken?" Crowley looked away from the duo and stared Yuuken, who was surprised by Crowley's sudden order.

"Huh?" Same, Yuuken, same...

Crowley smirked, God, Yuu hated smirks, it reminded her of those bad alpha wolf books. "You were the one to ask me how they could fix this, and now that they have hopes, it is only fair that you would guide them." There was a playful lilt to Crowley's tone, like a hint of teasing and stuff. Oh, he was jesting, unfortunately for him, Yuuken took things a bit more seriously than he should. 

"Alright." 

"Haha! I jest– Excuse me?"

Crowley was as dumbfounded as those two, surprised to hear that Yuuken would be willing to go with them of his own accord. Yuu wasn't even involved, yet she was nearly as shocked as those three. Of course, from the little time she spent with Yuuken, and their much smaller interactions, she dubbed him as an actual good guy, but she didn't expect him to do something like this. The girl didn't have a lot of friends back when she was still on earth, but she sure as hell knew that these guys were one of a kind because none of her friends would accept such an outrageous request.

"Wha–" Yuuta sputtered, nearly letting go of Ace before he realized that he was still supporting someone. "Are– are you serious, Yuuken?! You don't know what could happen there– what if it isn't safe?!" Ah, here comes the mom friend... Yuuta was really attentive, almost like a responsible little brother.

But enough of that, Yuu looked at Yuuken and chose to step a bit closer this time, a bit worried about Yuuken as well. "I agree with Yuuta... I don't think it's very smart to suddenly charge into abandoned mines..." She quietly commented, hoping that at least Yuuken heard her. He did, but he didn't want to acknowledge that fact, he felt responsible for everyone, because apparently, it was his fault that they got in trouble.

Yuuken stayed silent as he stared at Yuu's eyes, hers not looking back at his. The boy sighed and frowned, looking away from Yuu. "I'm not going to abandon them, I asked the Headmage and now I have to accompany them and get my hopes crushed too, plus..." Yuuken looked down at Grim, a softness in his eyes as he stared at the monster he cradled. "This little guy gave us a lot of trouble, so as his handler for now, I have to make sure he makes it up to everyone." Aw, how cute...

Yuu was silent as she stared at the sleeping monster in Yuuken's arms, envying the creature. She shook away the feeling and looked up to see the others still where they were, Crowley and Yuuta were convinced it was a bad idea, but they knew it was a futile attempt, Yuuken just had that look in his eyes that screamed stubborn. 

Yuu liked that about him.

The girl hummed and looked around elsewhere, her eyes soon meeting with Crowley's for a good second. However, she quickly averted them, unable to stare at him in the eyes without feeling awkward. It was hard to keep eye contact.

She stared at the ground as she listened to the others, slowly drifting off to her own little realm. Despite the chaos, it was pretty... peaceful, even warm. Yuu released a tiny smile, almost unnoticeable if it weren't for the rise of her cheeks. She had a very expressive face.

The others didn't notice her, thankfully... hopefully.

Crowley sighed, lifting a lifting a hand to scratch his cheek while the other rested on his waist. Twink. "Well, I suppose if you insist... Fine, I shall arrange for all four of you to go and elongate your stay until morning. Try not to disappear while you search for the magestone..." Then he muttered, something along the lines of 'media' and 'trouble.' Yeah, despite this guy's newfound fatherly vibes, he was still a douche.

Then the birdman turned to Yuu, she didn't notice since she was still staring at the ground.

"Child." Nope, she didn't respond to that. "Miss." Try again. The peacock sighed before finally calling her out with her name. "...Yuuo." Oh, right, she nearly forgot about that little addition. The girl looked up, satisfied since she finally heard Crowley address her properly instead of calling her 'child.' She was young looking but not THAT young...

"Yes, Sir?" So posh, so faencey.

Crowley didn't seem to mind her little moment of cheekiness and went straight to the point. "Have you changed your bandages?" Oh, she forgot about that. 

"Ermm...."

"I'm taking that as a no– Alright, you four go off, Yuuken keep an eye on them, okay? You four, come along, we're taking a small detour before you shall make your way back to your living quarters." Crowley casually commanded, and everyone followed along like little soldiers, Yuu included.

And so, the three made their way to the mirror chamber, while Yuu, Yuuya, Yuuta, and Yuuka walked to the infirmary to accompany Yuu as she changed her bandages.

The rest of the walk was pretty boring, since it was just everyone talking to each other about mundane things, most of it was about Ramshackle and its repairs. Crowley wasn't a total douche in this world and said that he gave them the allowance to feed them on days where there weren't any classes or to fix Ramshackle when they had enough. Apparently, the allowance was around 500 madol, which was enough to buy a few ingredients for any culinary practicing. But, plot twist! It was given individually, so if everyone wanted to, they could definitely get together and arrange some kind of system. Grim also got an allowance, but it was managed by his handler because God knows that he would waste all of them on tuna.

So, life was good! For now...

Yuu hummed as she let Jasper reapply her bandages. It was her own little way of coping with the pain and homesickness she felt. The girl perked up when Jasper finished and let out a little 'oh!' and floated away, curious of what he was going to do.

Jasper came back with a back pack, and when Yuu looked inside, she saw more back packs, which were just scrunched up to fit inside. "What's this Jasper...?" She mumbled a question. She didn't mean to actually ask, but it was already too late and he seemed to have heard it. 

Jasper smiled and handed it to Yuu, holding up the finger, and yes, she meant like this;☝️🤓. He was a little guy. A bit odd looking cause he looked like a marshmallow and all, but still silly and cute. "This is for you and your friends! I heard that you guys don't have anything, so I figured that I should give you kids something you can keep your stuff in!" Why this sweet man was in NRC is a question she would ask God when she dies. This might arguably be the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for her, except for one thing but that didn't matter rn.

Yuu's lips parted, surprised by Jasper's kindness. "Oh, really? That's so nice of you, thank you so much, Jasper..." The girl mumbled, looking at the bags. And the best part? One of them looked identical to her bag on Earth! Today was a disaster, but at least she had something good that ended the day.

Yuu smiled happily, a genuine and unfiltered smile. "I really appreciate this– I'm sure the others will too." She looked up and saw Jasper smile of his own. Favourite person #1. Sorry, Yuuka, you were demoted to Favourite #2, until you top something like this, Jasper would continue to be Yuu's favourite.

"No problem, kiddo." The ghost floated up a bit and gave her a gentle pat on her head. 

Wow. 

Was this... fatherly love? This was so much different than her dad's brand. It was nice... Not that her dad's way wasn't nice. Yuu just preferred if he gave her a bit of physical affection, was all.

Yuu's smile grew wider. "See you soon, Jasper. Goodnight..." Yuu gave a respectful bow before leaving the infirmary, joining the others, who were waiting outside. Together, they all made their way back to Ramshackle while Yuu explained Jasper's kind deed.

Jasper's smile fell and worry soon overtook what used to be happiness. "That kid... She even forgot to change her bandages..." The ghost sighed and grabbed a notepad, flipping a few pages until he made it on Yuu's page of the 'problem children'. He grabbed a pen and wrote down some things.

Yuuo Nakajisa

• Has this unwelcome aura, potentially driving others away from her
• Too airheaded, others will take advantage of her.
• Forgetful, didn't even remember to change her bandages.
• Odd appearance, something about it feels off, uncanny.

Jasper sighed again, putting the pen and notepad down. Becoming NRC's official nurse and counselor was the greatest mistake he could have ever done, but it was worth it, those kids were all worth it. At least that was what Jasper tried to tell himself. 

The ghost hummed the same tune Yuu did a few minutes ago and just continued to work, documenting all of his patients for the day and doing his daily stuff. Silence ensued with only Jasper's voice humming Yuu's tune to fill it.

Yuu and the others were at the gates of Ramshackle. It looked way worse than how the game depicted it. But it strangely felt a lot like home. 

The girl followed them as she stared at the building, which slowly became clearer as she got closer. Right, she still needed to get glasses... She would have to ask Crowley later and hope he wasn't cheap enough to deny her the joy of not being legally blind.

Yuu looked up at the large manor dubbed Ramshackle, in awe of its gothic architecture. The game didn't have these details, probably because the point was to make it look rundown and not like a vampire's castle. If they could fix it, perhaps Yuu could truly feel at home there. It was perfect.

She could already see it, almost. Her hyperphantasia didn't work as well at night, most of that skill went to her dreams. Speaking of dreams, Yuu dreaded sleeping tonight, being in a dreary mansion like this was literally the perfect scene for her dreams to do something stupid like become a nightmare (not like they weren't on most days). 

Yuu inhaled, which made her cough a bit because of all the dust. Yuuta saw it and chuckled, finding amusement in Yuu's struggle to find fresh air. "A bit dusty isn't it? We all had trouble trying to breathe the last night, Yuuya had to to take a step outside for a little." Yuuta retold to Yuu, who was listening intently.

Yuu grimaced. Yeah, she definitely got the better end of the deal.  "Yeesh, I thought this place couldn't get any worse... You guys explored the whole thing, yet?" Yuu asked, curiously looking around like an eager child. Crowley was with Yuuka, both were trying to figure out what was going to be fixed first. Yuuya was sitting on the sofa, relaxing as much as he could, or at least trying to.

"Mm, no, we haven't done the basement or attic." Yuuta answered, staring at Yuu, who didn't have the courage to make eye contact. He didn't mind, he knew a few introverts who had the same problem, it wasn't a big deal. "Yuuya said that it was clearly a bad idea since that was the start of every horror movie, heh..." Yuuta chuckled, remembering Yuuya's panic when Yuuken wanted to explore.

Yuu snorted, "As if sleeping in an abandoned house wasn't already the start of a horror movie... Since Crowley's here, why don't we explore what we can? He can become our meatshield." Great idea, Yuu. Amazing. Genius, even.

"Aw, girly, I don't think he'll appreciate that very much~"

"AHH!" 

Yuu jumped, automatically hiding behind Yuuta, which was a bit of a fail since he was shorter than her. This time, Yuuta was the one to snort, finding Yuu's fear funny. The ghost also thought the same. The others gave a glance her way to see what the scream was about but went back to what they were doing when they saw her hiding behind Yuuta with a ghost in front of him. They knew what was happening.

It was the big one, she forgot if he had a name, but she definitely remembered that he was friendly.

Yuu straightened herself up and cleared her throat, thoroughly embarrassed. "Ahem! Uh, who are you, sir...?" Civil, Yuu, be civil.

The ghost snickered but floated back a bit, when he did two others joined him, banding together to make this little trio. It was a cute entrance. "We're the ghosts of Ramshackle! Nice to meet you, kid." They each held out a hand for Yuu to shake, so she did, one by one.

"I'm John!" The big one introduced dramatically, feigning mystery. It reminded her of Argenti from HSR.

"I'm Doe!" The small one introduced cheerfully, all smiles. Like pinkie pie from My Little Pony.

"And I'm Elm!" The skinny one introduced calmly, he seemed to be the one with the most sense, similar to Pure Vanilla from CRK.

Crazy comparison, Yuu knew.

Yuu nodded calmly, "It's nice to meet you three." She stayed politely, cause like... that was what a decent human should do in these situations. Maybe not to ghosts, but she knew that they wouldn't hurt her. Maybe.

They did weird laughs and then drifted away and disappeared like the wind. 

"Huh." Yuu turned to Yuuta, a curious expression on her face. He caught on to her silent question and gave her an answer. "You handled that situation better than I expected."

Yuu felt sheepish, she wasn't that introverted... Was she? "I'm not that bad... I just don't like speaking much to people I don't know. And first impressions matter. Right?" 

Yuuta just smiled and shook his head fondly. Yuu was certainly entertaining when she wanted to be. It was hard to get bored around her, that was for sure.

"So... About that exploration idea..." Yuuta grinned, and Yuu had the same expression in mere seconds. "You up for it?" Yuuta asked mischievously. "Hell yeah." And then they were walking to Crowley, going to make him explore with them in Ramshackle's attic first, cause most of the time it was used as a storage.

Luckily for them, Crowley and Yuuka were about to go there to check out the holes, which was nice. Yuuya joined in cause he was scared to be alone, lol.

Now, here they were, watching as Crowley struggled to open the attic's trapdoor. It was shut pretty tight, and when asked the ghosts said that they forgot where the keys were. Apparently everything still usable was inside there, like crowbars and stuff. 

"My, this one is shut tight..." Crowley let go, staring up at the closed trapdoor. They were all staring up at the trapdoor, wondering how they could get it to open. 

Yuuka turned to Crowley, "Headmage, can't you use magic to open it?" And Crowley gave Yuuka his answer, "Well, I could, but I have a personal limit on how much magic I can use to not accumulate too much blot." Crowley sighed and looked toward the other in the room, then his eyes landed on Yuu.

He closed his eyes, then opened them again. "Could one of you try to pry it open? Or perhaps have pick the lock?" That got Yuuka to perk up.

"Oh, I can try to pick the lock." Crowley let out some strange bird noise that Yuu cringed at and pulled out a lock picker. Why he casually carried that around Yuu didn't want to know, she just wanted to explore a little.

Crowley stepped down the ladder and stood with the others while Yuuka stepped up trying to pick the lock. Patiently, the others waited until they all heard a click sound. They all sighed, relieved to see that it was opened. Yuuka grabbed the handle and tugged on it, but unfortunately it didn't budge. "It's stuck..." Yuuka frowned.

Everyone's gaze turned to Yuu, who felt nervous from their collective stare. "...What?" She meekly questioned, not understanding why they were looking at her. 

"Try to pry it open." Yuuya seemed to be the one who graced her with an answer, which she still found a bit confusing. Yuu couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

"Cause' you're the strongest out of all of us here." Yuuka was the one who answered this time, she stepped off the ladder and stood in front Yuu. "You don't know that." 

"Child, you carried Grim with no trouble, I doubt you're not the strongest here." Crowley retorted, deadpanned. Grim was heavy, but not that heavy... Yuu thought. "I still don't get it." Yuu admitted, which made Yuuka sigh. "Just try, Yuu."

Okay, queen, whatever you say, queen.

Yuu sighed and stepped up the ladder, she grabbed the handle and immediately yanked the trapdoor, revealing pitch black. "Oh." Crowley laughed at Yuu's reaction and brought his hand to his lips, finding it hilarious. The others apparently found it funny too.

"Oh, indeed..." Yuuka smirked, "Now, come on go up, we wanna see stuff too." Unfortunately for them, Yuu was frozen. Her legs wouldn't move, and no, not because of a curse, but because she was scared of the dark. "Um, small problem... I'm terrified of the dark." 

Yuuya deadpanned, "Seriously? Girl..." He sounded so disappointed, it was funny. Crowley certainly found it funny. That old man was giggling his ass off like a middle school girl in love. He coughed a little to lessen his giggles and smile when they finally ceased, raising his... cane or whatever.

"Perhaps I can ignore my personal rule this time." Then a bunch of magical glowing orbs appeared from his cane, floating up into the opened trapdoor and lighting it up. It was very pretty when Yuu looked inside.

She fully went in and helped the other go hop inside, advising them to watch their step because of the weak floorboards. She stuck to Yuuka, still finding the attic creepy despite being completely lit. And that was mostly because of what was inside. 

Inside had a bunch of stuff that looked like they belonged to a museum, but the creepiest in Yuu's opinion, was a statue. If she had to compared it to something, it was like a weeping angel. Not the appearance, just the general... atmosphere it gave. The ghosts suddenly popped back, which gave Yuuya a good scare. Heh.

Yuuka and Yuu were trying to get a chest to open, Yuuya was admiring that statue, Yuuta and Crowley were counting the holes and what needed to get fixed without having to get the whole roof renovated, that could be for another time.

Yuu pulled out a small watch-compass thing and played with it for a little before putting it back before grabbing another thing. This new thing was like a bubble it had a lovely blue colour. Until it suddenly turned a very dark maroon. Panicked, Yuu placed it the floor and waited until it turned back. When it did, a smaller orb popped out, which then took the form of a dwarf. Yuuka, who saw the same thing as Yuu, gave her a questioning stare. The girl shrugged, also confused.

They both stared at it for a few moments, then the little dwarf started changing its form. It turned into this... monster? It still had its uniform, but instead of its head, it had a glass ball filled with ink. Yuu stared at it for a moment longer, backing away when the little thing got closer to her.

"Ah! What the hell, what the hell, what the hell–" Yuu kept backing away until she hit a wall, and the creature just kept walking. It reaches her leg and just... nuzzled, which felt weird since it had a glass head.

"What the hell is that." She heard someone question, she would guess that it was Yuuya who said it. Yuu didn't even know either, she was just trying to make sure that the thing wasn't to harm her. It was unlikely since it seemed to like her a lot, judging by the fact it was nuzzling her leg.

"I don't know– go get Crowley and ask him!" Yuu didn't mean to yell, but she did, she already felt bad. Yuuya did exactly that and led Crowley to a panicked Yuu and the little ink monster. 

Just as soon as they came, the group was back in the lounge area, with Yuu sitting on the sofa, next to Yuuka, who was trying to support Yuu as best she could.

Crowley hummed to himself as he inspected the monster that was nuzzling her leg, "I suspect that this is a phantom." A huh? "What?" The Yuus gave Crowley a questioning look, confused and certainly not very calm. A creature was nuzzling her leg, she didn't usually get approached by any creatures, animals usually avoided her. 

Crowley looked at Yuu and was reminded that this was not information any of them would know. "Think of it as a by product of an overblot." ... "Oh, an overblot is where mages exhaust too much magical power and turn into a raging monster that destroys everything in its path." Yuu already knew about that because of the game, but the others didn't and they needed a proper explanation.

Yuu looked down at the creature that attached itself to her leg. It certainly looked different than what she saw in the game. Way cuter, and not so scary. Hesitantly, Yuu brought a hand to pat it on the head, which got the little thing to look up at her and close its eyes. Despite lacking a mouth, it was clearly smiling. It was so cute, Yuu was going to cry. 

"But the mystery is why it is so small and... docile." Crowley muttered, looking at the small phantom intensely, then he suddenly switched up and clapped his hands, making everyone look up from the small phantom and then to Crowley. "No matter! It has already gotten late, and I still have many papers to sign, including those expulsion papers! So, I shall take my leave, children. Too~daloo!" Wow. Okay, really left her with a child, what the hell...

By the time Yuu knew it, she was in bed with the phantom, clinging to her arm. The room they were in had bunk-beds instead of just one big queen bed, every one had their own curtains, even the ones on top, theirs were attacked to the ceiling. The others said they found it like this.

Yuu was on the top bunk while Yuuka stayed at the bottom. And apparently, they had some sort of soundproofing magic too, Yuuya found that out. He probably had a mental breakdown or smth, poor guy.

Yuu stared at the ceiling, wondering what she was going to do with this new creature beside her. 

Sleep didn't come easy, but it did.

Eventually.

Chapter Text

Yuu was walking in the halls of her school, then she turned around to find a statue. But, of course, not just any statue, but a weeping angel.

Surprised, Yuu blinked. Wrong move. The weeping angel got closer. Yuu soon fell into a panic, she couldn't stop herself from blinking, and when the angel was close it had her hands around her neck, and was about to–

Yuu woke up. She was sweating a bit, her composure completely lost despite looking so calm. Her heart beat showed her not so calm state. She was just too tired to show her emotions. 

Yuu turned and found the little phantom sleeping soundly. She found it cute. Yuu carefully moved her arm away from the phantom. It didn't produce body heat or whatever, but Yuu did and her arm was sweaty.

