On the eve of the tournament, Yuu and Grim returned to Ramshackle dorm, where the ghosts greeted them in the living room.

"We're back," Yuu commented as Grim climbed onto the couch.

"You've arrived later than usual, was today's planning difficult?" The big ghost asked.

During the meetings at Heartslabyul to plan the counterattack against Savanaclaw, Yuu had learned more about Leona, such as the fact that he was older than most of the students because he was repeating a year, and that he became a dorm leader the same way as Riddle, by defeating the previous leader in a duel as soon as he started his first year there. What surprised him most was that Leona was none other than the prince of an entire kingdom, but he was not the next in line for the throne, since his older brother was the current king and had a son who would succeed him in the future. It would never have occurred to him that Leona was royalty.

"Nah, we just went over the final details," Yuu answered as he untied his tie and sat down next to Grim.

"Again," Grim snorted wearily. "Riddle sure loves repeating things over and over again!"

"He wants to make sure everything goes well, tomorrow is the big day after all," Yuu sighed. "Oh, and Lilia says hi."

Grim quickly stood up. "That's right. You should have seen it!" He exclaimed. "We went to visit Yuki before going to Heartslabyul. He wanted to come along and used his magic to make the roses that Ace and Deuce gave her fresh again."

"The roses weren't even that withered, but he insisted they should be on top condition until Yukiko wakes up."

"Really?" The thin ghost asked in surprise. "Lilia is always full of surprises!"

"Any news about Yuki?" The little ghost asked. "Did she react? Did the headmaster say anythin' else?"

Yuu sighed a bit dejectedly. "No, she's still the same... But I asked the headmaster if she could stay here in Ramshackle with us, and he said he had already considered that idea. Is that fine by you three?"

The three ghosts seemed happy to hear that. "Of course it is!" They exclaimed at the same time.

"We'll make her feel like she's at home," the thin ghost added. "And maybe it occurs to me not to scare her too much, hee hee hee!"

"And living with us could increase the chances that the Dark Mirror will sort her here in Ramshackle dorm, yanno? I wanna see it already!" Grim exclaimed.

"We don't know if she's even going to be a student here," Yuu said with a nervous smile.

"But it's good to imagine what her dorm could be," the big ghost said. "You must know her well. Which dorm do you think fits her more?"

Yuu thought about it for a second. "Well, Yuki is cheerful and outgoing... so she might be sorted into Heartslabyul?"

"What?" Grim asked. "Like Ace and Deuce? No way!"

Yuu ignored him and kept weighing the odds. "But I also know that Scarabia's students are energetic and determined, just like her. Yes, I bet it must be Heartslabyul or Scarabia."

"No! She must be in Ramshackle with us as a member!" Grim insisted.

"Do you want her to be a part of this dorm that bad?" The small ghost asked. "Is there any reason why?"

"No, I just want Yuki to stay with us." Grim gave a determined smile. "One day I'll become a great magician that will be known to the whole world, so I have to make sure that we give her the best, yanno!"

Yuu laughed softly, smiled, and looked around. "Whatever her dorm is, she'll be living with us, so I think we should clean the dorm a bit more for her arrival," he suggested.

"You party pooper..." Grim complained. "Oh, I almost forgot: you said you could talk to her through dreams, right? Have you seen her any of these last days?"

Yuu shook his head, he didn't remember any particularly relevant dreams. Even though it was true that he was fed up with those strange dreams, they were at the moment the only method which by he could talk to Yukiko.

"Perhaps tonight is the lucky one," the little ghost tried to cheer him up.

"Have you two had dinner yet?" The thin ghost asked. "If so, get ready and go to bed, it's already late and tomorrow you have a busy day, come on, come on!"

After falling asleep later, Yuu visualized the mirror in his room again. He looked around, and found himself surrounded by a gray space. He was wearing the same white shirt, sandals, and brown pants from the previous dreams.

