Twisted

Wonderland

“A h, my lovely Lord,

The noble and beautiful flower of evil,

You are the most beautiful, number one in this world.

ー Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most…

ー For thee, guided by the Mirror of Darkness,

Follow thy heart and take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror.
 Flames that turn even stars into ashes,

Ice that imprisons even time,

Great tree that swallows even the sky,

Don’t be afraid of the power of darkness,

Come now, show your power.

Mine, theirs, and yours,

There’s only little time left for us.

Do not let go of that hand, at all costs.”

Prologue, Welcome to the Villains’ world.

All of a sudden, his eyes fluttered open in the pitch-black environment.

Yuuichirõ let out a faint squeak as he hit his head in the darkness. He cussed under his
breath and tried in vain to adjust to the surrounding shadows. He strained his own eyes
again, trying to discern his vicinity.

The young man wanted to raise his arms to feel around him, but he noticed almost
immediately that the place he was in was far too narrow to allow him to move with ease.

The faint buzzing sound in his ears was beginning to cause his head to spin, so Yuu closed
his eyes momentarily. Doing so made no difference at all to his situation, but he willed
himself not to think of it and instead focused on calming himself down.

Opening his eyes and finding oneself in an extremely narrow, dark place certainly didn't
bode well. He had to keep his cool and...

What was that noise?

"Darn, people will come soon!" A squeaky, huffy voice reached him, muffled by... whatever it
was that separated them. "I have to wear the uniform and fast..."

Yuu felt his breath catch as the person on the other side grunted in exertion. He didn't know
what they were trying to do, but they seemed to be working as hard as they could.

"This lid is so heavy!" The voice gasped loudly. Yuu flinched slightly because of a dull thump
just above his face. "If it has come to this... I'm gonna have to use my last resort!"
Yuu braced his hands against the ground as a substantial heat followed the mysterious
words of the person on the other side. Perspiration appeared on his temples and he barely
dared to breathe.

A few seconds later, a small opening appeared on the side and a thread of light came
through that crack, causing Yuu to close his eyes which were not accustomed to any lighting
yet.

"Well then, here's our aim...!" The person above Yuu suddenly shouted in surprise. "Huh,
gyaaaa~~!!!!"

Finally being able to move, Yuu reached up to shield his eyes with one hand. The creature
that had... in some way freed him had actually successfully taken down the heavy object that
held him captive.

"Ayaya, please don't go around screaming so much..." Yuu's words were lost as his vision
finally stabilized and he could see... The thing in front of him, and the sight immediately
silenced him.

"You, why are you awake already!?" The strange animal... or whatever it was couldn't help
but recoil at Yuu's appearance, who slowly sat up.

While he had a lot to say about the little blue being (who was very cute, by the way, if one
forgot the troubling nature of... the present situation), Yuu preferred to glance around at his
surroundings instead, and he couldn't help but wince.

"Uh... Am I dreaming or are there flying caskets here?" The blond-haired young man
scratched his cheek, a confused expression evident on his features. "... This… definitely
isn’t my bedroom…I think?"

"Hey, human." The...Thing he assumed to be a cat tapped his paw frantically on the coffin -
Oh hell, he had been lying down in a freaking coffin- and looked at Yuu with annoyance.
"Give me those clothes!"

Yuu gazed down at him for a moment, noticing the beautiful blue eyes (Was that eyeliner he
was seeing?), the flaming ears, and the seemingly soft fur that was irresistibly tempting him
to reach for it. The animal's little tail ended in a pointed trident and his out-of-the-ordinary
appearance made Yuu completely forget that he had actually been talking to him.

"Oi! When the Great Grim talks to you, you respond, dumb human!" The cat totally
patronized him by talking to him like that, but Yuu chose to blissfully ignore the fact as he
was on the verge of melting over such a cute little being, he couldn't help it, adorable things
were his utmost weakness. "...Why are you looking at me like this?"

The 'Great Grim' seemed frankly disturbed by Yuu's vacant but somehow dangerously
fixated look, and for his part, the human had only one desire: to grab the little blue cat and
hug him multiple times for good measure.
Even though he was undoubtedly dreaming — a frankly odd dream, but Yuu had seen worse
—, he held back anyway, because he was actually a decent human being… At least when it
came to dealing with strangers.

