During the afternoon after the incident, Trein was walking towards the school infirmary with Lucius resting in his arms and found the headmaster standing in front of the open doors.

Crowley had asked the teachers to go back to their duties after making sure the girl was okay, so Trein did not hear much more about the situation. "Good afternoon, headmaster. Do we have any news about the girl?" He asked.

"Good afternoon. She stopped producing blot and has no more abnormalities, but she is still unconscious since Vargas brought her here. The incident left her exhausted."

"It is good to know she is fine... And what about him?"

"He's much calmer now, but still shaken," Crowley sighed. "He came running when I told him he could see her now."

The teacher glanced inside and observed compassionately the prefect sitting in a chair next to one of the beds. "Poor boy... He gets transported from another world, and when he finally gets to see his family, it is in this unfortunate way," he whispered ruefully. "If something like this happened to any of my daughters..."

"We can tell he is trying to be strong," Crowley said. "I told him he could skip classes today if he needed it, but he decided to go anyway from his third period."

"His last class today was with me, I could tell he was trying not to think too much about the situation to focus on the lesson."

Lucius mewed as if he wanted to corroborate that fact.

"I remember you telling me that he made a quick progress in your subject of History of Magic, right?" Crowley asked.

"Yes, he made good use of the book about basic History I gave him on his first day, he always asks questions when in doubt, and he never fails to do his homework. He is a dedicated student in the subject, I wish I could say the same for Grim, but I trust Oshiro to help him improve."

"I'm sure of it," Crowley agreed before looking back at Yuu. "I took a look at the security camera footage after the young Shroud explained everything, we could see a Black Carriage entering school last night. Nobody noticed this arrival, nor we were informed about it."

"It is already the first time in years since a Black Carriage brings a girl here. How is it possible that her magic got out of control without even using it?"

Lucius groaned softly and closed his eyes. He had noticed nothing strange in that nice girl in whom he had felt some good vibes.

"Let's not forget the crucial factor that she came from a world where magic does not exist. She should be magic-less like her brother, but that's not the case. There have been cases where people develop their magical energy later in life, but this is as sudden as it is strange."

Trein remembered that morning trying to stop that frightened girl who ran down the hall. "Could I ask if something was discovered?" He asked. "Any possible cause for what she has just experienced, for example?"

"The answer for that is in the anonymous letter that our young Yuu received. It does not explain how or why this happened, but it is made clear that this girl has certainly come from another world, and unlike her brother, she has magical energy. But it is so intense that she can't control it, and her body is unable to take it, so it does something like turn against her and hold into her insides, endangering her health."

Trein blinked a couple of times as if he wanted to make sure he had heard correctly. "What?"

"As a consequence, her body produces internal accumulations of blot by itself to the point of falling into Overblot," he looked at him. "It is even described to us as if a machine were turned off, but a powerful internal energy source forces it to work on its own without stopping until it deteriorates with its own waste, can't take it anymore, and ends up exploding. It's truly disturbing..."

That would explain the accumulation of blot in her stomach, it was possible that the same thing happened in other body parts.

Lucius hissed nervously.

"Magical energy that turns against its own wielder!? That's horrible!" Trein exclaimed before clearing his throat to compose himself. "The ability to use magic and create spells has always been considered a blessing, but this case sounds like a curse..."

"Fortunately, a lot of curses can be lifted. The key to help her lies in those mysterious accessories sent for her." He pulled the crystal-adorned, white lace choker that Trein gave him that morning from his pocket. "According to the letter, this one will help filter and regulate the magic in her body until it reaches normal levels and is no longer harmful to her. Not without effort, of course."

The teacher closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. "I've never heard of a similar recovery method before, but this is good news. What should we do from now on, headmaster?"

"The first thing we should do is wait for her to wake up. The situation was solved quickly, and no one was injured. We won't need any medical help outside the campus. Everything is under control."

"Understood, then I will take my leave now, sir. Feel free to tell me if there's anything I can do to help," Trein said before taking one last look at the prefect.

