Chapter Text
‘That will be the end of the viewing for today. Please go about the rest of the day as you wish, the viewing will continue in the morning.’
Azul found himself grateful for the chance to mentally prepare himself for his own section and went about his day as calmly as he could whilst fighting against the ever growing dread at his upcoming humiliation. Sleep didn’t come easily, but soon enough it was morning.
Breakfast was spent in awkward silence for many, the tense atmosphere between the Savanaclaw members having clouded any good mood they could have had. Azul had kept up his usual act, even going so far as to extend an invite for Ruggie to sit with himself and his associates if the beastman so desired. Far be it from him to overlook an opportunity to get in good with a valuable asset.
Ruggie had taken the offer, sitting in the free chair next to Floyd as they all prepared for the next section of the viewing to begin. The clock on the screen ticked down, each second that passed leading closer to Azul’s doom.
Gloved hands clutched onto dark pants, slender fingers grasping the fabric like a lifeline.
‘Book 3: Merchant from the Depths - Paused
Floyd blew a raspberry at the screen, a frown etched onto his face. “Boring!” He drawled, dragging the word out for far longer than necessary. “Show us Azul!”
Unlike Floyd, Azul was relieved that the viewing—and his subsequent doom—had been postponed, his grip on his pants loosening. Sure, he was only delaying the inevitable, but he wasn’t ready. He didn’t have enough information, didn’t know what to prepare for, didn’t have any sort of contingency plans. He was going into this future blind, the only thing he knew was that he was going to overblot. That fact couldn’t be changed, no matter how he might try to deny it.
Unbeknownst to him, twin heterochromatic gazes were directed his way.
Now Playing: Event 3 - Wish Upon a Star’
“Any of you know what that could mean?” Yuu asked the room, being the only one who wouldn’t be able to make any sort of connection between the title of the event and what it could be about.
“I have a few theories.” Riddle crossed his arms as he read the words. “However, I am sure we will be given more information shortly.”
The screen showed the night sky as text appeared on it, reciting an old and familiar tale:
‘Once upon a time, in a rural town…
There lived an elderly toymaker who built a puppet made of wood.
The old man cared deeply for this puppet, as he had no children of his own.
One night, he gazed up at the twinkling stars blanketing the sky and said…
“I wish that my little puppet might be a real boy.”
The old man drifted off to sleep soon after, only to be awoken by a great clattering in the night.
And just what was making all that noise? Why, it was his very own puppet, talking and moving around!
The toymaker realized, much to his amazement, that his wish had come true.
He was overcome with joy! And so he raised the puppet with love, and they lived happily ever after.
—Excerpt from a famous piece of literature’
Riddle hummed with a satisfied smile forming on his face. “I was right in my hypothesis, this is in regards to the Starsending.”
“What’s a Starsending?” Yuu asked.
“It’s a ceremony, of sorts. If it isn’t explained soon then I will do so myself.” The housewarden offered, earning a nod from the Ramshackle Prefect.
The starry sky lit up before fading, a new scene appearing in its place. A bell rang while Crewel stood at the front of his classroom, having just finished a lesson. Before he let the students leave for the day, he informed them that there was school business to discuss.
With the first years, Grim yawned. The dire beast had clearly just woken up from a nap and yet still claimed another hard day’s work was ‘done and dusted’. Ace scoffed at the creature, informing the watchers that Grim had been dozing off since lunch. Yuu raised an eyebrow at the boy, claiming that the heart suit had been napping right along with the fiery monster.
“Really?” Riddle looked unimpressed.
Ace shrank under the fierce gaze of his housewarden. It wasn’t his fault his future self was slacking off!
Grim leveled a glare at Ace at the information while the boy himself complained about the accusation. He might’ve rested his eyes a few times but he hadn’t fallen asleep! Deuce let out a sigh, telling the pair to get their act together and pay attention to Professor Crewel.
There was hope yet for at least one of Riddle’s incoming freshmen. That, at least, gave him some semblance of solace when facing Ace’s blatant disregard for his professor’s words.
Unfortunately, his words only got the pair to target him instead of each other, Ace calling him out for being uptight while Grim reminded him that they got the same grades. Deuce, offended, asked what that had to do with anything.
“I’d rather you put in a genuine effort.” Riddle let out an exasperated sigh, something he had become increasingly familiar with due to Ace. “You could likely get much better grades if you put in the work or simply pay attention in class.”
While it was in his own defense, Deuce still looked down at the words. What was the point of the hard work if he had nothing to show? Maybe he just had to try harder, Riddle did offer to help him study and his methods clearly worked for Cater in the future.
