Chapter Text
“Where am I?”Yuuken said as he just woke up after what seemed like a coach hitting him.Still in a daze,he rubbed his eye.“Ah,I was just waiting for the bus–’’
Yuuken had unknowingly hit a wall.He instantly touched the wall before pounding on it.He demanded to be let out of the room as he pounded it.Before long,Yuuken had managed to open the wall.Upon seeing the weird atmosphere,Yuuken was shock.There was something familiar about the floating–Yuuken turned around to see the object.
“A COFFIN!!!”He shouted in shock as he turned to a coffin-shape at his feet.Feeling woozy about this,Yuuken steps back to see whether or not it is true and it was.Murmurs spread around the room,wondering how he got here.He looked around the room to see that they were wearing capes.Before Yuuken can proceed anything,he heard the clacking sound of shoes. Yuuken quickly turned around to see a man with a bird mask,covering his eyes but exposing his mouth and chin.
“Oh,honestly…you can’t come through your gate unbidden.It’s unheard of,’’said the masked man.”What an impatient lad you must be.”
Yuuken,upon hearing the comment,turned around.Following his instincts,he raised his wrapped shinai at the man,demanding the masked man to stay away from him.
“Please,calm yourself,”The masked man said.“I didn’t give you any reason to distrust me.”
“Umm…EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU IS A RED FLAG!”Yuuken shouted in anger.“This whole thing—this place,you guys..WHAT IS GOING ON?!WHY AM I IN THIS PLACE?!”
“Why?”The masked man simply asks,tilting his head.“Because you are chosen.”
Yuuken looked at the masked men in confusion.Upon seeing Yuuken’s confused face,the masked men mumbled something about teleportation which confused Yuuken even more.The masked man noticed this and decided to explain it to Yuuken.
“You are at Night Raven College where fledgling mages chosen for their rare talent in magic are gathered from the world,”the masked men said.
Hearing this,Yuuken’s eye widen in disbelief.There was no way that was true.It only existed in books,movies,and anime shows.Yet just by the masked men’s body language,Yuuken knew that it’s true but..he could not grasp it.Before he even reacted,the masked men clap his hands,saying that they must get ready.In a haste,Yuuken called out to him.
“It doesn’t make sense,”Yuuken pronounced in disbelief.“Firstly,I don’t have magic!Isn’t it some kind of mistake?”Just as the masked man was about to speak,Yuuken interrupted him,continuing his sentence.“And besides,I have a competition to attend to.”He grabbed his wrap shinai before turning around to walk.“So if you would excuse me.”
The room burst into ‘ohh’ and ‘ahh’ as the masked man tried to calm things down—which fall miserably.Suddenly, the sharp sound of shattering glass pierced the air, echoing through the room like a gunshot.
Instinctively, Yuuken thrust his muscular arm upward, shielding his face just in time as shards of glittering glass rained down. His broad frame blocked the worst of it, the fragments bouncing harmlessly off his sleeve and scattering onto the floor.As the last sliver hit the ground with a soft clink, a strange presence slithered into the room. Out of the broken window crawled a small creature—no bigger than a house cat. But this was no ordinary feline. Its eyes were blue, and from its back curled a devil’s tail, thin and leathery with a spade-shaped tip that twitched menacingly.
“I hear what you say,”the monster cat said in a proud tone.“Do you have any idea how many people are dying to get into this school and you would throw away that chance..?Unbelievable!”The monster cat walked up to Yuuken.It had a cat body and cats but one thing Yuuken found weird was that it can talk—talk like a person.“But if you insist,you can leave and I will take your place.”
Yuuken stared at the monster cat in shock as he continued to yap about how Yuuken was ‘so grateful for his words’ it didn’t realise Yuuken was judging him.Yukken blurted out that it looks like a tanuki.The monster cat was immediately in rage upon hearing Yuuken said that.
“I am the illustrious Grim,”it said.“I am a monster who will become a great mage!”
The other students began to mock Grim, their laughter sharp and cruel, echoing across the training grounds. Without a word, Grim raised its paw, and from its outstretched claws erupted a searing fireball. The flames coiled and twisted like a living creature, bright and furious, leaving a trail of scorched air as it shot forward. The heat was blinding, the roar deafening—a raw, uncontained burst of power born entirely from rage.
The students immediately begin to run away from the fire.Grim smirked in triumph as they flee away from the fire.Yuken begins to help the students escape from the building with a boy with olive skin and white hair begin to shout as his robe was caught on fire.Just as he was making sure that everyone else had evacuated.Just as he was checking everyone,he noticed a short student walking to Grim.Yuken call to him but he didn’t hear Yuuken’s call.
