"I'm surprised no one has called you Gucci Bucchi yet."
It was currently lunchtime, almost everyone's favourite time of the school day not taking into account of loopholes such as going back to their dorm is a time of day. Mira, who had lined up in order to buy karaage chicken and her hair tied up to see a lot more clearly, folded her arms as she stood beside her friend, uh, sorry, mother. Ruggie was appointed to buy the deluxe menchi katsu sandwich for the one-and-only Leona Kingscholar.
He returned her statement with a look of disgust. "Gucci and Bucchi are antonyms. Ever since your fever is gone, you've been a lot weirder lately — and it's been days."
Looking up to his height, she gave a wistful smile. She knew she had gotten a bit loose when it came to her emotions lately, but perhaps it was because she had a good sleep after her fever that made her gain back all her mischievous childhood excitement. "Huh? You're saying me being enthusiastic is a bad thing? Should I stay quiet? Do you want my sociopathic attitude to become worse?"
No. It wasn't her who was being weird lately. In fact, it was Ruggie himself who started to see his friend in a different way. From time to time, he would notice the smallest details whenever he saw her in the hallway walking to class, talking to other people, ordering food from the canteen, or even seeing her out in the field struggling to use her broom. He would either laugh and mock her, slightly find his tail weirdly swish from side-to-side when Jade got too close to her or even finding himself thinking about how well she was doing during class time.
"Gweh!? Now that you interrupted me, the last deluxe menchi katsu sandwich was taken!" He changed the subject as he stared at the front, hearing the ghost taking care of the sales call out the end of the sale. She glared at his ability to see all the way to the front — her height definitely not helping her know when her order would somehow go out of stock before she made it to the line.
Mira placed her hands on her hips before sighing in simple directness. "That's just because you've been awkwardly quiet y'know? Is Leona going to kill you if you order something else with that horrifyingly expensive wallet of his?"
"Of course he would!"
"Then," she smirked before tapping her finger on her forehead to indicate her unique magic. "Allow me to play dirty. Velvet Heartbeat~!" Right as she activated her unique magic, he felt some sort of wave pick up from the floor despite the number of people standing around them. He wondered if that was because of her unique magic, staring at her amber eyes as she managed to get a lead.
She turned to him and stared at him for a single second, his eyes blinking in confusion. Before he knew it, he felt her tug on his blazer sleeve, then whisking her body around and pulled him with her. "Within approximately 5 metres in radius, 127 degrees, 19 minutes and 23.12 seconds north-west, there is a student who just received their deluxe menchi katsu sandwich. You know where I'm leading to, right?"
Ruggie stood there, stunned at her true power and a smile that looked like a loaded gun before returning the same mischievous grin. "I was not expecting you to play dirty this bad — your unique magic is pretty useful."
She gave a look that she called 'don't-state-the-obvious' before she stopped her tracks, causing her friend to bump into her from behind. "Hm? How unlucky, Grim is the chosen one. Meh, I can always give him some canned tuna — he's been eating away my fridge for ages now. Alrighty, you approach them and act all normal before using your unique magic to swap out the food using that mini bean paste bread that you got there." As they walked closer, her eyes locked with Yuu's along with other people in her group.
Ruggie's smile then faded into a more unsure one as he approached them, Mira pushing his back towards the victim-to-be and keeping in mind that he was doing it for his own safety. He couldn't imagine how Leona would think of him if he didn't manage to complete such a task — and Mira was helping him. He decided to try his best as he stood in front of Grim. "Oh, hey you. That's pretty great. You got your hands on a deluxe menchi katsu sandwich, huh."
Mira mentally gave him a thumbs up.
You're doing amazing, sweetie—!
Grim frowned before facing him. "Huh? What's it to you?"
