The girl could not stop panting. The pain in her shoulder was as persistent just as the fiery red light emanating from it.

Ortho wiped the sweat from her forehead with some toilet paper. He tried to remain calm, but deep down he was quite worried about the uncertainty of the situation. "Breathe," he urged to help her calm down. "Try to breathe through your nose. In, out. Mr. Lilia Vanrouge will come back with help, you will get well, and then meet your brother soon. You'll see!" 

She was scared, but still had hope that this nightmare would end soon. She looked away from the disgusting black ink she dumped into the sink and tried to say something, but she only managed to sneeze violently, creating a powerful trail of magical sparkles.

"Bless you." The android said before checking the gem in her magical pen. "Look, you're doing great! Your gem hasn't been stained any further. Keep it up!"

"Thank goodness..." She murmured before covering the light on her shoulder with her left hand in attempt to reduce the glow, but she quickly took it away as she felt some strong sensation of heat from it.

"You shouldn't touch it!" Ortho insisted. "We don't know what it is and could get worse. I know, let's search for some information. Maybe there's something that will help us until Mr. Lilia Vanrouge comes back."

He created several holographic screens in which a large amount of text appeared with images attached. Ortho looked at them in frustration. "Lights in the skin, burning clothes... This may take a while. Oh, you didn't get to tell me your brother's name! Maybe he was one of the students we ran into before, as you said."

The girl coughed a bit before telling him his name, which Ortho took with surprise.

"Do you know him?" She asked after noticing his reaction.

"Not personally, but I've heard of him. He had a bit of notoriety for being magic-less until he helped to solve an incident in Heartslabyul. But you were right, we had come across him before! I should have figured it was him, you two are very alike."

The girl's chest filled with hope, she was getting closer to finally being able to see him and solve the doubts that had plagued her since she had woken up. Talking about it seemed to help, as the pain in her shoulder eased to the point of being more tolerable.

"That could be it!" Ortho exclaimed when he saw the changes in her vitals and noticed she was panting less. "Come on, let's keek talking like this to distract you from the pain until the others come."

At that very moment the door opened, Ortho undid his screens and the girl hurriedly covered her face with her hood.

Meanwhile, Lilia questioned several nearby Heartslabyul students until one of them claimed seeing Riddle in the inner courtyard. He teleported there and ran to him as soon as he saw him. He was with more people, including Ramshackle's prefect and his friend, the little monster.

"Riddle, I finally found you!" He exclaimed with concern.

"Lilia Vanrouge," Riddle said upon seeing him. "Is something wrong? Just now we needed to talk to you about something related the Magical Shift tournament, haven't you found Cater along the way?"

"No, but there is no time for that. We have an emergency!" Lilia said with a serious look. "We may need your Unique Magic!"

Everybody turned their attention towards him.

"My Unique Magic?" Riddle repeated. "Why? Are there any students fighting?"

"Not at all, but right now a young girl is having trouble controlling her magic and she's creating blot as a result. I'm afraid she might fall into Overblot if we don't stop her!"

"Blot!?" Grim, Ace and Deuce repeated in alarm before looking at Yuu, still sitting on the bench.

"A girl?" Jack asked. "Could she be...?"

Yuu looked at the black choker in his hands, read the letter once more, and winced as he understood the situation.

"I think it is an extreme measure to use your collar for this case, Riddle. But I can't think of any other..."

"It must be her!" Yuu interrupted as he jumped to his feet.

"What?" Grim asked, stunned.

Yuu approached Lilia with the letter in his hand. "Could you tell me where she is? It says here that I must give her this choker to help her."

Quickly, Lilia read enough to get an idea of ​​what was going on. "Where did you get this from?" He asked, surprised. "These chokers are not so easily obtained."

Grim got off the bench. "They don't? Well, some kind of magical dove just gave it to us, yanno!"

Lilia raised a confused eyebrow.

