"Hey, Azul," Kalim leaned to his side, tapping onto Azul's shoulder until the silvernette looked at him. When he did, Kalim pushed the book he was once reading in front of him. "Can you help me with this?"

Azul nodded and looked at the book, giving it a brief read before his eyebrow quirked. "Potestas destruam?" Azul turned to Kalim. "That's a light-magic-specific spell breaker."

"Yeah," Kalim sheepishly grinned. "I'm thinking of learning more about light magic. Since healing magic is important, you know."

Azul lightly chuckled. "It's true. With your light-magic, you have more advantages in support rather than offensive attack, unlike us dark-magic users. After all, you don't always have potions in your inventory."

This time Kalim was more energic when he nodded. "I know, right?!" But as if realizing that, he pulled back and cleared his throat. While still smiling, he was less hyper. "I may not be the best healer one day, but a decent healer is better than nothing."

Azul chuckled again. "Quite the spirit you have there, Kalim." He stared at him with an elbow on the table and cheek in his palm. "You've changed."

Kalim blinked at first, confused about what Azul could mean. He didn't feel different at least physically. But maybe he was...calmer, perhaps? He had been trying not to be too jumpy at others. Personal space and all...

Huh...

Maybe he had changed.

Even if it's just a few days ago that he ran away from Royal Sword Academy, it felt like a lifetime ago. Headmaster Crowley was kind enough to handle all the administration with Headmaster Ambrose and join him to talk with his father. Though he claimed that they had talked even before Kalim had said anything to his father. Of course, Jamil gave up his position as dorm leader to him, making Kalim the leader again despite Kalim not wanting it. But he said that he will try to beat Kalim fair and square this time, a magician oath, no hypnotism included.

A new rule was placed as well: The students within this Night Raven College, while they are enrolled, do not belong to any country, organization, or group. Would that change anything? Perhaps. Maybe for someone like Leona and Malleus, students would treat them the same. But for Kalim and Jamil, this would mean their bond of master and servant is broken, and now they were equal as fellow students. Sure, Kalim's family would still give donations, but they could no longer meddle with the whole 'a servant must hold back for their master thing'. Kalim remembered how Jamil's eyes widened, whether it was from awed or disbelieved. But the sigh he let out, a sigh of relief like the noose around his neck had been released was a beautiful sound.

The school changed because of the two of them, adding another pile to the turning points.

"Hehe." Kalim smiled, feeling older despite only being seventeen. "Didn't we all?"

Azul smiled an almost nostalgic smile. "You can say that."

Someone cleared their throat, making Kalim and Azul turned toward them. Riddle was frowning ever so slightly, less toward Kalim but more so at Azul, which was something he had been doing since early on. Azul sighed and went back to his book, either right the hand movement for the new spell or just pretending to. Kalim might regret a bit about asking both of them to teach him, but they were the two smartest students he knew (well, other than Jamil, but there was no way he would ask him to help him study again). After a nearly week of disappearing, he already had so much to catch on to, so getting some tutors might be a good idea.

But the tension between them? Eh... It was pretty heavy and Kalim had no clear idea what caused it or how to solve it.

With Azul's attention no longer on Kalim, Riddle stepped forward with a very neat timetable. "So, I look at your studies and I planned a study schedule for you." Kalim was quite impressed with it actually. It was colorful, easy to read, and incredibly detailed. "Economy, social, and math have been your best subject, so you need a stable grade for this. Care for magical creatures, however, we have to have an intense study lesson." Using his pen, Riddle pointed at some sections on the timetable. "I'm purposing, that if you don't have a light magic club meeting, we can do it on Friday. In addition, I slipped advanced alchemy and magical pharmacy to prepare for your third year if you want to focus on your potion making in the future."

"Thank you so much, Riddle!" Kalim smiled so widely. "You're so nice. I can now study better."

There was a light blush on Riddle's cheeks, clearly not getting used to receiving compliments. "Just make sure you don't let your grade slip," he said, turning his face away from embarrassment. "Dorm leader needs to be a good example for their members."

"Got it. I won't make the same mistake. By the way..." Kalim took out his alchemy textbook with scribbled notes on the side with more question marks. "There's this potion I'm still struggling with. You think you can teach me?"

Riddle leaned closer. "Which one?"