Crowley thanked him and walked over to the bed where the sleeping girl lay, the covers pulled up to her shoulders. Her robe was taken off for her comfort, now placed at one side of the bed. On the counter beside her lay an unlit candlestick and Yukiko's magical pen, which gem was still visibly tainted with blot. The young boy looked up from the two sheets that made up the letter and placed them on his lap when he heard someone approaching.

"Is everything alright?" The headmaster asked. "Has she reacted in any way after you got here?"

"No..." Yuu muttered. "I've tried to talk to her, but she didn't even flinch."

"We need to be patient, the nurse calculated it could take a while for her to wake up, maybe even days."

"I thought so," he replied, disappointed for having to wait again to talk to his twin sister.

Crowley looked for another free chair, placed it next to Yuu, and sat down. "I may not have had the chance to meet her yet, but your sister must be a strong, brave person if she could withstand adversity like this. Could you tell me her name again?"

"Yukiko," Yuu replied. "It was our father's idea to give us similar names because we are twins. Hers means 'snow child'".

"Such a beautiful name," Crowley said with a smile that turned nervous, "but I confess I will have some trouble pronouncing it correctly... It's certainly a curious one and longer than yours, young Yuu. I would ask if it would be okay if I addressed her as Yu, but that already sounds like your name, so..."

The young boy already took with humor the fact that his name was considered unusual. Apparently, Yukiko's was also going to attract the attention of everyone who heard it. "At home, we usually call her Yuki, you can do it too if it's easier for you."

"Yuki..." Crowley repeated thoughtfully to make sure he was doing it correctly. "Very well! It will be my pleasure to welcome young Yuki when she wakes up. I am very kind after all!"

Yuu laughed softly. "Thank you." His smile faded upon remembering his uncertainty. "But I don't understand, how could she have ended up here from our home? The same way as me?" He glanced at the papers. "I've read this letter several times, but it says nothing about that..."

"It's a mystery we haven't found the answer to yet," Crowley said calmly. "But aside from that we still have the fact that she nearly fell into Overblot."

"But how!? She can't use magic either! We magic-less people shouldn't have that risk."

"That's certainly what I said, but we have already seen that this is not her case and now she can use magic. And the people who saw her claim not to have noticed anything that would cause her to accumulate blot."

Yuu nodded before taking a deep breath to regain his composure and look back at his sister. "That is said here... Strong magic that makes you fall into Overblot by just having it? Is that even possible?"

"There have indeed been cases where people develop their magical energy later than usual, but it's the first time in my life that I've heard of a case like this. It would never have occurred to me that magic could harm people just like that."

"Me neither..." Yuu murmured.

"You were right to open the box without consulting me before, a little more and we would have acted too late..." Crowley had to resist the urge to scream for just thinking about another Overblot.

"Yeah..." Yuu thought of the white dove that had given him the chokers. "The box wrapper was the same as yesterday's, do you think they are from the same person?"

"That was exactly the first thing that came to my mind, the handwriting of yesterday's note and this letter are also similar. But what intrigues me the most is the sender of the letter. Yesterday I joked that they could be a secret admirer, but they know enough about this situation to conveniently give us what she needed and explain what we should do."

Yuu hadn't thought about that. "I don't know who it could be..."

"At the moment, we only have more questions than answers. The good news is that we still have details that could give us clues. For example, have you seen her right shoulder?"

Yuu nodded and moved to the other side of the bed. He uncovered his sister's right shoulder to see again a symbol identical to his: a sky blue semicircle with a small circle of the same color attached on top of it pointing forward.

It did not take much attention to see that the skin around the print was still red after that flash of light.

"She has the same print as me," he commented.

"Exactly. Apparently, the red light you mentioned was emitted by this symbol on her skin. Has it ever happened to you?"

Yuu remembered that the only times the print lit up had been only during her dreams, and it was always a blue glow. The same had happened with the shadow girl, who had turned out to be Yukiko. He decided to share this information with the headmaster.

"Did you meet your sister in your dreams? Was that what Vanrouge and the little Shroud were talking about?" Yuu nodded. "Was this one of the things you still weren't sure about telling me yesterday?"