“First a student refused to enroll here and now we have a monster running loose,”the short student said in a loud tone.“How dare you disrupt the solemn dignity of this ceremony!I will remove you from this academy!"
“Oh no you don’t!”Grim said in anger,getting ready to do another fireball.
“Look out!!!”In an instant,Yuuken sprang into action.Without a moment's hesitation,he grabbed the short boy by the arm and yanked him away from the encroaching flames,shielding him from the searing heat.As they both collapsed to the ground—with Yuuken on top of the small student.
“Hey kid,”Yuuken asked him.“Are you okay?”
“Hey…kid?”The small student with red hair repeated.“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TALKING TO?!”
Yuuken immediately flinched at the red-haired student’s explosive reaction. His breath caught in his throat as the shorter boy’s eyes flared with a mix of fury and determination. Without a word,he shoved Yuuken aside with surprising force, his focus locked entirely on the snarling monster cat that loomed ahead. There was no hesitation in his movements as he charged straight toward the beast, as if nothing else in the world mattered.The monster cat said insults towards the red-haired student but he didn’t flinch at all.
“Silence!”The red-haired boy raged at the monster cat which made it quiet.The red-haired boy reached for the pen resting in its ornate holder, its surface shimmering faintly with an otherworldly glow. As his fingers wrapped around it, a gentle pulse of warmth traveled up his arm. The moment he lifted it from its place, a swirl of golden light burst from the pen's tip, dancing through the air like fireflies. Magic surged forth, filling the room with a soft hum and the scent of old parchment and lightning.
"Are you ready for your sentence?" the red-haired boy asked,his voice low and laced with challenge.
Wisps of magic curled around him like living flame,crackling in the air and casting eerie shadows on the stone walls. His bluish-grey eyes gleamed with a fierce intensity, and the very ground beneath him seemed to hum with power, waiting to be unleashed.Grim,sensing something powerful was going to happen,tried to run away from the magic.
“The verdict comes afterwards. Any last words?”The short student said before looking at Grim.“Off With Your Head!”
Grim was collared by a heart-shape lock on his neck.Yuken was completely stunned by the sight of Grim in a collar.No matter how hard Grim tried to remove the collar,it didn’t seem to budge.In it’s frustration,Grim tried to use its fire magic but it did not happen.A struggle came out instead.Grim,in utter horror,realised that it cannot use its magic.
“Naturally,”the short student said.“I sealed your magical energy with my magic spell.”Grim stood in stunned silence, unable to believe what he was seeing. Everything had happened so fast.Just then,the sound of clapping broke through the quiet—the masked men stepped into view.He applauded the short student,clearly impressed by his success in capturing the monster cat.
“I’d expect nothing less of the housewarden of Heartslabyul.”He beamed with pride.“Your spell was magnificent!As for the tanuki,I shall remove him from the school grounds.”
The masked man picks him up by the collar and begins to walk away with Grim screaming that he will never give up.Yuken was still in a daze,sitting on the ground,processing what had happened in the past few minutes or so.Instinctively,he grab his arm.Feeling a throbbing pain,he realised that he wasn’t hallucinating.
“So….”He said softly.“This isn’t a dream..Magic—I can’t believe it exists..”
The red-haired student, barely reaching Yuuken’s shoulder,strode forward with surprising confidence. His eyes sparkled with determination as he raised his hand, revealing a slender,rune-inscribed pen that shimmered faintly with arcane energy. Without a word, he stepped into Yuuken’s path and pointed the glowing magic pen directly at him, its tip crackling with potential.A tense silence fell over the hallway.
“How dare you insult me like you did.That is tantamount..”The red-haired student bellowed.“..to insult the Queen of Hearts herself!!”
Yuuken's eyes scanned the chaotic scene before him, but he paused for a moment as he noticed two figures standing frozen amidst the confusion. One was a green-haired boy wearing glasses, his eyes wide with shock and fear, lips slightly parted as though he'd forgotten how to breathe. Beside him stood another boy, his orange mid-length hair tousled and catching the light. His expression mirrored the green-haired boy’s — a mix of disbelief and dread — as though both were witnessing something they couldn’t comprehend, yet couldn’t tear their eyes away from.
“This is a horrible crime!”The red-haired student announced.“You will lose your head!Understand?”
And that’s how Yuuken started his life in Twisted Wonderland.