"This-"

*BANG!*

All of them ducked in an instant despite there being no explosion. Maybe it was instinct after having fought in an overblot battle, loud noises usually meant a big attack. But nothing came to hit him. Instead, a loud voice chimed in, "HEY!"

The three boys turned toward the open door. Ghosts dressed in white uniforms and tall hats burst into the room. The leader looked rather snobbish, but at the same time frantic. "What do you think you humans doing here?!"

Riddle stood up from his seat, equally as confused as Kalim and Azul. "Is there something wrong here?"

"This is the groom's dressing room," the ghost said again. "Outsiders are strictly forbidden entry!"

"Groom?" Azul asked. "There's no announcement about a wedding."

"Nonsense. We have claimed this land as the princess' wedding venue since long before you youngsters were even born!" The leader of the ghost pointed at them. "If you refuse to leave, we will cause you great trouble."

The army had already moved and the three boys swiftly moved into action. Kalim held his magic pen and jumped over the table and kicked the ghosts back, doing flips with his agility advantages to physically push them back. Azul used his black magic to blast against the ghosts, making them trip over each other. Riddle meanwhile was ready to burn, waving his pen to summon two fireballs on each side and blasting them at the ghosts. They managed to keep on for a few minutes, at least Kalim thought so from the scattered papers and notes. But the ghosts didn't seem to get tired, compared to them. He blasted one ghost back with his light magic and looked at his pen. It was getting darker. If this keeps up then...

More yelling could be heard as more uniformed ghosts entered the room. "Reinforcement?!" Kalim shouted.

"This is getting nowhere," Riddle snarled. "We have to run."

Nobody disagree and so they ran. The ghost gave them a chase like a chef sweeping the pesky rats out of the kitchen. Through the halls, out the front door, until the three of them reached the sportsfield, already out of breath.

"We..." Kalim wheezed, hands on his knees, "outran them..."

"Yeah..." Azul was holding his stomach to ease the pain, "and it... it seems they won't bother us... outside..."

"Prefect!"

Turning toward the sound Kalim noticed a group running toward them. He could see Lilia among them along with Malleus' green-haired guard. Riddle frowned ever so slightly when he saw his first-year duo along with the demon cat. The headmaster and Idia's robot brother were at the back, looking as distraught as the rest, maybe even more.

"You guys." Riddle stood up straighter when his dormmate came closer. "What are you doing here?"

"Why did you sound as if we broke something?" Ace asked back, threatening not to pout.

Riddle raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, did you?"

"Not this time!"

"A ton of unfamiliar ghosts showed up at the canteen," Deuce spoke up before Ace could say anything that would make things worse, "they said that it's the 'wedding venue' and forced us out."

"We just wanted to hast some few banter with 'em, yet to regard they'd get this angry..." Lilia sighed, "how narrow-minded."

Sebek looked still clearly pissed off from the unwanted attacks. "Did the same thing happen to you, Senior Riddle?" He asked.

Riddle nodded. "Yes. The lecture hall is taken on our side."

"The same thing happened to us."

Everyone turned toward the new voices and was quite surprised at the new crowd. Vil was the one who spoke up and he continued, "We were in one of the classrooms, and some strange ghosts told us 'this is the bride's room' and locked us out."

Rook let out a dramatic sigh. "It's such a shame. We were planning to make the early design for the VDC uniform."

"No matter how many ghosts we went up against, more kept coming..." Epel grumbled, arms crossed in front of him like an angry child.

"They chased me out of the laboratory as well and yelled 'do not enter the family waiting room'!" Cater whined. "My mandrake homework is still in there..."

"Well, I was just walking down the hall and they started trying to fight me," Leona grumbled in his usual tired tone.

Deuce hummed as he looked at the gathered students. "So, these ghosts hijacked the entire school and kicked everyone out?"

"Not everyone at least," Vil said. He turned toward the robot kid. "Ortho. Where is your brother?

"It's not only him." Azul looked around, making a headcount and looking somewhat worried. He turned to the beast among them. "Grim, where is Jonah?"

"Jonah?" Kalim spoke out. He looked around and it was true. He couldn't find the captain anywhere. If anything, he should be one who was the most active, fretting over his crewmates and already thinking about a way to counterattack.

"That's the problem!" Ortho shouted. "Big brother and Jonah Argentum have been kidnapped by the ghost!"

"WHAT?!"

"This early morning, my brother went to Sam's shop to get his limited edition comic book," Ortho continued, "Jonah Argentum was there too, said to be wandering around."

