= Dawn of the Second Day - Wednesday, 8th December =
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"Jonah?!" Riddle stood up from his seat with eyes widened. Even Leona turned toward the approaching captain. Azul hid his smirk behind his hand. Vil and Lilia remained silent but were slightly confused by the situation. Meanwhile, Kalim and Idia were utterly out of the loop, not even understanding what was going on. Crowley watched the boy, slightly concern but had an understanding look, very easily connecting the dot. It appears that Mister Rosehearts has failed in last night's trial.
"What are you doing here?" Riddle tried again.
Jonah raised an eyebrow at him, trying to look as relaxed as possible. "Am I not welcome here?" he asked back. "I am a fellow prefect after all."
"That's true but-"
"Oya, Mister Riddle. You seem troubled." Azul stood from his seat, still smiling at the two boys. "Is there something wrong with Mister Argentum joining us?"
Riddle clenched his fist as he turned to glare at Azul. "Nothing that you wouldn't know, Azul."
"Oh my." The Octavinalle Prefect pushed his glasses up his nose. "Such hostility."
Leona rolled his eyes. "Oi. We're not here to watch your petty threesome." He turned toward the headmaster. "Just start the meeting."
Crowley didn't look offended or surprise for once from Leona's demand. "Right." He cleared his throat and turned his head toward Jonah. "We are glad for you to join us, Mister Argentum."
"The pleasure is mine, headmaster." Jonah nodded as he took a seat next to Riddle.
Riddle leaned closer to him. "I thought you're going to dive," he whispered.
Jonah was trying his best not to pout as he only looked at the headmaster talking but never really listening. He knew Azul was watching him and knew about his unfortunate situation. Surely he would find this amusing. "I was," he muttered. "But apparently I can't drink the potion."
"What?"
"You managed to finish it in one night?" Jonah stared at the vial filled with grey liquid. It didn't look pleasant to drink at all. Opening the cork and taking a sniff, Jonah nearly gagged at the horrid smell.
"Yep. We did a great job~!" Cater said with a thumb up. "Just one vial and we're off to be mermen."
Jonah huffed. If this liquid was their only chance to actually surviving underwater, he would take the risk. "Alright," he nodded, looking at Cater and Jack who just opened their vial. "Let's do this. On three. One. Two... Three."
The three of them gulped the potion at the same time. Jonah gagged, his hand flew to his mouth. The taste was HORRIBLE. He didn't know if he was just being a baby or his stomach really couldn't digest the drug.
"Jonah?!"
Jonah fell to his knees, pulling back his hand from his mouth just as he spilled the contents of his breakfast onto the floor.
"Hey, hey." He felt Jack's hand patting his back gently. "Are you okay?"
"I'm..." Jonah gagged again but didn't vomit this time. "Sorry."
"Are you not feeling well?" Jack asked again.
"I was fine earlier." He wiped his mouth with the sleeves of his shirt the turned to Jack. It was then he realized that Jack looked like he was out of breath, Behind him, Cater was clutching his chest a bit too harshly. "Are you fine?"
"It does taste bad," Cater panted. "But we're fine overall."
"Sorry, Jonah. We have to dive now." Jack stood up. "Our lung is adjusting to breathing underwater. Y-You should stay back for now."
"But-"
"Sorry. We have to go now." Cater added quickly. He reached for the Dark Mirror and chanted, " [Magic Mirror, obey me]. [Take us to the Coral Sea]."
The mirror rippled and the glass turned as blue as the ocean. The water swirled heavily like a vortex, pulling the water in the air surrounding them. Jonah watched as Cater and Jack's body slowly turned into a stream of water, being suck into the mirror, leaving their clothes and belongings on the ground. The mirror rippled once again once it had its target, leaving Jonah alone, clenching his fist, and slamming it to the ground in frustration.
"They just ditched me like that," Jonah grumbled. "I'm the one who is supposed to get the photo, but here I am, on the sideline, once again."
Riddle frowned at him. "I think we need some clarification with the headmaster about your condition," he said, wanting to reach for him for just a simple pat on the shoulder. "Because-"
"Prefect Rosehearts?"
Riddle pulled his hand back and turned toward the headmaster. "Yes?"
"Can you please share the current progress of the upcoming joint cultural festival?"