Free from the phantom's clutches, Yuu sighed and stared at the ceiling, tired and done with the nightmares. She stayed awake for a little longer before she heard a sudden thump from down the hall. It made Yuuta stir a little. She could tell because he didn't use the curtains, and she lifted them up a little to see if the sun had risen yet. Fyi, it had not.

"Hey... Joe? John?" Yuu whispered the wall beside her, knowing full well that the ghost could hear. And speak of the devil, he came in through the wall.

"What is it, kid?" He asked with a smile. Yuu found it hard to see why he looked so happy. "What was that thump...?" She asked quietly.

"Oh, just Yuuken and Crowley. And that little cat thing too."

"Oh, okay, thanks."

"No problem, kiddo." Then he disappeared.

If Yuuken was back, then that meant the prologue was coming to an end... That was good. Yuu didn't know what she would do if she were him. He was so amazing for being able to handle that, Yuu envied that fact about him, it was admirable and she could only wish that she had such a trait.

Sighing, Yuu turned and faced the wall as she lay on her side. Yuu stared at the blank nothingness for a while before closing her eyes and once again trying to find sleep. It didn't come easily, not easier than last night, at least. She didn't have the same exhaustion she did last night. And that nightmare... Yuu sighed and turned to the little phantom, watching its sleeping form lie there next to her, unmoving. Her fingers moved to the phantom's head, gently feeling the glass of its body. She was being as gentle as she could be, minding her nails and making sure not to squeeze too hard.

If Yuu were to compare it with something... she would compare it to those baby dolls, because of its soft body and hard head. However, it was way cuter than those babies. 

Yuu let go of the phantom and just stared at it, silently wondering why it suddenly came from the orb in the attic. Was that going to happen for every overblot? How? Why? Questions filled Yuu's mind, overtaking her thoughts and stopping her from getting the sleep she needed. 

Unable to find peace, the girl sighed and shuffled to the ladder of her bunk bed. Carefully, Yuu stepped down the ladder, of course, leaving the small phantom in her bed. It was too adorable, she would've felt bad if she tried to wake it up. 

Yuu carefully opened the door and was met with Yuuken's tall frame blocking her way. Oh, he was carrying Grim. He looked like he was about to turn the knob. She tilted her head up and stared at Yuuken. "Oh. Welcome back, Yuuken." Yuu mumbled, bringing up a hand to rub her eyes. She was way too tired for all of this. Yuuken seemed like he had gone through hell and back, his ragged appearance was evidence of it, and a bit of his clothes got ripped off too. 

Yuuken tried to give Yuu a smile, and he did, but it was a little strained. "Hi, Yuu... You already got settled in?" He was so polite, even when he was dead tired, Yuu admired that about him too. "Mhm, I'm bunking with Yuuka." The girl answered, pointing at the bunk bed she shared with Yuuka. "Oh, cool."

...

"Can you please move? Grim's so heavy and I'm too tired."

"Oh, shit, yeah, sorry." Yuu quickly moved to the side to let Yuuken in, and he gave her a grateful smile. He immediately went to the bunk bed with Yuuta and put Grim on the bed before climbing up on the top. Poor guy, exhausted and he still had an obstacle in his way. Yuu pitied him a little.

Yuu blinked and then went out of the room she and the others slept in, making sure to be as quiet as possible as she closed the door. Once out, the girl let out a sigh and took off to the bathroom, unable to think of a better spot to breathe in. When she entered, the bathroom was arguably the cleanest room in Ramshackle, other than the bedroom she shared with the others.

Yuu sighed and placed her hands on the sink, taking a good look at herself in the mirror. She hadn't noticed it before since she hurried herself, but she looked... different. It wasn't drastic, it was more an uncanny kind. She knew that she was different than before, but it was hard to find at first glance, now that she got a moment to see herself, she knew she wasn't how she was before her arrival in the world. She thought she wouldn't be bothered by these atomically small changes, but...

Yuu searched her face, touching the face of someone she didn't know. Did she take someone's body? Was she still the same as before? Who was that staring at her in the mirror? Questions of these three rang in her mind, making her worry about her authenticity. It wasn't just her face either, it was her whole body.

Her arms were longer than they should be, her legs were taller than she remembered, her fingers were more slender than what she was used to, her hands were bigger, her chest was slightly bigger, her eyes were smaller and narrower, her face was less chubby, her lashes were more prominent, her stretch marks were gone− they were all so different. She didn't feel like herself in this body.

A sob came from her lips, and soon more surfaced. The bottled-up emotions she had burst through like a destroyed dam, a disastrous wave crashing upon her mentality at the sight of her new self. Yuu choked up, her hands instinctively came up to her mouth to cover the sounds that were released. Even her sobs weren't hers. And that fact only made her cry harder.

Yuu's feet gave out on her, and she dropped down to the floor boards, trembling as she went slack against the bathroom walls. She quietly cried in the bathroom as the warm water leaked from her eyes. Her hand gripped at the pyjamas she was given by Crowley, grasping at it desperately to somehow change how she looked, to turn herself back into her real form. Her chest hurt, it was painful, this deep anguish for the loss of who she once was. It was torture of the worst kind, and Yuu had no resistance to the pain. 

Her tears didn't cease, even when Yuu had no more energy the water dripped like she was a broken faucet. The unfairness of her situation finally hit her like it should have the moment she arrived. Yuu's eyes were filled with tears, blocking her sight. Her ears weren't able to properly hear either, too filled with her own sobs. She didn't even notice that someone had come in and lifted her up. She helplessly leaned against the person who lifted her, unable to find the will to struggle. She sniffled, eyes reddened and puffy from her tears.

"You're a real anomaly, kiddo..." Yuu heard a voice say softly, her mind relaxed and she closed her eyes, able to let go of her anxiety when she heard the voice. It was just one of the ghosts, not a real man, no one would lay a hand on her, she told herself. Yuu tired herself from crying, which explains why she lost consciousness.

If John still had his lungs, he would've let out a sigh. The girl had fallen asleep in the arms of a stranger... Admittedly, he wasn't really a stranger, but that didn't matter since Yuu still let her guard down. She reminded John of one of those RSA kids, naive and much too trusting. But then again... She was clearly unfit for the school of 'good', she wouldn't fit in there. Actually... Would Yuu fit in anywhere? Too nice for NRC, too selfish for RSA... That other school then? Oh, but she didn't seem to be the religious type.

John shook his head and then lifted the sleeping girl, placing her on his back and carrying her back to her bed. He had to take a few tries to turn the doorknob, but he eventually got it. It was hard having to focus more on making the knob turn when a literal living human was on his back. 

The large ghost floated up to her bunk bed, carefully placing her on her bed and making sure to avoid the sleeping phantom. Speaking of phantom... John was curious about the little guy. It was an anomaly, like Yuu. However, unlike Yuu, they were from Twisted Wonderland, they were as much of a living being as the others were as well, despite being an overblot phantom.

John stared at the small phantom before shrugging and leaving the room, leaving everyone to rest. 

Their sleep was short, however, due to a loud banging coming from the front door. The first to wake up were Yuuken and Grim, who looked at each other with groggy questioning expressions before they got off their bed. The bangs outside and the creaking of the floorboards soon woke up Yuuka, who saw Yuuken leave the room, she took a moment to adjust her eyes and immediately got up to wake Yuuta.

Yuuken made his way forward down the halls of Ramshackle with Grim in his arms, uneasy as he walked towards the loud bangs. When he reached the front door, Yuuken moved the curtains and took a look outside, then he relaxed when he saw a familiar face on the porch. Grim's stiffened body did the same, both were relieved to see that it wasn't some monster− err, some scary monster. 

Yuuken was about to open the door when he heard someone clear their throat from behind, surprising him. Quickly, he turned around and saw Yuuka and Yuuta giving Yuuken unimpressed stares. "Really, Yuuken? Opening the door for the loud banging?" Yuuka commented, an eyebrow raised. Oh, so that was how this looked like to them− "Oh, no, it was just Ace." ... "The ginger with the heart makeup."

"Oh. Can we trust this guy?" Yuuka bluntly asked, not bothering to sweeten her words. Yuuta laughed nervously, "Woah, straight to the point, aren't you, Yuuka?" Yuuka looked at Yuuta and then gave him a smirk. "Well, it's efficient and doesn't cost any needless energy."

Yuuken sweatdropped, "Well, to answer Yuuka's question... Yeah, we can." Yuuken smiled, he then proceeded to turn the doorknob and swung the doorknob to reveal a collared Ace. Yuuken turned to his friend(?), his smile immediately falling into a worried expression. "Woah, dude, what happened to you?" Yuuken asked out of concern. Ace seemed tired, and hungry, but most of all tired.

Ace sighed and raised a hand to scratch the back of his head, "Hahh, it's a long story... Can I come in first? It's cold out here." Yuuken was quick to step aside and let Ace in, allowing him to enter their living space. "Yeah, of course, come on in." And so Ace did. They all made their way to the lounge, Yuuka, Yuuken and Ace sat down on the sofa while Yuuta went to get the hot chocolate that Crowley gave them as an apologetic gesture for placing them in... these conditions.

Grim was the first to break the silence, speaking up unafraid, "So what'd you do?" Grim asked bluntly from beside Yuuken, staring at Ace with a curious expression. Ace looked a little offended, "Wha− Why'd you assume that I was the one who did something?" Irritatedly, he asked. Grim looked unimpressed. "'Cause you got that collar and you're...." Grim gestured to Ace, "You."

Despite the insulting words, Ace wasn't able to rebut them because they weren't really wrong; they were just mildly offensive. Ace scoffed and just gave an answer to Grim's question, choosing to ignore the rudeness Grim displayed. "Tsk... Anyway, I got this thing on me 'cause I ate a tart."

...

"What?" Yuuka inquired, believing there was more to the story than just a simple tart. Yuuken and Grim seemed to think the same, both giving each other a disbelieving look before their attention turned back to Ace, who sighed and opened his mouth to speak.

She was sitting on a wall, a very tall wall. Or was it a roof? She couldn't tell either way.

Yuu stared down at the roofs below, the wind blowing into the window where she sat. She looked back at the room she was in, wondering when she had remade her old home. That was when she realised that she was dreaming. Of course, that didn't remove the anxiety she felt. It just made her bolder in her decisions. 

She stared at the figure in her room, which was silent and unmoving as it faced her. She could tell what they were, she just knew that they were welcomed in her world. She asked who they were; she heard no voice from her mouth, but she knew she had asked them. They were about to speak when the wind blew her right off the window and onto the roofs below, and she was falling, falling,fallingfallingfallingfallingFALLINGFALLINGFALLING−

The dream changed.

The girl's surroundings changed into a garden, she couldn't tell if the garden was thriving because of the black and white colours. She got up from where she lay and looked around. She soon found a little girl a few feet from her, who stared at the other with a curious gaze. The older girl opened her mouth, and a voice came, how strange. "Who are you?" And the younger girl answered quickly, "I am Alice. Who are you, Miss?"

The questioned girl was silent. Who was she? She couldn't... Never mind, she remembered then. "∎∎∎∎∎∎. Where are we? I don't remember ever..." ∎∎∎∎∎∎ placed a hand on the ground and moved to stand up. Alice had moved to help the older girl and grabbed her free hand, stabilising the other's shaky form. A head-splitting headache hit the two girls, and instinctively, they released each other to hold their heads in an attempt to ease the pain. "Agh−!!" They synchronised.

Almost immediately, their headache subsided when they let go of each other. Alice and ∎∎∎∎∎∎ turned their heads to each other before a silent agreement was made to never touch each other unless truly needed. 

∎∎∎∎∎∎ dusted off the dirt on the dress she was wearing. She realised she had never worn such an outfit.

The teenager looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a white, frilly dress that reached her knees. It started from her neck, decorated with white bandages. It hid the skin from her neck to her knees. Her sleeves were a mix of ruffled and butterfly sleeves. Her dress was layered, with a white top on top of the dress. She wore a ribbon around her waist that was then tied half-heartedly on the side. Her skirt was puffy and had multiple layers as well, draped with a piece of white fabric. She was also wearing leggings beneath her skirt, which were also white. If she had to classify this into a style, it would be morute, or perhaps lolita. Either way, ∎∎∎∎∎∎ quite liked her new look; she felt like... herself.

"Miss?" ∎∎∎∎∎∎ snapped out of their awed state and averted her attention from her dress to the young girl who accompanied her. She smiled and looked down at Alice, "Yes?" She implored Alice to go on, allowing the other girl to continue. So, Alice did.

"I hear singing from over there, should we go see what it is?" Alice asked, pointing to where she heard singing. When Alice mentioned the sound, ∎∎∎∎∎∎ found herself hearing the voices as well. "Oh... If you'd like to, we could go see− Ah, but wait." Yuu fiddled with the ribbon around her waist, untying it and holding it up. "How about we use this, hm? We wouldn't want to get separated, now would we? "

Alice's eyes seemed to brighten with colour quite literally, ∎∎∎∎∎∎ saw blue ignited in her iris. Actually, the whole of Alice gained colour. "Right! We shouldn't get separated." Alice raised her arm, allowing the older girl to tie the ribbon around her wrist, which was done very carefully so they wouldn't accidentally touch each other and cause another headache. Alice did the same to the other girl's wrist, tying it carefully. Alice's knot was a bit messy compared to the other, but it still got the job done.

She looked at the ribbon, a strange softness in her eyes. "Now, we can go." Alice looked up from the knot to ∎∎∎∎∎∎, a smile appeared on her face. "Right! Let's march on..." Alice turned to the voices, walking towards the distance as the older girl followed the younger one.

As they both passed the roses painted red, the older girl saw a flash of a strangely silvery-lilac coloured crow in the distance. Or was that a dove? Either way, she saw an avian animal in the skies. She didn't know how far, but far enough. It was beautiful, and ∎∎∎∎∎∎ was amazed by the bird's grace.

"Hurry up and paint the roses red!" She heard in the distance. Alice let out an audible gasp that made ∎∎∎∎∎∎ turn to where Alice was looking, momentarily distracted by the bird. "Slather them quickly! Aforesaid!" Well, what a lovely sight. A bunch of card soldiers painting roses red... Where had she seen this before?

Alice approached the soldiers, curiosity getting the best of her. Since ∎∎∎∎∎∎'s wrist was tied to Alice by the ribbon, she was pulled by the girl. S he didn't mind, though. "Hurry, hurry! There are still roses left to paint!" A card shouted, hurrying everyone to paint the roses. What a disaster... Wasn't this from that old Disney movie−?

"Why are you all painting these roses red?" Alice asked. ∎∎∎∎∎∎ looked between the younger one and the masculine card soldier, getting ready to run at any sign of danger, if that was possible. If it came down to it, she was willing to carry Alice and run far, far away from this place. Even if this place was only a dream, she wanted to help Alice as much as she could.

The cards had the same response: "Huh?" Then they looked at each other for a moment before explaining to the girl called Alice. "Why, you ask? It's quite simple− We planted the wrong colour, you see!" The Ace nodded and expanded on the information that was given. "The Queen likes her roses red. If they're white, we'll lose our heads!" Alice and ∎∎∎∎∎∎ had the same reaction, which were variations of horror and disbelief. The cards were unbothered by the two's reactions and only continued to paint the roses red. "And so! We are painting the roses red."

"Oh goodness!" They expressed in perfect sync.

And then Yuu woke up to a light tap on their arm. She just grumbled and shoved away where the tap came from. Then she was fully awake when she realised where she was. The girl immediately opened her eyes and hurriedly moved to look at who tapped on her arm. There she saw a sniffling phantom, possibly smaller than he originally. Yuu instantly felt bad for her rudeness and grabbed the small creature, trying to calm it down.

"Hey, hey, hey... Oh, I'm sorry." She held it gently with one hand while the other was preoccupied with trying to get rid of the ink that dripped from its eyes. The phantom gurgled, unable to truly express its feelings and the extent of its upset heart. "I didn't realise it was you, oh, I'm so sorry..." Yuu apologised, bringing the small creature to her chest and trying to give it a hug. It was kind of awkward because of the size difference, but she hoped that it was still comforting because there was no way she wasn't going to feel bad if the phantom still felt upset.

The blot being in her eyes sniffled for a little bit more before calming down and just enjoying Yuu's warmth. The girl sighed in relief when the sniffling stopped, calm since she didn't have to deal with an outburst. 

"Yuu?" The mentioned girl heard from beyond the curtains of her bed. She set the curtains aside with her free hand and looked at the person who called out for her. It was Yuuya. He was still wearing his PJs. But most importantly, she noticed that it wasn't dawn just yet. It was a shame, dawn and dusk skies had the most beautiful colours.

"Y-yah?" Yuu stuttered, still holding the phantom closer to her chest. Yuuya chose to ignore the oddity of the phantom that was currently hugging Yuu and got to the point. "Crowley's here. Apparently, we're students now. I think... Whatever, just come to the lounge and the others will explain." Yuuya groggily explained, then he dragged himself to the door, quickly leaving without changing. Yuu just watched as Yuuya left with misery written all over her face.

Well, he for sure wasn't a morning person...

Yuu shook her head and placed the phantom back on the bed, and climbed down the steps of the ladder. "Stay here, buddy. I'll come back later, okay?" The creature looked a bit disheartened by Yuu's disappearance but obeyed her words despite its qualms against her orders, lying back down on the bed and just staring at the ceiling in boredom.

The girl left the room she shared with the others and walked to the lounge, at least making sure she looked decently presentable and adjusting her clothes to hide her shoulders. The clothes she was given were very loose, , but she didn't expect them to be that loose. She didn't care too much; it was just a minor inconvenience she could deal with, fortunately.

Yuuka was standing with Yuuta and Yuuken, and Yuuya was clocked out on an armchair because Ace was lying down on the sofa. Wait, what? Yuu's eyes lingered on Ace's sleeping figure for a little bit longer before she looked away to watch the others talk. Then she noticed a minor detail.

"Where's Grim?" Yuu whispered to Yuuka, who gave the other a glance and then explained. "He's sleeping in Yuuken's bed." Yuu appreciated the bluntness and straightforward style Yuuka had, it was much clearer than most people's way of speaking. Anyway, that answered her question. She wondered why they were all summoned. If she had to guess, it was probably around four in the morning.

Yuuka turned to Crowley, "So, why were we all woken up so early in the morning? Some of us aren't morning people, you know." Yuuka stated with that 'as a matter of fact' tone, deadpanned and a little bit annoyed, truthfully. Yuu felt the same, she could've gotten precious time to sleep if it weren't for Crowley.

Yuu awaited Crowley's response, hoping that it would be worth the energy. Crowley laughed nervously, cleared his throat, and summoned four papers with his magic. "Alright, well. While Yuuken was at the mines, he encountered an overblot phantom, yet was able to get the magestone and his friends safely out of the Dwarfs' Mine. And so, I admitted him as a student of Night Raven College to teach the students how to work together..." He sweatdropped when he found Yuu slowly getting more impatient and just decided to skip the rest of his explanation. "Um, he asked for all of you to become students as well, so please just sign here." Great.

Yuuka spoke up, "Wait, Headmage, I'm already in my second year, so do we just start as a first year, or...?" Crowley seemed a bit surprised and then brightened, "Ah, yes! I was about to speak to you four about this− Yuuken will be starting as a first year at his request, however, I was about to ask you if you were in your first year or second year. So, would you rather start in the first year or the second year?" Yuu was about to automatically say second year before she paused and thought about it.

She didn't know anything about this world, so if she missed any information, she wouldn't be able to− "Oh, and before I forget, I will appoint someone to guide you if you want to start as a second year." ... Well that solved her worries.

Yuuka's moment of thought ended with a decision, "I'll start as a second-year student." Yuu spoke up after that. "Yeah, I'll start as a second-year student as well."