He wrinkled his nose as he noticed a strong scent in the air. "It smells a lot like dirt," he commented aloud before lifting his left sleeve to see the print glowing with the blue light.

"Yuu!" A female voice sounded close to him.

Remembering the reason why he wanted to have those kinds of dreams, he quickly turned around and found Yukiko, dressed in the same clothes as him. He was touched to see her on her feet after several days in bed and ran to her. Yukiko did the same thing and pulled him into her arms.

"Yuki!" Yuu murmured as he tried to hold back tears. "You are ok...!" His joy made him say that out loud, but deep down he kept remembering they were in a dream.

"It was a nightmare!" Yukiko exclaimed with a tremor in her voice. "Everything hurt, and a black thing came out of me! I was so scared..."

"Me too. I was afraid of losing you!" Yuu answered.

Yukiko was able to take a deep breath to calm herself down and look at him with a faint smile. "But you were there with me, you saved me!" She remembered. "How did you do it? I felt my neck suffocating, but then I felt so much better!"

Yuu quickly wiped away his tears. "I didn't do it without help, but I put a choker on you that sealed the magic."

She put a hand to her neck. "So that's what happened... But then they took me from you and everything turned dark. I couldn't hear any more voices, and knew nothing more about you!"

"Voices? What are you talking about?" Yuu asked.

"Before waking up in the coffin I could hear people talking. It wasn't always clear, so I thought it was just a dream or my imagination... Wait, what's that?"

They broke away from the embrace and looked around. A new set of images formed what appeared to be the interior of a cave. Lying in a corner, Scar was cleaning his fangs with a sharp bone while the bird Zazu was locked near him in a cage made of the white ribs of some animal. He was singing a melancholic song listlessly as he gripped the "bars" with both wings.

"Oh, Zazu, do lighten up!" Scar complained nonchalantly before throwing the bone at him. "Sing something with a little bounce in it!"

Zazu gave him an irritated look and began to sing a nursery rhyme: "It's a small world after all!~"

Scar jumped as soon as he recognized that first verse. "No, no!" He exclaimed insistently. "Anything but that!"

Despite the gloomy atmosphere that surrounded them, Yukiko couldn't help but find the moment comical and laugh.

On the other hand, Yuu raised his eyebrows upon recognizing that song as one he had on the MP3.

Zazu thought again and began to sing a song about coconuts that was enough to satisfy Scar, who moved his claws to the music and glanced at the skull of a small animal. The twins exchanged a stunned look with each other, Yuu didn't know whether to laugh at the situation or question such a strange scene.

But Zazu quickly stopped and growled in exasperation. "I would never have had to do this with Mufasa..." He mumbled.

Suddenly, Scar lunged at Zazu's cage in a rage, scaring him away. "What!? What did you say!? You know the law. Never, ever mention that name in my presence! I am the king!"

That roar was loud enough to push Zazu to the other end of the cage, and Yukiko winced as she comprehended the situation. "Does that mean that he actually killed the previous king!?" She asked concerned.

Yuu recalled organizing the coup from the previous dream, in which Scar intended to kill his brother and his nephew to get the throne. "You're right...!" He murmured. "So that little lion cub...? No, it can't be true..." He shook his head, trying to forget the very idea.

At that moment three hyenas appeared at the entrance of the cave. "Hey, boss," Banzai called.

Scar sighed impatiently and walked away from the cage. "Oh, what it is this time?"

"Scar, there is no food, no water... And we are hungry!" Shenzi began to speak.

"It's the lionesses' duty to do the hunting," Scar answered listlessly.

"Yeah, but they won't go hunt!" Banzai exclaimed.

Scar still didn't seem to care and pointed to the cage. "Oh... eat Zazu."

The poor bird's feathers stood on end. "Oh, you wouldn't want me! I'd be so tough and amey and...!" He nervously insisted.

"Don't be ridiculous, Zazu!" Scar laughed. "All you need is a little garlic."

