To the four boys' surprise, the headmaster was there in the Mirror Chamber upon their return. Yuu thought he was waiting for them, but he dismissed that possibility entirely as he realized he was looking at them with the same bewilderment as them. "Mr. Crowley," he called out to avoid prolonging the silence. "Here we have the magic crystal."

To emphasize the meaning of his words, Deuce stepped forward and extended both arms with the crystal. The headmaster blinked a few times as he took the crystal and realized the situation. "Eh?! You really went to the Dwarfs' Mine to find the crystal?"

"What!?" Grim and the three young boys asked in confusion the same way.

"Of course we did, sir..." Yuu answered. "You told us yourself, remember?"

"I really didn't think you were going to go, much less come back with a crystal... So I gave myself the freedom to finish the paperwork for your expulsion," he confessed with a slight embarrassment in his voice.

"What?!" Yuu asked in dismay.

Ace and Deuce just looked at him in horror before frowning in annoyance.

"What?! The nerve of this guy!" Grim exclaimed angrily as he slid out of Yuu's arms. "And you did it while we were risking our lives with a monster out there!"

Crowley didn't expect that statement either. "A monster?" He asked with interest.

"There was a monster there!" Ace explained with the same anger as Grim. "It was really scary and super strong, it was awful!"

"Could you explain this in more detail?" The headmaster asked. "Let's go to my office, there we can talk more comfortably."

The man led them into a large room adorned with a long purple carpet and large purple curtains with green figures in the shape of stars and moons. What most attention attracted were some floating portraits of the Great Seven, the same ones represented in the statues on the main street of the school.

He sat in front of the desk there and put the crystal on the surface. Then Yuu, helped by Ace, Deuce, and Grim, explained everything that happened in the forest and the mine: the apparition of the monster, the elaboration of the plan, and their fight against it to obtain the crystal.

The headmaster did not divert his attention at any moment. "Oh. So a mysterious monster was living in the mine. And the four of you worked together to defeat it and bring the crystal here?" He summed up.

"That's right, Mr. Crowley," Yuu stated as he picked Grim up again.

"We didn't really work together..." Ace insisted with a bit of embarrassment.

"It was more like our goals were the same..." Deuce added, feeling the same way.

"Guys, are you going with that again?" Yuu reproached them. "You've admitted before that we worked together!"

The boys' faces reddened slightly, but before they could say anything else, Crowley began to sob slightly before bursting into tears. The others exchanged looks of discomfort and confusion. "What's wrong with this guy now?" Grim asked, breaking the silence. "Why is an adult crying like this?"

Crowley tried to regain his composure and wiped away his tears. "In all the years that I have been the headmaster... To think that the day when some students from Night Raven College would go hand-in-hand to face and defeat their enemy together would come."

"What!? I did not hold this guy's hand!" Deuce exclaimed in horror and pointed at Ace with his thumb.

"I would never do that, that's disgusting!" Ace exclaimed. "But headmaster, how old are you?"

Yuu raised an eyebrow at those comments.

"I am overwhelmed with emotion..." Crowley murmured ignoring them as he recomposed himself. "This incident confirms it: young Yuu, without any trace of a doubt, you have talent as a beast tamer!" He announced decisively.

But this confused Yuu even more. "What? A... beast tamer!?"

He remembered that the night before he said something similar to him after facing him in his ghost form with Grim.

"The students at Night Raven College are talented magicians who are called here by the Dark Mirror," the man began to explain. "However, they are of a higher class that makes them proud and selfish people who do not have the slightest interest in working with others, turning them into selfish ones who focus only on themselves."

"You're not saying anything good," Grim commented, frowning at the bluntness of the headmaster's words.

"And you, Yuu, can't use magic," Crowley added. "But precisely, since you cannot use magic, you can give instructions to other magicians and get them to cooperate." Yuu looked at him with a mixture of surprise, curiosity, and awe. "Maybe that mediocrity is just what this school needs!"

And those positive feelings faded a bit.

"He's not saying anything good at all!" Ace exclaimed, confirming what Grim commented earlier.