"Your name is Grim-san?" It was only when Yuu tried to extricate himself from the coffin — it
was better to not think about this particular aspect, which was a little bit too creepy to dwell
on— that he noticed that he was wearing a bunch of clothes that looked like very, very fancy
wizard robes.

Very fancy wizard robes and definitely not the kind of clothes he’d wear… Or at least that’s
what he was pretty sure of, if one could trust his obscured memories.

He stared in amazement at the rich black fabric embroidered with gold detailing and
sumptuous purple tones before asking. "...Did you change my clothes?"

Grim was caught off guard, but he cleared his throat before addressing the first sentence
Yuu had uttered. "You better remember my name, after all I'm going to be the most powerful
magician in this Academy!"

Yuu sat on the edge of the coffin and gave him a slightly distant look. "Ah... That's very nice,
sweet child, but I’d also like for you to answer my other question, please."

After all, it was kind of disturbing to know that somebody –or something, he thought while
glancing at the flaming being— could’ve taken the time to change his clothes as well as stuff
him in a coffin without him even realizing in the slightest.

Just as Grim was about to rudely retort that he didn't care, the man’s hazel eyes held his
stare and the little monster couldn't help but shudder as a dreadful feeling overcame him
when he noticed the completely... emotionless expression of the person he was talking to.

His little exquisite face, adorned by long wisps of golden locks and his blushed cheeks,
courtesy to being locked in a casket, made the youth look extremely good mannered,
especially with the polite speech he was softly using…

But something still got Grim on guard.

"...Uh, no, it's not me." Grim fidgeted on the spot before crossing his arms in a show of some
sort of rebellious confidence. "I need those robes, why would I put them on you?"

Grim got the uncomfortable sensation that the other guy was debating whether to accept the
answer or not – And why was he, the Great Grim, so uneasy about a random human of all
things?! He had to calm down!– and just as he wanted to try to regain control of the situation,
the light-haired guy let out a small, contented noise. Then Grim saw that he was starting to
take off his ceremonial outfit, and he openly gazed at him in anticipation.

"You have a point." Yuu didn't know how he'd ended up with that outfit, but it certainly was
irrelevant. After all, details like that in dreams could easily be overlooked as long as no harm
seemed to actually befall his person. "Here, you can have them."
"I don't need the pants and the shoes." Grim saw fit to note, as if it wasn’t obvious that they
would just hinder him anyways. "They're already too big for you..."

"Hmm, you sure are right, it would’ve been actually nicer to provide me with clothes that fit."
Yuu let out a sigh and tilted his head when he noticed the second layer of clothes. "Are you
gonna wear that too, or perhaps you’d rather just take the cloak?"

"I'll just take this." Grim raised his grabby paws, a frankly devious expression on his face.
"Come on, hurry up."

Yuu shrugged before quickly handing him the overcoat he was wearing as well as the belt.
As Grim fumbled with the garment, Yuu had an attempt to gather back his hair into a low bun
that was more put together than his askew ponytail. And while he looked around, he halted
when he noticed that the other flying coffins were no longer stacked around.

"...Is it normal for the other coffins to be gone?" He couldn't help but ask, and Grim let out a
cuss, causing Yuu to frown.

It… was a bit unsettling to hear such crude words coming from a cutie like him.

"Oh shit, I'm going to be late if this keeps up!" The cat looked so pitiful in the end that Yuu
hastened to help him. "No, get my paw through the other side!"

"Yes, Yes, Your Highness." Although this was a bit strange, Yuu replied with some
recovered cheerfulness. He didn't really appreciate the haughty tone the little beast was
using, but since his tiny paws were quite tender and squishy between his fingers, he would
forgive him. "Stop fidgeting please, I have to put the belt on you."

"Hmph, a weird human like you doesn't seem to understand what's going on!" Grim growled
and Yuu saw out of the corner of his eye that he had pointy little teeth. "I have to get to the
others in a hurry!"

"Okay, I get it, don't worry." Without further ado, Yuu tightened the belt around the cat. Grim
gave a surprised squeal as the young man eventually carried him without missing a beat. He
noticed with satisfaction that even though he looked a bit ridiculous in that sordid outfit, he
was still cute, tucked in like that in an attire nearly three times his size. "All right, do your
best. "

Without awaiting an answer, Yuu threw him into the casket. He blithely ignored the cat's
scream and hurriedly closed the lid. Much to his astonishment, the object disappeared
almost immediately and Yuu blinked.

