A/N:
Sorry this took so long to get out, I couldn't figure out how to proceed with this chapter and then my birthday happened a bit ago, so I was just dying inside cause tests are next week. Thank you so much for reading this and thanks for the comments! I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see you in the next one!
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Later that day, the pair sharing a single student status arrived at the nurse's office. Grim and Yuu, after about half an hour of begging nurse Mamani, Yuu finally decided to try her luck at bargaining with the very purple nurse.
"Please, sir?"
"No. The patient needs rest."
"... I'll get you a hot mocha latte with one cinnamon pump?"
"...Fine."
Surprisingly, the nurse had accepted, allowing Yuu and Grim to slink into the room, where one student lay, his friend sitting beside the bed.
"Hello, how are you doing?" Yuu stated politely, just before Grim decided to butt in recklessly, scrambling over to the bed.
The boy in the bed sat up slowly, a bit disoriented. "Huh?" He asked, his eyes meeting Yuu's.
"All right, where's this guy who hurt his ankle." He said, standing upright as he examined the two, unable to see over the edge very well. Yuu rolled her eyes as she lifted the cat into her arms.
"You're a very blunt one, aren't ya, Grim?" She said, placing Grim onto a chair.
The boy who was sitting next to his injured friend suddenly seemed to recognize the pair, his eyes widening in recognition, not exactly recalling their names.
"Hey, it's the ones from Ramshackle House! They were at the unbirthday party! What are you guys doing here?"
Yuu opened her mouth to respond when she heard a proud chuckle from Grim. "Get a load o' that! We're totally famous!"
Yeah, we're famous for causing trouble, Grim.
"Well, we were given a job from the headmage which involves incidents like the one that happened to you. So, if it's alright, we'd like to ask about your accident."
"I wish I knew what happened myself, man." The injured student shook his head. "I was walking along, talking to my friend. And next thing I knew, BOOM! I was tumbling down the stairs."
Yuu nodded, taking the notes as Grim nodded along.
"Yeah. I didn't even see him stumbling or anything." The second student recalled as his injured friend nodded vigorously.
"Right! It was like my body just lurched forward by itself. I can't really explain it." He said, looking bitterly toward his ankle.
Yuu looked at him, a strong feeling of fear and concern rooting itself deeply in her heart as she wrote something down.
Incident was sudden, nothing was building up to it.
"Hm. Hmmm. Interesting. Veeery interesting." Grim said, sharing a nod with Yuu, who'd basically confirmed that she'd written it down.
Yuu watched as Grim scrambled away and she nodded at the two. "Thank you both very much for your cooperation. We'll do our best to find out what happened." She said politely, the students exchanging thanks and goodbyes as she left.
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The end of the day rolled around rapidly and Yuu had not yet gotten the chance to eat, having had her own food scarfed down by the gremlin of a cat monster. Currently, she was sharply turning corners, chasing Grim into another classroom.
"Grim, you-"
"Hey, you. You had an accident and almost got hurt real bad, right? Give us the deets."Grim said, making Yuu scream internally at how blunt the cat could be.
Yuu, who had been chasing him since her information was relayed to him just as class ended, was far too late to stop Grim as he approached a poor guy with both his hands wrapped in thick bandages.
"And why should I answer to you, exactly?" The boy said, wrinkling his nose distastefully at Grim, as if a mouse had just approached him. Yuu felt her "mama's instinct" kick in as she placed herself in front of Grim.
"I apologize for him, he got away from me." She said awkwardly, picking up Grim as he squirmed to get out of her grip.
"Lemme go, Yuu! I gotta find out!"
One of the boys nearby had heard the question as he spoke up, speaking in a posh tone, exuding an air of feigned superiority. "He was in peak condition for the Spelldrive tournament and got hurt so bad that he can't even play now!"
"And you're here to...what, rub salt in my wound?" The hurt boy scoffed. "We throw down the gauntlet! Duel us!"
Yuu stared in exasperation before groaning loudly. "Why is everyone here so damn aggressive?!"
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.
Yuu supposed that she was lucky that the boy was too injured to fight properly, seeing as he immediately froze when he saw Grim blow a sudden jet of fire in his direction, and he'd also seemed to freeze when he'd noticed someone behind Yuu.