"Young Yuu," Crowley continued, and turned serious once again, "I have no doubt that your existence is necessary for the future of this school, I can tell by my instinct as an educator." Yuu looked at him with surprise again. "Trappola, Spade, along with rescinding your expulsion, Yuu Oshiro, I shall give you the qualifications to attend Night Raven College as a student!" He announced proudly.

"Eh!?" The two boys and the little monster exclaimed again.

Yuu gasped in surprise and his eyes widened at the news, hardly believing it. Not only did he lack the risk of being kicked out, but he was also receiving a privilege he did not expect at all.

"Me? As a student?" He asked, trying to hide his excitement and intrigue. "Even if I can't use magic?"

"Of course, since I'm very gracious," the headmaster nodded. "But with one condition: you aren't able to use magic, so becoming a magician is out of the question. You probably will not be able to complete all your lessons. That's why Grim," Grim blinked in surprise at being called out.

"You have proven to me that you possess enough talent to become a magician. Therefore, I shall allow the two of you to enroll together, as one student."

Deuce and Ace looked at each other in amazement. Yuu's gaze lit up again and he looked at Grim. "Fgna!?" Grim exclaimed in surprise. "Can... Can I go to this school too?" He asked excitedly. "Not as a handyman, but as a student?"

"Yes, I guarantee it! But don't ever cause a chaotic incident like yesterday, understood?" he warned sternly.

Grim's eyes filled with tears of emotion. "Fgna... Fgna... I... I can..."

Yuu stretched him in his arms with joy: "I'm so happy for you, Grim!" He exclaimed. "Let's do our best from now on!"

Grim raised a foreleg in triumph. "Fnnnngaaaaaaa! I did it!"

The headmaster smiled at the joy of both young ones. "Very well, now allow me, Grim, to give you the symbol of your status as a student at Night Raven College: your own magic crystal."

He snapped his fingers and a purple crystal, similar to Ace and Deuce's magical pens, materialized as a pendant on Grim's ribbon. "Woah! A magic crystal!" He exclaimed when he saw it hanging from his neck.

"It is the norm for students to have their magic crystals in the form of a 'magical pen', but it would be impossible for you to hold that with your paws, right?" the headmaster explained. "This is a special situation. Ah... I pay attention to even the smallest details! Aren't I so kind?"

"I did it~!" Grim sang happily, ignoring him. "I'm so cool~! I have a magic crystal just for me~!"Yuu giggled slightly at seeing him so cheerful.

"You're not listening to me at all..." Crowley sighed. "Do you understand, Yuu?" He called him. "As you can see, Grim is not accustomed to human society, so you are responsible for taking care of him and supervising him to prevent him from causing any more trouble!"

Ace and Deuce approached Yuu again. "Aha! You're amazing!" Ace laughed proudly. "It's your first day of class, but you're already a prefect?"

"What?" Yuu asked, confused by the sudden excitement of his new friends.

"I see. Since there are only two people in your dorm, the fact that you have to supervise Grim makes you a prefect," Deuce explained.

Ace laughed in amusement again. "How unusual, right?" He commented. "A prefect student that is unable to use magic. Sounds good, a prefect without magic."

He never had a charge in school like that, but Yuu looked at everyone one by one and smiled decisively: "Thank you for this opportunity!" He exclaimed. "I'll do my best!"

Ace smirked as he put a hand on Yuu's shoulder. "Ha, ha! Good luck, prefect!"

Crowley pondered those words. "I see, a supervisor... Yuu, I do have a work request for you, and having a title like yours makes it very convenient," he said as he searched for something among the drawers of his desk. "Oh, this is wonderful!" He handed him a kind of instant camera with different shades of yellow whose lens was adorned with what looked like the silhouette of a mouse. "Young prefect, I entrust this to you. It is known as a 'ghost camera'."

Yuu put Grim down on the floor. "Ghost?" He asked curiously as he received it from the headmaster's hands.

Ace looked at it carefully for a second. "Ah, I think my grandmother told me about this. It's a super old item, right?"