Trey found himself smiling as he listened to Riddle’s words, it was clear to him that Riddle cared deeply about his dorm putting their absolute all into school and grades. The efforts the younger was making towards their freshmen, especially by offering advice, was all the more admirable. Cater—curious as to what had Trey smiling—nudged the boy with his elbow, only for Trey to wave off his curiosity, smile still in place. Cater pouted at the lack of a response before turning his attention back to the screen.
Tired of the commotion, Crewel finally stepped in. “Silence!” He yelled, “You pups are making a racket.” The trio apologized and the man continued, reminding the class that there was an assembly held in the lecture hall after classes ended, informing them that it was likely about the Starsending that was happening a week from then. Attendance for the assembly was mandatory.
With that, he concluded that class and ordered the students to head to the lecture hall.
Yuu let out a frustrated groan. “I still don’t know what a Starsending is.” Grim nodded at his side, equally confused.
“Like I said, I shall explain it to you if necessary. However, the Headmage should explain it during the assembly.” Riddle crossed his arms, not trusting that the Headmage would actually fulfill his obligations to the students.
Voices overlapped with each other as the scene changed to show the group of freshmen walking in and taking up some empty seats near the back. Grim crossed his paws as he looked around, not understanding what the whole thing was about. Ace looked at the creature in confusion, saying that Crewel had clearly told them it was about the Starsending.
“What’s that?” The question left Ace in shock as he asked if Grim was being serious. Yuu seemed to be holding back an exasperated sigh as he added that he also didn’t know what the Starsending was.
Ace stared at the pair, shaking his head, in disbelief that Yuu didn’t know about the Starsending either.
“Ace, how many times will I have to remind you that I don’t know anything about this world?” Yuu’s sigh was identical to his future counterpart’s. “You need to stop acting like Grim and I are idiots for not knowing things.”
“But Grim’s from this world!” Ace protested.
“He’s not even human, why would he know your traditions?” Yuu argued back.
Ace crossed his arms, not able to say anything in response while Deuce shot him a look that seemed to say he was an idiot for even starting the dispute with Yuu. Riddle just shook his head in exasperation.
Unlike Ace, Deuce was more understanding of Yuu's lack of knowledge on the subject. He was, however, surprised that Grim didn’t know.
“See?” Ace pointed out, validated. “You were surprised too!”
“But I didn’t act like he was dumb for not knowing!” Was the response he got, along with a shove.
Grim stared at the boy, asking if the Starsending was really that big of a deal. Deuce explained that schools and communities all over the world did Starsending ceremonies which was why it was hard to imagine someone not knowing what it was. Grim didn’t seem upset in the slightest, suggesting that they explained so he and Yuu could be in the know, too. Ace made an unconvinced sound, saying that Crowley would probably go over it.
At least Ace had some sense, though it wasn’t too much of a comfort for Riddle given the younger boy’s usual pattern of behavior. He didn’t know how much he enjoyed sharing a similar thought process with the unmotivated heart suit, either.
As if on cue, Crowley stood at the front of the hall and shouted for the students to quiet down. He would start off by giving an overview of the Starsending, then he would announce that year’s Stargazers, finally, he would hand out Wishing Stars. “Though,” he began, “seeing as you’re all familiar with the Starsending, I suppose I can spare you a prolonged explanation.” Such a decision was certainly not because he found such overviews tedious, it was a gesture of consideration! He wished to preserve morale! How discerning he was!
“While it would likely be tedious to explain it every year, there is no guarantee that everyone present knows about the Starsending.” Vil crossed his legs as he stared at the screen, judgement in his eyes. “That’s not even taking Yuu’s unique situation into account.”
“A true dereliction of duty.” Riddle added, giving the screen a judgemental stare of his own. “I’ll have to have a word with him, he has not been conducting himself well in this future we are seeing.” Which was odd, in Riddle’s opinion. Crowley was never the pinnacle of responsibility but his actions in the future seemed a bit more careless than what was normal. It was a subtle change, perhaps inconsequential or even imagined, but he made a mental note of it nonetheless. His list was growing to be quite long. It seemed like he had his work cut out for him when he got back.
Grim crossed his furry arms as he gave Ace a blank stare, pointing out that Crowley wasn’t explaining anything. Ace sighed and gave them a rundown of the Starsending.
The Starsending was a tradition based on “Wish Upon a Star”—which Grim didn’t know about, leaving Ace in shock—the tale of an old toymaker who made a wooden puppet. He wished for the puppet to be a real boy and it came true, the puppet had sprung to life. Deuce explained that it was a pretty famous story that he heard all the time when he was a kid.