Yuu grabbed one of the papers and stared at the written clauses and agreements, squinting a little to read the fine print. "'The student who signs this paper must carry out the Headmage's requests...' Are you serious?" Yuu gave Crowley a dirty glare, unamused by the contract. Crowley felt a bit of sweat build up and then laughed, "Aha! Just scratch that out! ᴴᵒʷ'ᵈ ˢʰᵉ ᶠᶦⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵃᵗ..." Yuu shook her head and just scribbled on the text, and then went back to reading. When Yuu found no other suspicious clause, she signed it.

Yuuka was also done after Yuu. Yuuken said he already did it back at Crowley's office, so he took it upon himself to attempt to wake up Yuuya while Yuuta signed his paper. Yuuken was successful in waking up Yuuya. Kinda. The guy was half awake at best and just read the followed everyone's lead and scratched out the one problematic clause, then signed and went back to sleep. Such an interesting to a day... 

Crowley, having just remembered something, turned to the group of magicless and began with a few words. "Ah! It nearly slipped my mind− You five shall need to come early in the morning in order to choose your clubs." Crowley told them. That fact made Yuu a little nervous, she was probably going to join the others if they were set on a club. If all the clubs the others chose weren't her style, she would just find one where she knew one of the students. If she remembered correctly, there should be an Equestrian Club and a Board Game Club. If Yuu were to pick, it would be either of those.

"Right! I shall leave you all to spend your remaining time doing what you want. That package," Crowley pointed at the package near the front door of Ramshackle, "Should contain your uniforms. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to make skirts for you girls, you will have to do with pants for now. And don't worry! It will magically fit into your sizes and stay as your size for the rest of its use." 'No time' my ass, just say you didn't want to... Yuu scowled. Crowley just smiled and chuckled, then left the front door without another word, fleeing from Yuu's glare. 

Yuu sighed and silently walked to the package with Yuuken. She opened the box and found, lo and behold, five uniforms for all of them. Yuu took this chance to go bathe and change into the uniforms. Yuuken just went to the bedroom and waited on Yuuta's bed. Yuuta and Yuuka were just chilling and talking in the kitchen of Ramshackle. 

Yuu didn't take long to come out, only taking fifteen minutes in the shower. Thankfully, Crowley managed to at least fix the shower for them. The rest of the pipes were going to be fixed on Sunday.

Yuu yawned and placed her towel on her bed, going up and sitting on it. The little phantom she left there had clung to her as soon as she arrived back in her bed, nuzzling its glass head against her side. Yuu just patted its head and let it be, occupying herself with her phone. She did as much as she could to recount all of the events in Book 1 before she was interrupted by Yuuta's voice, who invited her to engage in a little conversation. 

Their talk was one-sided, and mostly Yuuta was the one who actually spoke, but as Yuu got more comfortable, she got more outspoken and relaxed. Her silence was replaced with loudness, and she found herself laughing and joking with the short boy.

She didn't notice, but it was almost 6 in the morning when they were done with their laughs. 

Yuuka came in and found Yuuta and Yuu joking around, which made her expression soften. "Hey, guys, we should go eat, the Headmage left us some food," Yuuka called out, Yuu was more than happy to come with her and Yuuta to eat, her appetite was found.

Yuu saw a newer person in the lounge, if she remembered correctly, he was called Deuce Spade. He was scolding Ace, "I still can't believe you took the Housewarden's tart!" Ace grumbled and threw the pillow he was using, hitting Deuce square in the face. "Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Ace shouted back. 

Yuu looked around the room and found that Yuuya had already changed, but he still looked a little tired. Yuuken was watching Ace and Deuce argue with an amused glint in his eyes, fond of the two troublemakers he called friends. Yuuka had taken it upon herself to read through the list of clubs the Headmage gave them, apparently. 

"So, I'm thinking of joining the track and field club, how about you, Yuu?" She turned her head to Yuu, looking at the girl with a curious expression. The girl was a little surprised by her sudden inclusion, but just rolled with it. "If I had to choose... Probably the Equastrian Club or Board Game Club, but I'd rather join a club where I know someone." The girl mumbled, Yuuka hummed and looked back at the list. "Apparently, the Headmage had a feeling you would say that and wrote down the names of the people we met yesterday, at lunch. The clubs they're in are the Light Music club and the Equastrian club." Yuuka handed the list over to Yuu, who took it gratefully and scanned the clubs. There she found Lilia in the Light Music club and Sebek and Silver in the Equastrian club.

"Well... You're thinking of joining the Track and Field, right?" Yuu questioned, and Yuuka nodded. "Hm... I'm gonna ask the others first and make a decision later. I wanna see what other options I have." Yuuka hummed and made a motion to grab the list, Yuu gave it back without much thought. "Cool, I'm gonna put my name next to the Track and Field club." Yuuka did as said and wrote down her name.

Yuu handed the list to Yuu, who took off with it to ask the others what clubs they would be joining. She asked Yuuta first, who said he would join the Science club. Yuuya was going to join the Film Studies club or the Gargoyle Research club. And Yuuken was debating between the Track and Field club and the Football club. So... Nobody shared her sentiment of riding horses or raging at board games. Yuu decided that she would choose at the end of the day and hope she made a decision by then.

She placed the list down at the coffee table in front of the sofa.

She saw Ace, who was now in the normal uniform, and Deuce walking outside the door with Yuuken, who was holding Grim, accompanying them. Where were they going? Yuuka answered Yuu's internal questions. It was odd how timely it was. "They're going to Heartslabyul to accompany Ace and apologise to his Housewarden."

"Oh."

Yuuka spotted Yuuya still resting on her armchair and made her way to him, lifting him from his slumped form and pushing him out the door. "C'mon, Yuuya, time for school." Yuu snickered at Yuuya's whines and followed them behind with an equally amused Yuuta.

Chapter Text

Yuu walked with Yuuta, a bit behind Yuuka, who was dragging an unmotivated Yuuya. They were on the main street, which was pretty empty. It was quiet, since it was pretty early. They chose to go a little earlier than most people to meet with those people Crowley chose to guide Yuuka and Yuu. Yuuta and Yuuya were still first years when they were abducted accepted into Night Raven College. 

Yuuya wasn't as whiny as a few minutes ago, but he was still pretty grumpy. Despite his lack of a clearly grumpy expression, Yuu could tell from how he was slouching and dragging his feet as he walked that he wasn't feeling the nicest. She held back a giggle when Yuuka linked her arm with Yuuya's to keep him from falling behind. It was funny seeing Yuuya suffer. Yuuta seemed to share the same sentiment, he had a barely concealed grin on his face.

Yuu tried not to stare at the statues, and they walked on the cement, avoiding looking at the Queen of Hearts specifically. It was... a little awkward to stare at a figure you knew you would personally meet in a dream one night. 

Speaking of dreams... It seemed Yuu was going to be the one to experience those dreams, or perhaps be the only one who remembered them. Either way, she knew what happened in those dreams and was even able to interact with the people. Compared to her other dreams, that was more normal than the majority, although she felt like her actions weren't her own, then again, she rarely got to make a decision instead of her mind making one up for her.

Lost in her thoughts, Yuu didn't notice that they were already in Crowley's office. "Oomf−" She bumped into Yuuka, who stopped abruptly to stare at the two guides who were assigned to Yuu and Yuuka. Yuu looked at Yuuka in minor confusion before stepping to the side to see why Yuuka seemed so surprised. There she found Silver and... What was his name again? It sounded vaguely Arabic the last time she heard it, hm... Kaleem? Oh, Kalim! Yuu met him in the Sorting Ceremony, didn't she?

Yuu blinked and was met with Kalim's excited voice, who approached Yuuka and Yuu without much thought, though he made sure to keep his distance. "Oh Great Seven! Hi! It's so nice to see you again!" Kalim greeted happily, a few feet away. If Yuu recalled correctly, he was always in danger one way or another... Poor guy.

Yuu smiled softly, charmed by his enthusiasm. "Hi, Kalim.. It's nice to see you, too." She greeted him back, fiddling with the hem of her sleeves as Kalim talked to Yuu. He sure was bright... It was kind of tiring, but he was fun to talk to, even if she didn't really talk much. Yuu listened to Kalim with a small smile, giving small hums like, "Mhm." Or- "Mm-mm..." She didn't really talk unless she wanted to share something with Kalim. He seemed pretty happy to listen and talk as much as he did. Yuu really couldn't understand extroverts sometimes... 

Yuuka was having a conversation with Yuuya, something about their education?− while Yuuta was with Silver, who were talking about the Ramshackle Residents' situation. She could make out parts of Silver and Yuuta's voice, since they weren't being discreet about it, just a few words like, "Transported to another world..." And, "Enrolled because of Yuuken's request..." Or something along those lines.

Yuu learned from Kalim that Crowley was currently visiting Crewel and Jasper. Yuu remembered Crewel, who was the Alchemy, Potions, and Herbology teacher, Kalim said. Wow. Talk about multi-tasking... Yuu felt tremendous respect for Crewel already, and she hadn't even met him yet! He was pretty amazing to be dealing with teaching three classes, granted, Crowley took over at times when Crewel didn't have the time to teach a class, but still. He was pretty amazing!

Just when Kalim was about to go on another topic, Crowley burst through his own doors and quickly shut them, panting with a rather ragged look. He huffed a few times before sighing and fixing himself up when he realised that he wasn't alone. "Oh! Um, you four are quite quick..."

"We're not, you're just late, Headmage." Yuuka pointed out blatantly. Her blunt comment was ignored, however. Crowley cleared his throat and walked toward the group of teenagers. "Well, I shall be explaining why I chose these two." Crowley took a deep breath before going into his explanation. "As you may know, you and Yuu chose to start as second years, but because of your lack of knowledge of our world, I have decided to take it upon myself to appoint you two a guide out of the kindness of my so-gracious heart!"

Okay, enough with the self-glazing, peacock...

"I chose Al-Asim, Kalim, as a guide because he is in our welcoming committee and has experience in helping out others. For Mister Silver over here, I found that it would be more convenient to appoint someone of the same class as your guide." Crowley took another deep breath. "Although they're both your guides, I would still recommend that you two choose who would be guiding one of you more often, to make things easier." Mother of God, why was Crowley being so... generous? Kind? Yuu was way too used to the cheapskate in the game than this (kind of) responsible adult. 

Silver nodded, his eyebrows furrowed to keep himself from relaxing too much and accidentally falling asleep while standing. Kalim just stood next to Silver with a happy expression. Yuu didn't know who to choose; she was a little awkward with Silver, but having to talk to Kalim was going to be very draining... Luckily for her, she didn't need to choose, because Yuuka had already made up her mind. "I wouldn't mind if I were paired up with Silver, but I'd prefer Kalim. How about you, Yuu?" Yuuka looked over at Yuu, who grew nervous when the spotlight was painted on her.

"Ah, um..." Yuu paused, thinking of the situation long-term. If she were to pick Silver as her main guide, she would feel a little nervous at first, but probably find herself getting more comfortable. However, if she were to choose Kalim, she would probably feel very comfortable and find him very entertaining, but... he would also be very draining. It was nothing on Kalim, but she just couldn't find herself being able to handle him for too long, sure, she could endure a week or two, but for the rest of the possible school year? Now... That would be overestimating her social battery. "Uh, I'm really sorry, Kalim, but I'll have to go with Silver. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up with your energetic persona..." Yuu apologised, a bit of guilt forming when she saw Kalim's slightly disappointed face. 

Kalim laughed it off and just smiled, "Aw, well, that's okay, Yuu! We'll just have to make every moment together count, right?" What a positive way of thinking... Yuu could hardly see how he was able to keep it together, despite it all. Yuu smiled and gave Kalim her answer, "Right." She nodded.

Silver was... sleeping? He had his eyes closed, yet he was still standing upright. Yuu hesitated a little before she spoke up, "Uh, did Silver doze off...?" Yuu questioned in concern. Yuuka and Kalim turned to Silver, who was, sure enough, letting out soft snores as he slept while standing. What an odd skill... It didn't make it any less impressive, though. Crowley sweatdropped at the sight and then sighed, allowing the others to talk it out and see for himself if the two guides would be a good match for the two girls.

Kalim laughed and then placed his hand on Silver's shoulder, shaking him a little. "Haha! Come on, Silver, wake up!" Silver didn't immediately wake up, but he did stir a little first before opening his eyes and finding everyone (minus Yuuta and Yuuya, who went to their classes early) looking at him with slightly worried expressions. He blinked and then rubbed his eyes, "Did I fall asleep again...?" He mumbled. Yuu's concern grew worse when she heard that last part. 'Again?' This happened before? God, she needed to reread all of Silver's Vignettes. Yuu hoped that he would never get any trouble from this part of him.

Crowley cleared his throat and looked between the two pairs, who straightened up and immediately became proper in social etiquette. "So, it had been decided! Mister Silver shall be Yuu's main guide while Al-Asim is Yuuka's. Splendid! Now, shoo, the bell will ring soon." Crowley pushed the four out, shooing them away like they were a bunch of cats. Yuu didn't like that very much, although she wasn't too offended.

Silence overtook the guides and guided, both pairs were silent, now that they had no reason to talk. However, Kalim's bright persona naturally made the awkwardness a bit better. "Well, that's that! Come on, you guys, we're gonna miss the bell if we don't go right now!" Sunshine... Sunshine, Yuu insisted. Kalim was way too bright for NRC's 'dark side of the moon' vibe. His sunny energy didn't match the rough-and-tumble NRC had. Yuu wondered how he got accepted into the place. Actually... She could guess how.

Kalim took Silver's wrist and began to drag the silver-haired boy with him, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, Silver even seemed fond. Yuu could understand, Kalim was quite easy to like, albeit a bit annoying at times... Oh, well, Yuu has dealt with annoying people before, Kalim was nothing compared to Astra...

Yuu missed Astra. She hoped Astra was okay, wherever she was.

Yuu and Yuuka followed close behind, and a comfortable silence settled between them as they stared at different things. Yuu's gaze was fixed on the two boys, who were talking, one with a smile, one with neutrality. Contrasting with the slightly shorter girl, Yuuka was looking at the doors they passed, taking note of where everything was and hoped she could remember the spots. Not like she needed to, though. She and Yuu were given a guide for a reason.

Yuu stared at the two boys intensely, pretty much burning holes into the back of their heads depending on who was speaking. She didn't seem to notice the intensity of her staring, however, she was too distracted by how they interacted. She observed, never taking her eyes off them. She nearly bumped into someone, thankfully, it was just a barely noticeable graze on the arm.

Kalim didn't initiate much physical contact, but when he did, his hand didn't stay for long, just a few seconds or so. Silver didn't seem to mind either; in fact, he seemed perfectly comfortable with it. The two clearly had a healthy friendship. Yuu wished to see more of it, just to observe. She liked to watch people, but she didn't go out of her way to search for certain duos. She wasn't a stalker, she hoped. Actually, she should look away before she could get labelled as one right now.

And so, Yuu looked away and just stared at everyone else who passed by, her eyes didn't linger on them for more than a second or two. She eyed a beastman with curiosity in her eyes as her gaze lingered on the demihuman. She mostly just stared at his eyes and tail, which looked quite soft. If Yuu were to guess, he should be a hyena... or was it aardwolf? Either way, it looked soft. Yuu wanted to touch them, thankfully for her, her social anxiety helped her out this time and kept her from approaching the guy. She would die if she actually talked to him.

Yuuka's hand wrapped around Yuu's arm and pulled her closer, narrowly missing a guy who was running, probably sprinting to his class before he was late. Yuu turned back to look at Yuuka, who had a concerned but slightly frustrated expression. "Yuuo! God, be a little aware, won't you?! Hah..." Yuuka sighed. Yuu felt a bit of guilt well up, and she averted her eyes to the floor, embarrassed. "Sorry..." Yuu mumbled an apology.

Yuuka shook her head and just pulled Yuu with her, linking their arms together to keep Yuu from accidentally straying and falling behind. Kalim didn't seem bothered while Silver was unfazed. "Don't take it too seriously, Yuu! I get into little incidents too!" Somehow, Yuu had a feeling that they weren't just little incidents. Silver nodded and gave Yuu a glance. "Yes. I, too, have trouble being aware of my surroundings." That's probably because you're a possible narcolept, buddy... Yuu thought, thinking back to when Silver was sleeping while standing.

Nevertheless, Yuu smiled at them and nodded, accepting their assurances without much thought. "Right." She agreed, a bit happy that her guides were nice. Yuuka was exasperated, but didn't seem to actually mind her new acquaintances' habits. 

Their class was a few steps away, which was 2-A. They had their first class with a ghost, who had been a teacher at NRC but tragically died in a freak accident. He taught at NRC for the rest of his undead life. Honestly, if it were Yuu, she would've just moved on. She would've gone crazy if she had to teach hormonal teenage boys after she had quite literally died.

When Kalim opened the door to their classroom, only a few people were inside; most of them were probably still walking to class or were going to be running late. Yuu just took a seat, along with the others. 

The girl was sitting beside Silver on her left, while Yuuka sat on her right, and Kalim was on Yuuka's right. They sat in the third row of desks, accompanied by peaceful chatter between Yuuka and Kalim, and occasionally Yuu and Silver were pulled into the conversation. They were both mostly quiet, though, both were just... silent. Silver was a little bit more talkative than Yuu, but that wasn't saying much since Yuu would more likely kiss a cat than talk with an acquaintance for longer than a few minutes.

Yuu stared at the wooden desk, her nails pressed against the flat surface as she made a few invisible drawings. Actually, now that she thought about it, how were they going to do school work without pens and paper...? Gosh, a lot of things have been slipping her mind lately... Of course, that happened often, but this was just excessive. Yuu would have to go to a check-up and see if something was wrong with her memory.

She blinked when a hand tapped her shoulder, bringing her out of her thoughts. Yuu looked up to find a guy with purplish-dark hair and PALE skin, Ignihyde colors. She recognised him! Kinda.... Yuu knew him as one of the NPCs she liked in one of the events; she forgot why, but she remembered him, at least.

"Uh," The guy looked a bit weirded out, "I think you're in my seat..." The purplish-dark-haired boy pointed out. Yuu blinked and stared for a little bit longer, trying to remember what that word was in Japanese. When she figured it out, she was about to open her mouth to answer until someone did it for her. "Wrong seat. You're right here." Another guy waved from the second row, just in front of them.

The newer guy had tealish hair, it was darker than the normal kind. And he also had fair skin, not pale like the purple guy, but a healthy kind. The kind where he would put on sunscreen every day and use twenty steps of skin care. He was a Pomefiore student.

The Ignihyde guy looked away from Yuu, then to the Pomefiore guy, blinked, and quickly went to his seat after muttering a "Sorry for bothering you..." Well... At least he apologised? Then again, he wasn't really rude.

Yuu's gaze never left the two boys, who were silent while everyone waited for the homeroom teacher to come in and start the class. She squinted at them, trying to remember why they seemed familiar. She didn't remember much from her days as a Twisted Wonderland fan, but some things she did, like the Yuus. They made a big impact on her, enough to make her legally change her name.

Ah, she was getting off topic! Back to the two guys...

As if a lightbulb lit up, Yuu remembered where she knew the two boys. They were from one of the New Year's events! She recalled making small oneshots of them, and from a gacha vid that remade a specific scene. Something about how they felt like they became a part of something? Either way, Yuu remembered them! See?! Her memory wasn't that bad!