"It is not that old..." Crowley commented with apprehension before clearing his throat. "Well, it is true that this may have been invented during your great-grandmother's, or great-great grandmother's time. There is a very special spell cast on it. It not only captures the subjects' form in the photo but also a part of their soul."

"A part of their soul?" Deuce asked.

That made Yuu nervous. Did that camera drain other people's souls and lives as it took pictures of them?

"We call that 'Memory: fragment of remembrance'," the headmaster explained. "Furthermore, the most interesting thing about this magic camera is that the souls of the photographer and the person being photographed become deeply connected and the image with the Memory jumps out of the photo!

"How does the photo 'jump out'? And what do you mean by 'connected souls'?" Yuu asked.

"Depending on how close the photographer and the photographed are, the image can move like a video, it can even bring the photographed situation to life. Isn't it fascinating?"

"Bring the photo to life? So wouldn't it be like a ghost photograph?" Deuce asked with concern.

"Yeah, that's why it's called a ghost camera," Crowley replied. "They say it was made before the time of videos for when people wanted to capture vivid memories. But you're right about something, Spade: in the past, people used to scream 'Ghost!' when they saw the Memory jump out. They were paralyzed with fear just thinking about taking a picture with this camera."

"A camera used to scare people..." Ace commented uneasily as he shook his head.

"Prefect, please take pictures of Grim and other students to create many memories of your lives at this school," Crowley told Yuu.

"La~. La, la~" Grim sang again, still excited. "Take lots of cool pictures of me, Yuu."

"Make sure especially to get 'Memories' when someone breaks the rules or steps out of line. It'll be the best way to report it to me," Crowley told him. "Pay attention to your surroundings and take memories like the Prefect you are. By the way, the fact that I give you a rare item that can be used by non-magical people, my graciousness does know no bounds, don't you think?"

Yuu sighed and shook his head in amusement. "Yes, your kindness and graciousness are incredible... Thank you very much, headmaster. I'll do my best."

Crowley realized that the young Oshiro was addressing him as his headmaster for the first time, rather than just a person he was in charge of, and smiled. "It's getting late, let's save the rest of the conversation for tomorrow," he said. "Everyone, go back to your dormitories."

"Excuse us," Deuce said politely.

As they walked through the door back into the hall, Ace and Deuce closed their eyes and finally sighed in relief. "Expulsion rescinded..." Deuce commented. "I'm exhausted."

"Good grief..." Ace added.

"La, la, la~" Grim sang once again. "Tomorrow I'll start as a student at Night Raven College! I'll be the best and make you bite the dust!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"You have the nerve to say that despite counting only as half a student," Ace commented amusedly. "But anyway, it's okay."

"Yuu, Grim, we'll be classmates tomorrow," Deuce commented.

"Then I hope we all get along well," Yuu replied. "I'm so glad to meet you!"

"You're saying embarrassing things again! Will you stop?" Ace asked him.

On the other hand, Deuce, far from feeling discomfort, held back his laughter: "That's true, we are going to see each other every day even if we don't want to. But I'm stuck in Heartslabyul with this fool." He looked at Ace with resignation.

"I'm not very happy with having to see your serious face every day either, no thanks," Ace joked.

"That's what I should say, Truant Ace," Deuce replied with annoyance.

"Right, right. Whatever you say, Almost-expelled-crybaby Deuce," Ace annoyed him even further.

"Anyway, see you tomorrow, Mr. Prefect," he finally said.

They both went together to their dorm. "It may not seem like it, but I think those two are going to be a good combo," Yuu commented after making sure they were far enough away.

"You're right," Grim agreed. "They're of those who 'always fight because they get along'. Come on Yuu, we better go to the dorm too! By tomorrow we won't be the handyman anymore!" He began to sob again with emotion: Finally... Finally...!" He jumped at Yuu's arms with joy when he noticed that he had crouched down at his height. "Our great and glorious life at Night Raven College will begin!"

Yuu caught him and pulled him back into his arms. "Of course! We'll be great!" He exclaimed and placed it on top of his shoulders before getting back to his feet and holding the ghost camera again with both hands. "By the way, don't I need a uniform to go to class? The headmaster hasn't told us anything about it."

