Of Magic, Tamers And Beasts Of Power

The Bait

LOCATION: Exterior Hallway - 2F]
[- One Week Later]

A week passed since final exams and Yukiko, Pachi and Deuce were walking as they heard Ace chase Grim around.

"Stop right there, Grim! Today is the day I'll wring your neck!"

" Hehe! You should've put your name on it, yanno!"

Why you~!!

"Are they fighting again?" Yukiko asked as Pachi sighed in exasperation.

"Really, what a tiring routine." Deuce said.

The Ace spotted Yukiko and pointed at Grim. "Ah, Tsu! You're a Prefect, so discipline your students better!
This guy stole the bread I bought AGAIN!"

" Grim, you shouldn’t take something that isn't yours." Yukiko reprimanded Grim who smirked.

" That's a rude accusation. It was left on the desk so I just picked it up and ate it, yanno."

"Someone's desk doesn't really qualify as trash, damn you!" Ace shouted.
"You keep running away. I'll end this with my wind magic and-"

"Bring it!" Grim said ready to attack but...

"Ah...!!" Ace suddenly paused, as if he was remembering something.

" I-I'll hold back on the magic on second thought... It'd be bad if I got punished if I break another window..." Ace muttered.

"Huh?" Grim said confused.

'...He stopped on his own?Something is wrong.' Yukiko thought.

"It's rare for them to stop fighting by themselves.
Normally they'd continue until a teacher or the Headmaster stops them." Deuce added.

"Not really~ I just thought I'd look lame chasing after a dumb raccoon over some bread." Ace shrugged.

"What?! You're being really rude, yanno!" Grim shouted.

[LOCATION: Classroom]

"Alright, you dogs. It's time for class to begin. Sit obediently at your desks. First, I'll be distributing your test papers." Crewel announced.

DEUCE: It's finally time.

"Nyaha! Test results, come to papa~!!" Grim cheered.

"Grim." Yukiko said putting a hand down on his head making quiet.

"I'll start calling your seat numbers, so come up here and get them. Number 1!" Crewel said, going in numeral order.
.......

"Alright, that's 92 points for me!" Ace cheered.

Deuce looked happy too. "88 points!? To think that the day I would get over 80 would come, I'm...!"

" Look, Yukiko, Pachi! I got 100 points! Our planned studying paid off!" Grim exclaimed as Yukiko got her grade of 100 too.

"I don't have to worry about repeating a year now...!" Deuce sighed in relief.

"You all studied pretty well this time. Compared to the quiz the other day, it's...
No, it still feels a little too suspicious for me..." Crewel said a little slowly.

"Suspicious? What do you mean, Teach?" Ace said a little nervous.

"Everyone in your year all scored an average of 90 points for Magical Alchemy.
I heard from Professor Trein that your scores for Magical History were quite good, too." Crewel explained.

" EH!?" Deuce said.

"Is that possible?" Grim asked.

"I have a ba~d feeling about this..." Ace muttered to himself.

Crewel finished the matter. "The names of the top 50 highest scorers will be posted by the hallway, so look forward to it. Alright, let's begin. Open your textbooks."

---------After school--------

[LOCATION: Interior Hallway]

Grim looked at test score with the group. "The Top 50, finally! Where's my name~?"

"If my average is over 90, I should at least be ranked, right!?" Ace said to himself.

"Hey there's Yukiko's score. At.............rank 7?! And Grim is at rank 8!" Deuce suddenly said.

"Woo hoo! We're in the top ten!" Grim cheered.

" But, Ace and My name's are not there..." Deuce said getting their attention.

"Wait, wait a sec-!! Their scores for each subject are written next to their names, and.......More than 30 of them have a perfect 500 score, dude! Yukiko and Grim included."

"What?!" Yukiko said.

"Is it possible for more than a few students to score that high?" Grim asked with Pachi just as confused.

"This is bad... If I'm not in the top 50, I'll be violating the contract...!" Deuce muttered but Ace heard him.

"Eh...? By contract, you mean... Dude, did you...!?" Ace said slowly as Deuce looked at him.

"Ace, that look on your face means..."

'Contract-?!' Yukiko and Grim thought as they saw...anemones appearing on their heads.

"Hey, are those anemones?!" Grim said in surprise.

"D-did you make a contract with that guy, too, Ace!? That's cheating!!" Deuce exclaimed as he pointed at Ace.

"Says the cheater! It's on your head, too!" Ace accused Deuce.

"What in the world did you do?!" Yukiko yelled.

Then Jack appeared.

"I knew you'd all be here since it was so noisy. What are you doing?"

"Jack, did you make a contr-There's no anemone on your head...?!" Deuce said surprised.

"You don't look it, but you're pretty studious, huh!" Ace said.

Jack looked confused. "Huh? What are you saying? What's that thing on your heads?"

" This is, um... Wha-What's happening!?
The anemone is pulling me-!?" Deuce said as the anemone seemed to move on its own.

"Owowowowowowow! My head's gonna get ripped!" Ace shouted.

"Damn it...! Is this what he meant by "absolute submission"!?" Deuce asked

" AHHHHHHHH!!!!"
The boys shouted in pain as if the anemones were leading them somewhere.

"What's going on? Those guys just started following where the anemones lead them.
What an idiotic turnout." Jack said.

"We should go after them." Yukiko said, earning Jack's attention.

"Huh? Why me? I've got nothing to do with this." Jack growled.

"Are you scared or something? Hehehe." Grim teased.

"Tch... You two have completely been influenced by this school, you know? Pretty bold of you to use me just like that.
Fine. I'll go with you if it's only for a while." Jack shook his head as they followed Ace and Deuce.

Unknown to Yukiko she was being lured into a trap.

---------------
Meanwhile in a certain office...

"Fufufu. Everything is going according to plan." Azul said as he looked at a contract that glowed from being breached.

"Jade, Floyd. Get the VIP Lounge ready and quickly. Once the silly anemones arrive, she will too. Remember, we can't have her creatures interfere during the meeting either."

"Yes sir./ Yessir~"