Twisted Wonderland Book 5: A Beauitful Tyrant

Chapter 13: A Pop Music Pair

Three days later...

The Song and Dance Championship Campus audition is now taking place. All students who plan to audition arrive at Pomefiroe Dorm, and walk into the lounge. Soon, many of the students who are auditioning are waiting for it to start. Ace, Deuce, Grim, and Briar among those auditioning. Seria, Trinket, and the Dwarf Twins decide to come for support.

Grim is surprised, Myaaah! There's a ton of competition here!"

"There's gotta be like fifty people," Ace says.

Soon, Deuce begins to feel tense about it, "O-oh no, I'm tensing up already. I-I th-think I'm b-blanking out on the song lyrics!"

"I know what you mean. I'm starting to get nervous about this," Briar says.

"You'll be fine if you just chill," Ace says.

Suddenly, Cater walks over to them with a smile, "Ooh, what's this? A2 and the Ramshackle group? You guys are here for the SDC auditions too, huh?"

Briar says, "Hi Cater."

"Hey, Cater!" Grim says, "Actually, it's just me and Briar among the Ramshackle Group, how about you?

"Got it in one. The event's happening at our school, and I hear Vil's gonna be in it this year," Cater says, "What could be cooler than competing on stage against a mega-celeb with five million Magicam followers?"

"Deuce took it way too seriously, but you're being way too shallow about it..." Ace says.

Cater scoffs, "Pfft. I'm pretty sure most people here are like me, actually. Check out Exhibit A over there."

Soon, the group looks to see Ruggie among the crowd, humming a tune, "Hm-hm-hmmm, hm-hmm!"

He finishes singing and says, "Hmm. I'm not much of a singer, but I'm sure I can make up for that with my dance moves. I'm taking my share of that fifty thousand thaumark prize!"

Grim yelps, "Myah! Of course he wants the money."

For some reason, I'm not surprised either," Briar says.

"No kidding," Jasper bluntly replies.

Suddenly, Lilia appears upside down in front of everyone, "Ah, hello, Cater. Fancy seeing you here."

Everyone shouts, "WHOA!"

Lilia snickers, "Khee hee hee!" and appears right side up with his feet on the ground, "A perfect reaction. Heartslabyul students are always so full of vim and vigor."

"C'mon, Lils, you're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days!" Cater says.

"Oh, Hi Lilia," Briar says.

Lilia snickers, "Khee hee hee... Indeed I am. Lilia Vanrouge, surprise delivery boy, at your service.

"Oh yeah, Briar," Grim says. "You said we got a holiday greeting card from an unknown sender, right?" then turns to Lilia, "Ain't this the guy right here?"

"Um actually no, he was mainly delivering it from someone else," Briar answers.

"Ah, but you'll find that the initials on the card differ from my own," Lilia says.

"Then who?" Tanzanite asks.

"Well um, I have to suspect it's from, well... Well actually, the initial has a different name, but I have a feeling who really sent it to me, even though I don't know his real name," Briar says.

Just then, Lilia giggles and says, "Khee hee hee... You'll find out who sent it soon enough.

Then Cater asks, "So, Lils. Are you auditioning for SDC too?"

"Mhm," Lilia answers, "I belong to the Pop Music Club, so I would be remiss to sit out on a musical presentation. I invited Malleus to join me, but he declined, claiming he had no desire to be put on display for humans. He's a surprisingly shy boy, you know.

"I'm...not sure your definition of 'shy' is the same as mine..." Cater says, "Gotta give you props for bravery, though. It takes guts to prod a bigwig like Malleus into doing an audition."

Then Lilia says, "Events like these are part of campus life. I thought it would do him some good to give it a whirl, but so it goes. And yourself? I'm surprised you didn't invite your partner, Trey."

"Oh, I did. But alas, I got jilted!" Cater answers, "Riddle's the chairman of the Culture Fair Management Committee, and Trey's busy assisting him."

"Ah, of course," Lilia replies.

Cater then asks, "So! How's about we take an audition selfie as jilted buddies?" And brings out his phone.

"Certainly," Lilia says.

Then turns to the freshmen, "Come, freshmen. Join us."

"Uh, you want us in the picture?" Deuce asks.

"Nobody rejected us, y'know," Grim replies.

"It doesn't matter!" Cater says, gathering to the others, "YOLO. One, two...yay!"

"Yaaay!" Lilia happily says.

Everyone then poses and Cater takes the picture.

Then Cater presses his phone to post the picture, "Hashtag #NRC #SDCAuditions #TotallyPassing #JiltedBoiz And, posting...now." and post the photo.

Then Ace says, "Y'know, considering Malleus's reputation... I always saw Diasomnia as a cold, unapproachable kinda dorm. But you're always warm and friendly, huh?"

"Come on, you know better than that. Our dorm's got polar opposites, too. Just look at Riddle versus me and you!" Cater replies.

Then Deuce says, "Now that you mention it, it's true. Housewarden Rosehearts is terrify—uh, a real stickler for the rules. But that makes me wonder... When the Dark Mirror talks about the nature of our souls being suited to a certain dorm, what's the deal there?"

Lilia snickers, "Khee hee hee..." and says, "A true learning experience is living among people who think differently than you do. Let me provide an example. Ignihyde has a reputation for being home to introverts who mislike having any sort of attention called to themselves. Yet one of their students is auditioning today."

The group turns to who Lilia is talking about, and it appears to be a young boy with fiery blue hair with yellow eyes. He seems to be wearing a white color armor, a face mask, and a sun hat.
"Ooh! That's Idia's baby bro. It's not every day he flies solo," Cater says

"You're not kidding about the baby part. Dude looks like a grade schooler. And that getup! It's like he's some kinda superhero," Ace says, surprised

"Oh, I guess you froshes wouldn't know that story," Cater says, "Idia Shroud, housewarden of Ignihyde, brought his brother Ortho with him when he enrolled."

"What?!" Ace and Deuce exclaim in shock

"He took his brother to school with him?! Is that even possible?" Briar asks, shocked.

"I agree. Ortho looks like he's around the same age as Briar, Deuce, and Ace," Sereia says

"I didn't share any classes with Idia until I started my junior year, so I'm not totally up on all the deets, but... He brings his brother to most of his classes. The teachers never even bat an eye at it," Cater explains.

"I know brothers can be close, but taking a brother with you to school is nuts!" Deuce says, shocked.

"This Idia guy's got a few screws loose, if you ask me," Grim says.

"That's not a nice thing to say," Briar says.

Suddenly, Ortho ends up hearing Grim and angrily says, "That's right! Don't talk that way about my brother!"

"Whoa!" Grim panics and turns to see Ortho standing behind him, and Ortho is not happy.