The whole time Yuu stared at the two boys creepily, Silver snuck some glances at Yuu, wondering what was going on in her head to have that abundance of life in her eyes. She was odd, but seemed fun to talk to, when she wasn't at a far distance, that is. Yuu was entertaining when she talked; she looked so animated sometimes, but in other instances... she looked like a freshly frozen corpse. A morbid analogy, but that was what came to Silver's mind when he saw her blank stare. It didn't help that she looked as pale as one. Silver felt concerned for the girl, her earlier zoned-out state was already worrying. 

Then a ghost came in, the homeroom teacher for class 2-A.

Silver placed a hand on Yuu's shoulder and nearly flinched back from the lack of heat from Yuu's skin. The silver-haired boy shook it off as just his gloves, hoping to trick himself into thinking that his guesses weren't correct.

Yuu perked up at the sudden touch and looked away from the two boys and then to Silver, whose hand was still on her shoulder, Yuu realised. Wait, his hand was on her shoulder? Yuu looked back and forth from Silver's hand to his face. The aforementioned boy noticed his lingering hand and immediately let go before telling Yuu. "It's time for class."

"..."

"...Do you not have a notebook and pens, Yuuo?"

"...No. I think Crowley forgot." Silver was silent but then moved his hand to under his part of the desk, pulling out a fresh notebook and a fountain pen, appearing unused except for Silver's name on the cover. 

If Yuu was an anime character, she would've tilted her head out of curiosity. Thankfully, it was easy to make her cringe, and she would die of embarrassment if she ever caught herself acting like an anime character. 

Silver placed the notebook and pen in front of Yuu, then casually brought out his own. This only served to confuse Yuu and left her with one in her mind... What???　なに？？？Yuu's eyes glanced at the new notebook and pen in front of her. "...Why'd you put you put your notebook here?" Yuu asked, her hands just itching to touch it. She was a very handsy person, especially when it came to close friends. In short, she was possessive and greedy.

Silver didn't say anything for a few seconds, trying to articulate a sentence. "I... It's for you," Silver nearly paused before continuing, "And Yuuka. You said you didn't get any stationery, right? So I assumed that Yuuka didn't get any either..." Silver's words trailed off when the ghost teacher cleared his throat. The silver-haired boy turned back to the front, "Let's talk later. Class has started." Silver temporarily dismissed the conversation, and Yuu wasn't against it. She was a student again, this was a good way to restart and make sure she wasn't going to be how she was!

Yeah, that plan kind of failed when she lost interest. Magical analysis was... kinda entertaining? But the way the teacher explained it was... boring, to put it bluntly. Yuu lost track of which topic the teacher was discussing, so she didn't know what was going on.

Yuu wasn't given the textbook for magical analysis, so she had to share it with Silver. It was through sheer luck that Yuu managed to at least understand a formula. Silver hadn't given up on trying to explain what he could to Yuu, which went through one ear and out of the other. Yuu appreciated his efforts, even if they were in vain. Her guide was very kind, but he fell asleep a few seconds ago.

If it were a girl, Yuu would probably try to tap them awake, but this was a boy. Her weird relationship with the opposite gender was getting in the way again.

Silver looked very pretty while he slept. That was probably the first thing Yuu noticed when she saw that he began to quietly snore. Or was it the way his head bobbed a little before staying in place? Either way, Yuu noticed that he had fallen asleep.

Yuuka was busy writing down what she could in the notebook Silver gave them with the fountain pen he also gave, so she definitely wasn't going to be the one who woke Silver up. And Kalim? He went to the bathroom a minute ago. Something about how his best friend fed him some seriously spicy food. Yuu internally saluted Kalim for handling allat, she certainly wouldn't have survived if she were Kalim. He was a resilient soldier.

Gah, enough about Kalim's resilience! Yuu pinched her arm, trying to prevent herself from letting her mind wander too much. She shifted her attention back to Silver, whose head was comfortably settled on his crossed arms. Yuu chose to wake him up; she felt a bit bad because she was ruining his beauty sleep, but that was better than letting Silver get in trouble for sleeping in class. Crossed fingers, let's hope Silver wouldn't wake up cranky and moody from his interrupted nap.

Yuu gently patted Silver's back. It didn't make him wake up, but Yuu could tell that he was going to. "Silver... Silver," Yuu whispered to the sleeping boy, trying to get him to wake up. The boy drowsily opened his eyes, and Yuu had to hold her breath to stop herself from the visceral scream she wanted to let out. It was so unfair, why'd he have to be so pretty?!?!?!? Even the most mundane thing like opening his fucking eyes could be otome game material, WHAT THE HELL???? Ikemen... They can't help but be beautiful... Yuu lamented as she resisted the strong urge to punch the desk.

"Hm..?" Silver hummed, straightening his back after blinking a few times. "Did I fall asleep again...?" The boy mumbled, his hand raised to hold his head. He sighed and then put his hand back down to rest on the desk, his free hand to rub away the drowsiness. Silver's attention shifted to Yuu, who had taken off her hand rather quickly when he woke up and was... rubbing it against the fabric of her pants to take away the 'remains' of a male's touch. It was a habit she wasn't proud of. Silver didn't pay attention to that and said, "Thank you for waking me up." Tbh, Yuu would've preferred that Silver slept, and not in a way where she didn't like his company, he was great! He just looked really pretty, and Yuu could've had free moments to admire him... Okay, let's move on to another topic before it gets any creepier.

Yuu nodded, not trusting herself to say something normal. Her attention turned back to the teacher, who was still droning on and on about some formula for elemental spellcasting. This would've interested Yuu if the explanation wasn't soooo boringly! So she just tuned him out and let her ears listen to other things while her eyes stayed on the blackboard.   

"Hey, what does flame plus void and water make, again...?"

"Motherfucker, do I look like Merlin to you??? I don't know!"

"Bro, will you let me copy your homework for Alchemy? I accidentally burned it while trying to practice my spell casting." "You're a disaster."

"Hell no, do it yourself." 

"What the huh??" Real.

"By the Seven, why is this the formula so confusing..." Tbh, it was better than the shit she was taught in her first year of high school.

"Even math is easier," Yuu begged to differ, but whatever.

"Y'all are so dumb, your attempts are so ass, water and fire can't mix if there's no void." Okay, smartie pants.

Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease−

The bell rang. And everyone cheered, even the teacher.

Okay, that was a lie, but that didn't get rid of how everyone was relieved and immediately packed their bags. Yuu would've done so as well if she remembered to use the bag Jasper gave her. It was back at the dorm, then again, she didn't really need it because she didn't have any stationery to speak of. So, she just... sat there for a while until Yuuka noticed that everyone was already packing their things. She didn't forget her bag, thankfully, and put the notebook into her bag. "Well, onto the next class!"

Silver took one look at Yuuka and Yuu, then grimaced, realising that the next subject would be alchemy. "Good luck to you two, the professor for alchemy is... harsh." Yuuka scoffed, "It can't be that bad." And Yuu sweatdropped, feeling like they had just been jinxed by those few words.

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

Yuuka jinxed them.

In the first five minutes of their class, they were immediately hit with a strong wave of sternness and indiscriminate harshness. Crewel, despite his impressive feats, was a bit of an a-hole. And the weird part? He called everybody little pups who need to be disciplined... Okay, miss gurl, how about you keep your kinks out of school hours, yeah? Yuu was not amused, to say the least, in fact, the OPPOSITE of amused, which was absolute fear. 

Crewel was BREATHING down everybody's necks, no one was safe from his diligence, not even Yuuka. He was watching everybody like a hawk and prepared to hit a student with his stick (not that one) when they were about to put the wrong ingredient in their cauldron.

It was absolute torture. Kalim was probably the only one who came out smiling by the end of it. Silver seemed more exhausted than usual. And Yuuka was left with a deep hatred for the Alchemy class. Yuu? Her soul was sucked out of her and Yuuka had to give her multiple words of encouragement to keep the shorter girl from giving up and just jumping out the window. 

Hopefully their next class was going to be better...

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

It was Magical History, and Yuu slept through most of it.

So did Kalim, the only reason Silver and Yuuka were awake was because Yuuka was an absolute beast and managed to stay awake through the whole thing; she kept Silver from sleeping. She lost hope in Kalim and Yuu when they immediately fell back into sleep after five seconds of staying awake.

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

FINALLY LUNCH!!! Yuu's only saviour.

Haha, my saviour... MAKE YOUR GOD, I CAN−

"Yuu." The aforesaid girl snapped out of her head and turned her attention to Silver, the one who called her name. "Would you and Yuuka like to eat lunch at my table again?" He asked, and Yuu would've accepted, but Yuuka answered for her. "Maybe later," Yuuka said, looking around the cafeteria for the other Ramshackle residents. "We need to find our friends first, and we'll meet up with you again later, okay?" Yuuka stopped searching for the others and looked straight at Silver, who understood and nodded. "Alright, good luck, you two." Then Silver walked away, heading towards a very noticeable group of Diasomnia students.

Well... Okay then.

"Come on, Yuu." Yuuka grabbed Yuu's hand and walked around the cafeteria, trying to find their three friends. 

"Oh, right."

And so, they went to find their friends, which ended pretty quickly because they made a big commotion at a few tables.

"−upperclassman! Square up and let me teach you some respect!" Second day, and they've already gotten into trouble... Wow. Just. Wow.

Deuce wasn't very keen on the conflict, apparently, and interjected, "Um, excuse me, senpai [1], but the handbook says that fighting with magic is prohibited." Okay, who the hell actually reads the student handbook... Well, maybe Yuuka would, but− "Hah? You got it all wrong, we're just acting like good upperclassmen should, by teaching our kouhai [2]." The guy grinned, it looked ugly on him, he should stay in frowntown and stop visiting smileville. He was ruining everybody's day.

Yuuka stepped up next to Yuuta, who was looking between Ace and Deuce and the two upperclassmen with worry. "What's going on?" Yuuka asked the short boy in a whisper. Yuuta glanced at Yuuka for a moment and then answered her question. "Grim bumped into these two guys and broke their egg yolk, now they want to fight to make us pay." He whispered back, staring at the scene with a pensive expression. 

Yuuya was behind Yuuken, who was behind Adeuce and Grim. Yuu had a frown on her face, observing the spectacle with a displeased expression. If she prayed hard enough, would a professor see the fight and punish these two bastards? Oh, they already started fighting, never mind.

Damn, nice right hook, Ace... Yuu usually didn't approve of needless fights, but those two initiated it, so Yuu wasn't as against it as she would've been. Actually, she was kind of supportive of Deuce and Ace's moves (Grim doesn't count cause he was being held back by Yuuken). The girl sighed, muttering under her breath. "What a mess..."

Where was Kalim, again? Oh, right, his friend pulled him to his table.

Yuu stepped a bit closer, now standing next to Yuuka. "Who do you think will win?" She asked curiously, watching as Deuce dodged a shot of fire magic. "Definitely Ace and Deuce." Yuu found herself agreeing with Yuuka's answer when she saw Deuce knock back one of them a good feet away. That boy was definitely used to fighting, because why did he actually succeed in knocking out a few teeth? Was he a gangster or smth, lawl.

...

Anyway, Yuu pretty much did nothing but watch them fight like the other spectators, entertained but mostly irritated because the whole fight was getting in the way of her lunch. The girl sighed, wishing that it would stop soon so she could go eat. 

Her wishes came true when the two delinquents were pushed right onto a teacher. Welp. So much for not getting in trouble... And to Yuu's horror, the teacher Ace and Deuce pushed onto was Crewel, the new bane of her existence. She was convinced that fate was out to get her.

Yuu gasped when Crewel was pushed down by two teenage boys who landed on him. "I think that's enough action for the day!" She took Yuuya and Yuuka's hands, who took Yuuta and Yuuken's, who grabbed Deuce by the collar, who grabbed onto Ace's hair, who yanked on Grim's tail. Safe to say that everyone except for those two bastards was unpunished because they were soon sitting down at an empty table, acting as if nothing happened.

Ace whistled, feigning innocence as he took a spoonful of rice into his mouth. Everyone seemed to do the same, or just generally avoided talking about the fight that happened just a minute ago.

If you focus, you could hear the screams of the two bastards from a distance, along with Crewel's angry shouting.

"This is so yummy!" Grim exclaimed, munching on his meals. The dishes themselves were simple, but the amount of food he put was the concerning thing. Yuu felt a little irritated because of Grim's loud munching, so she decided to mess with him a little. "You know, Grim, if you eat too fast, you could choke on your food and suffocate." She stated offhandedly. That got Grim to eat slowly and less loudly, so she decided to mess with him more. "You're eating so much... You know, your intestines can rip from too much food−"

"SHUT UP AND LET ME ENJOY MY FOOD!!" Yuu snickered and actually shut up. Her focus was then on the food in front of her, which she ate quickly. It wasn't enough to fill her stomach, but enough to make her satisfied. Everyone else was still eating, so Yuu decided to tune herself out of the conversation and look around for her guide. She saw Kalim with his friend who pulled him away, eating food in bento boxes. Maybe they didn't want to waste money?

Yuu looked away from the pair and her shifted to a pretty boy with purple hair. He had a feminine face, but that was most definitely a boy. Alongside him was a guy with a blonde bob. Eugh... He gave Yuu the heebie-jeebies, time to look away and find another person to stare at.... AHA!

Yuu found Silver, Lilia, and Sebek a few tables away, and there was a new person. She remembered him! He was the guy based on Maleficent. Mal? Malleor? Malleus? Malleus. Yuu remembered that he was hyperfixated on Gargoyles and owned a Tamagotchi. He was one of her favourites.

A new person appeared beside Yuu, separating her from Yuuka. "I'm sure you're familiar with the statues of the Great Seven? Night Raven College has a dorm themed after each one." Yuu backed away from the new person and looked at them, and she was immediately met with the face of a card soldier. He was the one who was obsessed with social media, right? Real.

"Um." Yuu sweated, nervous from the sudden presence of a new guy, who was very close to her. The new guy noticed her nervousness and backed away, laughing. "Sorry, sorry!" He seemed to understand Yuu's discomfort and moved to sit close to his dorm members, though Ace and Deuce weren't very happy with his presence.

"Bwah! You're the guy from this morning!" Ace exclaimed, his index finger pointed at the new person, a scowl on his face. Grim had the same scowl, clearly displeased by this person's appearance. "You tricked us into painting the roses!" The new guy pouted, feigning offence. "Hey, now, tricked is such an ugly word! How about... selective truths?"

That's called lying, sista...

"Anyway, do you really think I wanted to spend MY morning painting roses? It's just dorm policy!" What is up with these gingers and being such... jerks? From what Yuuken told her of what Ace said, she really didn't like him, kind of. Ace didn't say anything about her or the others, just Grim and Yuuken.

"Yet enjoying it all the while..." Deuce murmured, poking at his meal. New guy turned to the blue-haired freshman, a grin on his face. "Now, now! Deuceyyy~ Outside of the dorm, I don't care what rules you follow! Here, I'm just your super fun senpai!" Cater leaned against Deuce, the blue-haired boy looked bothered but didn't do anything other than an exasperated sigh.

"Please, DON'T call me that." 

"Aha," a newer voice chuckled, "that's just how Cater shows he cares." Okay, Minecraft grass block.

Ace suspiciously eyed the green-haired guy, "And who are you?" How rude... Meh, Yuu couldn't blame him; she felt a bit uneasy surrounded by so many new people, too. Grass block smiled, "Oh, right, I should introduce myself. Ahem," He cleared his throat, offering a polite smile. "The name's Trey." Why did that sound kind of vaguely cowboyish... "Trey Clover. I'm a Junior of Heartslabyul, like Cater here." Cater smiled and winked, "I see some unfamiliar faces here, so I should reintroduce myself, right? I'm Cater Diamond, a junior of Heartlabyul, like Trey said." He did a peace sign. Okay, girlie pop, I see you... 👀 

Trey turned to Yuuken, who was peacefully eating his meal, when Trey suddenly addressed him. "And you must be Yuuken, right? I heard from Cater that you took in Ace when he was kicked out. Thanks for that." Yuuken froze from the sudden spotlight and hurriedly swallowed down the food, coughing a little when he went to answer Trey. "It−" *cough* "was nothing−" *cough* "really." And more coughs... Yuuta offered a drink to Yuuken, who took it gratefully.

Ace gave Yuuken a concerned expression, which quickly changed into a frown when Trey and Cater sat down with them. "I don't remember inviting you guys to sit with us..." Wow, so hostile... Cater patted Ace's shoulder, a friendly smile on his face. "Hey now, we're all from the same dorm, right? Let's try to get along. Here, gimme your digits." Cater reached for Ace's phone and quickly put in his number. he did the same with Deuce and reached out his hand to accept Yuuken's phone, but was sorely disappointed when Yuuken told him, "Uh, I don't have a phone."

Cater was SHOOK. 

"Whaaaat? Are you eff arr??" Oh my gawd... "I've heard of Luddites like you, but never actually met one!" Yuuken sweatdropped and looked at the other residents of Ramshackle for support, but was met with averted gazes. "Traitors..." Yuuken muttered under his breath. Either Cater didn't hear or ignored that because he immediately took Yuuken's hand, "How about we go on a date, yeah? To go find you a phone!" Yuuken felt a little bit mischievous, so he pulled everyone under the bus with him. "Actually, all five of us don't have any phones." DUDE??!!!?! That's so evil... 

"You serious?! Oh Em Gee! We should all go hang out someday." Awh, hell nah... Yuu wouldn't want that, she would rather stay at Ramshackle or something. Y'all better be grateful for my sacrifice... Yuu pulled out her phone from an inner pocket of her jacket, showing Cater. "You don't need to do that, Cater-senpai, I have a phone right here." Yuu offered her phone, and Cater accepted it, typing in his number. "If you need any of us, just text me until we all get a phone, I can guarantee that I am ALWAYS with at least one of them." Cater gave her phone back after a short while. Yuu ignored her friends' looks, avoiding their stares until they all shifted their attention to Trey, who continued on with explaining about the dorms or whatevs.

"Ahem, moving on..." Trey placed a hand on Cater's shoulder, stopping him from talking further and straying from the topic even more. "You're all curious about the dorms, right? Well, I'd be happy to tell you what I know." Ace was quick to take the chance of getting free info, "Before you get into the other dorms, I wouldn't mind learning a bit more about ours. Like, what's the deal with all this "Queen of Hearts rule number whatever" junk?" I thought it was obvious that the dorms were to commemorate the Seven... 

Trey smiled and opened his mouth to explain, "I'm sure you're familiar with the legendary Queen of Hearts, already?" The only Queen I remember is The Red Queen from Tim Burton's version... "She had to rule over a kingdom of weirdos, and did it by emphasising order and making strict rules." I think she MADE them crazy, brah...

Cater jumped in to explain, helping Trey out, "Our dorm, Heartslabyul, is an homage to her. By tradition, we wear armbands with the red and black of the Queen's dress. And we live by the rules she created." But that was for when the people were madmen, no? Aren't we all sane? Actually, nvm, we're probably not. 

Grim scoffed, "Pfft. Can you make me any more bored?" You said it, Grim... Yuu was already tired; she wanted them to get to the good stuff quickly, or else she might walk away to Silver's table out of boredom.

Cater laughed and continued to expand on their dorm, "Now, the degree to which we adhere to the rules depends on the sitting housewarden. Past wardens have been much more lax compared to Riddle. Sure, there have been documents on strict Housewardens before, but none have gotten to Riddle's degree of strict." Trey chuckled, "Basically, you could say that we're honouring that tradition to the utmost extent possible on Riddle's orders."

Ace scowled, hunching over the table and playing with his food, "Bleah. Just my luck…" Grim gave Ace a dirty glance, "Then what about the other dorms?" 

