Moments later, Yuu and Yukiko went to sleep peacefully and, as night fell, they visualized the mirror in Yuu's room before finding themselves back in that gray space they were so familiar with: both were wearing the same clothes as the two previous times.

"Another dream? That's two days in a row!" Yukiko exclaimed as she looked around.

"Let's see what we have this time," Yuu replied.

The images didn't take long to appear and the twins found themselves on the shores of a beautiful lagoon under a clear night with the full moon overhead.

"Look, it's them!" Yuu exclaimed and pointed at Ariel and Eric, they were sitting in a small wooden boat and the prince was in charge of the oars.

"So she ended up becoming a human..." Yuu commented when he noticed Ariel sitting with a pair of legs instead of her striking mermaid tail. "Look, isn't she wearing the same dress as you? She's even wearing the bow!"

They quickly realized that Ariel was wearing exactly the same dress as Yukiko: with the blue skirt, the bodice, and her half-up hair held in place with the matching bow. They were already aware that Yuu was dressed the same as the prince, but it was the first time they saw the mermaid in human clothes.

Yukiko didn't like that revelation: "Wait a minute... Doesn't that mean that you and I are dressed...?"

"...just like a couple in love?" Yuu finished, quickly catching on.

It was just clothes that the dream gave them to adapt to the scenarios, but the twins no longer felt exactly comfortable with that choice.

"This is intolerable! I demand that we wear the same thing again!" Yukiko shouted into the void. "Either you give me pants too or you give him the same dress!"

"Shh, look!" Yuu urged when a red crab named Sebastian began to sing a romantic serenade to help Ariel and encourage the prince to kiss her to fulfill his part of the deal with Ursula and be human forever.

The twins got carried away by the romantic serenade. They frowned in frustration when Eric finally leaned in to kiss her but ended up feeling embarrassed and threw his head back, even though Ariel was ready to receive the kiss.

"Almost..." Yuu whispered.

The couple kept sailing until they reached a weeping willow with long branches that grew in the middle of the lagoon.

"You know, I feel really bad not knowing your name. Maybe I could guess..." Eric said to Ariel and stopped rowing to think. "Is it... Mildred?"

Ariel denied it with a face of disgust.

"Okay, no." Eric laughed. "How about Diana?" Ariel shook his head. "Rachel?"

"Ariel! Her name is Ariel," Sebastian yelled impatiently from his hiding place in a whisper.

Eric looked back and wondered if that voice had been a figment of his imagination.

"Ariel?" He repeated and the girl nodded with a big smile. "Ariel? Hm, that's kind of pretty. Okay. Ariel.

"Aw...!" Yukiko exclaimed.

"Looks like it's going well," Yuu commented having a good feeling. "The song was a great idea."

"Kiss the girl!" Yukiko exclaimed, repeating the lyrics of the song.

The music continued and the images jumped to the moment when Ariel and Eric were about to share a tender kiss. The twins and the animals that had worked together to create the romantic atmosphere looked excited and expectant...

But before their lips could even touch, the boat suddenly overturned and they both fell face-first into the water.

"What!?" The brothers screamed in unison, Yukiko even putting her hands on her head.

The images immediately focused on the moray eels Flotsam and Jetsam, who laughed evilly and shook their tails like a handshake to congratulate each other for ruining the moment.

"Hey, that was on purpose!" Yukiko screamed angrily.

"Why? That's her condition for the deal!" Yuu said.

The images darkened and showed Ursula in her underwater grotto, who watched everything unfold in some images her magic cauldron showed.

"That was close! That girl is tougher than I thought," she muttered and held the shell that hung from her neck with both hands. "I'll show you how far my magic can go!"

And once again, they jumped to another scene into the future: Ariel was once again a mermaid under the sea, she was held captive by the two moray eels, each one holding her by one arm, and Ursula was talking to a merman with a blue tail and strong muscles despite his advanced age, revealed by his long beard and gray hair. His golden crown, bracelets, and the huge trident he carried revealed his status as a monarch.

"Look at her, she's a mermaid again!" Yuu exclaimed. "So she couldn't kiss him!?"

"Enough, Ursula! Let my daughter go!" King Triton demanded not only with the authority of a ruler but also with all the fear a father can feel seeing his child in danger.

"Not a chance, Triton! She's mine now!" Ursula exclaimed victoriously as she showed him the contract with Ariel's signature. "But I might be willing to make an exchange: her, for someone even better..."

Realizing that she was referring to him and his position as king of the sea, Triton was petrified.

"So, King Triton, do you accept the deal?" Ursula inquired.

With no other choice, the king closed his eyes in resignation and used the powerful magic of his trident to transform Ariel's signature into his - there was nothing more important than his beloved daughter.

"No!" The twins shrieked at the same time.

And they didn't know what happened next, because the images stopped and the stage went dark, indicating that the dream was over.

"Wait...!" Yuu shrieked towards the void, but just like before, to no avail.

"Did you see that!? That witch never planned to play fair! She cheated!!"

That was the only thing the girl could say before being swallowed by darkness.

Hours later, Yuu slowly opened his eyes and found himself in Leona's room.

He rubbed his eyes and reflected on the dream he had just had with his sister.

Yukiko was right: Ursula never had the intention of helping Ariel become human and be with the boy she liked and sabotaged the perfect opportunity so that she couldn't fulfill her part of the contract, and enslave her.

That whole description sounded horribly familiar...

"Could it be that these dreams are linked to real life?" He wondered.

It wasn't the first time, it had happened before with the Queen's tyranny, similar to Riddle, and Leona's meticulous plans to harm people, just like Scar did...

...And now Ursula's rigged deals weren't much different from Azul's.

He could say they were mere coincidences resulting from a bizarre combination of reading so many books, going through so many problems at school, and, perhaps, some strange intervention from the mysterious prints on their shoulders. But he was less and less convinced that it was just that.

And speaking of the king of Savanaclaw, he was still asleep in his bed.

"I doubt he'll get up soon after all the tumult last night", Yuu thought, almost surprised that the emergency plan he had organized with Yukiko actually worked - if he had thought of doing something like that after his first encounter with Leona in the botanical garden, he would never have seen the light of another day...

It was still early in the morning, but he couldn't go back to sleep. He decided to start packing his things, knowing that it was his last day in that dorm.

