While Crowley was in his meeting with all the dorm leaders except Diasomnia's, two Heartslabyul students were walking down one of the school's main stairs together.

"It's time to choose the players for the Magical Shift tournament," the tall boy with light brown hair mentioned.

"Do you have any spells in mind that will impress the dorm leader?" Asked his friend, a young boy with dark green hair, as three Savannaclaw students passed them as they went up the same stairs.

"Of course I did!" Replied the boy with joy and pride. "I recently showed it to professor Crewel and he gave me his approval. I really want to show it to the dorm leader... "Ah! WOAAAH!"

Suddenly, he stumbled and came to the bottom of the stairs in one fell swoop, falling headlong to the ground and hurting himself in the process. "Oow... It hurts!" He moaned as he tried to get up.

His friend rushed down the stairs to help him. "Hey! Why did you jump down the stairs like that?" He asked with concern.

The tall boy tried to get up, but the sharp pain in his leg prevented it. "My leg hurts!"

That worried the green-haired boy more. "What?!" He asked before helping him up and resting one of his arms on his shoulders to help him walk. "Let's go to the infirmary!"

They hurried as best they could. They did not notice that the three Savannaclaw students looked at them maliciously while the shortest of them laughed evilly with a peculiar laugh...

The next morning, as Yuu calmly swept the floor of Ramschackle's living room, he could perfectly hear a small dripping sound...

He gasped and stopped short, remembering that the sound was not a good omen. "Did you hear that, Grim?" He asked.

After getting up a little earlier than usual and having breakfast, Yuu and the ghosts had decided to clean the dorm a bit before going to class. The human had even put some water to boil to make tea, Trey had gifted him some green tea leaves as thanks for helping to restore Heartslabyul's dorm.

Grim, on the other hand, had stretched out on the couch and hadn't moved from there. "Aaaaahg... I don't care about anything," he answered in a low voice with dismay and indifference. "Nothing matters if I can't play Magift..."

"You still can't get over it, huh?" Yuu sighed with a hand resting on his waist.

Grim frowned and looked him in the eye. "You were the worst part! It was Crowley who said I couldn't play in the tournament, but you had the nerve to laugh."

"I didn't laugh at you, I laughed with what the headmaster said after that," he clarified.

"I don't care. Even Ace didn't dare to do it, but you! You of all people!"

Yuu left the broom next to the fireplace and sat down next to Grim. "Okay, I'm sorry," he said softly. "I didn't mean to make you feel worse. Is there any way I can make it up to you? I can make stir-fried tuna with rice for dinner, if you want."

Grim lowered his ears again dejectedly. "Thanks, but that won't make me play Magift..."

The ghosts, who had been helping to remove the cobwebs from the ceiling, levitated down until they were level with him.

"What's wrong with you, little Gri?" The small ghost asked jovially. "Why do you look more discouraged than usual?"

"He pouts 'cause they won't let him participate in the Magical Shift tournament. Hee, hee, hee!" The big ghost said, amused.

The thin ghost approached Grim's side. "If you want to play that badly, the three of us can be your opponents," he proposed. "90 years ago we were very admired players by the public!"

The ghosts had told them before that in their young life, when they were alive, they were students at Night Raven College.

Grim finally straightened up, but kept his indifferent gaze. "But we need a team of seven, right?" He asked, cross-legged.

"That doesn't matter if it's not an official match!" Said the little ghost. "Come on, let's get started!"

"That sounds good to me!" Yuu said. "Come on, Grim. "This way you can see how it is played."

After considering it, Grim reached over and got off the couch. "Okay, let's go," he said convinced.

"I think I remember we have a Magical Shift disc in the basement, I'll be back in a moment," the tall ghost said before crossing the floor.

"I'm going to prepare the tea and change into the sports uniform in the meantime," Yuu indicated as he got ready to go to his room.

"No need for the latter, you're fine like that," the big ghost told him as he blocked his way. "Just put on your sneakers and let's go outside to prepare the field."

