Key of Souls: Twisted Wonderland

Chapter 74: Target Monitoring and a Tempting Lure

Jack's POV

It was a new day, and Dawn and I met up in the hallway as planned and proceeded to where Azul was taking one of his morning classes; Dawn told me she was able to get Azul's schedule through Riddle since she figure he would know what classes Azul would be taking since they're both second-years, and Riddle wanted to make it up to her for what Ace and Deuce had done to her during their studying time for the exams. We both looked inside her notebook and saw which classes Azul is taking today and where he'll be; I was glad Dawn was able to obtain this information, which will make our reconnaissance mission easier. "We came all this way to monitor Azul, but...", I told her.

"But we had to skip class to do this...", Dawn said, looking anxious. I could tell from her expression that she wasn't fond of cutting classes, just as I hated skipping lessons too. Then she looked at me and said, "I'm surprised you wanted to do this with me, Jack. I didn't think you'd come."

"This was a direct order from the headmaster. I'm sure he'll see cutting class as part of it.", I told her, hoping this would make her feel a bit better. "That and I'm tired of this losing streak. If you're gonna find the secret to Azul's strength, I wanna know too."

Dawn looked at me with a smile on her face as she said, "Well, I'm just lucky to have someone helping me with staking out Azul. And I'm glad it's someone cool like you by my side. Let's get going." Like this, she pulled out a notebook and went to one of the lecture halls, where Azul was. I stood in shock for a moment, feeling something pounding in my chest at that moment. 'She thinks I'm cool...' was all I could think as I envisioned the smile she gave me just then; I could almost feel my cheeks turning red the moment I remembered that.

*Shiwsh, Shiwsh, Shiwsh*

As I looked behind me, I noticed my tail was suddenly wagging rapidly the moment I recalled Dawn's words and smile. "H-Hey! Stop that!!", I told my tail and grabbed it so it would stop. Once I calmed myself, I quickly went to where Dawn was so we could start spying on Azul.

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First Period: Music

We peeked through the door and spotted Azul, standing in front of the Lecture Hall, facing a crowd of students, smiling.

"La~ La la la~ Lalalala~", Azul sang. His voice was so smooth and clear as he sang his melody; Dawn and I were shocked at how well he could sing with little effort.

"That guy's got a pretty good singing voice.", I said, clearly impressed.

"No doubt about that.", Dawn said as she jotted down this information in her notebook.

Second Period: Animal Language Arts

Azul was standing by Professor Trein's desk as he leaned down to look at Lucius at an even eye level. "Mrro~~oww. Mraw.", Azul began to meow like a cat, as if he was trying to communicate with Lucius. At that moment, Lucius was responding to whatever Azul just said. "Meow~~...Pff.", he went. Azul straightened himself and nodded while smiling. "According to Lucius, the last treat Professor Trein gave him was three hours ago.", he stated.

Professor Trein crossed his arms and nodded as he said, "As expected from you, Ashengrotto. That is correct." Azul's smile widened as he returned to his seat.

"He can understand animal language and also speak it himself.", I said.

"I see...", Dawn said as she wrote down more information.

Third Period: Alchemy

"A beluga's tooth, sturgeon eggs, aurora moth scales and mermaid tears. Add in an extract from 120 kinds of medicinal herbs blended...", Azul said. He dropped each ingredient he listed into the cauldron and added a fine powdery herbal substance as well. As soon as the power was added to the mixture...