"Uh... Okay, this is weird." The young man stretched as he spun around to face the only
noticeable door. "I haven’t been so lucid in a dream for quite some time now…"

An unpleasantly vicious, tiny part of himself murmured in his mind of a possibility that this
wasn't all a dream, and Yuu felt slightly uncomfortable. If it wasn't a dream...
Wasn't he in deep trouble?

He was under the illusion that he was actually walking around on a massive recording studio
set, kinda like those fancy ones he’d seen on TV where a certain well-known franchise had
been filmed. Yuu squinted as he looked around... Okay, it was a little bit on the darker side,
but it really did feel like he'd stepped into a wizard's world.

...Actually, hadn’t Grim claimed he was going to be one of those...

Yuu laughed nervously. Nah, that was kinda impossible. He'd most likely ate a way too big
dinner that he had yet to digest that was causing him to having nightmares. Or maybe he
had passed out on the couch after watching a series of weird movies...

Yuu willfully chose to ignore the fact that he had absolutely no recollection of what he was
doing before he woke up to Grim’s antics...

Ah, but after thinking about it, he actually kinda did. He remembered seeing a strangely
familiar mirror, and a sumptuous carriage led by strikingly beautiful black horses... Well,
perhaps it was related to his dream...

A dream which was beginning to spook him a tiny little bit.

For a split second, Yuu reflected on the situation and eventually decided to leave the room.
He wasn't going to stay stuck there like that... After all, his curiosity had indeed been
aroused.

And as the carefree young man walked out of the room —which suspiciously looked like a
storage room of some sort— he was completely clueless as to what was in store for him. If
he had known, he might have wisely chosen to remain in his little coffin.

Alternatively, being the incorrigible fellow that he was, he would have probably still managed
to get himself into a mess like no other.

Humming a little tune he'd recently heard on a podcast he was particularly fond of, Yuu
walked down a long hallway that opened onto a beautiful yard. It appeared to him that dusk
had just fallen, and the emerging darkness gave the whole place a delightfully mysterious
atmosphere. Yuu was quite stunned by the sight of such a place...

It was magical.

The young man's footsteps led him at random into various areas. He passed what he
presumed to be a variety of some sorts of study rooms, which he wisely chose not to enter.
His hazel eyes widened when he reached the foot of a huge staircase. A glorious chandelier
bathed the place in a greenish glow as the young man looked on in admiration.

"No, this is exactly like being at Hogwarts." He was unable to stop himself from letting out a
little gasp. "I'd only need a wand to top it all off~"
"A wand?" A strangely deep voice chirped in his ear, and Yuu nearly screamed out before
scrambling to catch himself on the railing.

"Oh God!" He spun around right away, his eyes meeting a person... Who was hanging
upside down behind him. "...What…?"

"Good evening." The person looked awfully gloating if Yuu could believe his eyes. "I'm
surprised to see someone lurking in the corridors at this hour, everyone should be busy with
the Entrance Ceremony."

...Wasn't that person himself currently 'lurking' in the halls? Yuu pouted slightly as the other
party moved in such a rapid fashion that he couldn't even see their movement; he could only
stare on as the smaller one at last stood properly in front of him.

"Oh…” Yuu noted with surprise that the person looked as cute as they were good-looking,
and their whole appearance contrasted greatly with how deep their voice sounded.

"Fufufu, what is it?" As Yuu wondered how he could laugh like that without sounding
ridiculous in the least, the youth continued. "Are you taken back by my adorable appearance
of an irresistible bishõnen?"

Yuu was at a loss for words when he heard such a statement, but it was short-lived. His
eyes lit up and he clapped his hands together.

"Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to stare so rudely!” He had a small, polite smile. “I was indeed a bit
surprised, it’s not everyday that I get to see someone as cute!”

“Mh~, you’re not bad at all yourself.” The young man with black and pink hair let out another
chuckle as he appraised him before bringing a hand up to his chin. "Hmm... I don't seem to
see any Magical Pen on you... Could it be that you're a little newbie?"

"My apologies, I can’t say for sure if I should possess one of those things." Yuu didn't even
think about lying. "I woke up in a dark room with a cat-like creature, so I’m not certain what…
is going on.”