Yuu was wearing the white T-shirt, black pants, and dark shoes he found on his first day. Someday he would have to buy more clothes, he couldn't just wear the school uniforms and the old clothes he found in the dorm all his life. He hoped he could buy some at Sam's store, just as he had done with three pieces of underwear and a new pair of dress shoes for school. He just had to keep saving the money Crowley gave him weekly.

Just as he got outside the dorm, his feet collided with something small. He looked down to see a shoebox-sized package wrapped in white, wrapping paper with a blue and silver star design.

"Hey, what's this? A gift?" He asked surprised before holding it with both hands. "It doesn't say who it is for, did someone order something?"

The big ghost looked at the package with intrigue. "How strange... There's usually a knock on the door when a delivery arrives, but I don't remember hearing anything," he said.

"Neither do I. Maybe the headmaster left it here," Yuu guessed. "But he didn't say anything about giving me something new."

"We'll ask him later," Grim insisted as he descended the front steps. "Now I wanna play!"

The young human stared at the package before placing it on the cabinet next to the entrance.

Everyone went outside, the tall ghost had already returned with the puck while the ghosts placed two stones at different ends to set the goals.

They taught Grim how to levitate the disc with his magic, after which they got into their positions.

"Don't worry too much about the rules, just take the disc and throw it at the goal," the thin ghost said.

"What could I do?" Yuu asked as he was unable to use magic.

"Give Grim directions, just like you did on your first day here," the little ghost advised. "That way you can work together."

"I'm going to make you bite the dust!" Grim exclaimed with determination.

"You better be careful, everyone's going after the player with the disc!" The big ghost warned him. "Hee, hee, hee!"

"Let the game begin!" The little ghost exclaimed.

The way they were playing wasn't hard to understand, Grim had to throw the disc at the goal when he was close enough to it. Just like the ghosts said, they were approaching Grim to stop him, so he had to use his magic to drive them away.

"On your right!" Yuu warned him as he saw the thin ghost approaching them.

Grim blew fire breath from him just in time. "Cool! I'm going to throw the puck at goal right now!

But before he could do so, the big ghost suddenly became visible in front of him. "Boo!"

Yuu was startled and Grim, without letting go of the disc, fell to the ground in shock. "Wha- Wha- What are you doing!?" The monster screamed .

"Hee, hee! I'm getting in the way of the opponent's attack, of course!" Replied the ghost.

"That's not even magic!" Grim exclaimed in annoyance.

They kept playing that way for a long time until Grim and Yuu started to get tired.

"It's difficult to throw the disc!" Grim gasped.

"Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee!" The big ghost laughed. "At this rate you won't be able to play in the tournament!"

"Don't say that, he did pretty well for his first time," the thin ghost insisted.

That opinion filled Grim with pride. "Hmpf! I'm gifted, yanno!" He exclaimed. "You'll see I'll become a highly respected player!"

At that moment, Crowley came walking with his key-shaped cane towards them. "Hello everyone," he called them. "Oh, I see you are playing Magical Shift."

Grim immediately returned to his grumpy expression upon seeing him. "Oh, here comes the cause of my lament," he sputtered slightly with his ears down.

"Good morning, headmaster," Yuu greeted him.

"I see you are getting along with the dorm ghosts," Crowley said cheerfully. "Wonderful, really wonderful."

"Yes sir," Yuu replied.

"No, we're not getting along!" Grim exclaimed in annoyance. "What do you want?"

"I came to ask you for a favor," the headmaster replied. "It's not a simple conversation, so let's go inside."

"Okay," Yuu said as the ghosts disappeared into thin air. "We made tea a few moments ago. It must be at a good temperature by now, would you like some?"

Crowley smiled. "It's very kind of you, young Yuu. I will try to be brief, but I accept the offer."

As soon as they entered the bedroom, Crowley noticed the package resting on the furniture. "This box...?" He asked curiously.

"We found it outside the door," Yuu answered. "There's no name and nobody ordered anything. Have you sent it?"

"No, it wasn't me," he answered, puzzled. "If I were to give you something, it would be personally or I would leave it on a table. But in the form of mail delivery, it would never have occurred to me before. I wonder who gave you this beautiful box? A secret admirer, maybe?" He asked mischievously.