"Well you see, I have to get that sandwich no matter what but they sold out in front of me (because Amir-kun started bombarding me with rhetorical questions). So I have a proposition...could you trade that deluxe menchi katsu sandwich for this mini bean paste bread?" He suggested with a cheeky smile on his lips as he gestured his arms in self-pity. They both knew it wasn't a fair trade — yet with his unique magic could it actually work out.
"Huh!? No way in Hell!"
"Now, now, don't say that...here you go~"
Grim widened his eyes as he found himself drifting closer to Ruggie when the latter had stretched his arms out, then placing his food as a trade for the bread. " Ffna!? What's going on—!? My arms and legs are moving on their own..."
Mira jumped as Yuu, who was beside her the entire time, exclaimed in utter surprise. "With Grim actually trading his sandwich for that mini bread, I think pigs are going to start flying tomorrow..."
"C'mon, Yuu, we can actually make pigs fly — just with magic." Mira returned Yuu's small comment with an innocent chuckle despite being one of the masterminds of the problem that unfolded in front of them. Her head then whipped to the Savanaclaw vice dorm leader. "Since the trading is complete, you should probably run before Leona wakes up, don't you think?"
"You're not going with?"
"He did say that he would deal with me if he ever saw me again," she sighed in fake sadness before patting his back. "C'mon, get going." With a wave, he dismissed himself from the cafeteria in order to go to the botanic garden where the lion took rest. Mira, who decided to stay with Yuu for a bit in order to feast upon Grim's depressed demeanour, did not regret her decision. Watching him munch on his food, all she heard were cries of dejection and the consulting of the prefect.
"Look at him say that after wafting all three of them," came another voice. Mira perked her head as she licked her lips from the karaage chicken that she had recently bought. Her mind retraced back to when she used her unique magic in order to track him down after running away from cleaning 100 windows. He then noticed her gaze as he stared at her with his crimson red orbs. "Hm? You're the one who lives in the same dorm as the Prefect?"
"And also an upperclassman of yours," she answered, uninterested as she had already received all the information about him. Of course, she had met him a few times when the duo Heartslabyul members hung out in their lounge, Ace a bit more because he took shelter after getting 'off with his head'-ed by Riddle right before the original set date of the Unbirthday party. He gave her a look of suspicion before turning to meet Deuce, who was asking why Grim had exchange for the food if he would just end up crying and sulking.
"Then what was that earlier? If you're going to complain this much then you shouldn't have traded in the first place."
"That's not it!" Grim declined as he waved his arm in anger, placing them to his hips. "When that guy stuck his arms out my body moved the same way...then when I realise it, the trade was over."
Ace brought his hand to the back of his head. "Oh I see, you kinda just went along with it. That happens sometimes."
Pwaha—! They seriously don't believe Grim at all.
Mira turned her head from them to cover her mouth from laughing or causing any sort of misleading details in order to not get them to feel a lot more clueless. Realising that she had finished her lunch, she waved her magical pen as it drifted to the recycling bin to where the paper container zoomed inside with ease. Ace and Deuce caught their eyes on her jewel embedded on the pen, though, and broke into a surprising fit like fangirls.
"Woah! Senpai, you're from Diasomnia!?"
"To think a Diasomnia member would be with us right now..."
Mira lifted a brow as a thin line pursed on her lips -- giving them confused facial expressions. "Are members of Diasomnia meant to be celebrities?"
Deuce folded his arms. "Well, Diasomnia is known for their powerfully knowledgeable students and all...but why are you living in the Ramshackle dorm?"
"Vibing problems," she immediately answered as bluntly as possible. "You know when you have two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle left over but they don't even fit? That's kind of like my relationship with the Diasomnia members right now. They either think I don't like Diasomnia and became a traitor on my own record or got kicked out. I left before I even brought my belongings to their dorm, though."
"That's unexpected," said Deuce with an impressed tone as her eyes analysed his sparkling aura as if she had gained a follower. "Here I thought anyone would do anything to get admitted into their dorm — but this is the first that I've heard someone declining."
Ahaha, they do give out emo vibes and that doesn't really work well with me...
