(I'm finally back after more than a week of inactivity, I'm sorry if this part took so long to upload I just had some personal problems that I attended to. But our exams are finally over and it's the start of our vacation, I can't guarantee that I'll be uploading daily but I'll try to upload frquently if my laziness allows.❤)
Episode 15: Dangerous Accidents
"All right, where should we start?" Grim asked.
"We should go to the nurse's office first and question the students." Mirana suggested, earning nods of agreement from the others.
Nurse's Office
"Okay so where's this guy who hurt his ankle." Grim looked around the room to find the said person.
"Huh?"
"Hey, it's the ones from Ramshackle! They were at the unbirthday party! What are you guys doing here?" A heartslabyul student called out as the group went towards the two.
"Get a load of that! We're totally famous!" Grim beamed.
The student's gaze landed on Mirana and he stiffened at her prescence.
"I-it's the housewarden's sister! H-hello!" The two quickly bowed, the other stuttering as he spoke.
The girl raised a brow at his statement, how exactly did he know she and Riddle were related? Probably because of someone overhearing their conversation that day, that or someone told him.
Mirana waved her hand as a greeting and gestured for them to stop bowing. "No need for the formal greetings senpais, I'm younger than both of you after all."
"U-uhm...are you here to scold me? If so, then I apologize! There were no herbal teas available so I drank green tea last night!" The student on the bed apologized.
"I see..." Mirana trailed off, earning nervous looks from everyone especially the two heartslabyul students.
"Rest assured, I'm not here for that. But do be careful not to do it again when the housewarden is present."
The student let out a sigh of relief along with the others.
"Actually, we'd like to ask about your accident." Enma spoke up.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Deuce asked.
The male turned to him and shrugged. "I wish I knew what happened myself, man."
"Stairway patrol, we'll ask the questions."
"Uh, that's kind of a weird job, but okay." The other heartslabyul student sweatdropped.
"I don't really know what happened myself. I was walking along, talking to my friend. And next thing I knew, BOOM! I was tumbling down the stairs."
"Yeah. I didn't even see him stumbling or anything." His friend added.
"It was like my body just lurched forward by itself. I can't really explain it."
"Could this be thd doing of someone's unique magic?" Ace questioned.
"We need more evidence to confirm that."
"Well, thank you for your cooperation." Enma said, bowing slightly before turning to the four.
"Let's go interview the next victim."
Classroom
The group made their way towards the classroom where one of the injured students rested in.
"Hey, you. You had an accident and almost got hurt real bad, right? Give us the deets." Grim said as ran up towards the pomefiore student, the four soon catching up.
"And why should I answer to you, exactly?" The student asked suspectingly.
"It happened in the laboratory. We were boiling up a potion when his hands suddenly shot out and grabbed the screaming hot cauldron. He dumped out every last drop. It was bizarre! Made a real mess too. He was in peak condition for the magift tournament, but got hurt so bad that he can't even play now!" The other answered earning him a glare from the injured student.
He then turned to the group and gave them an unamused look. "And you're here to...what, rub salt in my wound?" He scoffed.
"Please don't think that way, we're simply here to investigate the current accidents." Mirana replied.
"Well, thank you for anwering us. Hope you feel better soon."
"All right let's head back to the dorm for now."
Ramshackle Dorm - Lounge
"I dunno, this just looks like a bunch of absent-minded kids hurtin' themselves to me. If there's a scandal here. I ain't seein' it!" Grim shrugged as he went to sit on the couch along with the others.
A ringing sound caught the attention of everyone, it turned out to be Mirana's phone. She picked up her device and pressed answer on the call.
"Hello Cater-senpai, did you need anything?"
Quickly, the girl's face held a shocked expression indicating that something may have happened. "U-understood, we'll be there right away." She hung up and immediately stood up.
"Trey-senpai fell down the stairs and got hurt, we need to go back." She said to the four.
"What?!" Grim and Ace both yelled insync.
"Myah! He's the sneaky one with the glasses, yeah?"
"He never struck me as being absent-minded. Hard to believe he got "distracted" too."
"Yeah, Trey wouldn't just trip and eat dirt." Ace added.
"Let's go see what he's got to say!"
Heartslabyul Dorm - Trey's room
Trey laid on his bed and rested while Cater watched over him. The door opened revealing Mirana and the others with worry written all over their faces. The group walked over to the resting senior as they greeted him
"Cater-senpai and Trey-senpai, we're here." Mirana said as she smiled at the two.
"Yo, man, how's it going?" Ace asked.
"How are you feeling, Trey?"
Trey tried to sit up but was stopped and gently pushed back down by Cater who shook his head, indicating that sitting up may make his injury worse.
"How do you feel, Trey? And how'd you get hurt?"
'Slipped on the stairs. I couldn't catch myself, and my ankle got all messed up. I'll be on crutches for a while." He quietly chuckled.
"Yikes. That sounds pretty bad!"
"Yep. Looks like I'll be warming the bench at the Spelldrive tournament this year." Trey said as he let out a sigh.
"Myah... I was hopin' your injury would be small enough for me to justify keepin' this, but... Here. I brought ya a get-well can of tuna. Feel better, specs."
Grim placed a can of tuna on the nightstand beside the bed which made the green-haired senior smile at him. "Heh. Thanks."
"Ugh, hashtag fail! Now that we've lost a power player, we have to redo our team roster!" Cater slumped down as he quietly groaned.
"Wait, what?!"
"Why are there so many people in here? Trey is supposed to be resting!" A voice from the room entrance interrupted.
Riddle walked in the room and ctossed his arms at the group.
"Myah! It's Ragin' Riddle!"
