Episode 16: Investigation Team
Pomefiore Dorm - Lounge
The group sneaked into the pomefiore dorm lounge and began looking around to find a specific person. "Let's start here, at Pomefiore. There's a junior named Rook Hunt who's caught my eye. He has a blond bob cut and a fedora, you can't miss him." Cater said as the others nodded and started searching.
"Rook is an exceptional player. He performed extremely well in last year's tournament. But he is a bit of an...odd duck, one might say."
Deuce's gaze landed on a person who fit Cater's description perfectly. He was seated at the sofa along with two other people; the housewarden and the feminine-looking boy they saw at the cafeteria a while ago.
"Oh, is that him sitting over there?" Deuce pointed towards the person.
Mirana and Ace almost went blind upon the male's appearance, he was sparkling and overall attractive which made the two slightly squint their eyes at him.
"Whoa. That dude's like a glitter bomb in human form. He's basically sparkling!" Ace exclaimed followed by a nod from the girl.
"Non, Epel, non. When you lift your teacup, do not insert your finger through the handle. It is most inélégant." Rook slightly scolded the person beside him.
"Oh... Right. I'm sorry."
"I just cannot decide how I want to do my makeup on tournament day! I'm thinking maybe that new foundation from Felicity Cosmetics?" The other blond male questioned.
"Oh ho ho! Mon belle Vil, the Roi du Poison... Surely your beauté is not so faint that you need makeup to shine?"
"Of course I don't. But I don't dare miss an opportunity to accentuate it further!"
"I admire that passion. Magnifique! Très magnifique!" Rook happily beamed as he clapped his hands.
After witnessing that event, Grim was unsure if that person was really going to be the victim of the current accidents. "Uhhhhh... And you're sayin' this guy is some kinda incredible athlete? Somehow, I doubt he's gonna be the target."
"Yeaaah, maybe we should peace out and move on." Cater sweatdropped and the group soon left to go to the next people.
Courtyard
"Next on Cay-Cay's big list of potential targets are Jade Leech and his twin brother Floyd. They're both sophomores at Octavinelle House. Word is, they work so well together on the field that other teams don't know how to counter them." Cater informed.
"Whoa! They have, like, the exact same face!" Grim exclaimed.
"Uh, because they're twins..?" Mirana deadpanned as she glanced over at the cat.
"Is it just me, or do they make all the other students look tiny in comparison? They're giants!"
"I could see that being a big advantage for them." Enma said.
"So what do we think? Could they be in danger?"
"I don't know about that. If I were the culprit, I'd save them for last. Just look at those two. I wouldn't want to get anywhere near them, especially Floyd." Riddle shook his head and grimaced at the said twin.
"Oh ho ho! What is up, Lil' Goldfishie?"
Riddle jumped a bit and slowly looked up to see a smiling Floyd who was basically towering over his small figure. "Bwah! He spotted us!"
"What brings you to our humble abode, huh? Playing hide-and-seek? Sounds like fun." He smiled as Riddle only backed away.
"F-Floyd... I've asked you several times to stop calling me by strange nicknames." Riddle scolded.
"But you're so small and red! How are you NOT a goldfish?" He teased.
"This guy seems like he's a few cans short of a tuna casserole."
"A talking cat? Now THAT'S something you don't see every day! Can I squeeze you 'til you pop?" Floyd stepped closer to Grim with a grin.
"Uh, no?! Stay away from me, weirdo!" Grim exclaimed and quickly ran away and jumped onto Mirana's arms for protection.
"Oya, what might a lost little fish be doing here?"
Mirana turned around and was met with the other twin, Jade. "A-ah, hello there..." she nervously spoke as she felt slightly intimidated by his cold gaze.
"What a surprise to find a female in a school such as this."
"What? A girl? Hey, can I squeeze you? I wanna squeeze you hehe~" Floyd smiled as he turned to the girl and quickly ran to hug, or maybe squeeze her.
Before Mirana could avoid him, floyd caught her and lifted her up in a tight hug (squeeze), luckily Grim had escaped quickly or he would have been crushed to death.
"Mira-chan!" Cater exclaimed.
"Let her go, man!" Ace yelled with a frown.