He was careful not to make any noise and avoid waking Grim and Leona, but the latter got up anyway.

"Oh, good morning, Leona," Yuu greeted him quietly.

Seeing him so cheerful and working early in the morning only irritated the dorm leader even more: "Oh, you're already awake. How dare you look so fresh as a daisy this early? I barely got any sleep with the mess you made last night."

"We had no choice," Yuu thought to himself.

Leona clicked his tongue as he lazily got out of bed and put on his dorm uniform shirt. "Today's the third day of the agreement, which means I'll be kickin' you out at sunset no matter how it goes," Leona reminded him and pointed a finger at him. "Be prepared."

That last word gave Yuu a small cramp in his left shoulder, but he ignored it. Leona was right: there was only one day left to complete Azul's contract, and it wasn't even a whole day, they only had a few hours...

Yuu would be lying if he said he wasn't afraid of what might happen, but the plan they had made the night before after "persuading" Leona had a small chance of failing.

"I'll keep that in mind, and we'll be prepared," he replied. "And before I forget: thank you very much for letting us stay here, despite how much you disliked the idea. I won't forget it!"

"Hey, don't bow down, remember that in the end I only did it for Yuki's sake," Leona insisted. "Although you have the guts to do what you did and go so far for your causes, despite being nothing but an herbivore. I must admit I didn't expect that at all."

Yuu's eyes widened; it was very unusual of Leona to praise him and say something good to him. "You mean it?"

"Don't get used to it. More importantly, you better finish there: time won't stop for you."

Several hours later, after morning lessons, Grim and the twins met with Ace, Deuce, and Jack and spent lunchtime in the inner courtyard to discuss the latest strategy discreetly; Yukiko only agreed to be there on the condition that she sit not facing the well.

After telling them the plan they had devised for the day, the Ramshackle students got a look of complete disbelief from Ace, Deuce, and Jack as if it sounded completely crazy.

"... Are you serious?" Jack asked, breaking the silence.

Yuu did not lose confidence and nodded: "Today we're going to the Atlantica Memorial Museum," he repeated.

"Woah, woah, woah! Didn't we agree that getting the photo was a no-go because of the Leech brothers!?" Ace hurried to say, feeling chills just remembering that horrible chase from which they had no choice but to flee.

"Even I think that's a little too crazy..." Deuce admitted nervously.

In response, Grim smiled from ear to ear and clicked his tongue while waving his finger. "Tsk, tsk, tsk... Come on, guys. You've gotta listen to our plan first..."

He stopped immediately when he felt a discomfort in his throat and coughed hard.

"Hey, what's your problem? Caught a cold or something?" Ace asked surprised; he had never heard him cough like that before.

Grim rubbed his snout. "No! I was yelling a lot last night... But that doesn't matter, yanno? I'm gonna tell ya what we have for today. Listen up..."

After some explanations, the three of them yelled a scandalized "WHAAAAAT!?".

"Lower your voices! We're eating here for a reason," Yukiko scolded them in a low voice.

"But are you serious? That's wild stuff!" Ace questioned, utterly overwhelmed.

Still nervous, Deuce was able to smile proudly. "Wow, you really have determination when you put your mind to it, Yuu," he praised.

"I gave him a little push," Yukiko insisted; she also wanted to receive her share of the credit.

"But you really think it's going to work?" Jack questioned while weighing the risks and probabilities of something going wrong.

"We've come a long way, so I think we have no choice but to gamble on Yuu's idea - there's not much time left until sunset," Deuce proposed.

"True, I'd rather not stay here doing nothing and wait until sunset to come and go," Ace added.

Jack exchanged glances between both Heartslabyul students and finally nodded. "...Fine. Then let's not wait any longer, let's go," he looked at Yuu with some pride. "Yuu, in the end, you're not so different from Yuki: there sure isn't anything stopping you once you get an idea in your head."

"Well, sometimes you're a bit too bold," Ace commented, remembering other times when Yuu would put aside insecurities and embarrassment and express himself without holding back. "But anyway, let's do this!"

"Let's go to the Atlantica Memorial Museum to get that photo, yanno!" Grim exclaimed, determined. "But make sure ya do your part over here, alright, Yuki?"

"Of course I will!" She exclaimed, raising a fist. "I may not go with you to the museum, but now I completely refuse to stay put while you go at it."

She didn't mean it badly, but Jack and the Heartslabyul students looked at her in silence until Deuce spoke up: "Yuki, I..." He murmured regretfully, barely looking into her eyes. "I'm really sorry for saying that yesterday - I didn't mean to make you feel left out, much less because of your magic."

Yukiko stopped smiling and crossed her arms as she looked at him. She was still upset by the comments from the day before and wasn't sure about accepting his apology. "Well, I avoided yesterday's ambush, but it's not like you guys had a chance of winning either."

Jack groaned helplessly just remembering that event. He wanted to protest, but the words wouldn't come out: she was right, after all.

"You're right," Deuce replied, "I was worried that you got hurt or something like that from your first day happened again, but it was still unfair to you. For that, and for not thinking about how it would make you feel... I'm really sorry."

Still not entirely convinced, Yukiko raised an eyebrow.

"Same here, I'm sorry too," Jack finally said. "I told you the other day it'd be better if you didn't come with us, but you won't get any stronger if you just keep sitting here doing nothing. It's not like everyone is good at Flying Lessons, but Vargas will never let you ride a broom at this rate..."

Yukiko's expression softened, at least he remembered it was a sensitive topic for her.

"Ace, shouldn't you say something to Yuki too?" Yuu asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ace frowned and sighed in annoyance. It was obvious that his pride wasn't making it easy for him. "Fine. I'm sorry too, for being so insensitive yesterday," he finally said and looked away. "I'd be pissed off too if anyone disregarded me so many times in a row - as if I were some incompetent fool!"

Even Yukiko's resentment had a limit: she couldn't stay angry at boys she considered her friends after they had sincerely apologized like they just did.

"Alright, guys: I forgive you," she sighed. "I'm sorry for getting so angry, too. I know you care about me, and that all of this is... still very new to me. But I don't need a reminder to go slow so I don't feel worse when using magic, everybody's doing it already. And if that wasn't bad enough, we're starting with spells in class soon. Yuu at least has Grim, but it's hard enough for me not being allowed to ride a broom - I won't stand it if they won't let me do spells either!"