Yuu frowned and blushed self-consciously while thinking of the possibility. "I doubt that," he said. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it were suddenly a trap."

"Well, since I'm here, let's look at its contents," Crowley urged. "Then I'll be by your side in case it is something dangerous."

They entered the living room, Crowley and Grim sat on the couch and Yuu returned from the kitchen with a tray on which two cups of tea were resting.

"Before we start the main topic, let's open this... delivery in question," Crowley suggested.

Yuu nodded as he sat down on the couch, placed the package on his lap and unpacked it, revealing a cardboard box.

"What will be inside? Food?" Grim asked intriguedly.

The young boy lifted the lid and the first thing he saw was a folded paper with the words "To Oshiro" on it. Underneath it were also two pairs of soft socks, one pair black and white-stripped cotton slippers, an MP3 player accompanied by earpieces and a charger cable with a plug.

"What's that rectangular thing?" Grim asked as he pointed to the MP3 player.

"It's called MP3 player, it's for listening to music," Yuu explained.

"I really wasn't expecting something like this," Crowley said, surprised. "What says on that note?"

Yuu unfolded the paper and read it aloud: "'Something for the house and music for educational purposes'". He read aloud and showed it. "It's literally the only thing it says."

"Educational purposes?" Crowley repeated intriguedly. "May I listen to the music from this device?"

The young boy turned it on, plugged in the headphones, put one on his left ear, and offered the other to the headmaster. They both began to hear some happy tunes: "It's a small world after all~!"

Yuu didn't remember hearing that song before, but for some reason it was familiar to him.

"I wanna listen too!" Grim said as he climbed onto Yuu's lap, who put his earpiece on one of his ears. "Sounds like a children's song," he commented. "Hey, it stopped! What happened?"

The headmaster had changed songs, frowned gently as he paid attention and changed songs four times after listening to them for a few seconds, action that annoyed Grim, who wanted to listen to them longer. He paused the device and removed the earpiece from his ear.

"From what little I have heard, I can identify this music as a repertoire of popular songs, including some aimed at a child audience, as young Grim mentioned. In my opinion, whoever sent you this, intended for you to learn a small part of the culture from this world."

"I don't care if I can't hear it now!" Grim exclaimed as he removed the earpiece from his ear in annoyance. "Straight to the point! What's this favor that you wanna ask us? We ain't your handymen anymore, yanno?"

"Oh? But I don't remember ever saying that your needs and living place here were for free," he said before holding the teacup and its little plate. His words made Grim nervous. "Manual labor is a wonderful thing, young Yuu and Grim." He began to drink from the cup.

"He's right, Grim," Yuu sighed. "We have no choice but to hear it. What is it about, headmaster?"

Crowley put his cup back on the table and cleared his throat. "Ahem, then I'll get right to the point," he began. "Lately the number of students injured in suspicious accidents has increased. I'd like you to investigate them."

"That sounds serious..." Yuu commented.

"Injured?" Grim repeated.

"Exactly. Falling down from stairs, getting scalded with boiling water... There are various reasons, but these last days the number of patients in the infirmary has increased dramatically. With the young boy who fell down the stairs yesterday, we have now ten injured students. Fortunately, the injuries are not serious, but there were very few witnesses..."

"Weren't they just being clumsy?" Grim interrupted him.

"It's true that the students are excited about the upcoming Magical Shift tournament. Even so, the number of injuries is much higher compared to previous years. In fact, those who suffered these accidents were top candidates for their dorm teams."

Grim seemed to understand the situation.

"In other words, they aren't simple accidents," Yuu said, "but someone is behind all them."

"Excellent deduction, young Yuu," Crowley stated. "However, I have no proof that this is a sabotage. The victims were injured in places with more that one witness. And all the witnesses said the same thing: "It seemed like they weren't paying attention."

"Then case solved, they were just being clumsy," Grim insisted convinced.

"Dear Grim, that's very irresponsible of you," Crowley told him.