"Yes... I thought it was just a dream. I didn't know it was her until last night."

"I see," Crowley said thoughtfully. "It sounds like these symbols establish a link between you that manifests in dreams, allowing your communication through them. It would still be necessary to investigate how and why you have them."

"But the lights were blue in those dreams, and it didn't hurt," Yuu repeated, "why would it have shone red on her before?"

"It occurs to me that the red light was like an alarm and indicated that the magic was hurting her."

Yuu covered her sister again, sat back, and looked at the white choker, still in the headmaster's hands. "This is supposed to remove the harmful magic from her, right?" He asked, thinking about the information in the letter.

"Apparently yes," Crowley said before handing it over to him. "We will give it to her and explain everything in detail when she wakes up, so make sure to keep this safe."

"And when will she wake up?" Grim asked suddenly from the ground.

"As I said..." Crowley took notice of the new arrival and turned to look at him. "Oh, Grim! I didn't hear you arrive."

Ace and Deuce also entered the infirmary, the former holding a bouquet of red roses in his hands.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Deuce said. "Is it a bad time?"

"No, we were just finishing talking," the headmaster said. "Did you need something?"

"Not exactly," Ace said as he held out the bouquet. "We came to see if the 'only family' time was over."

Crowley looked at them in surprise and smiled with emotion. "Then, with your permission, I will take my leave. You must want to talk about many things," he said before standing up. "Call me if anything comes up." He stopped suddenly. "Oh, before I forget! Some students who participated in the rescue aren't here, but let me congratulate you on your teamwork! As a teacher, I am proud to see that you are making great progress."

Stunned, the two Heartslabyul students widened their eyes at what they had just heard. "No way! We only did it to avoid a bigger disaster," Ace insisted.

"Exactly...!" Deuce stammered. "I had no choice but to team up to save an innocent girl who was in danger. I mean...!"

Seeing his friends behave as usual made Yuu perk up a little more. "You're never going to change, are you?" He asked while crossing his arms.

"What a beautiful friendship..." Crowley said, moved. "Well then, if you'll excuse me." Grim and the three young boys watched him go before focusing on the girl.

"Anything new?" Deuce asked as Grim climbed onto the bed. "Do you know when she's waking up?"

"No..." Yuu muttered. "But she's safe as long she's with the black choker. We only have to wait."

Realizing that he was losing heart again, Ace handed him the bouquet of roses. "Here, to wish her well," he said proudly. "You said she liked roses."

Yuu's eyes lit up immediately. "Really? They are beautiful! Thank you so much, guys!" He exclaimed before receiving them.

"It's nothing, it was Cater's and the dorm leader's suggestion," Ace explained. "He made us pick some from the garden."

"You got excited when you said you thought it was a good idea, remember?" Deuce sighed.Ace's face reddened slightly, and she looked at him with annoyance. "You little...!"

The discussion stopped before even starting with Yuu's sudden soft laugh. "So considerate! I'll make sure to thank them too," he said before moving the candlestick to one side of the counter and carefully setting the bouquet down.

On his part, Grim approached Yukiko's face and gently patted her forehead, waiting for some reaction. "Yuki?" He touched her again. "Yuki, wake up! Nothing..." He growled with a feeling of defeat before sitting down on the mattress. "There's no choice but to wait to talk to her, damn!" He looked around and reacted as if something was missing there. "Hey, wasn't Jack with us?"

Deuce and Ace looked behind them. The latter headed to the door to look at the hallway.

"Jack? He came here with you?" Yuu asked.

"Maybe he changed his mind and left without saying," Deuce guessed.

The answer was quickly found when Ace peered down the hallway. "Don't stand behind if you want to come! You come, or you go."

Ace went back inside, followed by Jack.

"Hello..." Yuu greeted him, surprised to see him there.

"Hello," Jack returned the greeting before looking at the girl on the bed. "It's okay for me to come to visit? It's not like I've done much."

"Don't say that!" Yuu insisted. "Not only did you help me put the choker on her, but you also stopped me from acting impulsive when I got upset."