If the person in front of him was taken aback by his honesty, Yuu couldn't tell since he
remained impassive, simply letting out a contemplative sound instead.

"Hmm, I see." The young man's crimson eyes did not leave Yuu for a second. "Good ol’ me
was headed to the Entrance Ceremony’s Hall; would you accompany me there?"

Yuu didn't have to think twice, he had a strong conviction that he was going to be dragged
there willingly or not, so he took the easy way out:

"Okay, I'll follow you." He smiled at the other person. "I've got nothing else to do anyway."

The boy nodded in a pleased manner. "Alright, let's go before it all ends."
He took off walking but suddenly seemed to remember something. Yuu, who was following
him, sweetly tilted his head to the side as the other looked at him.

"I almost forgot to introduce myself." Yuu noticed with some surprise that the boy had very
sharp canines, revealed through his grin — that some would have easily described as
mischievous, but not Yuu, no, he was far too busy thinking about whether his interlocutor
had had his teeth surgically set or not— "My name is Lilia Vanrouge."

"A name most befitting of someone as adorable." Yuu had to shook his head to eventually
gather his thoughts as Lilia had a pleased grin. " I'm Isayama Yuuichirõ, pleased to meet
you, Vanrouge-san. "

Lilia appeared thoughtful when he heard the words that crossed his lips. "Isa…ya... Yuu…
ichi... What a strange name."

Yuu’s last name seemed to pass through Lilia’s mouth with difficulty, as if it was a foreign
language.

"Eh? It's a really basic name though." Yuu picked up his pace slightly when he saw how fast
the other was when he started moving again. "Actually, it is rather your name that is... uh,
how shall I say, somewhat peculiar?"

"Fufu, so you're not used to hearing names like that? It is pretty surprising." Lilia had raised
an eyebrow. "You're not from the Isle of Sages, I presume?"

Yuu frowned. It was definitely a name worthy of a mystical tale, wasn't it? "Hmh, fair enough,
I'm actually not from here... Uh, I guess..."

If Lilia had heard the remainder of his mumbled sentence, he certainly chose to not pick up
on it. The young man, who had pointed ears as Yuu realized abruptly, continued to guide
them towards a precise place. If anyone were to ask the blond boy to retrace the path by
himself, he would without a single doubt get lost.

"Come on, let's hurry. I’m already late and I still have to check if they haven't forgotten to
invite Malleus again."

The curiosity in Yuu was, quite involuntarily, piqued all the same. He looked at Lilia and was
obliged (by his own nature) to inquire.

"'If they didn't invite him again?' May I inquire if this… Ma...reo-san not a social fellow by any
chance?"

The candid laugh that escaped Lilia stunned Yuu who had to consider what he had said...
He hadn't said anything crazy, had he?

"Malleus, not Mar-eo." Lilia's pronunciation sounded rather odd according to Yuu. It was as if
he wasn't used to such names... A shadow of doubt was beginning to creep over Yuu, this
was a dream that was far too vivid. "It's not so much a matter of being sociable, rather,
people merely do not consider to invite the lad."

Seized with a bit of dread, Yuu opted to completely ignore the turmoil that was threatening to
eat away at him at this point and tried to keep a composed look on his face and continue the
conversation.

"Why? Does he do strange stuff that makes everyone uncomfortable or something?"

"Let us say that Malleus is intimidating in the eyes of the others." Lilia stopped in front of a
huge wooden door. Yuu noticed that a multitude of exquisite small mirrors were carved in the
frame. "We arrived, let us be discrete, the ceremony does not seem to have finished."

Yuu nodded as the other hurriedly opened the massive door. He was stunned when before
his eyes appeared a gigantic hall, with a striking resemblance to the refined architecture of
those fine Gothic churches he'd seen on the net...

But what disturbed Yuu even more, was the incredible number of people dressed with the
same black dresses as Lilia and him, all gathered under the dome of the vast room.

"I must rejoin the ranks of Diasomnia before those two strict children notice, which dorm are
you assigned to?"

Yuu swallowed with difficulty, his eyes finally meeting the calculating ones of Lilia. He did not
know what to answer, and the people sitting on the latter benches started to murmur upon
spotting them.

"Isn't that Lilia-senpai? Who is he with?"