Mira decided to let them talk amongst themselves, pulling out her phone to check her timetable. There, she mentally cheered when she read a joint alchemy class — ready to learn something new from Crewel. Hopping off to the lab with a wave to Yuu, she skipped down the hallway in hopes of lightening up her day.
Or so she had thought.
"I-I can't read this handwriting," she whispered to Riddle, her partner, as they both squinted their eyes at the paper note. Mira perked up and took two flasks, turning them around to find that the only difference between the names was because of a single letter. Scrunching up her face in conflict, she looked around for assistance. It seemed that their normal teacher was away for some business and would arrive in a few minutes, so Riddle and Mira both split up to ask someone for help.
"Ah, excuse me..." she looked at a light green-haired man as he walked by their cauldron. He whisked his head down before immediately widening his eyes.
"Aren't you the one who ditched Diasommia?" He asked, but she saw the regretful glint in his eyes after sounding so rude. "Ah, I apologise for making that sound offending — I'm Sebek Zigvolt from the same dorm, class 1-D! Sometimes I hear Malleus Draconia-sama sitting in the lounge talking about your absence when it is almost time for Magical Shift tournament."
"Malleus does?" She cocked her head in thought — not realising that Sebek highkey showed an offended look after she said their dorm leader's name without any honorifics. "Anyway, I need help deciphering this..."
She gave the flasks to him before sighing. "I can't tell if it's the blue flask or the red — they're both spelt so similarly."
"Hm, then I suppose we can check the diagrams draw in the paper and compare the dosing size," he suggested with his loud voice. "Since the flasks are in different shapes, we can tell which one we have to use."
"Wow, I didn't realise that!" Mira gaped her mouth in awe. She gave him a close-eyed smile before patting his shoulder, a glowing aura surrounding her as she felt some weight lifted off her back. "Thank you very much, Sebek."
That was, until she felt something soft lean near her head to her neck.
"And what stopped you from asking me?"
Surprised, she whisked her head to turn to whoever spoke — her Savanaclaw friend that Riddle had called over for assistance when they had both split up. Mira's grasp slightly slackened the flasks towards the cauldron, her goggles tilting to the side of her face. "R-Ruggie!? Damn, you scared me — what would you do if I dropped these..."
Riddle panicked as he pointed towards the cauldron. "U-Uhm, you might have dropped some..."
She blinked. "Huh?"
Looking back towards the cauldron, she stood silent — stunned by the weird bubbling of the formula that started to form at the surface. Furrowing her eyebrows, she quickly grabbed the stirring rod, trying to somewhat calm it down by whisking the foam to a single side yet to no avail did it decrease. In fact, she swore that it was going to burst like a volcano if she did any more stirring to it.
—And it did.
The last thing she saw was everything coming at her as she closed her eyes to ease the impact. Waiting for a few seconds, she felt nothing — no pain, no splash, no burn; so she opened her eyes before scanning the surrounding people in front of her. Mira tilted her head in confusion.
"Nyathing's wrong?" She said aloud before gasping. Did she just suddenly sound like a cat? Taking off her lab gloves and touching her throat to see whether her voice was just affected, she realised the look on everyone's faces.
"Uh, Amir-san..." Riddle began before nervously pointing to the top of his head. "You have...those."
"Those?"
Pressing both of her hands to her head, she could only do much but sink into realisation; her face going pale and her eyes diluting furiously. She quickly slapped her hands to her bottom despite it awkwardly being in front of her class. "N-Nyai (she meant 'I') have cat ears and a tail!?" Letting herself up, she fiddled with the pair of ears as she cringed at how ticklish it felt.
Quickly, she turned to Ruggie. "My gosh, why did you have to surprise me!? Am I gonna stay like this forever, nya?"