"You're better than I thought. All right, then. I'll give you the skinny." He said with a huff, his body language was no longer as aggressive.
"It happened in the laboratory." His companion spoke up. "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."
The injured boy looked at his friend in equal parts annoyance and betrayal. "Oh, so YOU'RE gonna do all the talking?"
Grim nodded at Yuu who wrote down the note.
Injured or others state that a momentary loss of control happened, always sudden.
She put her pen away before giving the boys a polite bow and spoke. "Hope you feel better soon."
The fancy boys scoffed, turning away from her, making her sigh.
"Alright then? With the notes I have down, why don't we head back to the dorm for now-!" She turned around, expecting to be speaking with Grim before jumping back slightly as she came face-to chest with the familiar eccentric blonde huntsman.
"Madame Trickster! I have come bearing gifts!" He smiled, placing a bag into her hand. "I wish you luck in returning to your dorm and I pray to see you tomorrow!"
The encounter left Yuu disoriented and quite a bit lost as she lingered for a moment longer before finally registering the scent of the contents of the bag. She opened it, smiling as she noticed the tart and seasoned scent of pasta with marinara sauce.
She lifted her hand up to her face before calling out. "Thank you Rook!"
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The next morning, Yuu had to literally lock Grim in the tuna cupboard in order for her to be able to actually eat as she was starving. Once she'd eaten her fill, she offered the rest to Grim, who happily scarfed the food down as she went over the notes.
"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 said between bites, Yuu rolling her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak, keeping her hand over her growing baby as a form of comforting the unborn child from any stress.
"But there is a suspicious link in the sequence of things." She said as a knock echoed in the dorm's empty halls.
"Huh? Whozzat?" Grim said, looking up from his pasta bowl, sauce staining the fur around his mouth.
Yuu rolled her eyes, placing a napkin in Grim's paws before she'd as she stood, her (better fitting) shirt revealing her slowly swelling stomach.
She carefully unlocked the door, opening it to reveal her first year ginger-haired friend.
"Mornin'." Ace greeted, quickly taking notice of a busy Grim who was shoving the remaining meatball into his mouth. "Guess you're feeling better now, huh, Grim?" Ace teased Grim.
Grim quickly chewed before swallowing. "Oh, it's you. We're kinda busy right now. No time for kid stuff. Scram."
Yuu sighed as Ace looked confused momentarily.
"Busy? What, you got a lot of homework?"
"Nope." Yuu said. "You might want to sit down so I can tell ya, though."
Ace rolled his eyes before placing himself on the sofa and Yuu began to explain how there were a string of incidents and how the Headmage had threatened, requested the two to investigate the issues.
"Injuries from suspicious accidents, huh?" Ace muttered, thinking for a moment.
"But nothin' we heard sounded all that suspicious." Grim hissed, completely ignoring the fact that it appeared to be more sudden than any accidents. "It seemed like they were all just excited about the tournament, got distracted, and hurt themselves somehow."
Yuu sighed. "There's a bit of correlation that raises some concerns, in my opinion." Yuu stated, opening her mouth to name those, however was interrupted by a very distressed Deuce, who burst through the door, his eyes wild.
Yuu stood up, walking over to him, concerned as he gasped for breath. "... Deuce? What's wrong?" She asked.
"Ace! We got a big problem!" He cried as he regained his breath.
"Dial it down, Loosey-Deucey." Ace stated, worry also seeded in his expression, masked with teasing. "What is it?"
"Trey fell down the stairs! He's hurt!"
Yuu's eyes widened as the group unanimously cried out, "WHAT?!"
"He's the sneaky one with the glasses, yeah?" Grim asked as Yuu nodded.
"Hard to believe he got 'distracted' too." Her heart recognized that her conclusion was very likely correct in foul play being involved.
"Yeah, Trey wouldn't just trip and eat dirt." Ace agreed, as he and Deuce grabbed her hand, not allowing for the young pregnant woman to grab a jacket.
"Let's go see what he's got to say!" Grim agreed, shooting out of the door with the three rushing behind him.
While in such a rush, Yuu and the others ran past a familiar, Youthful looking man, his red eyes widening in surprise before he smiled warmly.
"It appears I was correct about you, little Prefect."