"Of course, I couldn't stand it if you acted alone right after telling me it would be useless." He looked at Yukiko and gently clenched his fists. "But your reaction was normal, I would've done the same if any of my little siblings were in danger. How is she?"

"Better, I was told that her gem would have turned completely black if we had been late just a few more minutes."

"Really!? Grim asked before reaching for Yukiko's magical pen and holding it with both paws. "Look! There was only a tiny-meeny space left unstained!"

"It's been like this since they brought her," Yuu added before grabbing it and showing it to the others. "The blot isn't gone yet..."
Ace gulped and remembered his battle against Riddle in his Overblot form. "We avoided a disaster at the last moment..." He murmured.

"I know..." Yuu sighed.

"And what about you?" Jack asked him. "Are you feeling better?"

"Way better than this morning," he admitted, "still processing that my twin sister appeared out of nowhere and almost exploded with ink and blot..."

"Do you need to back down for a while?" Jack asked again, receiving a puzzled look from him. "I'm talking about you-know-what, I wouldn't be surprised if you needed to back down after someone important to you went through something like this."

Yuu winced slightly and looked at Yukiko. Was he discouraged enough to stop Savanaclaw's plot? "No, I'm not going backing down," he said determinedly. "I gave my word to get to the bottom of this situation, we've come too far to stop now. She wouldn't want that either."

Jack smiled slightly. "You're way more determined than I thought. You said it yourself, you better not run and hide like you did during our fight this morning."

Yuu laughed nervously, and Ace sighed slightly embarrassed before smiling proudly.

On the other hand, Deuce smiled determinedly. "We'll avenge Clover, we won't let Kingscholar and Savanaclaw have their way," he reminded.

"And we'll get the spot for the team!" Ace exclaimed.

"Good thing ya don't wanna back down!" Grim exclaimed, relieved. "For a moment, I thought my glory days as a Magift star were over, yanno?

"Don't worry, Grim. I would never do that to you," Yuu assured him.

"Of course not! You are my henchman after all, yanno? And then Yuki will join us, she has the ceremonial robes and everything!" He walked over to the robe laid out on the sheets and inspected it. "What!? The shoulder's torn!!"

"Yes, that part burned off," Yuu explained.

Small tears welled up in Grim's eyes. "How could this happen!?" He whined. "These robes are so cool and a bit of evil magic ruins it...!" He went over to the girl's shoulder again and pulled the blanket away. "Is the shirt ruined too?"

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" Deuce snapped, about to grab the monster away from the sleeping girl.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" Yuu stopped him by holding an arm in front of him. "It's not like he will do anything weird."

Grim stopped short, and his ears perked up in surprise. "Eh? Yuu, look at this! She has the same tattoo as you!"

"The print you showed us?" Ace asked, surprised.

Although it had taken him a little longer to show his print to the headmaster, Yuu had already done so with Ace and Deuce shortly after Heartslabyul's incident.

"Do you really have a tattoo?" Jack asked. "I would never have imagined it from you."

"Not exactly," Yuu explained. "It looks like one at first glance, but I've never gotten tattoos. It's like a printed symbol. I have it here, on the left shoulder."

"You said it showed up on you out of nowhere," Deuce remembered. "I guess it's the same with her."

"Apparently yes, but on her right shoulder."

"I remember it," Jack said suddenly. I could see something blue in her when the teachers took her away, but I hadn't given it much thought."

"I thought the same," Ace said as he walked over to see her. "It's true, it's identical to yours!

"Can I see it?" Jack asked before leaning out too. "What the hell is that symbol?"

Grim noticed that Deuce hadn't moved from his spot. "What's wrong? Don't you wanna see?" He asked him.

Deuce blushed slightly. "Of course not! I'm not going to stare at an unconscious girl," he exclaimed, distraught.

"Don't be so nervous, we're just examining the print for a minute, the headmaster already did it before with the nurse," Yuu said before covering his sister again anyway.

Ace tried to suppress a laugh. "You got just as nervous when you realized you took a girl by the hand," he scoffed.