Instead, he cleared his throat without any hint of guilt, resting his arm on her shoulder with the other hand rubbing his two fingers to express profit. "Then how about joining Savanaclaw? 100% no cat-ear discrimination." She glared at his expression that read 'win-win', a situation where he could recruit another member to their dorm.
"Y-You—!"
"That's enough, you two!" Sebek shouted before separating them away from each other by pulling both of them up using his two hands. "First of all, we have to wait for our teacher to come back after their business — but all magic will have to be cleared at some point. Do rest assured, Amir Delacroix, Malleus Draconia-sama thinks highly of you after all."
Mira struggled in the air as she wriggled away from his grasp but fruitlessly still ended up with her lab coat hung by his hand. "Hey, I know you're obsessed with Nyalleus (she meant Malleus) and all but hon — this doesn't really matter right nyaow. Let both of us down!"
He did as told, dropping them both to the ground like a stubborn child. She rubbed her butt from the impact before standing back up, everyone's heads drifting to the direction of the headmaster, who shouldn't have been there — approaching them. She immediately saw everyone stiffen up, especially Sebek after dropping his classmates to the ground and made his way towards Mira.
"I came here for a special lesson, but it seems someone has already caused problems for the class," Dire Crowley said without surprise. Mira slumped her shoulders, wondering why she had always gotten into conflict during the worst timing. Since when was her luck so bad? "Well, that type of effect will wear out in a few hours — so have fun with it attached to you while you can."
She cringed. "Fun? How is this—"
"Now that time is almost up for the period, I shall dismiss myself from this interesting complication and turn a blind eye since your regular teacher isn't here right now — I'm nice, after all!" He interrupted before his wings rose, carrying him along. They all looked as he disappeared from sight before wheezing in panic. Of course, it was rare for the headmaster to visit some classes, and sometimes she wondered if he even had the time to. Did he not have a lot of work being the headmaster of a campus?
Finally, once their teacher had come back with shocked faces of their students surrounded by a student with cat ears; the bell had gone and students were dismissed. Mira stored her lab coat and goggles into her small plastic bag, slinging it to her back before sighing in distress. Her attention was then given to the perpetrator of her current situation, seeing him converse with Riddle as she huffed. She called out his name, but to no avail did he answer nor hear due to their loud laughs and the storming of students rushing out of their classrooms to call it a day.
Slightly conflicted once again, she skedaddled her legs, trying to get closer while pushing through the crowd of students. She wasn't allowed to use magic, for sure, and her small size wouldn't be very convenient for bumping into people. Having enough, she bolted right through the centre of the hallway, focusing on the familiar tail as her end destination. She grinned as she managed to grab it.
"Oi, Rugg—"
"H-Hyaah!"
What.
Looking up to see the origin of the yelp, she gave Ruggie a blank stare as he whipped his head behind him, her hand on his tail — and his beet-red face. Mira blinked before looking down at his tail, wondering if it was her fault that a weird sound escaped from his mouth. Coming to an understanding, her accomplished grin from grabbing the tail had switched to a mischievous one, her fingers twirling the tail in her grasp.
"Eeeh? I see how it is," she purred.
"W-What are you doing—?" He held her wrists with his hands in hopes for her to let go. He managed to read her teasing little smile before an irk mark popped on his head. "If that's how you're going to play, then here!"
She jerked to the front as she felt something grab her tail, too, before a burning sensation boiled its way up to her face.
"W-Wait, this nyain't what I signed up for—!" She shrieked as he snickered, her hands waving around to stop him; both of them running around in circles trying to tease the other. Riddle, who awkwardly stood there without a tail, folded his arms as he watched them play around childishly.
He felt like a third wheel.
"Guys, you shouldn't run around in the hallway," he lifted a hand to control their actions. The dispute ended with the two friends panting in exhaustion, a Riddle who just wanted some rest, and the quiet hallway with only the three of them. Their little game ended with them staying silent as they made their way to the Hall of Mirrors.
🌻
"Amir-san, what's with the appearance?"