That was another subject they had barely discussed since the anemones incident: the teachers had told them that they would start doing more practical exercises with magic after the exams, so Yukiko tried to practice for more time other, simpler spells like color change to do something aside from levitation. The excitement after changing the grey of a stone into a vibrant yellow just by visualizing it in her head had been ruined by a strong dizziness accompanied by fever, which led the Ramshackle ghosts and the nurse to insist that she stop and keep going step by step to avoid overwork and stress that would worsen the production of blot. That was another reason why they gave her the pills for nausea.

Yuu didn't have a shred of magic, but at least he had Grim doing the spells for him, she only had her magic and was afraid of being considered useless for not being able to do even the minimum. Not even Azul, a skilled dorm leader with a great ability for magic, considered hers as suitable for making deals and helping her friends; even if that was not a disadvantage, it had been a blow to her already wounded pride.

"So, please: let me show what I am capable of doing, with magic or without it, at least just this one time!"

"Of course!" Yuu exclaimed as he held her hands. "I know you'll do great, and you're going to be with Leona and Ruggie anyway."

Deuce gulped before continuing: "I... I know you can do it, Yuki! Do your best!"

Glad to have things sorted out and finally expressing how she felt, Yukiko smiled excitedly.

"For the record, I wasn't worried, I just told you not to complain so much," Ace replied indifferently, causing Jack to scold him with a strong elbow. "OW! OK, I'll stop...! But hey, you've got your chance now, so get out there and make sure you give Azul a good run for his money!"

"We have our part of the plan, so make sure you don't fail yours. And don't forget that the dorm leader will be there, so make him proud," Jack reminded her in a friendly manner.

"Then let's not waste any more time, yanno! To the museum!" Grim exclaimed.

A few moments later, after taking the potion that allowed them to breathe underwater for the second time and finding their way to the museum like last time, the little monster and the four boys got an unpleasant surprise:

"IT'S CLOSED!?" They shouted when they read the "Closed" sign hanging on the museum doors that would not allow them entry.

"Are you kidding me...!? Talk about worst timing..." Jack lamented.

"Could it be that the Leech brothers knew about this and that's why they didn't attack us?" Deuce commented. He already found it suspicious they didn't see them all day.

"Well, it's possible..." Ace growled and looked around.

"Are we supposed to turn around with our tails between our legs now?" Jack grumbled, refusing to leave after coming all that way.

"... Wait a minute. I have an idea," Ace suddenly: "I saw in a docummentary another entrance at the back, let's go through there."

They swam until they reached the back of the building. Just as Ace said there was an entrance similar to that of an underwater cave that was easy to access since there were no doors. However, that was the same reason two merman guards were estanding outside, a young one and an elderly one that seemed experienced: both had their torsos exposed except for a blue cape that indicated their position and were armed with two large tridents similar to the king's from Yuu's dream. It must be a common weapon in the world under the sea, he thought.

"As expected of a mermaid world, the guards here are also merfolk!" Grim commented with some frustration.

"Why are you stating the obvious...?" Deuce snorted.

"I know, I'm gonna distract the mer-security," Ace proposed confidently.

That worried Yuu: "What? It could be dangerous! How do you plan to do that?"

"Relax, trust me," Ace assured with a malicious smile. "I'll keep their attention on me, and you guys sneak in from the back and get out that photo."

"You gonna be okay by yourself?" Jack questioned having doubts similar to Yuu's.

"Come on, Jack, you're too good for your own good," Ace replied. "If Deuce did it instead, he would get tripped up part way through, so leave this to me."

Deuce got angry but was unable to say anything back because Ace left, and he had to admit that he wasn't completely wrong on that...

Ace swam to the main entrance and the others hid from afar to see if the plan worked.

"OH, NOOOO!" Ace started to yell dramatically. "Are you serious!?"

The commotion caught the attention of the guards, who went to investigate the main entrance "Hm? Hey, young man, is something wrong?" The veteran guard asked confused when he saw him with his hands over his head.

The plan was working, so Ace continued with his act: "Tell me it's not true! Is the museum closed today? I can't believe this, I was looking forward to come here so much..."

The old merman noticed Ace's legs. "Oh my... What a strange tail fin you have... Wait a minute, you're a human from the surface! Did you come all this way here by yourself?" He asked, impressed.

"Yes, sir! I've admired the world of mermaids since I was a little kid!" Ace exclaimed with feigned excitement. "In fact, I was able to save up my allowance to buy a potion and finally come here. Maaan, a real merman! Do you mind if I take a closer look?"

Far from being annoyed by the sudden human's insistence, the guard felt some pride - it was good that people from other places, especially young people, were curious and felt admiration for such different places and cultures, even more so that the relationship between humans and merfolk had changed for the better throughout history.

"O-oh, really? Would you like to see my dorsal fin, too?"

"Wow, that guy's good at lying through his teeth," Grim commented, not knowing whether to be impressed or disappointed.

Seeing that the distraction was going swimmingly, Ace winked at them and raised his thumb, giving them the green light.

"This is our chance, let's move," Deuce said, and they quickly swam to the now unguarded entrance.

They entered from the back and, guided by signs and maps, were able to find the entrance.

The main hall was a large, spacious room with elaborate underwater-style architecture and well lit by the vaulted ceiling with openings that let in sunlight from the surface.

"This must be the place Azul told us about," Jack commented, pointing to the walls of the entrance adorned with dozens of picture frames of various shapes hanging on the wall or placed on the rocky recesses. "Photo commemorating the visit of Horace XII, court musician," he read. "Another one commemorating the visit by the fourth princess. There sure are lots of these, no wonder nobody will notice if one is missing."

"The photo commemorating Prince Rielle's visit ten years ago shoud be..." Deuce examined with his gaze until he came across what appeared to be a school group photograph. "Ah, here. Is this one?" He began to read the description engraved on the plaque below: "'Prince Rielle, visiting with his schoolmates'. Looks like it's when they came in elementary school field trip."

Grim took a closer look. "They're just a bunch of little merfolk," he commented, not finding anything special, just a little red-headed merman in the center that must be the aforementioned prince.

"Why would that guy order us to get something like this?"Jack wondered out loud, thinking the same thing as Grim.