"But it has nothing to do with me," he replied, crossing his legs indifferently. "I still can't play Magift, remember? So I don't care what happens to the tournament now. Ptooey, ptooey."

"Grim, behave yourself!" Yuu scolded him. "This is what we owe the headmaster."

"Easy, young prefect," Crowley told him calmly. "I assumed that Grim would refuse, so I had considered giving him a special reward, but..."

"Hmpf! It won't work this time!" Grim warned. "You would have to give me at least one hundred cans of tuna if you want my help!"

"Then... What about this? You could play in the Magical Shift tournament as just another player.

"What!?" Grim and Yuu exclaimed at the same time in surprise.

"If you solve this mystery, I will give your dorm a special right to participate as competitors," Crowley explained enthusiastically. "What do you think? Am I not the most gracious ever?"

Yuu gulped nervously. "Ramschackle dorm..? Does that include me!?" He thought to himself, trying to hide his terror and concern.

On the other hand, Grim's eyes widened with excitement. "Fna... Ffnaa...?!" He murmured.

Crowley continued speaking with emotion: "Your figure will be broadcast internationally on television. It would also be an opportunity to be surrounded by cheers and applause from the crowd in the colliseum. Everybody will yell things like "Wooh wooh," he exclaimed in a high-pitched voice. "Here comes the new rookie star, Grim."

"Oh my..." Grim said after a tempted smile. "I already can picture it."

The headmaster stopped looking at him to turn his head in mock disdain. "However, you just said that you don't intend to cooperate, right?" Grim froze with concern. "It's a shame, but let's better forget everything I just said. Thank you very much for the tea, young Yuu, I hope we have more pleasant meetings like this."

He made a gesture of wanting to get up to leave.

"Wait!" Grim yelled to stop him and made an effort to swallow his pride. "I'll do it! We'll definitely do it!"

Crowley quickly sat down again at the expected reaction. "Oh? You will?" He asked, surprised.

"As long as I can participate in the tournament, of course I can!" He said with determination. "Right, Yuu?"

Despite what the headmaster said, Yuu was still unconvinced. "But... wouldn't we need a team of seven to participate?" He asked.

"Do not fret, I will take care as the headmaster to perform a magical miracle to do something about the remaining five players" He replied.

"Come on, Yuu. Don't worry about small things now, "Grim insisted. "Let's hurry up and start investigating."

"But..."

"What is this, young Yuu? It's true that the incentive was meant for Grim, but you don't seem very excited about taking part in the tournament," Crowley realized. "Is something wrong?"

"What!? Why!?" Grim asked fearfully.

Yuu rubbed a wrist uncertainly. "The thing is... I understand Grim, but is it really a good idea for me to play in the tournament? The event will be broadcast internationally, won't people find it strange that some magic-less student is there? I'm not very physically strong either."

"Is that what worries you? Viewers may be indeed surprised, but I don't think it will result in a horrible scandal. Moreover, if it is about public image, you would be an example of inclusion, a young student who can play Magical Shift without being stopped by a lack of magic, and all thanks to his faithful monster partner who grants him his magic while they work together as a team!"

"I'm not his partner! In every case he would be mine," Grim complained.

Crowley ignored Grim's comment. "Also, I've seen you play with the ghosts before and you don't seem to be bad at it." He said to Yuu.

The three ghosts appeared.

"The headmaster's right," the small ghost said. "With some training, you could be an exceptional player."

"You just need to have confidence in yourself," the thin ghost added.

"You say it yourself, that we shouldn't let fear stop us. Are you going to let it stop us now?" Grim insisted. "Please, Yuu! I know you aren't very interested in sports, but this is our chance!"

The looks on him, the supportive comments and Grim's plea made him think. It was true that sport wasn't exactly his passion, but it was fun playing with the ghosts; it had been just over a week since he had faced Riddle's Overblot despite the danger, a Magift tournament was nowhere near equal to that, so he shouldn't be so scared by it. Also, it was not common for Grim to ask things with "please"...

He took a deep breath before giving his final answer: "Okay, let's find out the culprit so we can participate in the tournament!"