"I am not "raging." I will be perfectly pleasant if you obey the rules!" He remarked at the cat before turning to Trey with a worried expression. "How are you doing, Trey? Can I bring you anything to eat or drink?"
"I told you, Riddle, you don't need to fuss over me like this."
"But it's my fault that you got hurt." He said guiltily.
Ace, Enma and Grim widened their eyes at the boy's statement.
"What? He didn't tell us that part!" Ace exclaimed.
Riddle let out a sigh before turning to them and started explaining the whole story. "I needed to talk to him, so I went to the junior classroom at lunch. And then..."
Stairway
Riddle and Trey were both walking as they talked. Both stopped in their tracks infront of the stairs as Riddle spoke, "I'm going to be late today, so go ahead and start practice without me."
"Sure, will do." Trey nodded at the other.
"All right, I'll see you-" Riddle turned to the stairs and was about to walk down but he suddenly slipped. "Wh-whoooa!"
"Riddle, look out!" Trey quickly grabbed his hand and took the fall instead.
Heartslabyul Dorm - Trey's Room
"Trey never would have slipped if he hadn't caught me when I was about to tumble over." Riddle said while he lowered his head.
"Yeah, but if I hadn't, you would have just broken your fall with a flight spell. It was stupid of me to intervene. So you don't owe me anything." Trey reassured him.
"Still, I..." Riddle trailed off.
"Hey Mira, do you think..?" Ace whispered to the girl beside him earning a nod from her.
"Agreed, this may not have been an accident. This is all starting to sound more and more suspicious." Mirana replied with a hand on her chin in a thinking manner.
"Riddle, come on! It's not gonna do anyone any good to have you harshing the vibe here. It's lame that Trey got hurt, but you'll rock the field that much harder to make up for him, right?" Cater said, trying to lighten up the housewarden.
"Well, I suppose that's true."
Cater shot him a smile before clapping his hands to get the attention of the others. "All right, peeps, we should let Trey get his rest. Out, out, out!"
Heartslabyul Dorm - Lounge
"All right, Cater. Was there something you didn't want to tell me in front of Trey?"
"You're always a step ahead of me, Riddle. I get the feeling Mira-chan and friends know something about it. Want to fill us in?"
Cater and Riddle looked at the girl with questioning looks, indicating for her to tell them what was one her mind.
"Alright, so..."
Mirana, along with the others, started explaining the situation. From the task Crowley gave them to the suspicious accidents happening lately.
"Ah... So the headmaster asked you to investigate."
"I knew it. Grim coming by for a get-well visit? That's just plain sus." Cater said as he raised a brow at the said creature.
"I must admit that I found the circumstances odd as well. I've had Cater looking into it for me." Riddle added as he signalled Cater to tell them what information he got.
"I found out that all of the victims have been talented players like Riddle and Trey."
"To be clear, it wasn't as if I had been pushed, or that I had tripped. But I did feel a peculiar sensation, like...my body was moving of its own volition."
Mirana grew more suspicious upon hearing his statement. A high chance that this was really the doing of someone's unique magic, she suddenly remembered what happened back at the cafeteria as she narrowed her eyes slightly.
"The other victims said basically the same thing!" Grim said in shock.
"I believe we can safely surmise that potential Magift tournament players are being targeted."
"You think someone is causin' accidents to take out threats from the tournament?" Ace asked curiously.
"The whole world will be watching. A good performance can make a player's whole career. It's no surprise that some would resort to underhanded methods to even the odds."
"Sure, but it doesn't make much sense. I mean, you'd know if you got pushed off the stairs by a gust of wind magic or somethin', right?" Grim shrugged.
"Certainly. I felt no external force."
"And some of the other victims had accidents in the classroom! How do you explain that?"
"Actually..." Mirana trailed off, earning the attention of everyone.
"A similar situation happened earlier at the cafeteria, when Grim traded his food. It seemed like he never intended to trade in the first place but his arm just moved on it's own."
"You're right, at first I though it was just him being kind, but it's Grim we're talking about here." Enma added earning an offended look from Grim.
"The culprit can tell us all about it when we capture him. And we intend to help you do that." Riddle said.
"Myah? YOU'RE gonna help us? What's your angle?"
"You offend us, sir. One of our housemates was injured, why wouldn't we help him find justice?"
"We're all house-buds here. Count us in." Ace said with determination.
"He's gonna pay for what he did to Trey!"
"You two seem awfully enthusiastic about this."
"Ahhh... I get it. You're running for that open spot on our team, aren't you?"
Both males sweatdropped as they were caught.
"Heh. Was it that obvious?" Ace chuckled nervously.
"N-no! That had nothing to do with it! I just want to avenge our housemate!"
"Fine... Your performance during the investigation will be taken into account." Riddle sighed.
"Woo-hoo!" They beamed in excitedness.
"Now, if we're going to apprehend this culprit, we need to stay a step ahead of him."
"And we're gonna do that HOW, exactly...?"
"By predicting which student will be targeted next and covertly following him. Should the culprit strike, we will protect the target and then immediately pursue the attacker."
"A stakeout, then. Let's do it. But how do we know who will be targeted next?"
"I've got this, Enma-kun. I've already identified a number of potential targets from among the most promising players. I'll form a group on Magicam so we can coordinate our efforts and then give you access to the album."
Cater asked for everyone's magicam account and added them into a groupchat where they would share infromation and other findings.
"Whoa, Cater, this is a ton of information!" Deuce excalaimed as he saw the amount of infromation his senior had.
"Now, let's move!"
"Let's nail this creep!"
𝕋𝕠 𝕓𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕦𝕖𝕕...