"No idea... But whatever the reason, we must take this and bring it back so we can get rid of these anemones on our heads!" Deuce urged as he got the photo down from the wall. "Let's grab it and go."

Jack went into alert mode in case the alarms went off for stealing something from the museum, but nothing happened. "It didn't trigger the alarm. I guess it really is just a commemorative photo... Kinda underwhelming."

He had to give Azul some credit for telling the truth and not sending them to steal something valuable.

Yuu wanted to take a closer look at the photography, but the large stone sculpture he caught out of the corner of his eye came first: it seemed to be of someone like a muscular king with a long beard carrying a trident. "Wait a minute, isn't he...?"

"Huh? Hey! What are you doing here!?"

Seeing that the commotion had only been a human tourist who had come at the wrong time, the young merman guard let his superior take a break chatting with him and returned to his position, then he noticed some movement nearby and decided to investigate it inside the building. That's when he caught the intruders red-handed and pointed his sharp trident at them like a spear.

The students felt their blood run cold at that very moment.

"Oh, no! It's a guard!" Grim shrieked.

Being the shrewd Savanaclaw student that he was, Jack acted quickly and used his magical pen to magically throw a cloud of sand that blinded the guard before he could get a good look at their faces. Now that he was distracted, Deuce secured the photograph in his arms and everyone fled to the exit as quickly as possible. "Run for it!" He yelled.

They made it outside without any further ado and saw from afar that Ace was still distracting the guard without any problem.

"...And I really love the story about the human prince and the mermaid princess, my grandma always read it to me when I was a kid," he continued talking happily, keeping the distraction.

"They made that into a movie, right? My wife and I went to see it when we were young," the endearing merman added with nostalgia and enthusiasm. "Ah, it's been thirty years since then, but the final scene when the princess and her father hug each other still brings tears to my eyes."

"I know, right! That scene really stays with you!"

"You really know a lot of things despite being so young."

"Ah, that's because my big brother's a huge movie buff, and the songs are the best, too. Speaking of which, is it true that all merfolk sing very well?"

"No, no, not at all! That's just an urban legend, I remember having several classmates who were always out of tune..."

The rest of the group looked at them from a distance with disbelief and some disappointment.

"Ace's still caught up in conversation with him, yanno," Grim snorted.

"I actually feel bad for the poor man, he looks so kind and look at him there being distracted so easily..." Yuu confessed in a low voice.

"Ace is really good at talking to people he just met," Deuce commented, already familiar with his classmate's smooth talk.

Jack didn't want to waste time just staring at the,. "We got what we came for, let's get back to the surface."

They swam back and Ace caught them with his gaze, Jack made a sign saying it was time to leave.

"Oh, you know what? I'd better go."

That enthusiastic human boy had really liked him and the merman felt that time had flown by talking to him. "Really? If you like merfolk so much... I could let you take a quick look around the museum."

"No, no. I wouldn't feel right breaking the rules," Ace insisted kindly. "I'll pay more attention the schedule for next time. See you again!"

He waved goodbye and turned to follow the others.

"Come back soon!" The guard exclaimed as he watched him leave. "Wow, it's been a while since I met a youngster like that."

Although he didn't understand why a human from the surface had a sea anemone growing in his head, would that be a popular trend among sea admirers?

The students moved far enough away from the museum and hid behind some tall rocks. "So? How did it go?" Ace asked.

"We did it! It was a piece of cake, yanno?" Grim exclaimed proudly.

"Then let's go back to school while things are getting good!"

"I can't wait to rub it in Azul's face," Deuce admitted, getting excited just thinking about it.

However, Jack heard something approaching and got a bad feeling. "...Wait!" He exclaimed.

And right there and then two elongated shadows were reflected under their feet.

"Oh, no..." Yuu murmured when he recognized them.

"Aaaaah~~~~. There you are, Little Shrimpy," Floyd said happily when he saw him.

"Greetings, everyone. I see you didn't learn your lesson and you came back here to the bottom of the sea," Jade greeted them.

"Those moray eels are here!" Jack exclaimed, preparing for the worst. In the end the twins had followed them there again in their true merman forms.

"Its seems like you have managed to acquire the photo," Jade commented as he saw the frame in Deuce's arms, making him press it to his chest protectively and give him a challenging look.

"What a good job! Good boys, good boys!" Floyd congratulated them mockingly and patted his brother's head to emphasize his words, making him laugh. "But... it'll be a problem for us if you take it, so why don't you just play tag with us until sunset?"

As soon as he said that, both twins swam towards them at full speed, making the first-year students to instinctively run away.

"I knew you'd say that! Your plan was to wait for us to get the photo, and then chase us until sunset and take it from us," Ace exclaimed. "Then you won't have to take off these anemones from us and you get the photo, too."

"Heh heh, heh. Using the least amount of effort to achieve maximum benefit, that is what we call a good business sense," Jade confirmed.

"...What!? You're rotten to the core!" Jack bellowed.

It didn't matter if they were going to win or lose, that Octavinelle trio cheated and sabotaged until the end.

Ace swam up to Yuu's side. "Hey, Yuu. What was your plan for this part?"

Yuu and Yukiko had explained their plan in detail, but seeing as it was still early and they still had the anemones on their heads, there was no choice but to move on to the long part.

"For now we have to hold on and protect the photo," the prefect said. "We must swim in circles and let them chase us, but we mustn't let them return to Octavinelle nor take the photo from us, no matter what!"

Accepting this new step, Deuce squeezed the photo between his arms and nodded. "Sounds simple to me, although I don't know how long I'm going to last without my best magic..."

"We've come a long way, so let's go for it!" Jack exclaimed, convinced that they were going to make it.

The first-year students spent a good while swimming as fast as their arms and legs allowed them to avoid being caught. At one point they decided to split into two groups to avoid joint attacks: Jade chased Yuu and Grim on one side, Floyd was able to intercept Deuce and catch him by wrapping him with his long, slippery fish tail, but the first-year student was able to pass the photo to Jack and he quickly swam away with it, similar to what they used to do with relay races in the Track and Field club.

Then Jack passed it to Ace and he managed to win some time and catch his breath by hiding behind some rocks, but the twins ended up finding him anyway and he ran away with his tail between his legs.

They continued with that game of cat and mouse for about an hour.