"Oh. Of course." Riddle cleared his throat and stoop up, carrying his document to the front of the prefects. "Everyone. Please look at the blackboard here." He picked up a chalk and started to write as he explained, "So far, we have planned to have some booths open for students who want to showcase their talents. Food and craft, possibly a live painting or indie movies if anyone wants to apply."
"Whoa~!" Kalim cheered. "They all sound exciting and fun!"
"The next item on the agenda is about the stage where we'll have the research presentation and speech contest," Riddle continued. "The plan is to set up three separate stages around the campus. The courtyard will be for the red stage, the gymnasium will be for the blue stage, while the largest- the coliseum will be for the purple stage. In particular, we plan for the Vocal & Dance Championship to be held in the purple stage since we're pretty sure that it will gain a lot of media attention."
He turned back facing the prefect once again. "Once we get the permission, we'll announce the application for the contest to all Night Raven College and then to the other school during Winter Break, while the Vocal & Dance Championship application will be announced once the second semester started. Any question so far?"
None of them responded so Riddle took this as a 'no'. "Alright. Next thing..."
Throughout the meeting, Azul kept looking watching the captain who just refused to look at him. His mind was filled with his plan to consult about his inability to drink that salacia potion (which Azul was also curious of where and when did Riddle brew it) and then waited for Cater Diamond and Jack Howl to return from the sea. Azul shook his head, amused. The captain played well so far, being ignorant of the other plan and sticking with the most obvious one, but even without the mind-reading Azul knew Jonah was curious about the backup plans and the frustration of not knowing.
Azul knew he was stalling the time for the rest of the team from getting the photo except Jonah himself. The trap he had laid on every corner except the path that Jonah took worked perfectly. He had found some smudges on the doodles he made when he checked it this morning, showing that someone was caught in there. Even without sending the twins there, he managed to stop their night ambush.
He had no doubt that the rest of the gang were planning something during the time of this prefect meeting. But he had been prepared.
He would never leave his lair unattended after all.
-----
"The meeting had started." Trey tucked his phone back into his pocket as he turned to Ace and Grim. Both of them were standing on the side of the Octavinelle dormitories and found out that there was a shortcut that would lead them closer to the boss' office. "This is our chance to infiltrate Mostro Lounge."
Ace bit his lip, holding his arms tight as he tapped his foot anxiously. "I'm kinda worried about Deuce, though," he muttered. "Floyd just pulled him aside when we arrived. I haven't seen him since then."
"Hey." Trey pat him on the shoulder and gave him a reassuring gaze. "We don't know whether Deuce is still at Octavinelle or not. But we'll try to find him after this mission, okay?"
Ace bit his lip again but eventually nodded. "Yeah. Let's get those contracts."
The three of them went through the hallway, trying to walk casually as possible to avoid any suspicious stare from the passing students. Eventually, they heard the jazzy tune behind the door at the end of the hallway. Trey opened the door, and surely enough, it led them to Mostro Lounge. And the door to the boss' office is just a few steps from where they are standing.
Grim was the first one to arrive at the door with a golden handle. Twisting it, he found out that he couldn't open it. "It's locked."
Trey reached for the handle and twisted it. There weren't any magical feels on it, so it was just manually locked. Taking out his magical pen, he tapped the handle as he chanted, "[Alohomora]."
The sound of a door unlocked was heard. Trey twisted the handle again. This time, he could open the door. The three of them quickly got into the office, closing the door gently behind them. Surely enough, the giant safe door Ace mentioned was spotted behind the desk. The three of them ran toward it. Trey caressed the wheel of the safe. He clicked his tongue. "This one has a barrier on the keyhole," he said, pulling his hand back. "Can't be open by unlocking charm."
"No worries," Ace said. "I got this." The ginger-haired boy shoved his hand into his pocket and took out a key. Ace inserted the key into the keyhole and gave a single twist. The sound of the safe turning and unlocking was heard.
"How did you get that key?!" Grim exclaimed. "Did you stole that from Azul?!"
"Nope." Ace grinned. "I used gemino charm to duplicate the real key when I got a hold on it for a few seconds."
"Step aside for a second there." Trey reached for the safe door and opened it once Ace and Grim were out of the way. The three of them gasped when they saw what was inside of it.
"Whoa..." Grim flew into the safe, examining the seemingly glowing golden contracts. "Look at all these papers..."
"Ah!" Ace pointed at the corner of the safe where a book was sticking out like a sore thumb between all the contracts. "That's the book Azul was doodling on." Ace reached for the book. "Let me just..."