"I know it sounds weird, but we'll explain it later," Riddle said with a serious look. "You said it's an emergency, right? Take us with her!"

"Okay, let's hurry up!" Lilia urged before taking off running, followed by Grim, Riddle, and Yuu.

"We'll go with you!" Deuce said. "Are you coming with us, Jack?"

Jack was confused by the situation, but he didn't seem to have any intention of following them. "This has nothing to do with me, go without me!"

"Seriously?" Ace asked incredulously. "Aren't you the least bit intrigued by what you just saw?"

Taken by surprise, Jack looked away for a second and noticed the white choker, still placed inside the box. He snorted, put the lid on it, and took it with him. "I'm... I'm only going because he left this behind!" He insisted. "I understand that he's in a hurry, but he shouldn't be so careless and leave his stuff lying around."

"Whatever you say," Ace snorted before taking off running.

They hurried off, and Lilia led them down the halls to the restroom where he had left her with Ortho.

"Lilia, you said she was creating a blot, right?" Riddle asked. "What kind of magic was she using?"

"That's the strangest thing, she did absolutely nothing!" Lilia replied.

"What did you say!?" Deuce exclaimed.

"Is that even possible!?" Jack asked.

Ace, Deuce, Yuu, and Grim didn't recall hearing anything similar in the warnings the headmaster had given them.

"I know it sounds impossible, but her magical gem is showing blot stains despite having done nothing. Apparently, she is generating magic in her body, she had to regurgitate and expel the blot that accumulated in her stomach."

Ace shuddered just imagining that disgusting scene. "Are you saying she threw up blot!? Gross!"

"But how...!? I thought that the blot excess was expelled directly to the outside!" Riddle exclaimed, remembering the dark mist, the ink, the smoke, and the body changes he experienced when he was falling into Overblot.

"I don't know, but it was a terrible experience for her. It was the youngest of the Shroud brothers who found her. He is with her near here."

However, upon reaching their destination, they found the young android in the hallway, talking to Professor Trein. Behind them was a Savanaclaw student with hippo ears and a pained expression as he clutched his arm.

"No, she didn't use magic of any kind!" Ortho said insistently. "Mr. Lilia Vanrouge!" He exclaimed upon seeing him.

"Here we are, I've brought Riddle!" Lilia said before looking around. "Where is the girl?"

"She's gone!" Ortho answered with concern. "She was with me just a few minutes ago..."

"What!? Why, what happened!?" Grim asked.

"After Lilia Vanrouge left, we decided to wait inside the restroom in case she got nauseous again. Then this student came in and quickly noticed the blot that she had expelled in the sink. He got scared and tried to attack her... And then..."

"What happened? Did he hurt her!? Deuce exclaimed with a mixture of fury and concern. He was not going to forgive a Night Raven College student for daring to lay hands on a girl.

However, Ortho shook his head. "Not at all!" He said decisively." In fact, she defended herself! When we asked him to calm down, he tried to grab her and she elbowed him in the chest, kneed him in the stomach, and knocked him to the ground."

"What!?" Everybody exclaimed at once while the student tried to move.

"I'm sorry..." The student muttered in pain.

"Go back to your class, go to the infirmary if you consider it necessary," Trein told him. "But we are not done with you, you tried to attack someone and there will be consequences for that!"

The young man lowered his ears head down and said something under his breath between grunts.

"She knocked down this guy!?" Grim questioned as he watched him go. "But he's super tall, yanno! Is she a giant girl?!"

"She is exactly 3 centimetres shorter than Lilia Vanrouge, but she did it without much difficulty anyway," Ortho replied. "But after that, the light and the pain in her shoulder intensified much more, she panicked and ran away. I tried to stop her, but she didn't listen to me and I lost sight of her..."

Except for Lilia, the rest didn't understand what he meant by light, but they knew it must not be anything good.

"Wasn't it that the excess of magic is dangerous if it is combined with negative feelings such as anger or fear?" Ace asked, aware of the influence of negative feelings.