The force of moving through the water to escape from two marine beings was intense and exhausting even for Jack and Deuce, Yuu was barely able to understand how he could swim so fast without stopping, but the positive side was that the twins also had their limits and needed a little break.

"Aaaah, I'm getting tired of chasing them all the time," Floyd complained as he stretched.

"Hold on just a little longer, let's enjoy ourselves," his brother encouraged him despite feeling just as tired as him.

Jack and Grim took the moment of calm to approach Yuu. "Hey, Yuu! If we keep like this, we're gonna miss the deadline," Jack said with concern.

"Are you sure this plan will work?" Grim began to question.

"I am," Yuu replied without hesitation and couldn't help but smile mischievously. "After all, Yuki is doing her part with those guys!"

At that very moment in the Monstro Lounge's VIP room, Azul was sitting in front of his desk and checking the time on his phone, reading 16:48 - there wasn't much time left until the third sunset.

"Heh heh. Looks like Jade and Floyd are doing great over there," he commented satisfied, "Ramshackle Dorm and that photo are as good as mine."

Already savoring his victory, he laughed softly until bursting out in a chilling way.

His little celebration was interrupted by someone knocking on the door before slamming it open. "Excuse me, manager!" An Octavinelle student dressed in the dorm uniform came in nervously.

"What is all this ruckus?" Azul asked without hiding how much it bothered him that someone other than one of the twins came in without permission, especially in that way.

"My sincerest apologies, but there's trouble at Monstro Lounge...!"

Azul raised an eyebrow. That was unusual. "What?"

"Several customers are making a mess, and since Mr. Jade and Mr. Floyd are out at the moment..."

Azul sighed exhaustedly. "I can't believe it, nobody taught them how to behave in a dining establishment?" He stood up from his desk. "Very well, I'll head over. Jade and Floyd should have no problem handling things on their end. Good grief..." He sighed. That problem couldn't have come at a worse time, right when he was waiting for his assured victory.

The bustle of the restaurant, more rambunctious than usual, became louder as he got closer and, when he opened the doors, he saw the place completely invaded by rowdy Savanaclaw students: some were celebrating standing up, others were eating noisily on the sofas and elegant seats and would not stop moving.

https://youtu.be/FUtE9tCkZsc

He was speechless: nothing like this had ever happened in his elegant and organized establishment, which now turned into a beastly lounge. "What the...? How is it already this crowded just after opening!?" He exclaimed.

"Hey! Bring us the drinks already!" An impatient Savanaclaw student shouted.

"Meat! Meat! HYA, HA, HA, HA, HA!" Another one sitting at the same table laughed while stuffing himself with beef.

"Hey, *sshole! That's the meat I ordered!" Another one angrily said.

It was difficult to move through so many people, counting among restaurant workers - with and without anemones on their heads - chaotic Savanaclaw students, and others from different dorms who did not understand what was going on.

The dorm leader tried to make his way to investigate the problem. "Clear the way, please. I'm coming through!" Azul said until he stopped with the laughter from a group surrounding the bar on the right side of the establishment that caught his attention.

"No, I'm serious! The guy made an obscene gesture with his hand right before cutting it off and it just remained like that!"

He turned around to see what it was about and spotted Yukiko dressed in her dorm uniform and sitting on one of the stools drinking a chocolate milkshake with whipped cream. She seemed happy.

"I didn't expect you to like action movies and irreverent humor!!" A classmate admitted after she told them about one of her favorite movie scenes from her world.

She arched an eyebrow with irony. "Why? Are you saying that because I'm cute and small?"

"That's right! You find it weird she likes things like that despite her looks!?" Another one exclaimed furiously.

"What!? ...No! I just didn't expect it because I barely know her!"

"Relax, guys, I was just messing with you," she laughed. "I wish you could watch it, it's one of my favorite superhero movies - although this one is more of an antihero, to be honest. It's only available where I come from, though."

Some laughed at that joke, but deep down she hid how much she missed her favorite video games, as well as the movies and TV series she liked to watch with Yuu and their aunt... At least Ortho recommended other interesting things she could see there in Twisted Wonderland.

"Well, no wonder they recommended this place so much, the food here is the best!" She raised her tall glass in the air. "Come on, guys! Let's toast for Savanaclaw!"

Everyone shouted with joy and imitated her by raising their glasses as well.

"Hey, and what else do you like to watch?" A classmate asked her. "I could recommend you something else. Are there any other scenes like that, for example?"

She thought about it while drinking her milkshake with the straw. "Hmm... Oh, I know! This is a series with a protagonist similar to that antihero, so there's this moment when he falls from a balcony and runs into a princess, and after looking into each other's eyes intensely for a while, he says..." She tried to suppress a laugh. "'Sorry, I f*cked your husband!'"

A classmate spat out his drink at that unexpected comment, making a mess on his clothes and the table, and joined the chorus of laughter.

Azul made a face of disgust at the unpleasant scene accompanied by vulgar language but was startled to see the prefect's sister there: except for Jack and Ruggie, and that her relationship with Leona had improved a little, she didn't get along with anyone in her dorm, but she was there, enjoying the uproar along her dorm mates. He couldn't tell if they respected her as the only female student or if they just wanted to get on Leona's good side, both cases were possible.

Did she organize all this fuss to get revenge for losing Ramshackle Dorm? No, that couldn't be, he concluded. She had not much to lose by being out of the contract, and Jade and Floyd confirmed that the others had basically left her aside out of concern for the state of her magic, so she wasn't participating in completing the contract. It was more likely that she just wanted to join her dorm in on the crazy gathering, which he still had to investigate and take care of.

He continued to make his way through the crowd in a hurry until he crashed hard into a student. "My apologies!" He hastily said without even noticing that it was Ruggie and continued.

When he got far away enough, Ruggie played with something on his left hand. "Nope, don't worry about it," he whispered in a sing-song voice before laughing evilly. "Shi, shi, shi!"

This was child's play for him: taking advantage of the crowd and lack of space to bump into someone, making it look like it was by accident, and slipping his hand into that person's unprotected pockets to take the loot.

Yukiko, who had seen the whole scene from afar, gasped excitedly: now it was the turn for the next part of the plan.

She pulled the straw away, finished drinking the milkshake in large gulps, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Her mother would have scolded her for behaving like that, but she was in a hurry and her rowdy classmates didn't care.

"Ah, that was a good one! Well, guys, this was fun but I have to go now," she announced.