"Hooraaaaayy!" Grim yelled excitedly. "Then we have a deal!"

Crowley smiled proudly and finally got to his feet. "I'll be counting on the both of you," he said before heading to the door.

"Oh, wait a moment, headmaster!" Yuu stopped him.

The adult turned back to him. "Is there something else?" He asked him.

Yuu wanted to take advantage of the fact that he was with the headmaster to show him the print and talk about it, but he reconsidered it at the thought of how busy he must be with the event. "The point is, there is one thing I need to talk to you about. It has nothing to do with the tournament or the accidents, but I had the intention of telling you for some time... But I can wait, you must be busy now."

"Nothing will happen for stopping to hear you for a few minutes," Crowley said as he approached him again. "What is it about?"

"Oh! Are you going to tell him about your tattoo?" Grim asked. "It was time!"

"Tattoo?" Crowley inquired. "If you're worried about being told something about it, you don't have to. Night Raven College does not have an anti-tattoo policy as long as it doesn't represent anything offensive or dangerous. What's more, students like Savannaclaw's and Scarabia's dorm leaders have tattoos with details of their home countries."

"It's not about that," Yuu interrupted him. "I mean, that's good to know." He stroked his left shoulder. "The thing is that I have never gotten tattoos, but shortly after arriving here I found a strange symbol on my skin, as if it had appeared out of nowhere. I call it a print."

Crowley's bright eyes flickered quickly behind his metallic mask. "Would you mind showing it to me?"

Yuu approached him and raised his sleeve to reveal his entire arm. Crowley examined his shoulder curiously. "Interesting. And you say this... print appeared the day you came to the school?"

"It surely did," Yuu said. "I noticed it the next day. I'm doing my research, but haven't found anything about this yet."

"I haven't seen one like this in my life," Crowley confessed. "However, judging from its shape, it looks like half a whole symbol. Don't you have the other half somewhere?"

Yuu winced as he remembered the shadow girl's right shoulder. "No, I only have this one. But I have had dreams in which someone else had it. I don't know if that counts..."

"How curious... When I find the chance, I will also investigate on this matter. Let me know in case you find something."

"Actually, there's something else. But I'm not even sure what it could be about, so..."

He wasn't sure whether to tell him about the female voice or the sensations on his shoulder, since he had no solid evidence that they were real and not just his imagination... The headmaster didn't seem very concerned about the dream either.

Crowley looked at him. "You have already told me lots of important and useful information today, if there is something that you still don't feel prepared to talk about, you can take your time. As long as it's nothing serious, of course."

"It isn't, sir."

"Very well, then for the moment focus on finding the culprit of the accidents. Once again, I'm counting on you and thanks for the tea."

He finally left.

"You didn't tell me about your dreams," Grim said. "How exactly are they?"

Yuu didn't mention his dream with animals he had previously, but he did tell him about the shadow girl.

"A shadow shaped like a person!? That's scary!" Grim exclaimed with the creeps. "I would have fled! How could you get close to her!?"

"To tell the truth, I'm still not sure why," Yuu confessed, "but I wasn't afraid of her. It's just a dream anyway, I don't think it means anything."

"You don't seem very convinced," Grim noted.

"Well, that doesn't matter now. We have to get ready to go to class."

"Yes, let's investigate so we can play!" He looked back at the box. "It's a shame they didn't send us food..."

"Glutton," Yuu said to him with a laugh as he took the socks and slippers off it to examine them.

"They look like my ribbon," Grim commented. "And the socks look very soft. Let me touch them!"

"What do we say when we want something?"

"Ugh... Please?"

Yuu sat back down and placed the items next to Grim while he took off his shoes.

He felt his feet touch heaven when he put one pair of those socks on. The slippers were also soft and fluffy, so he couldn't help but smile a bit. "So comfy..." He murmured.

Aside from the blankets, those were the first warm thing he had since his first day in the dorm... He wished he could wear them for longer, but that was not going to be possible yet, since he had to get dressed to go to class and begin the investigation.

[Published in 1/1/2022]