a dumbass gets isekai'd: the novella

5. you're my son now, sign the adoption papers

Yuu managed to tidy up the dorm a little, turning over the chairs and sweeping the floor. The howling of wind and the pitter patter of rain could be heard outside. Yuu sat down on one of the couches so they could have their daily existential crisis, when they heard a rustling sound. Their breathing stopped,

"Gyagh! Why'd it have to rain so hard all of a sudden!"

"FFVGGTVTTVYVUVHHYBYBYB-"

"WAAGHPUTTHEBROOMDOWN-"

Yuu's eyes widened when they saw Grim standing there, now looking nervously at the broom they were holding about a foot away from his face. They slowly lowered the broom.

"Huh? When did you get in here?"

"I snuck in, obviously! Hehehehehe you look so stupid, like a bat squirted with a water gun!"

Yuu raised the broom again.

"waitnoputthatdownthatwasajoke-"

Yuu finally put the broom down, and the two mutually decided to coexist for now. Yuu turned to Grim.

"So, care to elaborate on how you 'snuck in'?"

"Heh heh, well, getting into this academy was a piece of cake! They were so wrong, thinking that I was gonna give up when they threw me out!"

"Why do you want to get into the school so bad?" Yuu asked.

"It's a simple story. I was a genius born to be a great magician!" He raised his arms for dramatic effect. Cute.

"I've always waited for the black carriage to come pick me up. Even so....even so..." Grim looked sadder now. He must have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Yuu was starting to feel more and more bad for him.

"Hmmph. The Dark Mirror has no eyes anyway! That's why I came here myself. These humans don't know what they're missing!"

Yuu admired the little raccoon-dog-cat-whatever the fuck's dedication. They wished they had as much motivation. They nodded along with Grim's story.

"Nyah! Cold!"

A droplet of water fell onto Grim's head. Yuu looked up to see a damp area on the ceiling. Crap. The roof was leaking.

"Ack! There's more water coming down! My flaming ears are gonna get soaked!"

"We need to get a bucket." Yuu remembered seeing a bucket in the storage closet when they went to go look for the broom.

"We can just fix the roof with magic you know? Oh wait, you can't use magic. Pffff- You're utterly useless!"

Damn sharty, after all we've been through together?

Yuu stared at Grim with a deadpan.

"Then why don't you help me, o' great magician??"

"Huh?? Help?? No way, I'm just another monster taking shelter from the rain. There's not even canned tuna! There's no way I'll work for free!"

I expected that answer.

Yuu rolled their eyes and just left to find the bucket. The leak was getting worse.

Yuu walked down the rickety hallway when they heard something.

oh h e l l no, what was that???

Yuu turned around, expecting to see a rat, but instead three ghosts. One was long and lanky, one was on the chubbier side, and one was short. They had top hats and capes.