"Really? I'm sure you can have something else, I'll buy you another one," a guy insisted before turning to the waiter: "Hey, you! Pour another one for the lady!"

"Yes, coming right up!" The poor green-haired Octavinelle student, already busy cleaning the table of what the previous student had spit on, muttered in dread. And he still had to serve something else.

Even if she wanted to have something else, she wasn't accepting such a rude invitation or giving the poor waiter any more torment.

"No, no, thanks! I really have to go. I've got the feeling things are gonna get good, and I'm not missing it!" She insisted more as she got off the stool. "Go on without me!"

She said goodbye and quickened her pace to follow Ruggie.

Just then, Azul approached a less chaotic part and two Octavinelle students hurried over. "Dorm leader! We've received so many orders that we've already run out of food for today!" The light brown-haired one informed him anxiously.

"Even the drinks are close to running dry!" The other red-haired one added nervously.

"Already!?" Azul exclaimed in disbelief before sighing in annoyance (at least it was good that they had so many customers in one day) and putting his hand in the inside pocket of his jacket. "It is what it is. I will get money from the safe so you can go to the student store and..."

He gasped and his heart skipped a beat when he didn't find anything inside his pocket: "Huh? Gone! The key to the safe is gone!" He stammered as he checked all his pockets without any avail. "How...? Where...?"

He couldn't have dropped it or lost it, he was always very careful with his things - especially the most important ones.

Then he remembered the crash just a minute ago and his eyes widened in understanding: it hadn't been an accident, that student had deliberately crashed into him to steal the key to the safe!

He didn't hesitate to run back to the VIP room and slammed open the doors in hopes of catching the thief red-handed. Instead, he found Savanaclaw's dorm leader sitting calmly in his desk chair. He did not seem even fazed by the manager's abrupt arrival, as if he had been expecting him.

"Hey there, octo-punk," Leona greeted him with a smirk.

Azul didn't appreciate someone other than him sitting in his chair, but Leona was one of the last people he expected to find there, even if his dorm had invaded his elegant restaurant. "Leona Kingscholar..."

"What's wrong? You look pretty freaked out for someone usually so in control," Leona asked sarcastically.

Trying to regain his composure, Azul readjusted his hat and trench coat on his shoulders. "That is none of your business," he replied as he approached the desk calmly. "More importantly, what are you doing here?"

Aside from the door still dented from the day before and the uninvited guest, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.

Leona raised the missing key in the air. "Why? This key is yours, isn't it? I just picked it up somewhere. Had a feeling it was yours, so I came here to bring it back."

Azul gasped again: he hadn't seen that dorm leader all day, so why was he holding the key someone else stole from him just a minute ago? "That's mine...!" He stammered and tried to grab it, but Leona took it away by raising it above his head. "Then I was right," he replied with a satisfied smile with no intention of just handing it.

"Give it back. Theft is a serious crime!" Octavinelle's dorm leader demanded.

"Ha, I came all the way here to give it back to you in all good faith, and you go and accuse me of being a thief," Leona mocked before throwing it back at him. "Fine, I'll give it back. Here"

Azul caught the key clumsily in his hands and stared at it in bewilderment: he expected it to be more difficult to get it back.

Leona got up from the chair and headed for the exit. "That's all I had to do. See ya," he said goodbye with another smirk.

Azul did not move and waited for that dorm leader to close the door before rushing to open the safe: he could not believe that someone who had gotten hold of the key would not be at least tempted to use it.

"The contracts...! Are the contracts...!?" He muttered. He inserted the key and the password and opened the heavy door as quickly as possible.

The drawer that held the money seemed untouched, but that did not matter to him: just as he feared, all the shelves that should expose the hundreds of contracts were completely empty...

"...Gone," he murmured as he slowly processed the seriousness of the situation. "Gone. Gone. Gone!!! All the contracts are gone!!" He shouted louder and louder and looked accusingly the way Leona had just left. "Did that bastard...!?"

A few minutes later outside the dorm, in the air-covered part of the entrance, Leona met up with Ruggie and Yukiko putting the piles of contracts on the floor that the former had taken from the safe thanks to the key he gave him later. Then it wasn't too difficult to get the combination by turning the wheel in several directions and, after getting them out, one in the dorm had paid them any attention as they were so busy dealing with the still persistent chaos in the restaurant.

"Shi, shi, shi! We got them outta there with no issue," Ruggie announced proudly.

Leona smiled with satisfaction, his assistant never failed to amaze him. "Hmpf. Your sticky fingers sure are impressive."

That was a compliment to Ruggie, who smirked just thinking how easy it had been. "If you don't wanna keep somethin', you should keep a lock in your pockets. Still, this sure is a ton of contracts, there must be about five or six hundred. Thanks for lendin' me a hand, Yuki, we should team up to get more loot like this!"

Yukiko laughed nervously in response: "Tempting, but I think I'm fine with just this once."

Leona sighed, apparently disappointed at the considerable amount of papers. "He's probably been making these shady contracts to trap people since long before he enrolled in this school," he guessed. "Now that we got them out of the VIP room, all that's left is..."

He took out her magical pen and transformed it into his wooden staff with the lion's head holding the gem in its jaws.

"'I am hunger. I am thirst'," He began the incantation of his destructive Unique Magic. "'I am the one who steals your tomorrow...'"

"Stop right there!!"

The spell was interrupted by Azul, who had run all the way there from his office with all his might to retrieve his stolen contracts and was now trying to catch his breath between heavy gasps. That exhausted expression confirmed to Yukiko that what she heard about this dorm leader having low stamina and being bad at doing exercise was true.

"Ooops, you here already," Leona said amusedly and slightly raised his staff once again. "Don't take another step unless you want something to happen to your beloved contracts."

Azul didn't move from that safe distance; anyone could understand why his contracts had been stolen and one wrong step would cause their immediate downfall.

"G-give them back..." Azul murmured with some difficulty before repeating it with more energy: "Please, give them back!"

Yukiko couldn't help but feel some satisfaction at seeing the guy who set a trap for her friends and brother sink into despair.

A feeling that did not go unnoticed by Leona, who also enjoyed it. "Woah, woah, at least try to keep it together. What happened to your mask of control?" He mocked, a prey was easier to capture if it showed vulnerability, after all. "Based on how much you're panicking, that pipsqueak's hunch was right on the money."