"Hey! Could you please let go!" Mirana struggled and began vigorously kicking her legs randomly in attempts to escape but the twin didn't seem to want to let go.
"Hehe, you're so tiny and red like goldfishie~" Floyd beamed.
"Floyd! Let her go this instant!" Riddle yelled angrily.
"Why so angry? You want a hug aswell little goldfishie?"
"Floyd. Let her go." Jade sternly spoke but Floyd remained unbothered and ignored his twin's demand.
Mirana quickly headbutted Floyd using the back of her head which made the other immediately let her go as he placed a hand on his face and winced in pain.
"Oww! What was that for?!"
"I'm sorry if that hurt, but please refrain from invading my personal space and touching me without permission ever again." She stated with a frown and crossed arms.
"Are you okay Mirana? I swear, it's going to be off with Floyd's head!" Riddle exclaimed, shooting a glare at the twin.
"I'm fine." She gave him a reassuring smile.
Before Riddle could start scolding and yelling at Floyd, Jade cut him off.
"What are the Heartslabyul people and doing here, if I may ask? Here to assess the competition in advance of the Spelldrive tournament, perhaps?" Jade questioned in a rather scary tone.
"Nah. We...can't really go into it, though." Cater timidly replied as he looked away from Jade's cold stare.
"We take a dim view of spying at Octavinelle. I would ask you to justify your actions, suspicious as they are. And please, spare no detail."
"This guy sure talks fancy, but man, his eyes are stone cold." Grim said as he felt shivers down his spine.
"Man, would you look at the time? Gotta run, guys! It's been real great meeting you! Byeee!" Cater signalled for the group to run away and they did as told.
The twins soon ran after them which alerted the group.
"Shoot! They're chasing us!" Enma panicked.
"Hey, could ya stop, friends? Just for a second? We just wanna chat!" Floyd called out.
"Absolutely not! I have a feeling you're going to lay your hands on Mirana again!" Riddle annoyedly replied.
The group soon outran the twins and quickly went to their next destination.
"Aww... they're gone." Floyd pouted sadly.
"Heh heh. I do so enjoy a brisk midday jog.
Alas, we'll have to pick this up another time." Jade replied.
As soon as the group was out of sight, Floyd turned to his brother. "Hey, Jade. The little koi from earlier..."
"Yes, Floyd. She was the one Azul had told us about, what luck we had to meet her earlier than expected." He grinned mischeviously. "We'll continue this topic later. Come. We need to prepare the lounge for tonight"
Floyd sighed at the though of having to work again but agreed nonetheless. "Bummer. But all right."
Main Street
"That was terrifying. What is the deal with those guys?!" Grim said while panting.
"I'm not the one to ask. Those two have baffled me since we were freshmen together."
"Messing with them seems like a reeeal bad idea." Cater sweatdropped.
'If I were the culprit, I know I'd steer clear." Ace added.
"Then it's off to the next name on my list! It's getting late, so let's make this the last one for today, 'kay? It's Jack Howl; freshman, Savanaclaw Dorm. Rumor has it that he's a great athlete. Scouts from all the major teams are fighting to sign him." Cater informed before returning his phone in his pocket.
"Classes are over, so he should be at his dorm."
"Oh, is it 5:00 already? Rule 346 says that "Croquet must not be played after 5:00 p.m." I should head back to Heartslabyul and make sure that no one is breaking the rules in my absence." Riddle said to which Grim crossed his arms.
"Tch. I thought you'd rounded out some, but nope, you're as square as ever."
"Th-that's not true! I assure you that I've become much more lenient about enforcing the rules." He remarked.
"He really has. He's way nicer than before. And we all appreciate that diligence. So go do what you gotta do, Boss!" The orange-haired senior said with an eye-closed smile.
Riddle waved goodbye to the others and soon left to return to heartslabyul.
"Then I guess the rest of us are headed to Savanaclaw."
𝕋𝕠 𝕓𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕦𝕖𝕕...
(Random fun fact 1: Mirana's hair was supposed to be long and fully white but I changed it because I didn't like how she looked.
Random fun fact 2: Floyd calls Mirana "Koi" because she reminds him of the red and white kois.)