Fortunately for him, the hyenas were far from interested in the offer and frowned in annoyance. "I thought things were bad under Mufasa..." Banzai admitted to his companions in a whisper.

"What did you say!?" Scar bellowed.

"I say Mu..." Shenzi nervously nudged him to tell him not to finish that sentence. "I said... ¿qué pasa?"

"Good. Now get out," he ordered.

The trio went briskly over the entrance but turned to look at him before leaving. "But we're still hungry..." Banzai repeated, remembering that they hadn't cleared up the matter.

"OUT!" Scar shouted, scaring them away. Ed let out a scared laugh in their flight before the images faded and space gray returned.

"Things don't seem to be going very well with him..." Yuu commented, remembering how majestic the first dream was when Mufasa and Sarabi presented their adorable heir to the animal kingdom.

"I don't understand," Yukiko said thoughtfully. "Didn't he want to be king that much? He set up an army, a speech with lights and everything! Where did that motivation go?"

"Yeah..." Yuu agreed. "It seems that the great schemes he was willing to kill for didn't go well..." He frowned. "No wonder they compare him with that attitude, he doesn't even take it seriously."

"Good point," Yukiko was going to say something else, but they realized that the gray space was beginning to darken.

"The dream is over, there's no more time!" Yuu exclaimed.

"Ok, ok!" She said hastily. "Forget the lion! What happened when they took me away from you? I don't remember anything after that."

"Because you fell unconscious. You've been in bed for several days," Yuu replied.

"Days?!" Yukiko repeated horrified.

The darkness moved closer to them. "I'll tell you more when you wake up or we have more time," Yuu said.

"And when will that happen!?" She insisted as she tried to get away from the first shadows. "How will I know at least you'll be okay?"

Yuu grabbed both of her hands as darkness began to surround them. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," he assured her. "You rest and recover, I'll show you everything when you wake up, I promise! I've told my friends about you, and they are looking forward to meet you."

"Really?" Yukiko asked surprised.

"Even Ortho thought of some games for you, he said something about you two talking about it."

Yukiko laughed softly. "That's right, I told him we'd play together," she said before pulling him into her arms once again. "Then hold on there, I hate to keep you waiting."

"I will," Yuu wasn't able to say more, but he could return the hug before completely disappearing from there.

His mind was still cloudy from exhaustion, but as he slowly opened his eyes, he heard heavy footsteps approaching towards the bed. "Hey, wake up," a deep-pitched voice said.

Yuu groaned and moved slowly to see Jack, dressed in his sports uniform. He glanced out the window and realized from the colors of the dawn it was very early in the morning. Grim was the first to react and get up. "Eh? What are you doing here in our bedroom?" He asked surprised.

"I was doing my morning running," Jack explained. "Today's the day of the tournament, I couldn't let you oversleep."

"Oh! That's right!" Grim exclaimed while remembering the date, and raised a paw with a mischievous, determined air. "We have to catch the culprit so Ramshackle can participate in the tournament."

The ghosts had insisted to make Yuu train over the past few days by playing Magical Shift with them, both to help him give his best on the field, and to distract himself from Yukiko's situation a bit, which had encouraged him a little more to participate with Grim.

The only thing they would need would be more players, but the headmaster had assured them he would take care of that for them. "Yes, let's do this...!" He said with tired enthusiasm before covering his mouth to yawn. "I hope the ghosts didn't bother you too much, but thanks for waking us up..."

Jack stared at him for a second in silence. "Then I'll see you at the stadium, don't you dare go back to sleep," he mumbled before leaving.

After making sure that he had gotten far enough away, the three ghosts peeked timidly out from the ceiling. "Tell me you didn't greet him with a scare," Yuu murmured before yawning again.

"This time we decided not to," the thin ghost admitted.

"We told him where your room was and disappeared, we didn't dare to scare such a... imposing looking guy."

"Did he scare you? You the ghosts!? Grim summed up. "But it's true that Jack has such a scary face..."

The three of them laughed nervously, affirming the assumption.