"Yes, she's going to get even worse if she's terrified!" Riddle exclaimed. "We have to find her as soon as possible!"

"I came across her on the way here, she was able to avoid me when I tried to stop her," Trein added. "I could see some kind of light in one of her shoulders, that is why I just asked the young Shroud if she had used magic to confront her attacker."

Yuu put his left shoulder almost involuntarily as he imagined the scene and thought of his dream from the night before.

"No, she didn't," Ortho repeated. "Her movements were quick and precise, I wouldn't be surprised if she had talent in martial arts."

Still thinking about the dream, his heart stopped for a moment, and Yuu gulped at the sound of the words 'martial arts'. At that point nothing sounded like a mere coincidence anymore. His intrepid decision to give her the choker turned into pure fear and concern as he realized that the person he believed she was, was in danger. "By any chance..." He began to say with a trembling voice. "Did she tell you her name?"

"Yes, she told me her name was Yukiko..." Ortho looked at him and looked him up and down before gasping. "That's right!"

"What...?" Yuu asked, confused.

The android approached so quickly that he would have bumped into him if Yuu hadn't backed away. "She mentioned you and even told me your name, Mr. Yuu Oshiro, she was impatient to see you!"

"Yukiko was looking for me!?"

"Yes! We ran into you before, when you were chasing Mr. Ruggie Bucchi, but you didn't notice each other until she recognized your voice. Do you remember the hooded student who was pushed to the ground? That was her!"

Yuu shuddered even more, he had seen her before and hadn't even noticed her! A small part of him inside felt excitement, but a much larger part was invaded by fear.
"I need to find her!!" He exclaimed as he snapped out of his thoughts with an involuntary rise in voice. "Where did she go!?"

Ortho frowned worriedly. "I saw her disappear at the end of this corridor..."

"Oshiro! What does this all mean?" Trein asked. "Do you know anything about this situation?"

Yuu held out the letter insistently. "Here! Read this and maybe you will understand! I have to go," he said before running away.

"Hey, wait!" Ace exclaimed. "You have no idea where she is!"

"Bad henchman, come back here!" Grim exclaimed before running after him on all fours.

"You just told me that I'm not going to change things by myself!" Jack yelled insistently. "Do you think YOU will with being this impulsive!?"

Yuu just wanted to get out of there, but he heard them and stopped immediately. Even if he knew how to resolve the situation, he had no plan nor was he going to be able to do much on his own if she was out of control. He tried to catch his breath as he walked back to the group. "You're right, I'm sorry," he murmured with a tremor in his voice.

"First, tell us what do you know about this Yu..." Riddle commanded before sighing in frustration. "Excuse me, I have never heard a name like this before. Could you repeat hers again?"

"Yukiko," Yuu replied, certain that he did not know anyone else with the same name. "Her name is Yukiko Oshiro."

"Oshiro?" Deuce repeated before his eyes widened. "Does that mean she's your...?"

"...Sister!" Ortho interrupted him. "I was the one who found her, she was inside a gate in the Mirror Chamber... She was sick and got gradually worse after being pushed to the ground."

"Hold your horses!" Ace exclaimed. "If she's your sister, would that mean she came from your world? How?"

"She doesn't know, she doesn't even remember getting on the Black Carriage," Ortho explained. "She said that her most recent memory was seeing her brother in a dream."

"Does anything like that sound familiar to you, prefect of Ramshackle?" Lilia asked. "Is supposed to be a legend, but it is a kind of dream where people communicate with each other in their sleep."

"Well, to tell you the truth..."

"This is not the time to discuss that!" Trein demanded. "The headmaster and the teachers are on their way. Vanrouge, let the rest of the dorm leaders know in case we need them." Lilia nodded and disappeared in the blink of an eye. "Who gave you all this, prefect? Is that the choker mentioned here?"