Chapter Text

Trey hummed, "As Cater mentioned earlier, our dorm is modelled to reflect the Queen of Hearts' rule, well, the other dorms represent the other figures. To run down the rest of them for you, we have..." Trey took in a breath. "Savanaclaw, based on the persistent spirit of the King of Beasts. Octavinelle, based on the benevolent heart of the Sea Witch. Scarabia, based on the mindful personality of the Sorcerer of the Sands. Pomefiore, based on the tenacity of the Fairest Queen. Ignihyde, based on the diligence of the king of the underworld. And finally... Diasomnia, based on the noble spirit of the Thorn Fairy." Wow, all in one go. Impressive. Yuu was slightly impressed by Trey's lung capacity, wondering how he could store that much oxygen in his lungs.

"That's a lot to take in..." Yuuya muttered under his breath. Yuu wanted to scoff, but that would draw attention to herself, so she just settled for a pointed stare. Are you being fr, right now... 

Grim grumbled, "Ngeh, I can't remember all of those long names..." Yuu probably would've been the same if she hadn't already gotten a drastically different headstart, even now, she forgot most of it because of the long years without consuming the content of Twisted Wonderland.

Cater waved off Grim's grumbles with an easy-going smile, "Don't sweat it, you'll learn eventually." The diamond card soldier propped his phone up to Yuuka's plate of food, which was unfortunately left untouched because it tasted a bit off to her. A click came from the phone and he took a good look of the picture he got. "Man, why is it always other people who have photogenic stuff..." Cater mumbled with humorous bitterness before putting his phone face down. Probably not for long, though...

Trey continued on with the explanation, "When you first arrive, you will be called up and placed in front of the dark mirror to assign you a form most fitting with your character." Trey paused, carefully choosing his next words. "As a result, most of the dorms have a multitude of 'flavours', you could say." Cater grinned, pulling up his phone again to... do something, idk.

"Ooh, yeah, definitely. A good example would be the Housewardens, but I don't have any clear footage of them except for Pomefiore's and Scarabia's." Cater swiped on his phone's screen and showed the others what he was searching for, which was a video of a beautiful man with blonde hair and purple ends. He was really beautiful. Actually, Yuu remembered seeing a pretty guy like him at the ceremony, right...? Meh.

"Flavour...?" Poor Deuce didn't get what Trey meant, so the green-haired junior tried his best to explain. "Like... Oh! Look over there."

Everyone immediately whirled around to see where Trey pointed to, not discreetly at all. Holy shit, this is embarrassing... Yuu was horrified, to say the least. She really felt herself shrink when everyone nearly snapped their necks to see where Trey was referring to. Yuu should go drop out while she still has the chance–

"..." Trey's face fell for a moment when everyone quite obviously checked out to where Trey was looking, and a tired sigh came out of his mouth. "...That guy has a pretty intense and rough vibe, right? Well, Savanaclaw's all about that." Yuuya muttered under his breath in amazement. Yuuka and Yuuken looked impressed by the wolf guy's physique. Yuuta's gaze was fixated on the guy's ears.

Cater looked back at Trey, who had a mildly disappointed-dad look on his face. A snicker escaped Cater's lips, but was gone the moment Trey gave him a look.

Everyone except for Yuu, Yuuka, Cater, and Trey were looking. Cater nodded, "No doubt. That dorm is full of Gymbros and muscly guys who like to work out and wrestle. How should I explain their overall vibe? Macho men? Gruff brothers?" 

"Jocks."

"Right! Thanks, Yuu." Cater smiled, and Yuu flinched. Oh, she said that out loud? Woopss... Well. That was tame compared to a lot of stuff, at least it was tame.

"Huh. Okay, then... What about that guy over there? With the silvery-purple cord around his arm?" Grim pointed out, and again, everyone's heads were whirled to see where Grim was painting. Honestly, now it seemed like more of a joke than something they did subconsciously. They must've gotten a kick out of embarrassing their upperclassmen, or something.

"Octavinelle, and the student across from him has a red and gold armband, which are Scarabia's colours." Yuu peaked at the students Trey mentioned. She saw one of the guys who helped restrain Grim and had that suspicious scammer vibe going on. Across from him was Kalim! And his friend, whom he kept mentioning in class. Somehow, Yuu felt like their relationship was deeper than what Kalim told or what she saw. It felt... vaguely begrudging? Yuu didn't know how to explain it.

"Those dorms are for the smart students. They're always neck-and-neck in the academic rankings." Cater got everyone's attention when he spoke, showing a statistics board of the dorms' success, and Diasomnia was first, with Pomefiore coming in second place. After those two were Octavinelle and Scarabia, their positions just kept switching, one of them having more points over the other for just a second before switching again. Cater smiled ruefully, "But Scarabia's Housewarden isn't that much of an intellectual. Compared to his dorm members−"

Ace sighed as Cater went off on another tangent, "This guy sure likes to talk..." The redheaded boy scratched his head, tired of having to listen to the other ginger. 

Trey laughed, apparently finding Ace's words humorous. "You learn quick!" Trey tapped on Cater's arm, effectively grabbing the guy's attention and stopping him from going too off topic. "Let's get back on topic..." Trey's eyes scanned for a person to point out, which was pretty quick. "You see the flashy one with the purple and red armband?" Trey waited for everyone to whirl their heads in the direction of where he was looking, resigned to his fate. "Those are Pomefiore's colours."

Grim gaped, "Whoa, look at the girl with potion books! I really like her!" ...? Is... Is that normal? That feels kinda weird, aha.... Yuu awkwardly shifted in her seat as she glanced at Grim multiple times in concern. "Grim, you better stick to your own species," Yuuka said, not even sparing Grim a glance. Yuuya snorted, which he tried to hide behind his hand.

Deuce shook his head, entertained. He looked back at the lilac-haired boy, curious, "What's she doing in an all-boys school...?" Ace furrowed his eyebrows, "You two are so dumb. There aren't any girls officially enrolled here, well, except for Yuuka." Oh. Okay, so, that kind of hurt. Yuu looked away from the Pomefiore table and looked down at her empty plate, wishing she had something to distract herself.

Yuuka and Yuuken frowned, "Yuu is here too, you idiot." Ace's attention shifted to Yuu's figure. He pursed his lips, "And her, too." Yuuya shook his head in disappointment while Yuuta gave Ace a disapproving stare.

Stop throwing the brick at me, asshole.

Deuce sweatdropped, "Dude, that's like, so rude..." The blue-haired boy whispered to the redhead. Ace was a little ashamed, but since he felt attacked, it was only natural he threw a clapback at Deuce. "Don't act as if you knew she was here either," Ace whispered back. "Yeah, but at least I wouldn't say it like that."

"Okay, goody-two-shoes−"

"SPEAKING! Of girls, there's a portrait in the west hall who's a real beauty! Her name's Rosaria. If you'd like to meet her, I'd be happy to introduce you. Maybe we can set something up?" Yuu could always count on Cater to make the atmosphere less awkward and change the topic before the mood dampened with no return.

Ace grimaced and leaned back, "A painting? Hard pass! I don't care how cute she is if she's two-dimensional!" Cater frowned, acting upset on Rosaria's behalf, probably. "Come on, man. Who cares how many dimensions she's got! Anyway, they take vanity pretty seriously at Pomefiore. It's basically a dorm full of models." Yeah, I can see that... Yuu's gaze accidentally made contact with the lilac-haired boy, so she quickly looked away before it got any more awkward. 

"?" The lilac-haired boy curiously stared at Yuu before averting his eyes as well.

"Their housewarden, Vil Schoenhet, has 5 mil followers on Magicam," Cater mentioned offhandedly with a smile, and Yuu wasn't surprised. With a face like that, he was bound to be well-liked and respected. Trey smirked, "Hey now, they're not all just pretty faces. The students at Pomefiore are among the best at potions and casting curses." He gently chided Cater, who just laughed it off. "Heh heh. True dat... Next, we have Ignihyde. Their armbands are blue and black, but I don't see any around here. They tend not to be the most outgoing of students. Even I don't have a single friend from that dorm. They're kind of the polar opposite of us, sunny, fun-loving Heartslabyuls." 

"So they're gloomy and miserable?" 

"Hey, no need to put it like that! They just have a reputation for being quiet−"

Trey and Cater went on to bicker, Yuu stopped paying attention to them when she heard Yuuya try to grab the other Ramshackle residents' attention. "Hey..." He started off uneasily, one hand fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve. "Is it just me, or was the order of Trey's and Cater's explanation like... the same as when Ace introduced us to the Seven?" He whispered, trying to keep quiet and share only with his fellow housemates. "Now that you mention it..." Yuuka mumbled, her voice low as she realised the coincidence.

Yuuta, sensing their unease, tried to cheer them up and reassure them. "Hey, now! Maybe it's just a coincidence...! We can't determine something based on two instances, right?" His attempt didn't work, but everyone appreciated Yuuta's efforts. Yuuken smiled, "Yeah, maybe it is a coincidence, and we're thinking about it too deeply. Let's not stress about this too much."

Somehow, there was a silent agreement between each magicless individual, all five choosing to put this topic down to live in the moment.

"−Somnia dorm is, hmm.... Ahh, look over there, a few tables down." When Cater discreetly pointed at the table Yuu found Silver at, and this time, nobody comically whirled their heads in that direction, which made Trey a little flabbergasted, nobody noticed, though. "Those guys in the special seating area. You can tell from the neon green and black armbands. They're basically campus celebrities." Damn, Silver's a campus celebrity? I should've expected that to be honest... Yuu stared at Silver, who was in a small conversation with Lilia. Occasionally, if Yuu tried, she could hear Sebek's loud voice talk once in a while. That was saying something because Yuu was hard of hearing. Ikemen like him are usually popular in Otome. I guess I should've known that an all-boys school would have homosexuals crush on a guy like that.

"The vibe they give off makes it real hard for regular schmucks like us to even approach them. And their housewarden is that times a thousand." Cater deplored, clearly disliking this barrier between 'the regular smucks' and Diasomnia students. 

"Really? I thought they were pretty cool, definitely weird, but cool." Grim changed his sight to Cater and skeptically stared at him. Cater wasn't sure how to respond, "Well, sure, they're cool, but... They're not the easiest to approach, why kay wuh ai em?" Wha.... YKWIM???? Oh my god... Yuu blinked, and so did Grim. "...What?" Grim had no idea what that acronym meant. Ace just changed the topic easily, "There's a little kid in that group!" He exclaimed, shock written all over his face.

Little kid...? As in Lilia? Pfft, I hardly doubt that there's anything little about him other than his height... 

Trey sight moved to Lilia and he smiled, "Ah, there are some young prodigies here, but he' not a kid. He's a junior like Cater and I." Cater nodded, and jumped in to introduce Lilia to Yuuken's friends, but before that, Yuu could see Lilia straighten his back, she wondered why... "Yeah! He's also a member of the club I'm in. His name is–" 

"Lilia, Lilia Vanrouge."

Yuu jumped when Lilia suddenly appeared in front of everyone... upside down. Her heart beat inside her ribcage like an ancient Gedang Beleq [1]. She was oblivious of the way her hand was clutching onto Yuuka's arm, her nails digging into the skin. Yuuka responded to the pain with a small hiss and tapped on Yuu's arm. "Yuu, you're holding on too tight!"

Yuu, hearing Yuuka's pained hiss and pleads, immediately let go and frantically apologized. "Omigod– I'm so sorry!" Her apologies went ignored by the others, for they were too busy being shocked by Lilia's sudden entrance. Yuuka just nodded and tried to stop Yuu from apologizing more than she already did.

Grim stuttered, trying to calm down from the surprise he got from Lilia's unexpected appearance, "H-he just teleported!" Lilia laughed at the table full of surprised people, sending Yuuka a look of pity before continuing on. "I understand my apparent age interests you? As this bespectacled fellow accurately noted..." Lilia gestured to Trey, who scratched the back of his head and looked away awkwardly, to which Lilia just chuckled. He turned back to the others, "Despite my fresh-faced and boyish good looks, it would be inaccurate to call me a 'child.'"

Trey sniggered, "'Fresh-faced', he says..." He muttered under his breath. Lilia definitely heard that, but ignored it in favour of introducing himself. "You need not gawk at us from afar. You may feel free to speak with us directly. We are schoolmates, are we not? All of us at Diasomnia House welcome you without reservation."

Everybody turned to a table full of Diasomnia students, including Yuu and Yuuka.

Yuu's eyes briefly met Silver's, who was gazing at her table with a stiff expression. "...They look way less approachable from here." She whispered to Yuuka, who nodded in silent agreement. She didn't even try to look at Sebek because that guy GLARING, his eyes were literally bulging as he stared at her table. That insane expression wasn't directed at her or any of the residents of Ramshackle, but it still made her nervous. 

Silver and Sebek looked away and continued on with their conversation with Malleus after a few seconds longer of assessing the table of people. "..."

"And yet, those guys over there aren't exactly rolling out the red carpet in terms of approachability..." Deuce whispered to Ace, who agreed with a simple, "You said it..."

Lilia chuckled, "Forgive me for appearing above you during your meal. I do hope we can speak again." Then he disappeared again, leaving five purple butterflies, which landed on each of the magicless students. Yuuya seemed to like it, and so did Yuuya. Yuuken, Yuuka, and Yuu were a different story, however...

After Lilia was gone, Ace quickly hunched over the table and whispered to the others, "Their table has got to be over twenty yards away from ours. And they overheard our conversation? That's WAY creepy!" Yeah.

Trey chuckled at Ace's horror, amused. He had a feeling that this particular year was going to be incredibly interesting. "Well... Diasomnia House does have a bit of a reputation for having lots of special students. Some of them are extremely talented at magic. Their housewarden, Malleus Draconia, is considered to be one of the five best mages." Really? But he seems so... Normal. Yuu turned her head to Malleus, who was listening to Sebek speak, butting in to talk with the mint-haired fellow while Silver stayed silent for a couple of seconds.

Cater nodded, "Malleus is reeeeeal bad news. Though I suppose the same could be said of our own dear housewarden." Yuu frowned.

The way Cater and Trey described Malleus was... eerily similar to how most people talked about Yuu back on Earth. Throughout Middle and High school, people spread rumours and talked about her like she were to be feared and avoided. It was... isolating, to put it shortly. It was always like that, even in elementary, her classmates avoided her. In fact, when she entered middle school, she was immediately left alone. If it wasn't for the fact that her friends entered the same school and met Astra, she probably would've been worse at socializing than she already was.

Yuu felt a kindred spirit with the Diasomnia Housewarden.

No one noticed her inner turmoil and continued on. Ace scoffed, taking the chance to bitch and moan about his Housewarden, "No kidding! He collared me for eating one slice of tart! All– Ow!" Yuu kicked Ace's knee from under the table, which made him release a small whine, "What the heck?!" Ace stared at Yuu with an angered, questioning glare. Discreetly, she pointed at said Housewarden, who was walking towards the table. Ace turned around and sputtered when he saw the short, (literal) red-head walking towards their table in long strides. "Oup−" He turned back to the group and whistled, pretending that he wasn't about to spout insults about his Housewarden.

Riddle had stopped behind Trey and Cater, looking at the group with a curious stare. "What were you talking about?" He probably had a sneaking suspicion that Ace was talking about him, so Yuu stayed shut and let the ginger handle it. Ace sweated, "Nothing, Housewarden! I just... didn't like how you handled my rule-breaking!!" Damn, what a fake. Yuu covered her smile by bringing a hand to her mouth, averting her eyes to look at Grim, who was watching the showdown between Housewarden and the student with food in his mouth like he was watching a soap opera.

Riddle gave Ace a weirded out stare, definitely not believing him in the slightest. "...Right." He looked away from Ace in favour of addressing the magicless students, specifically, the last to awaken. "Ah, so you have been accepted into Night Raven as well despite the lack of magical abilities... I suppose a congratulations is in order." Yuu glanced at the others awkwardly, not used to the positive(?) attention from a stranger.

"Congratulations on being admitted as a student. Yuuo, was it? The Headmage informed us last night through email of your... paperwork's late process." Well, that was way to describe Yuu's situation. Yuuken really did all of the heavy-lifting, so she shouldn't have been accepted. It was really because Yuuken was too nice to everyone. "Thank you." She didn't know how else to respond, so she just politely replied with a simple thanks and nod.

Riddle nodded, approving the girl's politeness. "Congratulations to the rest of you, as well." He said to the rest of the Ramshackle residents. He turned his attention back to Ace, who was flabbergasted by the calm exchange. "And you." Ace immediately straightened up under Riddle scrutinizing gaze, "I see that you have been behaving well, so I shall take off your collar." Riddle grabbed his magic pen, and with a quick flick of his wrist, the collar around Ace's neck was gone. The boy's hand shot up to his neck, relieved to feel no metal clasped tightly.

"However, you are only accepted to stay at Heartslabyul when you have made an apology tart." Riddle declared, putting his magical pen back into his breast pocket. Ace didn't seem too happy, but was willing to do it. "Yeah, yeah... I get it." He grumbled unhappily.

Riddle gave the boy a small smile, "Excellent. Now, if all of you have finished your meals," Riddle glanced at Grim, whose tray still had a bit of food. "It would be wise to quit gossiping and prepare for the next class. As per rule 271, 'one must leave the table within fifteen minutes of completing their lunch.'" 

Ace sighed, "Hahh, more of these insane rules..."

Riddle frowned and narrowed his eyes, he raised his voice in his next words. "I think you meant to say... 'Yes, Housewarden!'" Ace and Deuce flinched at the stern tone, so the parroted Riddle's words. 

"Yes, Housewarden!" 

Riddle smiled pleasantly, satisfied with the duo's exclaim. "Very well, then." Trey, who had been silent for most of the interaction, spoke to Riddle. "Don't worry, Riddle, I'll keep an eye on them."

"Hmm. As vice housewarden, I trust you'll look after our freshmen diligently. Now, to uphold rule 339... 'The post-meal beverage is to be lemon tea with two sugar cubes.'" Riddle turned to the rest of the people, "Thus, I must go to acquire my sugar cubes. Farewell." He bid a simple goodbye to his peers, turning as his legs led him to... sugar cubes, ig.

Cater released a breath, the anxiety beneath his feet leaving when Riddle had turned the other way. "Yeesh! Scary..."

"I think he has some issues he needs to work out on..." Grim faced down, still eating a few fries. The whispers from the surrounding students that started to surface seemed to agree with that fact.

"Is the housewarden gone?"

"I totally just broke rule 186, 'Never eat a hamburger on Tuesday.'"

One sighed, "I wish he wouldn't come here so we could at least eat lunch in peace..."

However, Ace had other priorities.

The ginger boy's attention went to Yuuo, who shrank back when he slammed his hands on the table, creating a scene and stopping the growing whispers. "How in the name of the Seven did you get on his good side, already?!" Ace confronted the confused girl. Yuu no longer felt the pressure from a Housewarden, but she felt another kind of dread she really didn't want to feel so early-on. "I'm– Uh– I don't know???!?" She sputtered, just as confused as Ace. Though for a different reason.

That was his good side???? ARE THEY IN MILITARY CAMP OR A SCHOOL, WHAT IS THIS??? Yuu couldn't wrap her head around how that cold stare Riddle gave her would imply the word 'good'. To her, he looked just as fierce as he did with Ace. She already had an idea on why he seemingly tolerated her, but that was unlikely. She meant like– Was that really all it took to get on Riddle's good side...? 

Cater laughed, "C'mon, Acey~ Leave the poor girl alone. She looks just as bewildered as you are!" She was.

Cater took hold of Ace's shoulders and forced him back down on his chair, patting his back comfortingly and silencing the boy's shouts by a distraction. "Come on, Trey, how about a tale of our reigning Sovereign, hm?"