Azul did not understand what he meant. "Wh... what did you say?"

Leona summarized everything they talked about the night before in his room: from Yuu's hunch about the contracts not being as untouchable as Azul claimed, needing to be kept inside the safe, to Leona's conclusion that if they wanted to get their hands on them, they would first have to take them out of there when Azul and the twins were out.

Azul paid attention to every detail. How was it possible that an innocent student who couldn't even use magic had been able to easily discover his biggest weakness, the one he kept hidden for years?

"Yuu did all this...!?" He exclaimed in disbelief. "Why? Why does he keep getting in my way!? Even if the anemones were removed, he won't get anything out of that!"

"He won't get anything?" Yukiko repeated, losing her patience. "What about saving his friends - the ones you tricked and tried to do the same to me - and now preventing you from taking his dorm!? Didn't that cross your mind!?"

"No one asked you!!"

"Temper, temper. Let's not fight in your first time talking to each other." Leona intervened and raised an eyebrow with sarcasm. "Instead of that, Azul," he held out his free hand defiantly, "let's make a deal."

Azul looked at him confused, he was always the one who offered a deal anytime he found the chance, but he had never been offered one before, even less so suddenly. "...What?"

Leona pointed at the pile of golden papers on the floor with his staff: "If I were to give these back, what would you give me in return?"

Yukiko gasped and looked at Leona suspiciously. The plan was to distract Azul, steal his key, and take the contracts outside to destroy them. Azul interrupted the last part, but what was Leona up to now? Was he going to betray them and throw everything away to get something in return? Did he forget about the threats from the night before?!

Ruggie noticed her apprehension and interrupted her thoughts by placing both hands on her shoulders, this time to calm her down instead of scaring her. "Don't get so worked up, let him cook!" He whispered playfully.

Azul, seeing that he still had a chance to negotiate and get his contracts back, gulped and put a hand to his chest to offer everything he could. He tried to keep his cool and a serene expression - even though he was a bundle of nerves inside - and answered Leona's question. "I'll do anything: study guides, your graduation thesis, altering the attendance records... I will make anything you wish come true!"

Leona put a hand to his chin as if considering those options. "I see, that's a pretty tempting offer."

Azul gasped relieved, thinking that he just got his contracts back. "Then...!"

"But...!" Leona, who hadn't finished speaking, stopped him. "Sorry, if that's all you got, I'm afraid I can't give these back to you."

Azul's heart sank at that sharp and mocking change of demeanor. "...What?"

"Yuu has put me in a tight spot: if I don't help him get rid of these, that furball and he will make a ruckus in my room every night until dawn. And Yuki will not only join them, but she'll be the loudest of them all. In other words, if you take Ramshackle Dorm away from them, they'll take away my good nights of sleep."

"What...?" Azul repeated perplexed, questioning if he was hearing right.

He almost got a headache just thinking about the unwanted impromptu concert they organized in his bedroom to blackmail him but Leona had to admit that he kinda respected the fact that those herbivores were capable of going so far and using Night Raven College's evil tactics to protect and retrieve their territory.

He put his foot on the pile of contracts. "I want those two out of Savanaclaw, so I'm definitely destroying every single one of these."

Azul could not believe what was happening, everything seemed too surreal to be true. Not only was his restaurant invaded, but they also stole from him just so some lazy lion could keep sleeping. "... That's what this was all about!?"

"That, and so Yuki stays in the most suitable place for her recovery," Leona added and turned to the girl. "Plus, she'll hold a grudge against me if I refuse to help her dear brother."

"But she is a resident of your dorm, isn't she!? She is the one with the least to lose in this matter, I even kept my word and left her out of the contract!"

"I know, and I respect you for having that minimum of decency, but she's made it very clear where her loyalty lies."

"How unfair~, there's a very feisty traitor among us~," Ruggie said with a singsong voice as he gently shook Yukiko, making her laugh.

"And yet you accepted," she replied.

"To put it short: you've been outvillained, Azul," Leona said, clearing up that there was no deal.

Azul froze, he couldn't believe what was happening. Were they going to destroy his contracts!? "This can't be happening... Stop!"

Leona ignored him and placed the staff over the contracts once again to finish the interrupted spell: "...Now, 'Kneel before me'."

It was actually happening! They were going to destroy his valuable contracts in front of him! The advanced level in feline languages, the ability to swim faster in his merman form, that complicated spell that combined electricity and water... All the innumerable talents and skills he accumulated over the years thanks to those contracts were going to be reduced to zero!

"No... No...! STOOOOOOOOP!"

He ran as fast as he could to rescue the contracts, but it was too late.

"King's Roar!"

As Leona's Unique Magic finalized, the contracts rose into the air and transformed in the blink of an eye into sand dust that scattered through the air.

After seeing that devastating sight that he had been unable to avoid, Azul stopped dead in his tracks and, losing all strength, fell to his knees on the ground. He was too distraught to be able to utter a word.

"Ah... Aaaaaaaaaah... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! My golden contracts... All reduced to dust!" He stammered, wishing everything was nothing but a terrible nightmare.

In contrast, Yukiko smiled victoriously: even if they hadn't given him the photo, they won! That meant that the students would be freed, and they would get Ramshackle dorm back! Azul's reign of terror had come to an end!

"We did it!" She exclaimed while jumping up.

Ruggie and Leona were also unfazed by Azul's heartbroken reaction and looked at him indifferently.

"Your Unique Magic is 'It's a Deal'," Ruggie began to say. "Once signed, no one can lay a hand on the contract nor destroy it no matter what."

"You put on a good show to convince people that they were invincible, but there's no such thing as a perfect spell," Leona continued, explaining how they had come to the conclusion that led them to victory. "I had the feeling that they were only untouchable when they were kept in the VIP room or on your own hand," he stepped on some of the sand that once were the contracts and gave it a little kick. "And since my magic was able to transform them into sand as if it were nothing, I guess I was right. In the end, the contracts are nothing more than pieces of paper."

Azul remained head down, staring blankly at the floor. "How... How could you...?" He simply said in an almost inaudible voice.

Seeing that his work there was finished, Leona transformed his scepter back into the magical pen and turned around to leave the dorm. "Let's go, Ruggie," he urged. "You too, Yuki. I suppose you'll want to share the news."

