The other side of a glass tank - Octavinelle (& Twisted Wonderland) X Reader

Chapter 90 - Hot waters

"That will be all for today."

It was deep into the evening when Kalim firmly announced that, standing tall in front of all the exhausted students around.

"Tomorrow morning, we march to the eastern oasis, where I will put you through your paces!" He added sternly, not even waiting for an answer before proudly walking off, the narrow glare never leaving his face.

"Huff... Huff... My arms and legs feel like noodles..."

"Water... Need water..."

"And we have another day of melting in the desert heat ahead of us tomorrow. Ugh..."

"What's come over the housewarden? He never used to be like this."

All of the scholars remaining were trying to catch their breaths, leaning against walls, sitting on the closest surface available or straight up sprawled onto the floor.

But despite their exhaustion, Yuu couldn't bother complaining or making any comments, as they breathed heavily and looked downwards, desperately racking their brain to find some sense to all of this.

"Pant, pant... Finally, it's over." Grim was one of those laying on their backs, trying to find relief in the cool, hard ground below.

"He was all smiles and sunshine before. What's the deal with the sudden one-eighty?" The worn down creature wheezed, trying to speak as he could while in that state.

"I don't get it..." The dark blonde exhaled deeply, threading their spotted fingers through their pink bangs, pushing them back.

It was then that Jamil walked over to the pair, passing a bottle of water to the prefect, who accepted it with grateful nod.

"I imagine when we placed last in the Spelldrive interdorms, and then Scarabia collectively scored at the bottom of exams... He must have felt personally responsible." The vice dorm leader spoke with a pensive expression on, holding his chin between his forefinger and thumb.

"He's had terrible mood swings ever since." The latter admitted, making Yuu furrow their brows.

"That ain't a mood swing. It's like he's a totally different person!" The gray monster loudly objected, after having taken a large sip from the bottle the other freshman had passed to him.

"That isn't like him, at all. I haven't ever seen him acting like this during the course." The magicless human countered as well, their expression complex and troubled.

"I've known him a long time, but that volatile temper has left even me stumped as to how to approach him." The long haired sophomore had his arms folded over his chest as he sighed.

"He'll say one thing, then do something else the next minute. The way he goes on these power trips without warning is out of control." He shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with the current situation.

"The whole dorm used to look up to our housewarden, but this odd behavior has us all scratching our heads." The dark skinned boy gestured to his fatigued dorm mates, who had started to slowly drag themselves back to their respective dorm rooms.

"He's been making unreasonable demands, as you just saw..." He then turned back to the Ramshackle duo, mild annoyance on his face.