As Mira twisted the doorknob to open the Ramshackle dorm, her eyes met with Grim's exhausted expression and a lazy Yuu sprawled on the floor. She lifted an eyebrow, her eyes tracing their figures as the ghosts laughed from the side. Pursing her lips and trying to find something else to stare at, she took off her loafers and placed them beside the door. "Something happened during alchemy class. If nyanything, what's with the sudden depressing aura I feel here?"
Grim drifted towards the door to where Mira was, his dejected eyes focusing on the floor. Ghost B decided that it was the best time to tease, laughing with its hand on its belly before explaining the problem. "He's pouting 'cause they won't let him play in the Magical Shift tournament — hee hee!"
Why does he laugh like that? Is he Michael Jackson?
"Huh? The Nyagical Shift tournament?" She replayed the ghost's voice just in case she thought she heard wrong. "Well, it is coming up soon — but I didn't know you guys were aiming for a spot. It's clearly impossible without being in one of the other dorms, nya."
"Hey, then does that mean you can technically play?" Grim asked with a tint of hope in his voice. She hummed before nodding. "Then, then—! If you're not playing, do you mind giving that spot to me?"
Mira cringed.
"Nyat's (That's) not how it works, stupid."
"S-Stupid? If I don't get in, I won't become famous worldwide!"
"That's a u problem," she huffed, gaining a look in response. "Besides — it's not like I don't want to play it."
Grim tilted his head. "What's stopping you?"
Mira then caught back to her senses, realising that she had said something that she should not have said. She scratched her cheek before pulling her phone out and placing it on the dinner table. "Just some troublesome people."
As if on cue, she heard her phone sound before she groaned and picked it up again. It seemed that something had been caught up in her notifications, her finger flicking down the screen to find the cause of the notification. As she read the headline, she felt her jaw drop.
"In a few days on the Magical Shift tournament, one of the world's best players known as Nicholai Ebony will be watching in one of the VIP seats!" A female news reporter stated before a familiar dark-green haired man popped into view from the camera screen. Her teeth grit, her heart burned, yet she realised that it wasn't her own pain that she was feeling.
"Haha, of course I have to look at this year's tournament," he said to the camera in an innocent smile. There was some sort of glint in his eyes indicating anything but what he said to the audience. "There's someone I know participating, after all."
She slammed her phone on the table again.
"W-What!? Amir-san, what seems to be the matter?" Yuu jumped from her seat before embracing Grim in her grasp. Mira then blinked, stared at the phone that she had just harmed, before flashing Yuu a vicious smile full of malice.
"Nyathing?"
Damnit, why this year? He didn't visit last year even when I didn't participate, so what makes him think that I will now? I remember him saying that watching children run around as if they were playing a game of tag was far from his ideals, which means something must have changed his mind for him to find me somewhere in the crowd this year.
Just what is he plotting?
Realising that Yuu was still trembling along with the creature in her hands, Mira sighed before placing her arms on her hips. "How about we play a game of Magical Shift?"
***
"Yes, yes, like that!" Mira praised as she crossed her legs on her broom. Although using her broom was considered breaking the rules, she knew that barely anyone would take a stroll to their residence at this time. Teaching Grim was quite easy in her opinion, probably because he was highly determined to be able to learn and get on the field as soon as possible. With her teaching, he managed to use his magic to control the frisbee.
"Hah! This is child's play!" Grim beamed, yet she knew that there was an authentic smile on his face. "C'mon, Yuu! We're gonna play with the damn ghosts!"
"Y-Yes!"
She decided to let the ghosts teach them the rules due to their experience. Taking a seat on the front porch of the dorm, she stared at the land that they started to use in order to play Magical Shift, calculating and calculating her plans in order to crush the man's plans of seeing through her secret. Punching some numbers on the dial pad, she placed her device to her ear before hearing a familiar voice come through.
"Huh...what's your request this time?"
"Idia? Do you mind tracking something for me, nya?"