"Yes, I just received it," he said as he nervously showed him the accessory in his hand. "I don't know who wroter it, but it says here we need to give that to her. She must be just as confused and scared as I was on my first day here!"

"She is, her magical gem won't take much more blot at this rate," Ortho added.

Jack handed over the box he was holding. "He received everything here, there's another choker inside" he informed before looking at Yuu. "She must be getting worse as we speak, we have to act right now."

"That's true," Trein said. "She will feel safe if she sees someone she knows. That's why, Rosehearts, I leave the plan to find her in your hands, I'm going to warn the students around so they can take refuge in case she gets worse. I'm also taking this with me, Oshiro, the headmaster has to see it," he said as he put the letter inside the small box.

They both nodded at the same time before watching him go.

"Yuu, I know you're not going to like hearing this," Riddle said in a soft tone, "but if for some reason we aren't able to give her the choker, I'll have no choice but to use Off With Your Head on your sister as a last resort. You are aware of that, right?"

Yuu frowned before looking back at the soft, silk choker in his hands. "I know, and I understand..." He murmured. "But we're going to save her, I know!"

"Let me see that choker, please," Ortho requested as he created a holographic rectangle to investigate. "Normally these are usually made of metal or electricity, and they are widely used in prisons or hospitals, so they should not have the appearance of an ordinary accessory," Yuu shuddered upon hearing that information, he did not like to imagine his sister in places like those. "Does it really seal the magic?"

"We'll find out, let me try it," Deuce insisted as he held out an open palm.

"Are you sure? No, wait!" Yuu exclaimed, but Deuce had already put it around his neck and his face twitched in discomfort.

"Idiot! Are you okay?" Ace asked with slight concern.

"Yeah, it just stings a little." He took out his magical pen. "Come forth, cauldron!" Nothing happened. "Come forth, cauldron! Cauldron!" He repeated, but nothing materialized either. "Yes, it seems to work! It's exactly like Rosehearts' collar."

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go find her!" Grim decided.

"That will be difficult in a short time, we'll have to separate into groups," Jack suggested.

"Okay, then Ace and Deuce will go with..."

"AAAH!" Grim yelled suddenly as he backed away, interrupting Riddle and startling the others.

"What's wrong now!?" Deuce exclaimed.

"Look at the floor!" Grim pointed to what appeared to be dark ink stains in the shape of shoe prints that receded jaggedly along the corridor. "These just appeared out of nowhere next to me!"

"That's Yukiko's trail!" Ortho exclaimed. "She ran right over there."

"Now this is convenient," Ace commented, surprised.

"If this is blot she produced, it must mean she got worse for them to appear. She is going to fall into Overblot!" Riddle exclaimed, thinking about the horror he experienced days ago.

"Not if we can help it!" Yuu exclaimed, before following the path of footprints.

"I will follow you soon, I'm getting the teachers," Ortho said.

She felt like a fool for running away and leaving behind the only company she had in that unknown place. She had tried to find a way out, but ended up getting lost in that labyrinthine building.

The red light and the pain were gone, giving her enough strength to try to seek shelter in what appeared to be an inner courtyard with a well, but instead, she had trouble moving, and her body was enveloped in some sort of dark mist that conveyed a negative vibe full of fear and sadness. Ortho and Lilia had told her to stay calm, but at that point it was impossible, her breathing was heavy, and in case someone actually wanted to help her, there was no one near. If she was having a nightmare, the only thing she wanted to do was to wake up.

Desperate, she stopped by the well, fell to her knees, and tried in vain to resist the urge to cry. The mist around her became darker.

She was completely alone, she wasn't going to find her brother, she would not thank the people who helped her and was going to be swallowed up by something terrible... She had not realized the path of inky footprints she left behind.

"The trail ends here!" Jack exclaimed upon reaching the inner courtyard. "There she is!"

"Hey, girl!" Grim exclaimed from afar. "Get up, we have to put a necklace on you!" He tried to approach her after not being heard, but the thick fog made it difficult for him to pass and backed away as he coughed.