"I guess that even ghosts have their apprehension," Yuu murmured as he got up, "you should see Leona, he's really scary."

"That's right! And we'll teach him a lesson and participate in the tournament!" Grim exclaimed.

Hours later, the streets towards the coliseum could be seen with the aspect of a fair: countless people of all ages walking animatedly through the place and all observing the dozens of food stalls, souvenir shops, and Magical Shift merchandise.

Unaware that at the very moment Octavinelle's dorm leader, Azul Ashengrotto, and his two henchmen were standing in the crowd waiting to deliver something to a hyena-boy, Grim kept glancing back and forth in wonder and jumped out of Yuu's arms. "Fgnaa!! Look at all this, Yuu! So many things to eat!" He yelled happily. "Churros, fried cake, and even smoked chicken!"

Yuu had also taken in the cheerful atmosphere, but Ace and Deuce, dressed in their dorm uniforms, kept their eyes closed in a crestfallen expression.

"Tch~. In the end I didn't get picked..." Ace lamented.

"Me neither..." Deuce muttered.

"Maybe there's another chance next year," Yuu said to try to comfort them, "and at least we can cheer the others."

"But we've got an important job to do today, we've gotta focus on that," Deuce said determinedly.

"You're right," Ace answered, a little more cheerfully, "let's do our best."

As they talked, Grim sniffed the air and stared curiously at the sign of a takoyaki stall. "What's that takoyaki thing? I wanna eat it!" He exclaimed as he tried to climb onto the counter.

Ace got upset and walked over to him. "Eat. It. Later," he said slowly before grabbing his paw and pulling him gently. "We have to go!"

Then a person moved abruptly and lightly hit Yuu on the shoulder. "Oh, sorry!" A tall, stocky, dark-skinned young man apologized as he chewed on something. "I didn't see you there."

"It's okay. You didn't hurt me," Yuu assured. He took a closer look at him, he seemed to be in his twenties. Two slender animal ears stood out from his tousled, coal-black hair, and behind it protruded a long, thin tail, the tip covered with matching hair.

The man took what appeared to be a piece of candy from a plastic bag and held it out a few inches from his face with some roughness. "Here, as a token of apology! This brand of candy is known for its bug-like appearance and how juicy they are! Want some?"

The young man seemed very friendly, but Yuu took a few steps back and laughed nervously at the stranger's sudden offer. He felt a slight prick in his left shoulder at the sight of that blue caterpillar-shaped treat, of which he also felt uncomfortable seeing something that looked like a bug edible. "Very kind, but no thanks. I'm fine," he insisted, so the young man shrugged and ate it in one bite.

"Pandu, I finally found you!" Another male voice exclaimed from behind them. He was a slim, tanned, red-haired young man who was certainly shorter than the one now known as Pandu. He also had animal features, a thin brown-tipped tail, and floppy ears. "I have the bug-shaped candies, where's the little guy?" He asked as he held out a bag of the same brand as Pandu.

Pandu raised an eyebrow in confusion and finished swallowing. "Wasn't he with you, Thimba? He said that he wanted to wait with you while I bought the candy."

Timba shook his head. "What are you talking about? He was the one who asked ME to buy the sweets while he was staying with you... Where is he? You lost him?"

"He was the one who said he wanted to go with you! He seemed very happy."

"No, he was the one who...!" He stopped to analyze the situation. "Wait a minute, if he said one thing to you and something different to me, that means..."

As if realizing what had actually happened, they widened their eyes, looked around fervently, paled, and took their heads to their hands. "HE FOOLED US!!" They both yelled at the same time in horror.

Still standing there, Yuu and some people in the crowd were startled by the sudden scream and the fight that originated from it.

"Oh no! We've lost the prince!" Pandu exclaimed as he desperately looked around. "I knew he was very excited to see his uncle, but I didn't think he would find the chance to run away!"

"How could you lose him!?" Thimba pointed an accusing finger at him. "Did you let yourself be fooled!?"