"I don't know, but if the Headmage sees them, he'll for sure start another one of his dramatic
lectures."

“Riddle-san and Vil-senpai are also both mad because of their first years disappearing for a
while, I hope they don’t throw another fit as well…”

"Are you unwell?" While others were murmuring around, Lilia had a smile which quite
honestly chilled Yuu's blood, the shadows which played around him darkly hid his juvenile
face. "It is necessary to go to sit down."

Was this divine punishment for following a stranger so lightheartedly? The Headmistress of
the Orphanage had often cautioned Yuu and the other children, but it seemed like he was
still a complete and utter fool.

Before he could answer anything, a commotion erupted at the front of the room. Lilia turned
to see what was happening, and Yuu spun around almost immediately to leave.
Unfortunately for him, a hand grazed his long hair and grabbed the back of his long tunic,
and he was half strangled when Lilia began to move.
"Ouch, please, hold on a second!" A small yelp escaped him but Lilia ignored him completely
and kept on advancing. Yuu could only wonder what was going on at the front, because the
other people were completely captivated and did not even seem to notice the sight that Lilia
and him offered. "I don't want to be here."

"Shhh. " The response from Lilia was brief and...

Rather demeaning.

But being the good boy that he was, Yuu eventually relaxed and let the smaller one drag him
along. It wasn't at all because he couldn't escape... He just happened to enjoy having his
butt gliding across the floor like that...

"That's by no means good. What is a Monster doing within one of the gates?!" Yuu heard a
voice exclaim with great urgency, and right after that...

Straight after that...

"Mgh, puh, finally! I thought I was going to choke after that idiot human threw me like that!"
Yuu made a face as he recognized Grim's voice... "Alright, the Great Grim is ready to get
enrolled!"

"Enrolled? What kind of nonsense is that?" Voices murmured amidst the great chaos that
was looming.

"As if a monster could become a student!”

"But why does he have a ceremonial robe?"

"It is far too big for him. What on earth is this unsightly display. "

Lilia had eventually released him, and Yuu finally had the chance to sit down properly on the
floor, he massaged his neck without turning around to see what was going on...

He didn't need to be a genius to figure out that... Maybe... There was some... Possibility that
Grim wasn't supposed to be there...

And... hadn't Yuu himself helped the cat monster wind up here?

Well, it might have been time to keep a low profile.

"What are you saying?" The same voice with an extremely dramatic tone echoed through the
room once more. "Your human locked you in the portal?"

"Huh? A moron like that will never be my human!" Grim bristled and shouted indignantly.
Yuu might have felt offended if he wasn't busy looking around. This was starting to look
more and more like a gathering of some sort of sect. "What the hell, who cares? The main
thing is that I have my robes and I'm ready to be a student!"
"What kind of nonsense is this? One cannot disobey the rules like this." Yuu's attention was
suddenly caught by someone mumbling a few steps away from him. He noticed a young
man with scarlet hair partially hidden beneath a hood looking at Grim with a fierce
expression. "That would be enough to cut his head off."

Yuu, suddenly not feeling safe anymore, decided to stick a little more to Lilia who was
watching the scene unperturbed.

...Just what kind of mess had Yuu gotten himself in?

"To arbitrarily get out of the gate and daring to have a familiar that has yet to be tamed!
These are against the rules of the school!" The man that was speaking seemed to be as
dramatic as Grim, which was a lot to say since the animal was quite the flaming disaster
already. "Where is this impatient student?"

"Oi, it doesn't matter!" Yuu dared to peek over Lilia's side to try to see what was happening
on the stage where a splendid mirror stood and where several more caskets were floating.
"C'mon, just take me in already or I'll roast ya whole!"

If Yuu had thought a few minutes ago that the elaborate gowns he was seeing everywhere
were extravagant, he soon changed his opinion when he noticed the man at Grim's side.

The man's face, concealed by a half-mask resembling a raven's beak was, incredulously
enough, not the only outstanding feature he possessed. Sporting a greatcoat with thick
blackbird feathers curling out from the blue collar, the man had a striking resemblance to a
bird. The black gloves with golden claw rings adorning his fingers added to the illusion, and
Yuu could only openly gape as he...

Took out some sort of whip...

And…

"Fugya!? It hurts!" The poor Grim, whom Yuu couldn't help but sympathize with, received the
full brunt of the attack. "What's this string!?"