"We can't go through here!" Deuce exclaimed.

"It's too late to reach her!" Riddle exclaimed as he took out his magical pen. "Off With...!"

"Wait!" Ace exclaimed while extending an arm in front of him to stop him. He had a hunch after noticing that the mist seemed much lighter than Riddle's during his fit of rage, and pulled his magical pen out. "Leave this to me!" He exclaimed before lifting it up to the air. "Tempest!"

His idea worked, the mist dissipated with the wind caused by his magic, something that was noticed by the girl, who raised her head upon feeling the force of the sudden wind and looked around in confusion.

"Path's clear!" Grim exclaimed.

She tried to stand up, but her body was too weak to react, lost her balance and fell face-first on the ground.

Jack took the chance to catch up to her. "Get up, this is not the time to give up!" He said before grabbing her below her shoulders to lift her up and secure her with his arms, no matter that the girl tried to resist.

She was not very willing to cooperate after what happened with the previous student. "No, let go of me!!" She shrieked desperately while trying to free herself from those strong arms. "I just want to get out of here!"

Before her body could produce even more black mist from her fear, a person ran towards them and stopped right in front of her. "Yuki, Yuki, Yuki!!! It's me, it's me, it's me!"

The mist output vastly reduced, there was finally a familiar voice! She looked up, her eyes wet with tears and smudged with a mixture of corroded eyeliner and some burning, black inky. She thought for a second to be hallucinating. "Yuu?" She asked between gasps.

"Yes, it's me!" He exclaimed, unable to contain his emotion. "Trust us, this is going to help you!"

He didn't waste another second and finally put the choker around her neck, after which the girl screamed at an intense, cutting sensation there.

Yuu feared he had made a mistake upon seeing her like that, but the mist and blot footprints and tears immediately vanished into thin air, and she could gradually catch her breath.

Ace lowered his magical pen, but Riddle kept brandishing his as he stared at the girl. "Is it over?" He questioned doubtfully.

Not sensing any other danger, Jack carefully began to release her. "Looks like it, but she's exhausted," he noted.

Released from his grasp, Yukiko tried to get up once more, but she staggered dizzily and fell forward, punctuating Jack's words, and Yuu caught her in time to wrap his arms around her and settle her on his lap.

Grim peeked out curiously, Jack stepped back to give them room, and the three Heartslabyul students cautiously approached. "Is she gonna be okay?" Grim asked, still nervous about what he had just witnessed.

"She will," Yuu assured before wiping away the sweat, tears, and makeup stains from her face. "My, you're burning hot..."

Riddle still wasn't convinced the circumstances were safe, but he reached into the inside pockets of his jacket for something. "Here, use this," he handed him a handkerchief. "Don't touch her face without washing your hands."

"Thank you," Yuu murmured as he accepted it.

After he finished cleaning her face, Yukiko tiredly opened her eyes and felt slightly dizzy. "Is it really you...?" She murmured.

"Yes, it's me, Yuki." He nodded, moved. "I'm here... And you're here, too!"

"What happened?" She asked, disoriented. "Did I hurt someone?"

"Aside from that guy you gave a good beating, nobody else."

"I only defended myself, he went after me first, I swear..."

"Don't worry, I know," Yuu assured before unbuttoning the collar of her shirt so she could breathe better, and adjusted her choker. "You need to rest now, you've been through a lot."

Grim was confident enough to approach the girl. "You better thank us!" He said with arrogance and malice. "We also went through a lot to save you, yanno! I accept payment in cans of tuna."

Yuu glared at him. "Not now, Grim!"

Conversely, Yukiko raised her eyebrows in surprise as she took in the little cat-like monster. She was about to ask about him when the sound of quick footsteps grew louder.

"They are here!" They could see Ortho exclaim from afar to tell the teachers.

Yukiko smiled slightly at her new friend's voice as Jack and the Heartslabyul students made way for Vargas, Trein, and Crewel.

