A Fool's Guide to the In-Between [A Twisted Wonderland Fanfic]

Chapter 18

"Breakfast after a good workout is amazing, y'know," Grim exclaimed as he dashed over to an empty table, leaping up onto the bench. "I'm craving meat more than normal!" As soon as Yuu set the shared tray down on the table, Grim dove for his food, snatching it up and taking a large bite of the meat.

Leona rolled his eyes at the cat's eagerness as he slid into the seat across from Yuu. "So why did you decide to do something as dumb as making a deal with the octo-punk," he growled, shifting further down the seat as Ruggie slid in beside him to give the hyena more room. "Thanks to that, my room shrank." He glared at Ruggie as he said this, still not over the fact that it had been thanks to Ruggie that he had lost half of his room.

Yuuken looked down at his food, moving bits of it around on his plate. He wasn't feeling overly hungry, despite the workout that he had just endured. "It's about the anemones," he said quietly, somewhat ashamed that he was doing something that the prince deemed "stupid".

"Ha," Leona laughed, a sly grin on his face. "You made a deal to free all those idiots who signed contracts for the final exams?!" He laughed as though it was the funniest joke in a century. "This is rich! Sends a chill right down my spine."

Ruggie took a bite of his pancakes. "I heard a rumour about how amazing Azul's notebooks were. I can totally understand why someone would want to get their hands on one."

Jack frowned. "Does that mean that you two didn't make a deal with Azul for the tests?" He was surprised. He would have thought that Leona, of all people, would have taken any chance to slack off. But he didn't dare to say this aloud. 

"Who in their right mind would make a deal with that cheating ba****d because they want to? I've made a deal before because the situation called for it, but the conditions weren't anything crazy."

"Yeah," Ruggie said, "he's not the guy you want to rely on casually. "But he is a skilled wizard who can make even the most outlandish wishes come true."

"When making a deal, the one who wants something has the disadvantage," Leona said. "There's any number of ways to dupe herbivores who can't think on their feet and will sign a contract without considering it carefully."

Yuu's head dropped and he caught it in his hands, resting his elbows on the table. "Now I'm really nervous..."

Leona scoffed and crossed his arms on the table. "What kind of condition did he give you anyway?"

Yuu filled in the two older Savanaclaw on what the conditions were. How Azul had tasked him with retrieving a picture from the Atlantica Memorial Museum and how he had three days to get it. He also told them how Azul had taken the Ramshackle Dorm as collateral until Yuu either completed his end of the deal or if he failed in which case Azul would own the dorm permanently.

"By the time the sun sets on the third day," Leona hummed, seemingly deep in thought.

"Sneak into the Atlantica Memorial Museum and take a certain picture," Ruggie repeated. 

The two boys glanced at each other. 

"You have..." Ruggie paused, trying to find the right words, "my condolences."

Grim glared at the hyena. "You shouldn't say things like that when the game has only just begun, y'know!"

"Isn't the museum underwater," Ruggie asked. "How exactly do you plan on getting there?"

"Azul gave us a potion that will help us breathe underwater," Grim explained, and Yuu pulled out the small vial to show the hyena. 

"We don't know how well that will work though," Jack mumbled, scratching the back of his head as he stared at the glowing green liquid. He didn't like the idea of trusting someone who seemed to be such a con artist.