Trey chuckled, exasperated by his dorm members' antics. Both of them. "Riddle managed to secure the housewarden title before the end of his very first week at school." Yuu was impressed. It must've been difficult, managing so many students so young... She doubted that the process of making him the tyr– Er, Sovereign was the hard part. "I know he can come off a bit harsh, but he's not a bad guy. Everything he does, he does because he thinks it'll improve the dorm." Yuu could believe that part too. Riddle didn't seem like he was bad, he was just... using the wrong path. His heart, albeit not all white, was in the right place, but his actions were... debatable. She had seen that many times before, real-life or not.

Grim was convinced, "Would a good guy go around putting collars on strangers' necks?" He crossed his arms, his ears twitched as he stared at the two Heartslabyul juniors, who laughed nervously.

Yuuka gave Grim a pointed stare. "You literally set the whole room on fire that time, I think what he did was justified." Agreed... Yuu was on Yuuka's side; the whole reason why she even threatened Grim with death was so he wouldn't think of ever attempting to set her on fire. Sure, he could try burning her, but she had strong hands and was very capable of snapping bones now.

Which was weird because she was strong before her new arrival, but she wasn't THAT strong, and this new body of hers was relatively the same structure and size... 

Yuu shook it off and just continued to pay attention, burying the thoughts deep in her mind. "Grrrrr... But that collar really hurt, and it shut off all my magic! That's just rude!" Grim growled out, slapping Yuuka's arm. Yuuka wasn't fazed at all.

Grim's complaints were noticed by Cater, who smiled and hummed. "Curious about Riddle's Signature spell?" Deuce put a finger to his chin, thinking. "That means, like... It's a spell that only he can cast, right?" He questioned the two juniors.

Trey chuckled, "I highly doubt that his Signature Spell is the only one in the world with that kind of power... But yes, that's basically the premise of Signature Spells. You'll learn about them in magical analysis class, though it's only about the types of signature spells. The rest of what's found on Signature Spells are in second-year classes."

Cater nodded, "Riddle's signature spell allows him to temporarily seal away the magic of another. The spell is named..." He paused, waiting for... "Off With Your Head!" Riddle yelled, collaring another student for one of the absurd rules. Thankfully, he only enforces these on Heartslabyul students, so everyone else was spared. Cater has really good timing... Yuu thought, thinking over his momentary pause and how he timed Riddle using his Signature spell.

Grim shuddered, "Even the name is completely psycho!" 

Yuuka, who was silent for most of the explanation, leaned to Yuu, "Isn't that what the Queen of Hearts would say when she wanted to execute her subjects...?" Just when Yuu was about to answer, she remembered that she had slept through most of history class, which meant that she shouldn't know whether or not the Queen of Hearts said that. "I don't know..." Yuu whispered back.

Cater didn't notice their quiet exchange and continued on with his explanation. "To a mage, losing the ability to use magic is about as painful as losing your head completely." Yuu felt bad for the guys who got that used on them. If what Cater was saying was true and not an overexaggeration, then wouldn't that be a crime? Excessive use of force? Of course, Yuu can't assume that they would have the same laws as Earth, so she pulled out her phone and looked up the laws of Twisted Wonderland. "Which is why all of us at Heartslabyul House try hard not to violate Riddle's rules." The ginger-headed boy continued.

Trey's smile faltered a bit, but he covered it up pretty quickly. "As long as you follow the rules, Riddle isn't so scary." That felt a bit... wrong to Yuu. Trey seemed like a good guy, but maybe too nice to Riddle. He was enabling him. But the real question was why.

"That sounds like something abusers would say..." Yuu muttered under her breath as she eyed Trey and Cater, who continued on with the conversation like was wrong. Yuu felt it in the air, the fear, the stupid guilt. She felt it. She saw it in that split second where Trey faltered. Yuu wondered how long he would keep the facade before he eventually breaks and finally shows his true self, as the deceiving enabler he was. He needs to grow a fucking backbone, omg...

Yuu stopped her thoughts before she got angrier, taking in deep breaths to calm herself. She never liked enablers. All they do is ruin everyone with their silence, it harms the people they thought they protected.

Astra... Sweet Astra was one before. She used to not have a spine, just for the sake of being friends. Yuu hated that part of her in the past. That behaviour kept hurting her, and Yuu was left to pick the pieces and arrange them again each time one of her guy friends hurt her. She really hated those days, those times when Astra would come crying to her, venting about a boy. Yuu was really angry back then. She didn't get why she would willingly be friends with him. She wasn't obligated to be his friend.

Sighing deeply, Yuu turned to Yuuka. "Hey, Yuuka, let's go to class." The girl looked back at Yuu and nodded, "Yeah, okay." She quickly agreed. Seems like she doesn't wanna be here anymore, too... Yuu grabbed both of Yuuka's and her own trays, cleaning up where they sat. 

There was a silent agreement between Yuuka and Yuu, they had their own part to play in their friendship. It was nice. Functional.

Yuu walked to the front, placing the dirty plates and utensils together and the tray on another, just to make it easier for the workers. They were supposed to pass on already, but they got stuck here instead, so Yuu felt bad and just decided to make it easier for them.

She kept her head down as she waited at the double doors of the cafeteria, waiting for Silver and Yuuka to arrive and walk to class. When she and Yuuka approached Kalim, he still wanted to chat with his friends a little longer, so they left him alone after he told them that he wanted to walk to class with his friend, anyway. Jamie, or something... No, wait, he had an Arabic name... Jamil? Jamil.

While Yuu was pondering, Silver and Yuuka were talking as they walked to the doors of the Cafeteria. Well, more like Silver was nodding along, and Yuuka explained what Cater and Trey said before she and Yuu got up to go to class. "Yeah, and then they said that as long as they follow the rules, they're in the green light or something. Personally, I think that's a load of bull−" 

"Oh, look, there's Yuu." Silver pointed out, seeing the girl leaning on the wall as she squinted at her phone. "Oh."

The girl had a scowl on her face, clearly displeased by whatever she was seeing on her phone. There was a literal dark aura around her, which drove everyone away from where she stood. Either she didn't notice, or she knew and didn't care that she was exuding a dark aura. 

She clicked her tongue and pocketed her phone, putting it away as she leaned against the wall. Yuu seemed to be irritated about something. Silver hoped that it wasn't because she felt impatient.

Yuuka didn't hesitate to approach Yuu, tapping on her shoulder and catching the other girl's attention, who immediately looked up when she felt the touch. She seemed happy to see Yuuka, despite the neutrality she kept on her face. She got attached so soon.. It was a sweet trait, but not recommended in a universe of villains.

"Ah, you got here quick..." Yuu clearly had no perception of time, they took quite a while to arrive. Yuuka didn't bother correcting Yuu and just nodded, "Sure." The taller girl grabbed the other's hand, taking her habit of disassociating into account. Yuu didn't seem to mind. "Come on, lead the way, Silver."

Silver nodded and began to walk just a step ahead while the two girls followed. Yuuka was in between Yuu and Silver, her rough hands gently holding Yuu's as she conversed with Silver, making small talk as Yuu listened to their smooth voices talk. They were a very calming duo to be with. Yuu found herself relaxing whenever either of them talked. She liked their presence, too. They were quiet enough to spare Yuu's ears, but also loud enough to be heard. Yuu hoped she would be able to reach that level.

If Yuu were to describe the two together, she would call them a pond. A lovely mix between water and earth, it made a place where life could grow, even if little. She liked both of them. A lot. They were very nice to hang out with. If she could call walking to class together a hangout, that is.

"I heard from a friend that your Housewarden is like... really powerful." Yuu heard Yuuka say, and when she looked up, she found that Silver had a slightly surprised face. "I suppose he is. Why the sudden change of topic?" Oh, he got cautious so quickly... Yuu disliked that. She felt like he was worrying over nothing... Ah, but Malleus was a prince, wasn't he? Well, she understood Silver's caution. Still, it doesn't change her dislike for his caution, though.

Yuuka shrugged, "Meh, just curiosity, I guess." Yuuka, that did NOT change Silver's cautiousness... "...Okay, then. On another note, would you like to exchange contacts? I won't be able to reach you without a form of communication." Silver was quick to ask for Yuuka's contacts. He figured out pretty quickly that Yuu would be a bit troublesome to contact directly just from how she acts in person (she takes days to answer, so that was a wise move)

Yuuka's forehead creased. "Okay, is this a bad time to say that I don't have a phone?" And Silver's eyes widened minusculely, showing his surprise. "You don't have a phone? That's a bit... odd." Yuuka just smiled sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck, a bit embarrassed. "Yeah..." Then she veered her attention to Yuu, who slowly shook her head. No, nonono, don't− "But Yuu here does!!"

TRAITOR!!!

"Oh, really?" Silver diverged his eyes from Yuuka to Yuu, who had hers averted, nervously looking away. Yuuka beamed, "Yeahh!! You should exchange contacts with her, she's probably always with at least one of us." Yuu groaned internally, annoyed by Yuuka's diversion. Not that she didn't want to keep in contact with Silver, she thought he was great!! Yuu was happy that she got fine shyt's number, she wouldn't complain. But the problem was...

SHE DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE ON HOW TO TALK TO PRETTY BOYS.

"Oh, then would you be willing to become the messenger until Yuuka gets a phone, Yuu?" 

Silver used 'Princely Charm'!! 

It was very effective.

Yuu gave Silver a gutless smile as she reached into her pockets to search for her phone. "S-sure."  I'm gonna kill Yuuka. The girl had a smirk on her face, wiggling her eyebrows at the shorter girl. She felt embarrassed, but at least Silver wasn't paying attention to Yuuka's expression. Yuu felt like she really would've passed away if he saw Yuuka's teasing stare and asked why she was looking at them like that.

Once they exchanged numbers, Silver immediately tested it out, hoping the numbers were right. 

Silver
Hello

Yuu
[Smiling emoji with thumbs up]

"Pft−" Silver chuckled and smiled, amused by the image. He pocketed his phone after they confirmed that it was indeed the right number. "Come on, I'm pretty sure class starts in a few minutes." And so they continued to walk to class, idle chatter murmured between the trio.

Chapter Text

Silver, Yuuka, Kalim, and Yuu were in class, peacefully absorbing the information the teacher provided. 

That is, until Crowley barged in with the first-year Ramshackle students behind him. "Yuuo, Yuuka!−" Crowley immediately shut his mouth when he saw that Crewel was teaching them, wishing he could've at least kept his mouth shut for a bit longer.

Malice glowed in Crewel's eyes, "My, Dire... I never knew that you could be so brash. I don't suppose you're not too much in a rush to neglect telling me why you have interrupted my class?" He charmingly questioned, but nobody could miss the way he glowered at Crowley like he was just feces under his shoe. 

Crowley gulped, already feeling like he was going to enter the afterlife after this, "I-I'm afraid I don't have the time for that, Divus. I just need to take Yuuo and Yuuka, and I'll be out of your hair." He nervously fidgeted with his cane-thing, and Crewel just kept glaring at Crowley for a few seconds, then a sigh came from his lips. 

Crewel's hold on the textbook tightened, and he turned back to the board, "Yuuo, Yuuka. Get up and go with the Headmage. I'll ask a student to provide notes of what you'll miss." Crewel then continued to write on the blackboard, with the chalk scratching against it as he wrote. With Crewel's permission, Yuu got up and helped Yuuka gather their things.

Silver and Kalim exchanged concerned glances, both wondering why the whole of the Ramshackle dorm was taken from their classes. Of course, Yuu had a sneaking suspicion as to why something could warrant the whole thing, but she was still doubtful, after all it was a baseless, senseless theory she really just made up to make sense of a situation.

Just when she and Yuuka were about to go, Silver grabbed onto Yuu's sleeve, stopping her from going for just a moment. "Contact me if you or Yuuka need help, okay?" Yuu was a bit taken aback by Silver's worry, but felt a bit better, knowing someone had her back. She smiled and nodded, "Okay." Then Silver let go, and Yuu walked with Yuuka to get to the front door.

Yuuka gave Yuu a teasing smirk when they left, standing in front of the rest of Ramshackle's students and Crowley. "So... What was that about?"

"Don't start, Yuuka." Yuu placed a hand to the side of her face, flustered. It was just a simple worry, a nice thing to portray from a friend. Nothing more... But she hoped it'd become more someday, from someone, anyone really. Yuu was wayyy too lonely.

Yuuka snickered, "Alright, alright..." She looked back at the others, who were all pretty tense. "So, what's up? I doubt that you'd pull us out of class for trivial things." Yeah, Yuu somehow doubted but also believed that. Crowley was like... so irresponsible but very capable?? He was weird like that. He confused Yuu's perception of what people are like.

"I was just looking at Ramshackle, noting down what needs to be changed, and then I entered the basement... AND I FOUND ONE OF MY MISSING COFFI− Ahem, GATEWAYS!" Crowley bemoaned, shedding comical tears that really only made Yuu want to laugh. She didn't like to see people suffer, but the scene in front of her seemed too... animated to be worried over. It felt like after getting isekai'd, Yuu's perception of things changed from Cartoon to Reality sometimes, and this was one of those times.

"Geez, this guy just keeps getting more and more childish..." Grim muttered under his breath, and Yuu couldn't believe what she was thinking, but she agreed with the cat-like monster.

"Um, and...?" Yuuya spoke up, trying to understand why it was a problem. "And a student came out!!"

...

"Say what now?" 

Crowley frowned at Yuuka's disbelieving stare. "It's true, alright!! I found a girl inside one of them, but she was still sleeping! And the most concerning part... The key didn't work on any of the others!!" Okay, this is just ridiculous... Yuu couldn't find any more humour out of Crowley's wailing, just... pity? No, more like exhaustion. Why is he even so worried anyway...?

"Then what's the problem, Headmage?"

"Well, dear Yuuken, the problem is that Night Raven College would be blamed for four teenagers' disappearance! And that would mean that I, as Headmage, will be taking the brunt of it all!! Oh, I might faint..." Alright, drama queen... Yuu rolled her eyes, tired of Crowley's childishness. To ignore Crowley's laments, she distracted herself as to who this person might be. Could it be the other Yuus....? I mean, I remember them pretty well compared to the actual characters. We're still missing... three? No, four Yuus. Yuuya shouldn't even count, right? He was from the novel, if I remembered correctly. He wasn't from the manga, which would explain why his face isn't familiar. Yuu's musings were cut off by a tap from Yuuka's hand.

"Hey, Yuuo." She looked up and saw that Yuuka and Yuuken were staring at her, while Yuuta and Yuuya were trying to grill more information out of Crowley. "Hm? What?" Yuuka looked hesitant to say what she wanted to, a bit of... guilt? "I know this must be a bit much to ask of you, but could you go with Yuuta and Yuuya to check out this new girl after class? Yuuken and I need to go to Heartslabyul to help Ace make a strawberry tart, apparently..." She glared at Yuuken, who sheepishly smiled and looked away, sweating.

Yuu didn't understand why they were supposed to go, but she was fine with it; she still had Yuuta and Yuuya with her, and she wasn't going to be completely alone. "Uhm, alright? I don't mind." Plus, she would rather avoid looking at Ace after how rude he was to not acknowledge her presence. Being with another girl might be good for Yuu, too. "Stay safe, I heard that Ace can be a bit much."

Yuuka smiled, "Yeah, you too. Good luck." Then snapped her head to Yuuken, who gulped, "And you, I'll be dealing with you later." Yuuka can be so scary sometimes... Yuu was glad that she never incited that kind of gaze from Yuuka; she could even feel the pressure of Yuuka's anger. Vicious.

Then the bell rang, and it was time to go out of the classrooms.

"Okay, Headmage, we'll go to 1-A and bake with Ace and Deuce, I guess..." Yuuka scratched her head and then waved to Yuu, who waved back with a small smile. Clearly, she had a favorite.

The others watched as Yuu grabbed Yuuken by the tie and dragged him to the stairs, taking him to the first-year floor. Yuu swore that she could hear Yuuka call Yuuken a nincompoop for volunteering her while she was gone. Grim, who was on Yuuken shoulder, snickered at him. The girl sweatdropped, silently praying that Yuuken would be spared from Yuuka's wrath.

"They're very sibling-like, aren't they?" Yuuta mused. Yuuya and Yuu agreed with simple nods as they turned away from Yuuken and Yuuka, who became less and less visible the further away they got. 

Crowley inhaled loudly, "Welp! Time to go to my office! Yuuna's still there! Probably..." He grimaced, hoping she stayed put. Crowley turned and began to walk to his office, with the three black-haired students following after him.

Then a notification came from Yuu's pocket, she took out her phone instantly and tapped on the message.

Silver
Are you okay?

Did you get in trouble?

Yuu felt strangely offended when she read that message. 

Yuu
No

Wait, I need to ask Headmage Crowley if I can tell you why Yuuka and I were pulled out

Yuu inhaled, hyping herself up, and gathered the courage to quickly ask Crowley. Despite his silliness, he was still quite scary, like all adults. "Uh, Headmage?"

Crowley didn't turn or anything, but he definitely heard Yuu. "Yes, Yuu?" Yuu ignored how he had already memorized the difference in her voice from everyone else and pushed that aside to ponder it for later. She cleared her throat, feeling herself already closing up. "Would it be okay if I tell someone else about..." God, what was her name again...? "This girl that came from one of the missing coffins?"

"First of all, they're gates. Second of all, it's alright. I'll be informing the rest of the staff and the dorm leaders, anyway. To keep a closer eye on her, I made the brilliant plan of admitting her as a student! Fufufu, aren't I so great?"

Yeah, right...

Yuu nodded and held up her phone again.

Silver
Okay

 

Yuu
Apparently, it's because the Headmage found a girl in one of the missing gateways inside Ramshackle (where we would be staying btw)

 

Silver
I'm relieved to hear that neither of you are in trouble

Off topic, but what does "btw" mean?

 

Good god, this guy's a boomer... No, nono, don't judge Yuu, he might have lived where tech isn't as common.

 

Yuu
It means, 'by the way'

 

Silver
Oh

Thank you

Yuu chewed on her bottom lip, picking at the scaly skin. It was a compulsive act that she tried to get rid of. She wasn't successful in the attempts, so she just gave up and just... kept doing it. Thankfully, she had been so distracted by other things that she didn't feel the need to. 

Realizing what she was doing, Yuu abruptly stopped all physical movement with her hand and sighed, peeling away the chapped parts. Let her hand down and just decided to hold her phone. She felt safe that way.

It didn't take long for them to reach Crowley's office. Almost every student was nowhere in the halls, either in their dorms or clubs. Yuu saw a student running around to reach a classroom. She guessed it was for the ones who needed tutoring. Yuu might be like that guy if she turned out like she did in her previous school.

Yuu turned her head back to the others, who were silently waiting for Crowley to talk with the girl.

They were talking about chores around Ramshackle or something. Yuu hoped she didn't have anything to do with cooking. She didn't like to cook. She would be fine with washing dishes and mopping the floors. She would have to get used to it first, though, not many people ever made her do chores. The most she did around the house was probably, washing the dishes and sweeping twice a week. 

Yuu blinked and then looked at her bandaged hand, wondering if she had gone to the infirmary yet.

She should after this. Have a small chat with Jasper. His presence was always nice.

Yuu looked up and found that the two were still talking, and Crowley was still inside, so she just... zoned out.

...

It didn't take long for Crowley to come out with a smile on his face, clearly inviting the three teenagers inside despite not saying anything.

Yuuya went in first, and Yuuta was about to follow if it wasn't for the fact that he noticed Yuu's inaction.