"Did you make it?" Trein asked before glancing at the siblings sitting on the ground.

Finally, Riddle looked at the tired girl again and put his magical pen back in its pocket. "It was a success," he nodded with a proud smile.

"Shroud explained everything to us, you're all good boys!" Crewel exclaimed with a mixture of pride and relief in his voice. "Let us take care of the rest from here on."

Vargas approached the twins and crouched down with his arms outstretched towards Yukiko, who gasped upon seeing him. "NO!" She exclaimed with energy as she tried to push him away with a weak slap.

"It's okay, he's a teacher," Yuu said to calm her as he gently held her wrist. "He's here to help."

"What are you gonna do with her?" Grim asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry, I'm just going to take her to the infirmary," Vargas answered with a serene glance. "We'll make sure she's okay there."

Yukiko closed her eyes and pressed herself insistently against her brother to clarify she didn't want to move from there. On the other hand, Yuu sighed and took one last look at her before pulling her into his teacher's sturdy arms. "Don't be afraid, I'll be with you," he assured her.

He finally noticed the burnt clothes on her right shoulder and gasped when he noticed a big, blue print that was clearly familiar to him...

"There... All right, let's go," Vargas said before slowly getting up with her in his arms and running back into the school, followed by the other two teachers.

Yuu got up and started to go after them, but a sudden hand grabbed his shoulder with strength, stopping him in the act. He felt metallic spikes dig into his skin.

"That's enough, prefect!" Crowley's stern voice said. He had also apparently been there with them. "You heard Mr. Crewel, we teachers will take over from here."

"Please, let me be with her!" Yuu implored before watching Vargas go away with Yukiko. "I just told her I'm going to be with her, she needs me!" He swallowed hard. "I need her...!"

Crowley sighed and relaxed his demanor along with the intensity of his grip, just holding him. "Young Yuu, I heard everything. I can see that you care about your sister and I understand it perfectly," he said with a reassuring tone. "You and your friends have done a great job saving her, you really have, but it's been a tough day for everybody, now let us take care of her while the situation calms down - she's going to be fine."

Seeing that he had no other choice but to oblige, Yuu wrapped his arms around himself and sighed dejectedly. "Fine..."

"Very well, now try to calm down, you have permission to skip class today if you consider it necessary. I'll let you know when it's possible to see her." He followed Vargas' path and walked away with his cane. Grim, Ortho and the others approached Yuu.

"Are you okay?" Ace asked him.

He nodded silently and sat down on a nearby bench, Grim climbed in next to him and couldn't help but look at him with concern. "Hey, we were so cool over here, yanno?" It was the first thing that occurred to him to say. "Let's make sure to tell her everythin' when she gets better!"

"That is right, Mr. Yuu Oshiro," Ortho added. "The choker ended up being the key to save her."

"Yes, thank you very much, guys," Yuu murmured, outlining a weak smile. "I couldn't have done this without you..."

'Do you need to talk about this?" Riddle asked him. "You must have a lot of mixed feelings."

"I'm fine, really," Yuu insisted, but the break in his voice gave him away. "We just have to wait and..." He could not take it anymore and tears began to form in his eyes before finally falling into a loud sob. It was the first time everybody there saw him cry...

Grim didn't hesitate to climb onto his lap to lean on him and wrap his paws around him in a small hug.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to..." Yuu said as he stroked his back and wiped his tears with his sleeve. "But this is way too much...!"

Ace and Deuce didn't take long to sit on both sides of him, the former putting his arm around him and the latter placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Everything will be fine," Deuce assured him.

"I'm sure of that," Riddle said convinced. "If I was able to recover from the Overblot, she will undoubtedly be safe as she didn't end up falling."

Yuu nodded once more before softly crying again.

On the other hand, Jack stared at the scene not knowing exactly what to say or do, but the worried frown on his face showed that he was not entirely indifferent towards it.

[Published on 24/4/2022]