Ruggie stared at Azul for a moment before following his dorm leader and wrapping his left arm behind Yukiko's neck. "You shoulda seen your face, you looked like you were goin' to throw yourself at Leona! Now do you see why I told ya to let him cook?"

Yukiko adjusted his arm and smiled slightly. "You can't blame me for being suspicious for a moment, it looked like you were going to betray us there for a second."

"You doubted me even after going so far as to order the entire dorm to raise hell in the restaurant and steal the key to get the contracts to help your herbivore brother? You break my heart, Yuki. What else must I do so you trust me - your kind dorm leader who cares so much about you?" Leona asked sarcastically and with a smirk.

"Shi, shi, shi! Right. Besides, if Leona refused to help you from the start, he could've easily sent Yuu flying with one blow after your threats," Ruggie continued. "Which leads me to think, Leona: you did this partly for Yuki, but I think you had another reason to help those two as well."

Leona stopped and looked at him questioningly. "Hm?"

Ruggie grinned from ear to ear. "Leona, you yourself signed a contract with Azul. You decided to get involved so you could destroy it along with the others."

Yukiko gasped as she understood now what they meant by those secret conversations when Yuu and the others weren't around, and the intentions of wanting to use them for their own ends... "Is that what you meant by taking advantage of Yuu and Grim's situation to find Azul's weak point? So you could get back what he took from you?"

She didn't know what he gave him in exchange for that potion, but in the end, the intentions of using Yuu and Grim hadn't gone beyond teaching Azul a lesson. Even if it wasn't exactly a friendly case and they were still hidden intentions, it hadn't been as bad and dangerous as she feared!

Leona smirked again. "Well, I'm just someone with a tender heart that can't overlook those in trouble. He, he, he," he insisted ironically.

"Pfft, ha, ha! See?" You can't even say it with a straight face," Ruggie laughed, he knew his boss too well. "All you had to do was find yours and turn it into sand. Well, I hope you start lookin' at Leona with different eyes after this, Yuki, it's not like he's an evil ogre. I'm gonna miss Yuu and Grim's help though, it was nice to finish the laundry faster and have some free time before bed."

They were so focused on celebrating their victory that they had forgotten about Azul, who was still mourning the loss of his contracts.

"Ah... Aaaaah..."

They stopped when they heard him moan in such a loud way and turned around to see what he was doing now. They weren't expecting at all what was going to happen.

"Aaaaaaaaah... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! I HATE THIS!!!"

Azul had started to whimper loudly while he put his hands on his head. Tears and snot were pouring down his face. Even his hat fell off.

Ruggie and Yukiko looked at him in shock and Leona with disgust and disbelief, the tantrum that the calm and composed dorm leader was throwing was not much different from that of a three-year-old child... It was the first time he saw him in such a pathetic state.

"It's gone..." Azul murmured as he touched the dust of what were once his contracts. "The collection I worked so hard to build! All my great power...!"

He began to cry on the floor torn by pain.

"What the...?" Leona asked out loud.

Ruggie let go of Yukiko and placed his arm in front of her with protective eagerness. That switch had come out of nowhere. "He looks like another person..." He murmured in shock.

"AAAAAAAAH, EVERYTHING REDUCED TO NOTHING!! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!!!!!" He screamed furiously addressing the three students before continuing to cry inconsolably. "Without my contracts, I... I'm back to being that clumsy and incompetent octopus!"

Those contracts were like the tentacles that gave him strength and power, allowing him to be a much better version of himself and that would make him more respectable in people's eyes... And now that he no longer had them...

He embraced himself with desperation. "I don't want that..." He sobbed. "No, no, NO!!! I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO THE OLD ME!"

Before the others could wonder what the hell he was talking about, much more important things arose to worry about when a kind of black mist began to emanate in large quantities from Azul's back after that last scream.

Yukiko froze: it looked too much like what had come out of her when she was about to fall into Overblot!

Leona and Ruggie also recognized that sign.

"What...!? This black aura is..." Leona exclaimed.

"That's 'cause you got his hopes up only to crush them!" Ruggie reproached him in panic and began to regret some decisions in his life.

It was still early, there was still time for soothing the matter before it got worse, so the young hyena-boy approached Azul with apprehension: "Hey, Azul... Come on, let's try to calm down," he stammered with a nervous smile. "Okay?"

"SHUT UP!!!" Azul yelled furiously while violently grabbing him by the collar of his jacket. "As if you could understand how I feel! Being constantly insulted and mocked for being a 'slow and stupid, clumsy octopus'... YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND!!"

Ruggie broke away from his grip and took several steps back in complete horror; he had no idea what he was talking about, but now understood that the contracts were much more than just a means to steal something: they were a prized possession with personal meaning that had just been destroyed in front of him. This was far beyond being outsmarted or defeated for the first time.

Leona also would not have imagined that behind that facade of an elegant and confident businessman was an easily broken soul.

At the same time, Yukiko tried to keep out of her mind those horrible memories of being surrounded by the thick fog of blot that clouded her vision and plunged her into despair; she made sure again and again that the clasp of her black choker was well fastened so that the same thing that was happening to him now would not happen to her.

After a long and heavy breath that the leader of the Octavinelle dorm inhaled to catch his breath after all that screaming and, still with his teary eyes fixed on the sand of the contracts, he was able to sketch a smile that gave chills just by looking at it...

"Heh... Heh, heh, heh..." He laughed softly. "Oh, that's right..." He muttered monotonously. "If it's all gone, I'll just have to start over..."

He stood up again very slowly, dropping his trench coat to the ground, transformed his magic pen into the staff with the octopus handle showing the light grey magic gem now completely dyed black, and approached the three Savanaclaw students with a lost look and a forced smile.

"Give them to me. Did you hear me? Those talents you're so fond of... GIVE THEM ALL TO MEEE!"

He was completely crazy!

"Yuki, get behind me!" Leona ordered her while he recreated his staff.

Yukiko obeyed but staggered and took a hand on her head in great discomfort.

"Hey! Are you okay!?" Ruggie asked with concern and approached her in case she needed help.

"Yes...!" She insisted.

But in reality, a heavy and uncomfortable dripping sound resonated inside her head with more force and intensity than before, like a rain of despair...

[Published on 24/01/2025]

To Be Continued...