Ace turned to Grim who was on Deuce's shoulder. "And you don't know this?" he shouted.

"I was asleep!" Grim shouted back, clearly not liking being blamed. "When I woke up those ghosts kicked me out of the dorm. Even Lou, Soo, and Barrett were kicked out!"

"Both of you, shut up." Riddle snapped, causing Ace and Grim to jump away. He turned back to Ortho, looking more serious than before. "And then what happened?"

"And then, the ghost princess appeared!" Ortho explained. "She and her army captured them!"

"Did you say 'princess'?" Rook perked up.

That reminded Kalim of some things the ghost army leader had said. "Hey, the ghosts also said something about a princess right?" he asked, looking at Azul.

Azul nodded, his arms crossed in front of his chest with a tight grip. "And a wedding..."

Ace let out a frustrated yell before spinning around and facing the only head figure who hadn't said a single word since he arrived. "Headmaster, what the hell is going on?!"

Everyone, including Kalim, turned to the man. He looked calm or at least didn't want to be seen troubled, despite the commotion or the fact two students were missing (not to mention one of them is his favorite). Both of his hands were on his cane as if grounding himself from fueling the fire. A sigh escaped from him and finally, he spoke. "The ghost you've met are the vassals of the ghost bride, Princess Eliza de Henshaw-Ravenswood. She had died millennia ago, with her only regret being not able to marry her 'ideal prince' when she was alive."

"And when you still have regret, you're unable to pass to the afterlife, spending the rest of your days as a ghost, right?" Leona said.

"Indeed," Crowley answered with a nod. "She had searched across Twisted Wonderland for her 'ideal prince'. However, eighty-five years ago, she found herself in Night Raven College and finally met her 'ideal prince', but they didn't get married immediately."

Kalim tilted his head to the side slightly. "Why not?"

"No one knows. Unfortunately, the 'ideal prince' died not a few days later." Crowley sighed. "Ever since then, every year, the princess will arrive at Night Raven College to find her 'ideal prince' again, without even knowing that he had died."

"But that should be good, right?" Grim perked up. "He turned into a ghost, right?"

"No," Crowley said with a heavy tone as if he was just about to open the secret of the universe. "There are more about life, death, and ghost than you think."

Between all of them, Vil and Lilia seemed to be the calmest. Leona's tail was swishing and he was frowning. Ace, Deuce, and Grim exchanged glances, completely out of the loop. And honestly so was Kalim, not to mention that he was standing between a flaming hot Riddle and a bitter cold Azul who both were ready to destroy the whole school if they need to.

Suddenly, Lilia spoke with a soft tone. "Thou art talking about reincarnation, art not thou?"

Crowley pulled down his top hat so his eyes weren't visible. "Correct."

"Reincarnation? What is that?" Grim asked, voicing Kalim's question.

"As Crowley said, there is more about life and death." Vil stepped up. This wasn't the first time Kalim had seen Vil having the authority that even surpass a dorm leader aura with a voice that would make even the most stubborn soldier obey him. "Life is like a storybook, and when you die it means that your story is finished. However, we often pick up and re-read the same story, right? That's what happens to our life. Our soul will return to the world, with different bodies and circumstances, and restart everything again, sometimes through the same plot, others diverge."

"Wait..." Ace spoke up, the gears in his head started to turn to connect the dots. "If I'm getting this... Then if the original 'ideal prince' died and somehow their soul reincarnated, then... That reincarnate soul is either Senior Idia or Jonah?"

Lilia hummed and nodded. "It seemed like it." Kalim couldn't help but let out a gasp. Something like that could happen even in a world of magic standards?

"And yet, comes another problem." Lilia looked up toward the campus building. "Wherein thou marry a ghost when thou art still alive, thou art surrendering thy life to perpetual wink. Thy soul shall be taken from thou and thou shall turn into a ghost."

"So, Senior Shourd and Jonah will turn into ghosts?!" Deuce yelled.

Azul let out a groan as he ran a hand down his face. "Again with this soul-sucking ghost? Isn't All Hallow's Eve enough?"

"We have to do something!" Kalim shouted. "We can't let them die!" Jonah had helped him. He had helped all of them. So, this time, it was fair to return the favor.

"That's right." Crowley looked up and tapped his cane to the ground. "In that case, everyone! We shall save Mister Shroud and Mister Argentum from the hands of the ghost bride together!"