"I suppose he'll give it to us tomorrow, after all, we have a special position now!"

"Yes, maybe he will tell us more details tomorrow." He looked at the camera. "I also hope to find something like a strap or a case for the camera, I can't constantly carry it like this."

"Maybe we'll find something like that in Ramshackle?" Grim asked. "It's so old we could find something useful there."

"You're right, we still have a lot to explore," Yuu recalled. "We also have a lot of rooms to clean."

Grim lowered his ears. "Was it really necessary to spoil the excitement?"

"Come on, Grim. We don't have to do it tonight, we can go little by little. If you're going to be a powerful magician, you shouldn't be living in a bad place, right?"

Unlike the night before, Yuu felt much more comfortable entering the old dorm. "The bed we chose has a broken leg," he recalled as he closed the door behind him. "Should we choose another bedroom?"

"That's not necessary!" The tall, thin ghost suddenly exclaimed as he suddenly peeked upside down from the ceiling, right in front of them.The both of them were startled, but Yuu managed to prevent Grim and the camera from falling to the floor in shock.

Both had already forgotten that ghosts also lived there...

"Yes, you came back late..." The little ghost said. "Look at you! I believed that you had disappeared from this world. Hee hee hee hee!"Yuu and Grim exchanged an uncomfortable look.

"It doesn't matter how much you try to scare us!" Grim exclaimed, swallowing his fear. "We were able to defeat you once, we will do it again!"

"Hee, hee, hee! You look determined, but you should save your energy for other things," the big ghost said."After all you should keep your energies to be students, don't you think, prefect of Ramshackle?" added the tall, slim ghost.

"Huh? How do you know that?" Yuu asked.

"The headmaster told us," the small ghost replied. "He stopped by a moment ago to drop off some things and the uniforms you have to wear."

"Crowley was here?" Grim asked. "But we just got out of his office! How could he come and get out so fast!?"

"Who knows?" The thin ghost asked to leave them wondering. "Come on, it's all in the living room."

And the three ghosts disappeared one by one.

"Should we trust them?" Grim asked cautiously.

"Just like Ace and Deuce share a dorm, we don't have a choice but to do it with them," Yuu answered. "Let's see what the headmaster gave us."

As they entered the living room, they saw several things on the table that weren't there before: a school uniform similar to the one Ace and Deuce wore, a sports uniform, something that appeared to be a white coat, and lab googles, a class schedule, and finally some school supplies like pencils, pens and a notebook among other things.

"Woah! These are a lotta things!" Grim exclaimed excitedly.

"What's this here?" Yuu asked aloud as he opened an envelope, revealing what appeared to be some paper bills inside.

"Those are madol bills," replied the big ghost. "The madol is the international currency of Twisted Wonderland."

Yuu's eyes widened. "You mean this is money...!?" He asked alarmingly. "Oh, no no no no! I never asked for money! I shouldn't accept this!"

"The headmaster said you can use it to buy whatever you need in the cafeteria and in the school store," the same ghost soothed him. "He has also given you a purse with some coins inside. He asked us to tell you from his part that he will give you some madol every week and, if necessary, you can ask him for a little more."

"Good grief," Yuu commented resignedly. "I hope I find some way to make up for it all..."

"Come on Yuu, don't be so worried!" Grim snapped. "With this, we'll become great magicians! I'll be the best and we'll be famous!"

"You don't have a choice either, hee, hee! You come from another world, after all," The small ghost laughed.

"Before I forget it again," the tall ghost said. "I told you that you didn't need to change beds because we have fixed the one you chose yesterday, it shouldn't be unstable anymore."

Both of them exchanged a surprised look. "Really? Why would ya do that?" Grim asked suspiciously. "If I remember correctly, yesterday you wanted to turn us into ghosts."

The ghosts looked at each other as well. "This is our way of apologizing," the small ghost muttered. "We didn't mean to hurt you, we just wanted to scare you..."

"We haven't had any visits from students in years and seeing you come in was the perfect chance," the tall ghost added.

Yuu guessed that the ghosts must have been alone for longer than he could imagine and frowned with shame.