Deuce blushed quickly. "I just helped her to get up!" He exclaimed nervously.

"You were the only one of us who considered to stop to help her," Yuu added, "I'm sure Yuki appreciated that."

"You think so? I mean...!"

Ignoring the conversation, Jack pointed toward the door with his thumb."Not to be in a hurry, but I think we should go," he said. "They're waiting for us at Heartslabyul to start the planning.

"Are you coming, Yuu?" Ace asked him. "Or are you going to stay a little longer?"

"No, now I'm going with you." He approached Yukiko again and gently patted her head. "I'll be back soon, Yuki, rest well."

He gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, scooped Grim up in his arms, and left with the others.

"Now that I think 'bout it," Grim said as they walked down the hall, "if Yuki woke up in the Mirror Chamber with the robes and the magical pen, does that mean she's gonna be a student at Night Raven College too?"

With all the fuss and worries on his head, that thought had not even crossed Yuu's mind.

"A girl in an all-boys school?" Ace asked, puzzled. "Will they even let her?"

"If the Dark Mirror finds her fit for Night Raven College, I don't see why not," Jack opined.

"And she at least meets the minimum of being able to use magic... More or less," Yuu murmured, somewhat discouraged.

Realizing that, Grim raised his front paws and grinned. "That means she's gonna be sorted in a dorm," he said excitedly. "I hope she's in Ramshackle!"

"If that's the case, it would be great if she was in Heartslabyul too," Ace joined. "What do you think, Deuce? The only girl in school in our dorm!"

Deuce, who didn't seem too excited by the idea, closed his eyes in embarrassment. "It's not that I have a problem with that, but I don't know if I'd get along with her. I'm not used to talking to girls..."

"Why not?" Yuu asked, realizing that Deuce did not talk about that before. "Don't you have any girl friends where you live?"

"No," Deuce admitted. "I get very nervous when I'm around one, I'm afraid to say something to them and hurt their feelings. In fact, in middle school, girls used to stay away from me, lots of boys too..." Ace and Yuu realized that she was talking about his delinquent days. "The only girl I talk to is my mother."

Hearing that, Yuu wheezed to hold back a joyful laugh in vain.

"Hey, it's not funny!" Deuce complained. "I don't have the same skill as you!"

"Sorry, I don't think that's a bad thing," Yuu said, outlining a smile. "But maybe you'd feel comfortable around Yuki, she doesn't usually have problems to get along with boys, and if she likes you she's very approachable."

"Really?" Deuce asked, a little more relieved.

"Seeing how short she is, I'm surprised she could take that dormmate down," Jack said with a curious note in his voice.

"She's a black belt in karate," Yuu explained, "she likes sports and usually works out, so she has enough strength to take down someone taller than her."

"That's right! You told us before in Heartslabyul!" Grim remembered. "I'll tell her to teach me how to make good moves, so I'll get strong too!"

"I don't think even strength can make up for your small size, Grim," Ace laughed.

"What!?"

They finally reached the Heartslabyul dorm, where Riddle, Cater, and Lilia, dressed in their dorm uniforms, were waiting for them in the living room.

"You're on time," Riddle commented upon seeing them, "have you been cautious?"

"No one from Savanaclaw has seen us," Jack assured him.

"Very well," Riddle nodded, before looking at Yuu. "How is she doing?"

"She's unconscious but fine," Yuu said before remembering something and reaching for something in his pocket. "Oh right, here's the handkerchief you lent me, I've washed it. Thanks again."

"The others told me everything," Cater said. "Did they give you the roses? You said a couple of times that your sister likes them, so we thought we'd give her a few of ours."

"She'll love them, thank you very much!" Yuu said before looking at Lilia. "Your name was Lilia, right? I didn't get a chance to thank you for helping my sister, she'd be lost if you hadn't taken us with her..."

"It was nothing. I am glad I could help," Lilia interrupted with a kind smile. "I'll give her a more appropriate welcome when she wakes up."