"Yuu?" She looked up to find Yuuta with a slightly worried gaze, she smiled at him, "Right, let's go."

So she and Yuuta walked inside at the same time.

And there she was... The girl Yuu remembered to be the MC for the manga's Scarabia chapter.

She was quite pretty, in Yuu's opinion. Her messy, blonde curls perfectly framed her face. Her doe eyes gave her that innocent appearance. Her lips were thin and had a lovely pinkish color to them. Her tanned skin had no blemishes, was perfectly clear, and even had a slight glow. Her cheeks had enough muscle in them to look full, but not too much to seem fat, they even had a rosy tint to them. Her eyebrows were thin and were in perfect shape. And from what Yuu could see, the girl had a slender body.

Yuu could see her becoming a model one day; she had the perfect figure and face for it. Plus, don't fashion brands want inclusivity, or something? In short, the girl in front of Yuu had a high chance of becoming a model.

The girl smiled brightly, "Hi! I'm not sure what the Headmage has told you guys about me, but I'm going to introduce myself either way." She cleared her throat, "My name is Yuuna. Yuuna Oujou! It's nice to meet you guys..." She looked around, and quickly noticed that there were fewer people than she was told were coming to see her. "Um... Did the Headmage lie about there being five students at Ramshackle, or...?"

Crowley gasped, offended, "Wha− You doubt me?!"

He was met with silence and pointed stares, to which he responded with muttering, "Okay, fair point..."

Yuuta's attention shifted back to Yuuna, and a smile formed on his face. "Nice to meet you, Yuuna. I'm Yuuta Mito. The other two are somewhere else, I'm sure they'll introduce themselves after they're done." Yuuna nodded, happy with that vague explanation. She seemed... easy to please.

"Oh, well, alright then..." Her sight changed to Yuu and Yuuya, who were staring at the two with an unreadable expression. She brightened when she saw that Yuu was a girl and immediately approached her, "Hello!"

"Uh, hi..."

"What's your name?"

"Yuuo Nakajisa, it's nice to meet you, Yuuna."

Yuuna seemed happy that there was another girl. "It's nice to meet you, too, Yuuo." She happily returned Yuu's greeting. Then she moved on to Yuuya, who blinked at Yuuna with pursed lips. "Hello, Yuuna. Uh, I'm Yuuya Kuroki. Nice to meet you," He bowed, and Yuuna giggled, returning the bow as well as his greeting, "Nice to meet you, too, Yuuya."

Yuu watched as Yuuna greeted Yuuya with a friendly aura. It was easy to feel at ease with Yuuna around. Her bright personality was what made Yuu feel so... welcomed? Something like that. Either way, she admired Yuuna already, for her looks, her warmth, and the lovely smile on her face. Yuuna was what Yuu wished to be, and she dearly wished that Yuuna stayed as she was.

Everyone's attention was taken by the sound of clapping hands, which belonged to Crowley.

He was seen with six papers floating in the air, and a cheery smile on his face. "Since you all have introduced yourselves, how about we fill out which clubs you shall be joining?" The first paper floated to Yuuya, who was startled by becoming the first to choose. "You shall be the first, Yuuya."

The thin boy read through the checklist, considering the options carefully. A pen appeared beside Yuuya, who took it with a bit of hesitation. He checked a box. Yuu managed to sneak a peek and saw that he chose the Gargoyle Research Club that he mentioned while everyone was thinking of the clubs they were going to join. That seemed for Yuuya, from the little time Yuu knew him, he seemed lazy and liked to observe stuff. 

Yuu was the second to be offered a paper, and she thought of her two options. She knew that Silver was in the Equestrian Club; she saw his name on the list Crowley showed everyone, after all. And although horse-riding was something she really liked and always fumbled over herself to get the chance to do, she didn't trust herself not to get into some mysterious accident on horseback. On the other hand... Gaming was one of her many interests; Board games, digital games, card games, physical games... Whatever it was, she liked to play. And she was sure that she wouldn't get any trouble, at least not one that was drastic and could potentially destroy what little reputation she had.

So, she checked the box next to the Board Game Club, she hoped someone else in Ramshackle also chose it, regardless of how unlikely it may be.

Another paper floated towards Yuuta, who looked a bit unsure. He turned to Yuuka and Yuu, curious. "What did you guys pick?" And Yuu told him, "I picked the Board Game Club. While Yuuya picked the Gargoyle Research Club." Yuuya's attention shifted to Yuu, confused, "How'd you know that??" She looked away and smiled sheepishly, "I may have taken a peek..." Yuuya snorted, "Alright, then..."

Yuuta looked down at the paper, and he then checked a box when the paper teleported to his hand, and the paper glided back to Crowley's table. He turned to the group, "As for you, Yuuna. I'll be giving you an overnight extension to give you a bit of time. As well as for Yuuka and Yuuken. Please tell them they should come to my office tomorrow after the Unbirthday party." Yuu was a bit curious, how did he know they were attending the Unbirthday...? Yuu heard it from Yuuta that everyone in Ramshackle was invited, but...

Yuu shook it off. It was a bit concerning, but perhaps Crowley was informed beforehand; it wasn't right to assume bad things about people. Yuu's eyes landed on Yuuta, "What'd you pick?" Yuuta scratched his arm, "Well, there's nothing that really caught my eye, so I just decided to enter the Film Studies Club." Yuuna perked up after hearing that, "There's a Film Studies Club? Ooh! I wanna join! Ah, but there are a lot of other cool options too..." Yuu sweatdropped, How energetic... She didn't mind, though. It would lessen Ramshackle's gloomy atmosphere.

Crowley clapped his hands. "You'll do that tomorrow! You all should go, I have very important papers that need signing." Crowley and the other Yuu's were shooed away, with Yuu being the first to go out. "Good evening!" Then he shut the door.

Yuu let out a sigh after a few seconds while Yuuya shook his head. Yuuta seemed a bit embarrassed when Yuuna looked at them with a shocked face. "Is he really the Headmaster...?"

Yuuya shrugged, "Well, he claims to be, and nobody refuses it, so..."

Yuuta laughed nervously, "How about we go see how Yuuka and Yuuken are doing? I'm sure Yuuna would like to meet them too, right?" He turned to Yuuna, who had a bright smile on her face. "Mhm. It'll be nice to meet my dormmates."

Yuu visibly deflated at the suggestion. She wanted to see Yuuka and Yuuken too, but she still needed to change her bandages. "...Sorry, but I won't be able to join you guys. I still need to replace my bandages. I'll meet you all back at Ramshackle, yeah?" Yuuta's smile softened, and he nodded, "Yeah, no problem. Be careful, okay? It's easy to get lost here." Yuuta sounded like he was speaking from first-hand experience...

They waved at Yuu, who waved back with a soft smile. She felt warm in their presence, it was so nice to be included and taken seriously. Yuu wondered how they would react when they realized how different she was once they got too close.

Yuu sighed and just stood there for a while, wondering how she was going to get to the infirmary without getting lost. She looked down at her pocket, one that stored her phone. She debated between asking Silver if he was doing anything and seeing if he was willing to walk her there, but she didn't want to bother him. If he were too far away or was occupied, Yuu wouldn't ask. She didn't want to bother him too much.

She turned to the door behind her, wondering if she could ask Crowley to walk her there. 

The girl reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, her fingers hesitating when she opened the chat.

Yuu
Silver?

 

It took a minute for him to respond.

Silver
Yes?

 

Yuu
Are you doing anything?

 

Silver
I've just got done with training

Why?

 

Yuu bit her bottom lip, chewing on the dry skin. She felt nervous, texting a guy. She really only had one boy whom she frequently texted, and each time she still felt a bit of anxiety, she hit the send button. Talking to someone who was practically a stranger was drastically more nerve-wracking than talking to a close friend.

Yuu
I wanted to know if you were willing to walk me to the infirmary

Of course, if you're too tired, I completely understand

I just wanted to know if you're not occupied and have enough time and energy to be accompanying
me.

 

Silver
Ah

I'm alright with that

I was already planning to go the infirmary, so it's not a big deal, don't worry

 

Yuu
Oh, okay then

I'm in front of the Headmage's office, btw

Take your time to rest a little, if you want

Yuu let out a breath she was holding, relieved that her horrid sense of direction wouldn't be a problem today. She got lost too easily, even in places she was familiar with. Yuu really hoped that she wasn't inconveniencing Silver; he could be acting okay with it while internally seething. Ah, but he doesn't seem like the type to think badly about someone because of this... Yuu pondered as she leaned against the wall, staring at the ground with unfocused eyes.

Yuu sighed, lifting her phone and looking through her apps again. She had opened Ibispaint, scrolling down all of her artworks. She found some that involved Silver and her Twisted Wonderland persona, internally cringing at the sight. Yuu had been obsessed with him back then... And honestly, those days were some of her happiest days in her life. She didn't remember who she was obsessed with a few days ago, but she remembered how he made her feel. He was like her heaven on earth back when she was in middle school.

Her savior.

Yuu was glad she finally remembered who she was in love with.

Then again, it was a bit embarrassing to admit that she had romantic feelings for a fictional character. Or, well, a character who she thought was fictional. She never expected to experience the isekai troupe just like in her favourite animes. Too bad she didn't gain any cool powers or stuff like that. She really would've loved it if she could do OP things like Rimuru from that slime anime.

But what could she do? She just had to be grateful for what she already had.

Yuu yawned, bored until her attention was caught by a specific artwork she had made. She vaguely remembered drawing it, tracing over the pose, and then inserting herself and Silver. It wasn't perfect, but it was hers. 

"Yuuo." She heard a voice say from a few feet away. Yuu let put a tiny yelp and looked up, then saw Silver, standing straight as he stared at her with a stoic gaze. Yuu immediately turned off her phone and shoved it in her pocket, hoping her racing heart wasn't loud enough for him to hear.

"Silver..." She let out a shaky breath, "You scared me." She inhaled a deep breath, slowly calming down.

Silver pursed his lips, bowing his head. "I apologize for startling you. I'm used to silencing my footsteps."

What the hell does that mean.... Yuu was a bit scared about that implied but she brushed it off. So far, Silver was one of the nicest people she has encountered in the school, she highly doubted that he was some sort of killer. Perhaps it had to do with that training he mentioned...? Either way, Yuu believed that he wasn't a bad guy.

She hoped.

"It's fine. Let's just just get going." Silver nodded and turned around, leading the way to the infirmary. Yuu followed close behind, practically eyeing the back of Silver's head.

While they walked together, both had were pondering thoughts of their own.

I wonder if this would technically mean I'm a fic... Heh, what if I make it into a reaction video? God, I feel too aware, I need to stop.

Meanwhile Silver was more concerned over something drastically different.

I hope Father doesn't cook tonight, I don't think I eating his food will do any good for my wound...

They were silent, but they didn't seem to mind the slightly awkward tension in the air.

Chapter Text

Silver had opened the door to the infirmary for Yuu and stepped inside with a nod and quiet voice, "Thank you..." He followed her soon after, trailing behind the girl whose eyes were searching for a particular ghost with the name of Jasper.

Yuu was also looking around at the patients, but when they both reached Jasper's desk and found a note, she was immediately met with disappointment.

• Going out to pester Crowley and Crewel for more supplies!! Sorry to say that you'll have to treat your wounds yourself.

Yuu sighed and turned to Silver. "Seems like he's not here. Do you know where the bandages are?" Silver paused before he nodded in confirmation, then pointed to a cabinet behind the desk. "Last time I checked, it's there." Yuu went behind the desk and quickly opened the cabinet door. There, she found a few rolls of bandages. One was enough for her, so she grabbed one.

She stilled, realizing that Silver would probably need something for himself as well, considering he said he was already planning to go to the infirmary before Yuu asked him. "What do you need, Silver?" For a moment, Silver was stunned. He had forgotten that decent people existed after spending a year at NRC. Composing himself, he cleared his throat, "Ahem− Just a plaster, it should be under the bandages."

The girl was crouching as she quickly looked through. Yuu found a box of plasters, just as Silver said. He really knew his way around the infirmary... It made Yuu wonder if he had been there many times before.

Yuu grabbed the box and opened it, inside were a few plasters, some had designs, some were normal ones. She decided to spare Silver the embarrassment and took one without any designs. Normally, people wouldn't give two shits. But this was NRC. 

She put the box of plaster back inside and closed the cabinet, then stood back up and placed the plaster Silver needed on the desk. "Thank you." He gratefully said.

Yuu had gone to the bathroom for a faucet to clean up where she had her wound.

When Yuu had gone inside, she immediately went to the sink, placing the roll of bandages on the ceramic rim. Gently, she unwrapped the bandages, just like Jasper did. And what she saw underneath those bandages made her freeze and her eyes widen.

Beneath the white rolls was her skin, very slowly rotting as her veins pulsed. Yuu could see a black sludge worming around underneath her muscle, growing, festering, over taking her own system. It was disgusting. It made Yuu feel sick.

She gagged at the sight and reached, trying to get it as far away from her as possible. She had seen many gory things, but never in real life. So, when she saw how her wrist was quite literally rotting, starting from the wound she got from the sorting ceremony, when Riddle's collar had accidentally latched onto her when he collared Grim.

It terrified her.

Was this going to happen every time she got hurt?

She shouldn't be surprised.

After all, she wasn't born in this world.

She was an anomaly, and she was made a different way than those who belonged to Twisted Wonderland.

She−

"Yuuo?"

She heard from outside. It was Silver's voice.

"Are you alright? You've been in there for quite a while." Silver was worried. Of course, he was worried. From the moment Yuu entered the bathroom, he had gotten this feeling that perhaps it wasn't the best idea to leave her alone. So, when he heard choked sobs coming from the bathroom, he immediately regretted leaving her to herself.

Silver pressed his hand to the door, wanting to hear if Yuu was okay.

Taking in deep, shaky breaths, Yuu smiled. "Y− Yeah! I'm fine." She lied; she really didn't feel fine at all. She was shaken, she was horrified. She wasn't used to seeing literal rot, after all, she was just a teenage girl, not some mortician. 

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"...Alright."

Oh, that sounded harsher than necessary. Yuu grimaced, already feeling herself shrink at the thought of someone who had been so patient and kind to her getting angry. Slowly, she calmed down, each deep breath regulated her breathing bit by bit, and she was left with just fear at the sight of the rot on her body. 

Yuu needed to tell someone. But who? Silver? No, she couldn't do that to him. He didn't need to experience the stress of taking care of another teenager. Crowley? Hell no. So, Jasper? He seemed like the safest option for now. Plus, he was the nurse, so that meant he at least had some medical knowledge... Though Yuu highly doubted that he would know why she was quite literally rotting from her wound. Yuu... she hasn't died. Surely, just because she nearly didn't mean that she became a corpse, right?

Breathing in and out, Yuu did what she came in for, which was to clean her wound and replace her bandages. Yuu tried her best despite her shaky hands, accidentally pressing down too hard, which caused her face to contort into a pained grimace. 

Gently, she began to wrap the roll of bandages around her rotting hand, scared of how it would feel if she tried to do it quickly. After that, she took one last look in the mirror and sighed, hoping to give herself some good ol' confidence to make sure Silver didn't notice how pale she had gotten in just a matter of minutes. Finding her wound rotting, was a little traumatizing.

That said... She needed to buy a scarf or something. She couldn't just keep using her hair to hide her neck...

Shaking her head, Yuu moved to the door and opened it, which revealed Silver with a plaster on the... metacarpals of his left hand??? Yuu couldn't quite remember the name of where that part of the hand was, but either way, he had attached a plaster.

"You used alcohol for it?" She approached Silver with a curious expression, staring at his wounded hand. It was a small cut, probably. Silver, who was just relaxing, turned to Yuu with a very, very slightly surprised face. "Hm? Oh, yes. Why?" He confirmed Yuu's observations. She pursed her lips and mustered up the courage to speak a bit more. "It's... generally unwise to use alcohol to clean a wound. It can damage your skin tissue."

Silver raised his eyebrows, a bit surprised. "Really? Well, I'll keep that in mind." Yuu sweatdropped, Does this guy take people's words at face value...? Well, that's a bit dangerous. Before silence could ensue, Silver spoke up, "Are you going back to your dorm? If you are, I can walk you there." Yuu debated herself internally about accepting Silver's offer, her thumb caressing her bandaged hand.

"Uh... Sure."

And so they did. Their walk together was filled with comfortable silence, and maybe that was all they needed to communicate.

As they walked, Yuu stared at the many paintings, and they stared back. It was weird, having your every move seen by at least one person, even if they technically weren't real people. Yuu wondered if that was how her OCs felt when she gave them self-awareness. She wanted to have self-awareness too... Perhaps she can pretend?

Yuu stared in empty space, consequently, that was the angle that showed her and Silver walking.

"Yuuo?" Silver called out, and she perked up, looking away from the viewer. "Yes?" Omg, fine shyt's speaking to me!! 😖 EVERYBODY SHUT UP 🤬 Yuu's attention was solely on Silver, ignoring the paintings that stared at her with 'knowing' looks. He seemed a bit caught off guard by Yuu's quick change of demeanor, but ignored that in favour of doing what he wanted. "You said that you're staying at Ramshackle, right? But, where is Ramshackle? There's no dorm that has that name..." Oh, boy.

"Uh," God, how do I word this without making Crowley look like a negligent father?? Yuu had anticipated this question for a while now, but she didn't expect that Silver would be the one to ask. She thought the first would be Kalim or, well, she didn't know, she just didn't expect Silver to be the first. He didn't seem like the type to pry... "It's, uhm, the rustic building outside of campus."

"Rustic...?" Silver's face contorted into horrific realization, and then to slight concern, though judging by how his facial expressions usually were, she deducted that his real reaction was much more... intense than it seemed. "You mean that abandoned one filled with ghosts? The Headmage put you there? I knew the Headmage was cheap, but..."

Yuu chuckled nervously, "It's really not that bad. It's just a bit of a fixer-upper...!" Silver's concerned expression was washed away, and seriousness poured in. "Listen, Yuuo, if you ever need a place to stay, Diasomnia has more than enough empty rooms−"

Yuu was silent as Silver gave her his offer to let her stay at Diasomnia, admiring the man. It was literally that one lego meme, "Blah, blah, blah, proper name, place name, backstory stuff..."

"Mhm..." Yeah, she was not paying attention.

Yuu took long steps, making sure to avoid accidentally bumping into wayward objects. One was a forgotten textbook! Not sure how anybody could lose something as big as that...

Silver stopped speaking when he noticed Yuu's silence, giving a curious glance her way. He was met with big, unfocused eyes staring at him. Yuuo had incredibly cartoonish eyes it seemed... An unimportant, but nice fact to know.

Silver looked away just as Yuu realized what she was doing. She also looked away, embarrassed that he caught her staring. But, he didn't really mind all that much.

Great. Awkward silence. Awesome

Yeah, they didn't talk for the rest of the walk. It was awkward, but it was kind of... comforting for Yuu? She much preferred silence over sound. At least, when it came to talking. However, she didn't mind all that much when Silver talked. He had a nice voice.

God, what was happening to her? She wasn't all this... admiring and obsessive over a guy unless she... NO. NONONO, DID SHE GET A CRUSH ALREADY?? OH FOR THE LOVE OF— AHHH, NOOOO. 

Yuu nervously bit her nails, completely thrown into what she called an anxiety pile.

She couldn't have fallen that quickly, she hasn't even seen Silver all that much! He was pretty yes, but that was way back in middle school! She couldn't have fallen for him superficially!!! She didn't know him that well yet... Well, kind of. She knew that he was kind, gentle, considerate... Wait. AHHHHH NONONO.

Oblivious to Yuu's inner turmoil, Silver just kept walking. Being the best guide ever.