"Let's try and see if we can destroy it, hurry~" Grim hummed as he reached for one of the contracts-
Screams erupted from the cat and boy's mouth as electricity coursed through their body. Ace and Grim's face scrunched up in pain and their body couldn't stop twitching. Once the sudden shock attack had stopped, the two of them collapsed to the floor, eyes closed, and still shuddering.
"ACE?! GRIM?!" Trey knelt next to the two of them, magical pen already prepared to heal them, but a familiar sinister chuckle stopped him because how could he be here-
"Oya? Was it really such a shock?"
Trey didn't get a chance to fully turn his head when he was hit by a spell, rendering him unconscious.
-----
Cater and Jack dove into the same spot, changing into their merform once again. "Hey, Jack," Cater called out to the sea urchin. "You know which way Riddle went yesterday?"
"The opposite of me. Why?"
"Just a thought," Cater shrugged swimming to the opposite side of the path they went to last night. "If the path from last night hasn't returned to normal, we'll be wasting our time if we go through there again." He turned back to Jack. "What if we try to take Riddle's path for now? Maybe we can reach the museum faster."
Jack hummed, tapping his chin as he thought about it. He nodded. "Okay. We'll do that."
Like what Cater had said, the path was surprisingly peaceful. No giant jellyfish, no toxic barracuda, no whirlpool that would take them back to the start, absolutely nothing. Jack would need to tell Trey and Riddle about the path for tomorrow.
"You know." Jack turned to Cater who was swimming lower, his back nearly touching the sand bellow, and his hands folded behind his head. "If things got better we should try this again. You don't get to swim this much back home."
Jack would have to agree with that. "Land of Pyroxene does have colder air than other places. My siblings love to play in the snow though."
"That must be fun... Having a sibling who loves you dearly..." Cater hummed, but his smile didn't look happy. It was almost... Melancholic.
"What about you?"
"My sisters are rather annoying." The older boy shrugged again. "Being the only son comes with great responsibility. I barely had time for myself back home." He stretched his muscle and faked a yawn. "So many chores..." He sighed. "I'm just glad I only meet them during the winter holiday."
Jack frowned. "You don't have a good relationship with them?"
Cater once again just shrugged. "Can't really do anything about that..."
The swim was silent once again. A few minutes later, Jack recognized the place. This was where he saw Riddle and Jonah got cornered by the Leech Twins. They were so close. Just a few meters to go-
A long shadow swam passed them-
Jack grabbed Cater's upper arm, stopping him as his eyes darted in every direction. "Wait."
"Ahahahahahaha!" The annoying laughed was heard behind them and the two mermen turned around. Floyd Leech floated there with his usual goofy smile. "Welcome back, Sea Urchin!"
Jack growled. "Floyd!"
"Eh~ You brought Snapper with you!" He laughed. "How fun~ I brought a friend with me too~" He wiggled his index finger as if he was calling someone from behind the rock. "Come on here, Mackerel!"
They heard a familiar grunt and a figure emerged. The merman was bluish-grey with darker stripes on his backside from neck to the tip of his tail. He had downward ear-fins, a pair on his elbows, and a pair on his hips. What made him very recognizable was the large black patch shaped like a spade on his left eye.
"Deuce?!" Cater exclaimed. What was he doing here?
"Wait." Jack's eyes darted around once again, unable to find something... Or someone. He focused back on Floyd. "Where is your brother?"
"You really think that only because we are twins we would always stick together?" Floyd laughed, hands on his stomach. "You guys are so dumb!" Floyd swam around Deuce and the poor mackerel held himself closer so he wouldn't get touched by the eel. "Hey, hey. Let's play then~" Floyd stopped behind Deuce and grabbed the boy's anemone, giving it a light tug but still managed to made him winched. "Oi Mackarel. You know what will happen if you don't take this seriously."
Deuce curled his fist, trembling. "Damn it."
"Deuce, no!" Cater tried as Jack swam in front of him to protect him.
"I'm really sorry about this," Deuce said as he took off. For a first-timer, Deuce was surprisingly fast and agile underwater, launching toward Cater and Jack like a torpedo. Jack and Cater barely managed to avoid him by swimming away. Floyd laughed, spinning his magical pen in his hand. "I'll squeeze your necks one at a time, okay~?"
Jack growled at the eel. "Senior, get ready!"
"Argh! Fine!" Cater whined, taking his magical pen that he tucked behind his ear.
And thus the game of tag had begun again.