"Okay, we're all gathered now. Let's get started with the plan," Riddle said before sitting down on his heart-shaped throne. "But first, is Malleus aware of Savanaclaw's threat, Lilia?"

"Yes, we members of Diasomnia dorm are on the alert. I hope it's not an inconvenience that I came alone, Silver and Sebek insisted on staying with him to stand guard, but it's also good for me this time to avoid suspicion. I will share with them everything discussed here."

"No problem," Riddle said calmly. "We are still on Tuesday anyway, we have until the day of the tournament on Saturday."

"Thank goodness..." Ace whispered, relieved. "It would make me nervous to be next to that dorm leader..."

"Me too..." Deuce murmured back.

Yuu had heard rumors about Diasomnia's dorm leader, which went no further than how powerful and terrifying he was or how difficult he was to approach. He didn't think he had seen him before but was unable to imagine a scarier dorm leader than Leona Kingscholar himself...

It was getting late when they finished with the organization for that day. They still had a week to go until the day of the tournament. Jack agreed to pay attention to learn more about the machinations in his dorm and update information.

That same night, decens of Savanaclaw students were gathered in their dorm's living room. There Leona was glaring at a nervous Ruggie fiercely.

"Ruggie, I heard those guys from Heartslabyul came after you this morning," he growled sternly. "I told you not to leave evidence, idiot!"

Ruggie managed a nervous smile. "You're wrong...!" He stuttered. "I can explain... I wasn't chased because they had proof, you don't have to worry about that. Also, have you heard about the girl? That one who suddenly appeared? The school hasn't stopped talking about it! I'm sure no one will think of paying too much attention to us for a few days anyway."

Leona clicked his tongue in annoyance, but he calmed down knowing that his plan was not going to be derailed. "Right, the girl who knocked down one of our students..." Leona said thoughtfully, before frowning and looking around. "He totally deserved it for being such an idiot. I'm going to say it again: next time anyone else here dares to hurt that girl, I won't be so 'merciful' to him!"

Ruggie and several students swallowed hard at that warning, it was known by many that Leona respected women and would not tolerate the opposite behavior, so that reprimand towards that student had not been pleasant at all...

He had not only heard the news from students and Diasomnia's vice-dorm leader, but also the headmaster himself. Crowley told him and the rest of the dorm leaders about the situation of a young girl who couldn't control her magic, and she was non other than the twin sister of that little herbivore who had taken pictures of them the day before.

He couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her, but he didn't have time to think about it. "I paid a high price to that nasty octo-punk from Octavinelle for his help, if anything goes wrong I'll fry you," he warned Ruggie. "Be prepared."

"It's the main dish that's being prepared smoothly," Ruggie answered calmer.

"We'll make sure those Diasomnia bastards pay!" A brown-haired young student said decisively.

Ruggie got vibrant just imagining the scene. "Ah~. I can't wait for the tournament already. Malleus Draconia, all beat up and kneeling before Leona! The world will admire us after that~." He smirked. "Someone might even want to scout a hyena like me!"

"The pro-leagues will fight for us!" The previous student said. A student with zebra ears nodded in agreement.

Leona sighed in satisfaction at the enthusiasm of her students. "Nothing's happened yet and you're already getting excited like you've already caught your prey." He gave a small, proud smile.

"And your popularity will skyrocket too, dorm leader Leona!" The zebra-eared student insisted.

"Everyone in Sunset Savanna will definitely think you should be the king!"

Leona's good humor dissipated after hearing that. "Effort and family lineage are two completely different things," he murmured before bringing a hand to his temple.

Ruggie didn't understand what he meant, but he knew something was bothering Leona. "What?" He asked, puzzled.

"Nothing," Leona insisted before yawning and starting to leave. "I'm going to bed, now get out."

Seeing him behave as usual made Ruggie ease his concern. "Understood. Good night, Leona."

Making sure he was alone, Leona put a hand to his head again. "Being the top at school won't change things..." He growled to himself.

Just at that moment, when Yuu had been able to get asleep after such a difficult day, he could once again hear the same sinister dripping sound he heard the day before...

[Published on 23/5/2022]

To Be Continued...