"Me!? He tricked you too, it never occurred to us he would mislead us again!"

"Again?" Yuu thought, puzzled.

"If something happens to him we'll be finished! We have to find him!!"

Realizing that Yuu was still there, they both looked at him and Thimba cleared his throat as if that would cover the screaming they just made. "Sorry for the inconvenience," he told him while trying to remain calm, "but haven't you spotted by some chance a small child running around here, right?"

"A child?" Yuu repeated, thinking of the large number of children and families around him.

"Yeah, a five-year-old boy! An adorable, red-haired one, and about this height," Pandu said before placing his open palm a height below his hip. "You've seen him?"

"No, sorry," Yuu denied. "But he must not have gone too far being so small, I hope you find him."

"You heard him! He must not have gone very far, let's go for him! Thimba exclaimed, before decisively opening his bag of sweets. "Let's save the treats for later!"

"Then why are you opening the bag? Well, thanks a lot anyway, little guy," Pandu said to Yuu. "The kid's uncle is going to participate in the tournament, so he's very excited to see him. Maybe you know him since he goes to the same school as you."

"PANDU!!" Thimba yelled from afar.

"Okay, I'm coming! Well, see ya."

Confused by what he had just witnessed, Yuu just waved goodbye.

"Prefect, don't stay behind," Deuce called him, who went back to look for him upon realising he wasn't following the group. "They're waiting for us at the entrance of the coliseum and the players will be here shortly."

"Sorry, I got distracted with a fight," Yuu explained before turning his head back to see that the duo was out of sight. He was able to hide an amused smile as he compared those two to the behavior between Ace and Deuce.

Before stepping through the mirror out of Savanaclaw dorm to meet Azul, Ruggie waited for Leona to go over the final details of their elaborate plan.

"It's almost time for the students to enter the stadium," Leona told him as he wielded a long wooden staff whose upper part represented the bust of a lion that held his magical gem between its jaws.

"We're ready to go, give me the signal anytime," Ruggie answered with a malevolent enthusiasm that Leona shared with a trace of a smile.

"The first to enter will be last year's winners: Diasomnia dorm," Leona reminded him before laughing softly. "Isn't your heart racing?"

"Shi, shi, shi, shi! Let's start with this!"

Moments later, the tournament announcer cleared his throat before his voice came over the fair's speakers. "Uh, ahem... Welcome to Night Raven College Magical Shift Inter-Dorm Tournament. We apologize for the long wait, it's time to welcome our competitors to the field!"

The audience chanted a great cheer full of excitement and desire for the beginning of the tournament.

"Let's start with last year's winner!" The announcer continued. "Can they win a third year in a row? The reigning flash! Diaaaaaasomniaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Greeted with fervor, and led by a silver-haired student and a light-green-haired student, the aforementioned team of Diasomnia students walked down the street with a solemn step, but their faces were barely visible.

On the other hand, the small group of Heartslabyul, Yuu, Grim, and Jack kept hidden from a safe distance. Cater was dressed with Diasomnia's dorm uniform and kept his brows furrowed with effort as he held his magical pen.

"You're doing great, Cater, keep it up," Riddle told him.

"Nobody's suspecting a thing!" Yuu commented with satisfaction upon watching everything.

Jack looked suspiciously around him. "Let's not lower our guard, Savanclaw will attack at any moment," he warned.

In fact, Ruggie was watching from another corner of the fair with a malevolent demeanor as he held a small vial filled with a liquid that could increase a person's magic for thirty seconds.

"Oooooh. There sure are a lot of people around here." A notification ring sounded from his smartphone, and he read a message from Leona. That was the signal. "Let's get this started, shi shi shi!" He laughed before uncorking the bottle. "First, the potion I got from Azul..."

He downed the contents in quick gulps and fought back nausea caused by its disgusting taste. "Ugh! Blegh! What the hell, so gross!" He closed his eyes to hold in the aftertaste. "It tastes like rotten steak!"

