Twisted Wonderland | Mickey's Print

41. No Other Choice

After the whole fiasco in Octavinelle, Yuu and Jack returned to Ramshackle dorm to review all the information they had and make a decision on what to do about it. There, Yuu offered his guest a seat on the living room couch while the tea finished brewing, and he commented on how different the building looked inside and out from the last time he had entered there.

"Tea's ready," Yuu said a few moments later before pouring two cups and left the teapot on the table. "Sorry I couldn't offer cookies, the plan to bake more had to be canceled, as you can see..."

"The tea is more than enough, thanks" Jack replied before sipping a bit of his cup and soon getting straight to the point. "To sum everythin' up, all the guys with the anemone on their heads, in order to get a good test score, were tricked into forming a contract with Azul to get good grades. They bet on it and lost. I don't think I got anything wrong."

"That's right," Yuu confirmed and drank some tea.

"And the condition of the contract was that they had to reach the top 50 of the best grades," Jack continued. "But with so many students signing for the same thing, most of them couldn't make the cut. That was Azul's aim from the very start."

Yuu lightly squeezed the delicate handle of his cup nervously. That vicious plan had been a well-crafted trap, and the bait was one that some lazy or truly desperate student couldn't resist. As he had just revealed, Azul was someone who knew well how to pull the strings for his benefit.

"To be honest, I found it strange for Grim to get more than an 80 like that suddenly," he confessed. "But now..."

Now he was very worried for him.

"Damn it! What's the point of using someone else's effort to get good grades?" Jack mumbled, still furious about that. "That was practically cheating. It was very stupid of them to waste an opportunity to show everyone their potential."

"If all the students in this school had principles as solid and troublesome, I mean, tenacious as yours, young Howl, we wouldn't have so many problems now."

Jack and Yuu let out a startled squeal as they realized that Crowley had appeared out of nowhere in the living room, sitting in the armchair next to the table and calmly drinking a cup of the same tea as them.

"WOAH! Headmaster?! You scared me!" Jack exclaimed.

It was usual to see the headmaster suddenly appear at the least expected moments, but this time they had not even seen him enter the living room. They did not even hear him! It seemed that the theory of him being able to teleport from one place to another with magic was not too far-fetched...

"And when did you get yourself a cup!?" Yuu questioned, seeing that the cup was the same set as theirs. When did he enter the kitchen to find one for himself!?

Ignoring his question, the headmaster drank some more tea before sighing. "Huh... I have failed again to stop young Ashengrotto's 'business plan' again this year," he lamented.

'This year'? Did that mean it wasn't the first time Azul had done something like that? The inquiries about the headmaster's sudden appearance were quickly set aside.

"Do you know anything about this matter, headmaster?" Yuu asked.

"Yes, the young Azul Ashengrotto. In addition to being a second-year student, he is Octavinelle's dorm leader," Crowley nodded, reviewing the characteristics of that young student. "Just like young Rosehearts, he is fully capable of leading a dorm extraordinarily as a second-year. However... Hes's a bit- no, I daresay he's QUITE problematic."

"Are you talking about that guy scamming people?" Jack asked. "You're the headmaster, can't you just order him to stop?"

"That's precisely the problem..." Crowley sighed as he shook his head, defeated, and left the cup on the table. "As I am in a teaching position, I cannot prohibit his actions."