Yuu wanted to scream. How could she have gotten a crush so quickly?! She wasn't that easy anymore, arhggdhgdgdhsjaiwve. Curse pretty people, they made her feel weird. 

Yuu was ashamed, all of those days, hypnotizing herself to not care about someone's looks, not wasted after she fell for a pretty boy who was too sweet for the world. Unfair. 

The girl decided to ignore the strangeness of her own behavior, hoping it would go away soon. She wasn't going to deal with the possibility of already developing a crush on her guide. Nope. Haha, noooo way. That would be for future yearner Yuu to deal with, feelings were NOT important in this part of the show.

Yuu's hands fiddled with her sleeves as she followed Silver, berating herself for making it so awkward. She really needed to stop getting distracted by eye candy, that was very dangerous considering the absolute sugar in the faces of the people she had met so far.

Yuu got distracted again when she saw a feral guy (exaggeration) barking at a tree (not barking, but close enough). She had her mouth open, wondering what was up with NRC and accepting weirdos.

Silver, who noticed Yuuo's slowed steps, paused and looked back, finding her staring at an unhinged classmate. She seemed shocked, and to be honest Silver probably would've been shocked too had he not known the boy's tendencies to... do that.

Silver pursed his lips, embarrassed of his classmate. "Don't mind him, Yuuo. He likes to chase squirrels from trees." He saw Yuuo look back at Silver and she just nodded.

Yuu wanted that out of her memory. She hoped it would go away soon. "Yeah, sure... Not everyone has, uh, hobbies as interesting as that guy, right?"

Silver nearly chocked on his own spit, "Khh— No. I don't think so." Well, NRC had interesting individuals, but none had achieved the level oddity as... that one. Floyd came close at times, but he had some dignity.

Yuu was relieved. At least there was only one of those.

The mood had lightened up after that, thankfully. Yuu didn't know how she would've knowing that she creeped someone as fine as Silver out. She did NOT want to be known as the stalker with a special interest in Silver specifically. She was probably seen as weird, she didn't want to add on to the allegations.

Silver and Yuu had talked about what they would be doing help Yuu and Yuuka catch up with the others in class. He had said that he had a few tips to catching up since he often fell behind a good few materials because of Silver's inability to stay awake some times. Yuu could relate. She had trouble staying awake some days too, though that was because of poor sleep. "Thanks a lot, again, Silver." 

The corner of Silver's lips twitch upwards. "It's not a problem, Yuu. I'm happy I could help." He looked like he was trying to smile, and he was. His cheeks just weren't stretching as much as they should.

To Yuu, Silver was the kind of person who means what he says, but his facial expressions don't match what he expresses.

"No, seriously, I'm really grateful. I have trouble with memorizing things so... Your tips will probably help." Yuu sheepishly looked down at her feet, embarrassed about her troubling memory. It was one of her many flaws that often got in the way of her everyday life. She should really go see if it was a real problem she should be scared of.

Silver didn't seem to mind, he looked... just the same as ever. "Truly, it's nothing. I'm glad my advice helped." Yeah, Silver being so humble and kind may have made Yuu fall deeper into the trenches. Eros' arrow has shot her twice. 

Yuu relaxed and nodded, averting her eyes to stare at the ground. I'm so cooked... Her infatuation with Silver probably wasn't going to release its grip on her anytime soon. 

Now, Yuu was standing in front of Ramshackle, contemplating on how to say goodbye. Great, now she was overthinking it... Might as well, use the wattpad method, even if it wasn't a date.

Yuu turned to Silver, who was looking at Ramshackle with several emotions he couldn't express on the surface. "...My offer still stands, Yuuo."

Yuu laughed, amused by Silver's comedic worry. "Really, it's fine, right now. We'll probably be able to fix it up soon if we save enough money, so don't worry." She cleared her throat, forcing down her smile a little. "Thanks for walking me here, Silver. I really appreciate it." The placed her hand in front of her, placing one on top of the other. 

Silver's attention shifted to Yuu, expressing a smile he couldn't show. "It was my pleasure, Yuuo. It was fun walking with you." He paused when a drop of water fell on his shoulder, a sign that the weather would change. "Looks like it's about to rain... I should go now. Have a great day, Yuuo." Silver nodded to her, and she blinked before returning the nod, muttering a farewell that she hoped Silver heard. "See you soon, Silver..."

Then Silver quickly walked away from the porch, watching his step yet minding the little time he had to find shelter back on campus. He was probably going to make it, though, considering how fast he was just walking.

Yuu stared into the distance for a while before severing her connections with what she gazed upon. She turned her back to the outside, favoring her rest rather than her entertainment. It was going to rain, so she'd rather not get hit with the water droplets carried by the wind.

Aside from that... Yuu should also probably check up on that little blot monster. After all, she did leave it all alone in Ramshackle (aside from the ghosts, that is).

Yuu was silent as she walked to where her shared room with the other were. Mentally counting the holes that littered Ramshackle's walls since she had nothing better to do.

Chapter Text

Yuu was sitting on her bed with the blot monster on her lap, who was fiddling with her fingers, poking its fingerless hands against her nails. She wasn't against some affection from the curious creature. She did that a lot with her friends when they were in middle school.

Yuu wondered if the others would mind...

She shook her head. She'd find out some other day. For now, she should try to discover why that bird appeared in her dream.

Sure. There were a few other things that definitely needed to be solved, like why she could interact with the characters inside the dream. But the dove had been the most noticeable change. Because there was no dove inside the dreams when she played through the game, and she knew the movie. She had watched it (watch is a strong word; she skipped most parts). There were no birds in that scene (at least from what she could remember...).

The dove came out of nowhere, too. It wasn't anything natural. The way it suddenly materialized in the sky had left Yuu wondering if it meant something.

Maybe she'd learn about it tonight, seeing as it was already dusk.

The blot monster's hands gently tapped on the girl's hand, grabbing her attention. Yuu, who felt it, looked at the little blot monster, curiously staring at it with questions in her dark eyes.

Yuu spoke not, but said so much. It was mesmerized by the loudness of Yuu's silence. Yuu could scream, pray, and sing, but none could say more than the absence of sound. The little monster could point out the gemstones in Yuu's eyes, the obsidian colour that seemed to bore into every soul their gaze found.

Perhaps that was why it was drawn to Yuu—the whispers of lifelessness surrounding the teenage girl. 

It wanted to speak so badly. But with no mouth for the noise, it could only stare at the abyss inside Yuu. And it felt a certain lightness with each second in Yuu's embrace. For a moment, just one tiny, insignificant moment—it felt the weight of its sin leave like a pen running out of ink. Each mistake on paper was erased by soft rubber. And it couldn't help but coo, leaning its head against Yuu's firm chest. 

It knew it did not deserve such softness, not after corrupting innocence, but it craved the gentle hold—the way her presence cradled its body like it was her infant child. It deserved the rough hits, the prickly squeezes, the tough skin, but it yearned for a matriarch's hug. After all, is it not common for songbirds to seek the whistles of their mothers? Of course, with no mother to whistle, it searches for another to accept its imperfection.

Yuu, without another word, brought a hand to the glasshead, holding the fragile ball with gentle hands as she hummed songs without direction. Her rough palms felt like soothing scratches on itches, her loose but firm hold felt like warnings telling it to explore without straying too far, and her eyes—good Lilith, her eyes. They had turned the softest they ever could. 

The others came back quite quickly after Yuu had lulled the small blot monster to sleep. She left it on her bed with a blanket over its plushy body—she did it just as a sweet action, really, since there could be the possibility that it couldn't even go cold. Either way! Yuu had gone outside the bedroom when she heard the front door open and footsteps enter. And what she found was her friends messing with the new addition− Well, additions now. There was the navy-haired guy Yuuken befriended. All she remembered about him was that his mom was pretty, full stop.

She smiled when she saw Yuuna perk up at the sight of her standing in the hallway, waving happily to the tired girl. Yuu walked forward without a second thought. 

"Hi, Yuuo!" Yuuna started off with a bright smile. It made Yuu wonder how flesh could shine so bright. "How've you been? I know we just separated like—two hours ago or so—but still!" She rambled, without regard for her reputation and how it might've made her seem. Yuu envied Yuuna's easygoing nature. She wished that she could be as reckless with her image as Yuuna was, to be free of shame and guilt, to be dissolved of how her ears hung to every whisper about herself.

Still, Yuu chuckled even as she burrowed her deep envy into the hole inside her chest, still fit for more than enough dark water. "I've been alright, I met up with my guide so he could lead me to the infirmary. So, I didn't get lost, if you were wondering about that. Um..." She looked off to the side, trying to recall anything interesting that happened other than her meeting with Silver. "...Actually, it has been pretty uneventful, really. So, that was the only interesting thing." Yuu's gaze landed on the rotting wood of Ramshackle's floors, reminding her of her own flesh, decaying just like the planks she stood on.

Yuuna didn't seem to notice Yuu's frown—or maybe she did but decided to leave it be—as she quickly continued the conversation. "Oh! Well, that's nice! Our last hours have been mostly boring, too. Yuuken and Deuce went out to buy a few more ingredients for the tarts, Yuuta and Trey—the one who was helping us bake, if you dunno—were the main ones actually working−" Figures. "Ace, Yuuka, and I mostly just chilled while we helped." Unbeknownst to Yuuna, Yuuka had stepped up behind the blonde girl.

A scoff left Yuuka, who raised her eyebrow as she stared at Yuuna. "More like Ace and I helped while you glammed up with Cater." Yuuka snarked, and Yuuna sputtered from the suddenness, jumping from where she stood and hiding behind Yuu, who was confused. "Hi, Yuuo." Yuuka smiled at the girl, who smiled back, albeit a bit bewildered. "Hey...?"

When Yuuna saw who the culprit was, she pouted. "Gah, dangit, Yuuka! You really need to stop scaring me like that!" To which Yuuka retorted with a smirk and cheeky words, "Not my fault, you're jumpy, Yuuna." Yuuna just grumbled, attempting—and failing—to hide the smile that crept up her face.

Woah. They had certainly gotten along quick. Yuu supposed that girls had to stick together, because of them three being the only known females in NRC. 

Yuuna huffed,  turning back to poor Yuu, who looked confused. "Well, did you do anything after ye'know... Fixing whatever injury you have?" Yuu snapped out of her confusion and smiled at the blonde, looking a bit regretful. "Not really, I mostly waited for you guys to get back in our room. It was pretty boring in there without you guys, even with my phone...." Yuuna gasped, "Your phone got transported here too?! OMG we need to exchange numbers, NNOW." Oh dear.

And so, Yuu did exchange numbers with Yuuna, watching as the girl giddily sent texts of various hi's, hello's, and other stuff.

Yuuna
HI

HELLO YUUO

Yuu
Hi, Yuuna

Yuu smiled, charmed by Yuuna's enthusiasm. It had been a while since she interacted with someone unapologetically positive... Or would it be more accurate to say girl instead of someone? Kalim fit that description quite well.

Yuuna grabbed Yuu's hand and led her to the others, who were conversing about some kind of party, while Yuuka followed close behind, Oh, right... the Unbirthday. Yuu recalled that being one of the key points in the game to lead into Riddle's overblot. Yuu debated on telling them, but held back, she didn't want to be seen as suspicious by the others. 

Yuuna's gentle hands slipped from Yuu's, and she found herself missing the warmth of Yuuna's gentle hold. Yuuna beamed when she saw Grim, picking the cat-like monster up and holding him in her arms. Yuuken was talking to Ace and Deuce about how nothing will go wrong tomorrow. Yikes...

Yuuken took notice of their approach and smiled, "Hey, Yuuo." Yuu gave a small grin in return. "Survived Yuuka's wrath, have you?" Yuuken paled at the mention of Yuuka's anger, chuckling nervously. "Oh, you have no idea, Yuuo. She was terrifying. I was honestly convinced I was gonna die—" And then their conversation escalated from there while the others got to know each other. Yuuta was talking to Ace and Deuce, who were asking about who taught him how to cook and bake. Yuuya was sitting next to him, listening to the conversation Yuuta was having. Yuuna and Yuuka were standing off to the side somewhere, having a one-sided conversation that neither really minded.

This peace was ruined after Crowley barged through the front doors, "I have brought dinner!— You two aren't Ramshackle students." He quickly took notice of Ace and Deuce, who straightened up rather quickly at the sight of Crowley. The three were confused; all for different reasons.

Crowley was confused about why the two Heartslabyul troublemakers were in the Ramshackle "dormitory" while Adeuce were befuddled by the Crowley's sudden appearance. "Headmaster?!" They screamed, which made Yuu wince. She groaned and rubbed the side of her head, her ears ringing from the sheer volume of their unanimous shout. Yuuka glared at the two and gave a yell of her own, albeit much softer to spare Yuu the headache. "Mind your volume!" She scowled at them, affectively making them shrink a little. Yuuka was quite scary when she wanted to be after all.

Yuu sent Yuuka a grateful smile, which went unnoticed by the girl. Either way, Yuu was happy that Yuuka chastised the card soldiers.

Crowley huffed, "Exactly, it's quite unwise to be rowdy at this late hour!" He walked towards the coffee table and placed the plastic bags down. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I shall be going back to my office—" "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT." Crowley was cut off by Ace's scream, who pointed at the little blot monster that waddled from the halls. "AHHH KILL IT!" Ace then proceeded to shoot multiple spells at its poor inky glasshead, to which was deflected by Crowley's own incantations.

"Stop this ceaseless attack, Trappola!" Crowley commanded the ginger, taking out his whip from his coat's inside pocket and tying the card soldier up. Yuu hurriedly ran toward the tiny ink monster and lifted it from the floor and to her cold arms. The creature only cooed happily from being held by its favorite girl, blissfully unaware of the danger it was in moments ago. Yuu shushed it, biting the inside of her cheek as she warily looked between Crowley, Ace, and Deuce; whom was in the process of pulling out his magical pen before freezing at the sound of Crowley's command.

"Headmage..." Deuce hesitantly called out, "That creature looks exactly like the monster we fought in the mines." Tension followed the silence that ensued, and the way Yuu paled did not help her current anxiety.

Ahh... No wonder it looks so familiar. Yuu inhaled a breath akin to gasps, exhaling shakily as her arms tightened around the glass-bodied creature. It was the monster at the start of the game. God, why is my luck so shit?! "Yuuken," She shakily called for the tall boy, whom was frozen in his spot, she looked up at him tiredly. "Is that true?" For a moment, Yuuken remained unresponsive before he nodded, averting his eyes from the monster and onto the ground. "It is."

Yuuka instantly walked to Yuu's side, glaring at both Ace and Deuce. She quickly turned her attention to the girl when Yuu started to hurl from her racing heart's beating, unable to handle the level of fear that coursed through her head. "Yuuo! Are you alright?!" At that question, she shook her head. It wasn't like Yuuka expected for Yuu to actually be okay. She looked... incredibly sick.

The creature in her arms looked at the girl in concern, tapping her face to get her attention. Yuu only spared it a glance before she gagged, nearly slipping out what was left of her lunch onto the unstable floors of Ramshackle. Yuuya immediately yelled at Yuuna to get the kneeling girl some water, to which she quickly got in the panic. Yuuta told Yuuka to get Yuu to the toilet just in case. Yuuken decided to help Yuuka out and opened the bathroom door.

In just less than a minute, Yuu was kneeling in front of the toilet with her hair held by Yuuna's gentle hand and Yuuka's rough ones patting her back.

Yuu choked as the contents in her stomach was brought out from her mouth, gagging as tears welled up as her body's response to the rejection of her lunch. She never liked throwing up. It was the worst feeling imaginable—having one's throat be painted gross colors because their body disliked the energy that was shoved into it.

She gagged one more time before slumping against the bathroom walls, Yuuna grabbed a tissue and wiped the vomit that had clung to Yuu lips. "Come on, Yuuo, let's wash your mouth." Yuuna nearly looked as pale as Yuu did, which was quite the feat due to Yuu's melanin-less skin. Though it was understandable. Anytime Yuu vomited, it always looked violent. Mostly because her organs were repulsed by the vomit and wanted it out of her systems immediately, thus making her shake and cough like she had gotten a shot in the lung.

Yuu stumbled as she tried to stand, her legs wobbled while she stood in front of the sink. The water rushed from the faucet as soon as she turned the knob, filling the newly clean sink. She cupped her hands together and dipped them inside. She spat out the water as soon as she could, leaving her mouth clean of her failed food.

Yuuka placed a hand on Yuu's shoulder, gently leading her back to the lounge.

Then a ringing sound filled her head, making the girl pause and wince. Her momentary stop wasn't long. She waved off Yuuka's concerned questions and continued on with a strange pain in her head. It wasn't that strange for Yuu to have certain bouts of random pain, she just wasn't used to it not being her chest that felt the rib-ripping ache. 

As soon as Yuu sat down, her vision seemed to clear, and she could at least focus on certain things, like her fingers flexing, and how her bandaged palm was entirely motionless on her lap, like it was never even attached to her body. She brought a hand to her head, attempting to release the aching in her head that was making her unable to process their voices. She could faintly hear sounds, but she couldn't figure out what those sounds were making.

She could faintly make out Yuuka's voice scolding Ace, who retaliated with equal harshness, even a bit louder than her. Yuuna and Yuuta were trying to keep everyone levelheaded and calm, while Yuuken and Deuce were having a calm conversation about their theories regarding the small blot monster that Crowley took...

"Wait." Everyone froze upon hearing Yuu's raspy voice, turning to stare at her. "Where is it? Where is the creature?" Yuuya said something to Yuu, but she couldn't quite tell what he said, unfortunately. Yuuken was about to answer before Ace decided to answer her for him.

He said that the ink monster was taken back to campus, and something about how he was going to visit the Ignite, which she registered as Ignihyde. "For what?" Ace shrugged, telling the girl that he had to ask an expert in the dorm about it. He then told her not to worry to much, lest she wanted to throw up again. Obviously, Ace meant that as a joke, but Yuu just nodded, agreeing with him with no further argument. Ace soon got scolded again by Yuuka for not being able to read the room, he protested, of course. But no one was a match for Yuuka. The only outcome to survive her was gently coaxing her to calm down.

Yuuya had been tasked with gently rubbing Yuu's back, and while she felt repulsed at first, she grew to be familiar with Yuuya's hands, even relaxing a bit while he rubbed her back.

Yuu watched as her dorm mates talked with each other, filling the awkward silence with talks of NRC's curriculum, future classes and other stuff: Like friends, partners, interests... All the fun things.

Sleep didn't come easy for Yuu. Actually, she noticed that nothing ever came easy to her, especially after she got—reincarnated? Transmigrated?—transported into another world.

Ahhhh, Yuu wondered when she'd manage to join in on the others' adventures. She had noticed a pattern of Yuu being needed elsewhere or choosing to go somewhere else and missing scenes of the game. Perhaps because of her... alien presence (both game and storyline-wise), she was gently pushed away from the main stage? It made sense. After all, she doubted that the universe or whatever God out there anticipated her existence.

Speaking of God...

She missed several prayers, didn't she? Ahhhhh, how unlucky... She would definitely be going to hell now (if the girlkissing-feelings weren't already sinful enough).

Despite that, Yuu didn't want to get up. She wondered if it would've been better for her if she wasn't born as a muslim, or if she wasn't chained down by the thoughts of wrong and right by religious standards. She didn't understand why she was forced to learn the ways of believers just because of who her parents were.

All Yuu ever wanted was freedom. And yet she could never truly feel weightless could she? The guilt that ate away at her was enough evidence of that belief.

Yuu wanted to sleep. She wanted to run and hide away. Just as she always had.