Knowing that every second counted, he swallowed hard to reduce the bad taste in his mouth, took out his magical pen, and sighed to prepare himself. "I must concentrate. It's time to use my Unique Magic!" He gave a sinister smile, savoring the great chaos he was about to create. "Run like a stampede of wild beasts! Laugh With Me!"

A flash emitted from his magical pen, and Ruggie started running at top speed. Seconds later, a strange noise rose through the streets and was approaching the crowd.

"What's that!?" A man stammered. "There are a lot of people running through the streets like a parade!!"

As described, a hundred people were running down the main street towards the coliseum, but each one of them had a clear expression of fear and confusion on their face.

"Uwaaaaaah!" A man at the head of the crowd shouted. "My body... Everybody get out of the way! Stand aside!!!"

"AAAH!!! Don't push me!!" A woman who felt her body lose control and joined the group of people cried.

"Run! You're going to get run over!" Another man unable to stop himself exclaimed.

With the speed of the stampede, a great cloud of dust rose from the ground along with the cries of the people from the audience, both those running and people seeking shelter. It got to the point where the items for sale at the nearby stalls trembled from the force of the footsteps.

"What?! What's going on here!?" The announcer exclaimed in confusion as he took a closer look at that stampede. "The audience have started running down the street and dragging others into their charge! Calm down, everyone! Please, calm down yourselves!"

The only person who enjoyed this ghastly spectacle was Ruggie himself, who was using his Unique Magic to force visitors to imitate the same movements as him, in this case running nonstop at great speed. He chuckled down at her as he panted from exhaustion caused by running and exertion. "Azul's magic amplifier is amazing...! I never thought I could control so many people at once!" He felt a strong pain in one of the sides of his body but was able to endure it. "Huff, huff... It's exhausting... but we've come too far to stop now...!" He looked back at the stampede of people and flashed another sinister smile. "Will anyone use magic on all these innocent bystanders? Not even the great Malleus, the prince of fairies and fae, could use it even if he wanted to!" He screamed. "Let this crowd crush you!"

After that threatening speech, Ruggie laughed cruelly. Not with one of his typical hyena laughs, but with an evil laugh capable of shaking anyone who heard him.

Just at that moment, after finally calming down himself a bit and processing the situation, the announcer eventually realized that the stampede was headed straight for the team at the entrance. "The terrified audience is heading straight for the Diasomnia team!" He exclaimed worriedly. "Get out of the way, everyone! Take cover, please!!"

The audience in the stampede panicked as they realized they couldn't move and avoid a horrific accident. Screams saying similar things to the announcer's, cries, and attempts to catch their breath were heard from afar.

From his hiding place, Cater kept brandishing his magical pen.

"Oh no! At this rate, we will be crushed by the crowd!" The worried silver-haired Diasomnia student exclaimed. "Protect Lord Malleus!"

The tall, light-green-haired student desperately searched around. "Come here, Lord Malleus!" Lord Malleus!!" He got upset when he saw the stampede a few steps from where they were and shouted. "We won't make it! They are going to crush us!!!"

"Aaaaaaah! Lord Malleus!!" The silver-haired boy was able to shout before disappearing into the crowd that would crush him along with his teammates.

Seeing his goal accomplished, Ruggie stopped immediately and put a hand to his chest as he caught his breath. "That's it... We did it!" He said between strong gasps that were not able to express the relief, satisfaction, and joy he was feeling at that very moment. Leona was going to be proud of him, and now they had the perfect chance to achieve victory.

He decided to leave before raising suspicions but was not aware that he was being watched.

"Hey, where is he goin'?" Grim asked, surprised to see him run.

"He's going back to our dorm," Jack answered. "He's going to tell Leona he finished the work."

Cater was finally able to breathe calmly, and put his magical pen in his pocket. "They'll be soooo disappointed when they realize we've gotten ahead of them," he commented between soft gasps.

[Published on 29/6/2022]

To Be Continued...