"Yes, we did not expect at all to be the scared ones," the big ghost confessed. "You did a great job together yesterday defeating us."

"Yeah..." Yuu commented, going from feeling shame to embarrassment as he sat on the couch to take a look at the schedule. "We should also apologize for that, I can't imagine how it must be being attacked in your own home."

"Hey, we didn't attack! We were defendin' ourselves, yanno!" Grim reminded him.

"Don't worry, we know you didn't have bad intentions," the little ghost replied. "Besides, it was the headmaster who offered you to be here because you had no other choice, right? You also did a good job cleaning the living room, something we haven't bothered to do in years, we also wanted to thank you for that."

"What do you think? Do we make a clean slate?" The big ghost suggested. "We are going to live together from now on after all."

"But we let you know, that you should expect a little scare every now and then! Hee, hee, hee!" One of the ghosts warned with amusement.

Yuu flinched upon hearing that, but he thought about the situation: the ghosts didn't seem to be lying, and in any case, if something happened, he could count on Grim and the headmaster."Okay," he said as he got up. "Allow me then to introduce myself again: I'm Yuu Oshiro. Let's get along from now on!"

"You say cheesy things again," Grim commented awkwardly. "Enough chatter! Come on, Yuu! Try on the school uniform to see how it looks on you!"

"Isn't it a bit late for that?"

"It's not that late to try somethin' on you either! So you can know if it's your size!"

"Ok, ok. I get it..." He was about to get the uniform when the small ghost appeared with something wrapped in paper and a water bottle.

"But if you don't want to turn into ghosts like us, you should eat something. The headmaster left this too. By the way Grim, you have some cans of tuna in the kitchen."

"The uniform can wait! Dinner first!" Grim exclaimed enthusiastically. "I finally have my tuna!" Yuu shook his head in amusement as he watched him run towards the kitchen door.After dinner and saying good night to the ghosts, Yuu and Grim went to their room. The young human left his new things there and looked at the uniform carefully, he realized that the T-shirt was slightly bigger than it should be, but he decided to hide it with the jacket until he got a smaller size.

"Come on, put it on," Grim exclaimed impatiently as he climbed onto the bed. "I don't think you'll look as cool as I do with this customized magic crystal, but come on, Yuu! Put it on!"

"Ok, ok...! Don't be impatient, I'm on it right now." He took off the white shirt he found the night before and took a closer look at the uniform t-shirt.

"Oh, you have a tattoo!" Grim exclaimed.

Yuu frowned, confused.

"I didn't think of you as someone who likes tattoos, but that's cool! Or so I'd like to say... Couldn't you pick something cooler? Yours is very simple and weird... What's even that?"

"What are you talking about?" Yuu looked at his abdomen and both bandaged arms for any tattoos. "I'm not a big fan of them and my mother would be very upset if she saw me with one."

"Then what's that on your left shoulder? It does look like a tattoo..."

Yuu looked at his shoulder and saw a kind of print of a slight blue color, like the sky in the daytime, and the same size as his fist. "This wasn't here before," he said with concern.

He rushed to the mirror and dusted it off a bit to get a better look: the strange print had a semicircular shape with a small circle attached at the top, pointing forward.

Then Yuu recalled that morning when he rubbed that part as he felt the burning sensation while Ace was talking about the Great Seven and the moment at the cottage in the forest.

"This is strange..." Grim commented with concern. "If that wasn't there before, when did it appear? Didn't you see it when you took off your ceremonial robes yesterday? I surely did not..."

"No, I didn't... So I don't know if I had it since this morning or yesterday when I woke up in the coffin. It won't be dangerous, right?"

"With that simple, harmless look? I don't think so..." Grim said. "Should we tell the headmaster tomorrow?"

"We should," Yuu stated. "But I don't think he'll know much more than we do now."

"It doesn't seem very dangerous to me, so come on! Finish dressing to see how it looks on you! Then let's go to sleep!"

Yuu sighed and looked at the print one last time before finally trying on his uniform."Fine... After this let's find something for the ghost camera, okay?"

[Published on 30/6/2021]