Key of Souls: Twisted Wonderland

Chapter 47: The Investigation Begins

Dawn's POV

Once we were inside the Ramshackle Dorm, I went to the kitchen and prepared some tea for myself, Grim, and Headmaster Crowley; the headmaster and Grim were sitting on one of the lounge's sofas and were waiting for me. I just finished making the tea, brought the tray over to where everyone was sitting and placed it on the table as I took my seat.

"What's this request about? We aren't your handymen anymore, y'know.", Grim asked him, feeling annoyed at what the headmaster might want from us this time. "Kyu...", Perry squeaked in disappointment from Grim's rude attitude. "Oh? I don't remember saying anything about your room and board being free of charge? Labour is a beautiful thing, Grim and Miss Baldwin.", said Crowley, based on that I knew that this was some threat that I didn't want to know.

"Grim, we don't have the option to turn him down.", I whispered to the little monster; Grim picked up the nervousness in my voice and flinched a bit. After Crowley took a sip from his cup, he began to tell us about this "request" is. "Ahem. Then I will get straight to the point. Recently, there have been an increasing number of students injured in suspicious accidents. I'd like to have you investigate them."

My eyes widened in a bit of shock as I lightly gasped after hearing this as Grim questioned, "Injuries~?"

"Yes. Tripping downstairs, burned by boiling water... The causes vary, but in the past several days, the number of patients in the infirmary has dramatically increased. Including the person who fell down the stairs yesterday, that makes it 10 people injured. I'm glad none of the injuries have been severe but...", explained Crowley.

"That's awful.", I said. I felt my body wincing for a moment; I couldn't begin to imagine what pain the victims were going through. "Aren't they all just being clumsy?", Grim said, giving out a reasonable theory.

"The whole school is giddy for the approaching Magical Shift Tournament, that's true. Even so, there are too many people getting hurt if you look at past years. On top of that, those injured in these accidents were all in the running to be starting members of their dorm's team.", explained Crowley.

"Huuh?", went Grim.

"It smells like foul play.", I simply said. Hearing all of this made me strongly believe that these are more than just "accidents". For two to three people getting hurt is one thing, but 10 people in a short amount of time was just unnatural. Plus, the victims were also front-runners to represent their dorm's team for the tournament; this is too much of a coincidence to happen to these people with the tournament drawing close.

Crowley nodded his head in agreement. "Very nice deduction, Miss Baldwin. However, I have no evidence to prove it was foul play. All the victims were injured in places with plenty of other people around them. Nevertheless, all bystanders had this to say: 'They look like they weren't paying attention.'.", he said.

"Sounds like they all just screwed up. There, problem solved~.", said Grim, thinking it was that simple. Both Perry and I facepalmed at Grim's statement; obviously, he didn't want to get much involved with this while this sounded very serious. The headmaster raised an eyebrow at Grim's response and said, "My dear Grim, that's quite irresponsible of you."

"It has nothing to do with me. I still can't join Magift. Doesn't matter to me what happens to the tournament. Ptooey ptooey!", Grim said with bitterness.

"Is that so... I'd thought to give you a tremendous reward for your help but...", Crowley began to say, but Grim quickly interrupted him. "Hmph! That's not gonna work this time! You'd need at least 100 cans of tuna to buy my help.", he went.

"Grim!/Kyu!", both Perry and I scolded the little monster for being selfish. But Grim didn't look like he was going to budge at all.

"Then how does this sound? You can join the Magical Shift Tournament as a player...", Crowley offered.

"Eh!?", shouted Grim

"Seriously!?", I asked, just as shocked as Grim.

"Kyu!?", Perry squeaked, equally surprised as us.

"If you can shed light on this series of events, then I shall prepare a way for your dorm to participate as competitors.", said Crowley with a big, cheery smile. "How's that sound? Aren't I just the most gracious ever?"

"Ffna... Ffnaaa...!?", Grim went.

"Your gallant figure will be broadcast worldwide. You'll be able to bask in the applause of the coliseum filled to the brim. They'll say things like "Wooh woo! Here comes the stand-out rookie, Grim!".", the headmaster said. Both Perry and I looked on in disbelief at how he was going all the way to filling Grim's ego with such fantasies.

"Oh, oh my... I can already see it happening.", said Grim; his mind was already thinking about the millions of people watching him and showering him with non-stop praise for his greatness as he looked on in a daze.

'Uh-oh... Looks like he's going to take the bait...', I thought. I had the feeling that our headmaster would find a way to make Grim comply very easily and it seems to be working on him.

"But you said that you wouldn't help solve the matter. Unfortunate, but please forget I said anything.", Crowley said as he rose from his seat and gave us a polite bow. "Thank you for the tea, Miss Baldwin." Crowley had just taken a few steps to the front door when Grim suddenly jumped from his seat and attached himself to the headmaster's leg, making the headmaster drag him across the room. The little monster soon looked up at Crowley and shouted, "Hold it right there~~~~! We'll do it! We'll definitely do it!"

Crowley stopped walking as he looked down at Grim. "Oh? You will now?", he said; I noticed the headmaster hiding a small smug on his face that meant he knew that Grim couldn't say no to an offer like this.

"Being in the tournament changes everything! Right, Dawn!", Grim asked, turning his head toward me with bright eyes and a proud smirk, expecting me to agree with him. In all honesty, I didn't really care about whether or not I got to play in the tournament or how I didn't like Headmaster Crowley asking me to investigate this matter when it should have been his responsibility to do so. But part of me wanted to find out what was going on with these "accidents" and to see if there was anything I could do to help.

I was about to answer when one important detail came into my mind. "Don't we need seven people to make a team?", I asked. Perry won't be part of the team because of his small size and I don't think they would allow living plush dolls to join so easily.

"Fret not. As the headmaster, I will perform a magical miracle to supplement the other five people you need.", Crowley said. Seeing that there was no way to refuse, I simply said, "We'll do whatever we can to find out about this situation." Grim lept with joy onto my other shoulder as he shouted, "Hooray! You got a deal! Let's go find the culprit!"

"I'm counting on you two.", said Crowley with a smile as he took his leave. I sighed as I went upstairs to get changed into my school uniform and got ready to head to the campus. While I am upset that the headmaster is using Grim's ego to motivate him to get us to investigate, I was a bit suspicious about what was causing so many people these injuries and I needed to find out how and why. With my bag in tow, Grim, Perry, and I started to make our way to the school to find some clues to this bizarre mystery. 'I hope we can nip this thing in the bud before it could get any worse.', I thought as we walked.