“Huh.” Grim listened, interested.
“Well, that’s a first.” Yuu teased. Grim glared at the boy, offended.
“I can listen!” Grim protested loudly, pawing at Yuu’s face in reproach at the other’s words. Despite his complaints, the first years sent each other looks above his head. It was clear they didn’t agree with him.
Yuu nodded, leaning in as Deuce went on to explain the connection between the tale and the Starsending. The Starsending happened once a year and people would send their wishes into the stars on the same day the toymaker had. Ace added that they needed Wishing Stars to send their wishes to the stars, Wishing Stars being magestones that glow when one makes a wish to them. They would channel their wishes into the Wishing Stars, then hang them on a tree.
As the tale went on, Grim grew less interested. In the end, he called the tradition weird.
“That’s more like Grim.” Ace grinned. Grim directed his glare to the other first year.
Yuu let out a chuckle, “I had too much faith.”
“You’re such rude minions!”
Ace blanched as he turned to stare at the dire beast, “Since when was I your minion?!”
“Since forever!!”
Yuu, on the other hand, seemed fascinated as he compared the tradition to certain ones he could remember from his home.
Vil put a hand to his chin as he wondered what the chances were that their worlds shared similar traditions. He could have sworn Yuu was also familiar with takoyaki, so they seemed to not only share similar foods but specific dishes and names, as well. How strange. Perhaps he would need to have a conversation with the future Ramshackle Prefect.
At the model’s side, Rook smiled. At Vil’s confused look, the hunter merely shrugged and focused his attention back to the screen. The housewarden let out an annoyed huff before following suit.
Instead of seeing what the others had to say about Yuu’s contribution to the conversation, the screen re-focused on Crowley. It was time to announce the Stargazers.
“I wonder if he’ll choose the same ones when we get to this point in our own future.” Azul murmured, mostly to himself.
Jade glanced down at his housewarden, an easy smile on his face as he considered the idea. “It would certainly be fascinating if any interference or shift in our behavior affected things such as the Stargazers.”
“It would also be quite disconcerting, considering the implications.” Riddle added, “If such minor things can be changed, we would have no guarantee that our own future would be predictable using the information this viewing is providing us.”
“Which means,” Vil continued, “We wouldn’t have a guarantee that those who overblotted would survive this time around if the same events come to pass.”
The group went silent as the words sunk in, though none of them had much opportunity to think too much on it since the screen decided to continue with showing the future.
Grim looked around as the crowd burst out in whispers, asking why everyone was making a fuss. Crowley, despite not hearing the question, explained that the Stargazers would be the ones who gathered all the Wishing Stars and hung them on the tree. He could hardly blame the students for being excited to find out who would be the stars of the event.
A Heartslabyul student in the back shook his head, denying the Headmage’s words. An Ignihyde student nearby begged to not get picked. Yuu listened to the murmurs with a raised brow, “Anticipation? Try antipathy.”
“Well, it isn’t a job many would sign themselves up for.” Jamil commented, breaking the short silence. He refused to think too hard about the future, instead focusing on the present moment. He’d leave the overthinking to Kalim, for once.
“I would!” Speak of the devil… “Being a Stargazer sounds fun!”
Well, Jamil didn’t expect that. Maybe Kalim wasn’t overthinking like he usually did when the inevitable overblot was mentioned. Had he finally accepted that he couldn’t do anything to save Jamil if the overblot came to pass?
Grim blinked, asking why nobody seemed excited. Ace explained what he knew from his brother; at Night Raven College, three students were picked to be Stargazers. Just three people would collect Wishing Stars from the entire student body. Ace rhetorically asked who would want to be stuck with such a job. Grim agreed, saying the job sounded rough.
The focus returned to Crowley once more, who had utilized horoscopes to select specific birthdates via astrology, as he had in previous years. The students born on said dates would be that year’s Stargazers. He tried to create hype, but only got judgement from the students. The only one with a positive attitude was Kalim, who hoped he got picked.
Given that the present Kalim had expressed a similar sentiment, Jamil accepted the words as truth. His airheaded master was not becoming a Stargazer, it wasn’t happening, not on Jamil’s watch. If Kalim was picked, his responsibilities would just fall onto his Vice Housewarden! Just as they always did!
Ignoring the griping of his students, the Headmage began announcing the birthdates he picked.
“Honestly, you’d think they were defendants awaiting a verdict.” Riddle complained as he took in the hesitant and fearful expressions of the crowd.
“Right.” Trey agreed, leaving out his own opinion of the job and how he hoped he didn’t get chosen.