Veil of a Smile || Twisted Wonderland

-°.*✧ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴏɴᴇ

        The principal looked at her as if he wasn't just a ghost, avoiding the wrath of the blue flames. "There you are, Miss..." he paused, and she could feel her heart leaping to her throat. The headmaster must've realized how severe his mistake was by her expression, but it was too long of a pause to excuse it as a simple mistake. "—ster Mochizuki." He really wasn't serious, was he? This seriously could not be fucking happening, could it? Then again, she recalled him messing up how to refer to her as last year as well, during the cultural festival.

        "Miss...ster?" The new person mumbled to himself, taking glances between her and Crowley. 

        The fire cat crossed his arms and frowned at the prolonged silence. "Why are you all so quiet all of a sudden?"

        Crowley cleared his throat loudly, bringing the attention back to him. "Anyway, as I was saying. I was looking for you earlier."

        "Were you...?" Her throat felt clogged, but she managed to force out some words anyway, though the quality of them was questionable at best. That was supposed to be her cue to forget what just happened and act normal, wasn't it? She meant—he moved on like it was nothing. Like he didn't just shatter the secrecy she spent a whole year maintaining behind all those carefully-crafted words and smiles with such a careless slip-up.

        Memories of Ruggie crossed her mind, and it was almost like being dragged back into that experience in the worst possible way. Instead of her partner, it was her own principal that revealed her. The numbing sensation, the dread that pooled in her stomach, the drumming of her heart that rang all too loudly in her ears. 

        But "you are to act as if nothing happened." It was those same words that were engraved in her thoughts, the same one that went through her head when she broke down in front of Crewel, the same one she had lived by for years. It was going to be fine. She could save the situation. She had to. So, within the short second or two, [Name] willed her expression into a practiced one. "Sorry, Mister Crowley, I was out for a bit. Who are they, though?" 

        The cat looked at her as if she was crazy, placing his paw on his fluffy chest. "Huh?! You've never heard of the Great Grim?!" Now that the cat— Grim wasn't running around like a frantic feline, [Name] could see details she didn't notice before, like his three-pronged tail (almost like a pitchfork), the black and white ribbon that tied around his neck. 

        "Please don't mind him," said the boy, whom she still didn't know his name, which caused Grim to grumble to himself and cross his arms. 

         Grim hadn't said much, but already, [Name] could tell he was certainly...a fun person (cat?), to put it nicely. "Well, this is Mister Yuu Hirano. I ran into him earlier tonight, and it would seem that he is in a similar situation as you, Mister Mochizuki." It would be helpful if he elaborated, which thankfully, he eventually did. "He woke up from one of the Gates, yet he does not belong here at all." 

        Her eyes darted back to Yuu. A person who shared an experience similar to her—someone who also didn't belong here at Night Raven College...she could hardly believe it. "Then, what will happen to him?"

        "You are a special exception, Mister Mochizuki, and you can at least use magic." Her fingers curled into a loose fist. Just how many times was Crowley going to bring up the fact that she was a 'special exception'? She got it the first few times, thank you very much. "I would've sent Mister Hirano back by now, especially because he's magicless." That was certainly news to her. Magicless? "But unfortunately, it would seem like he doesn't belong in Twisted Wonderland at all."