"It's not a string. It's the whip of love!" The man replied without hesitation, and Yuu
squinted.

"Wow, that's a bit… peculiar."

Lilia briefly gratified him with a rather amused glance. Unfortunately for Yuu, it seemed that
his comment had not escaped the sharp ears of a certain little monster who had stopped
struggling against his bonds to shout at him.

"Hey, just what the hell are you doing here!" A low growl came from Grim, who was probably
doing his best to look intimidating despite the situation at hand. "Get the hell out of here, I'm
not giving you the spot!"
And of course, following his outburst, the attention was quite naturally directed towards Yuu,
who was still at Lilia's feet.

"At last, you have decided to grace us with your presence!" The strange bird-man (who was
more than suspicious, after all, who could walk around with a whip and worse, who could
handle such an object with so much skill?) "Hm, so you really left the gate by yourself and
sent your familiar in your stead!"

"I see, so you are indeed a newcomer." Lilia stepped sideways to expose the human still
kneeling on the ground. "Interesting."

"Really. It's unheard of for a new student to arbitrarily open the door and come out by
themselves." The man who had finished tying up Grim completely was sighing heavily.
Murmurs in the room ensued at once after his words.

Yuu understood absolutely nothing of what they were saying. He slowly raised his hands
from where they were folded on his lap and looked at the crow man (whose eyes were
glowing... in a more than creepy way.)

"Uh, I think there's a little misunderstanding." Yuu's gaze trailed over his surroundings, he
noticed with some mild horror that several individuals on the sidelines, including the boy
talking about decapitations, were also staring at him. "I'm definitely not new here, I hardly
think I'm cut out to join some suspicious cult— Ahm, I mean... Nothing here is suspicious,
ahaha…”

"... Pardon?" The bird man seemed caught off guard while Yuu’s laugh trailed off awkwardly.
"My, I see. Your thoughts must be in disorder because of the space transportation magic..."

Whereas Yuu was flabbergasted by his words, the man just flippantly shrugged his
shoulders. "Oh well. It happens a lot, after all."

“Oh, right, I remember I got quite disoriented when I got out of the gate.” A boy wearing a
purple turban underneath his crooked hood let out a carefree laugh. “Jamil actually had to
knock some sense in me after that!”

“I hardly believe it was caused by the teleportation magic.” A beautiful man huffed out next to
him before reaching over to fix his attire and Yuu’s attention was eventually caught by an
annoyed-looking guy…

With animal ears poking from his hood!

“Oh no.” Yuu couldn’t help speaking out loud. “There’s furries even in weird sects?”

The murderous glance from the concerned individual was not delayed, and Yuu, who noticed
suddenly that Lilia was not there anymore to offer him any coverage, turned his head to the
side to decisively avoid meeting that pair of glaring emerald eyes.
"Oh dear, it seems that you are really out of sorts." The bird man commented before
clapping his hands. "Whatever. You're the only one who hasn't gotten your dorm yet, so
quickly go in front of the Mirror of Darkness and let's get you sorted."

After a short pause to reflect, Yuu finally stood up and walked towards the mirror while the
crow man continued to hold Grim under his arm. The golden-haired young man finally
stopped and looked hesitantly at his reflection as it gradually dissipated.

In the next moment, a deep voice emanated from the object, and soon enough, Yuu saw a
mask with a dark countenance appearing on the surface. "Speak thy name."

Yuu blinked in surprise when faced with that scene. Silence fell over the room as he stood
motionlessly in front of the mirror.

“Ahem.” Crow-man let out a clipped cough to try and push him to do what was needed of
him.

However… the youth was more interested in other matters, and he suddenly leant towards
the mirror, flattening both of his palms against the smooth surface.

“Uwah, that’s amazing!” Excitation laced his words as the face inside the mirror appeared
flabbergasted. “This screen must be pretty advanced to make a face appear out of nowhere,
huh?”

“What—” The feathered man was at loss for words, just like the rest of the people around.

“What was that phrase again? Oh yeah, ‘Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them
all~’” Yuu had no idea where that sentence came to him, but he let out a giggle as he
knocked against the mask who looked somewhat shocked. “Must be hard having to answer
that question, hm?”

“Hey, you!” Yuu jumped a bit when the man’s voice boomed. “Do you have any idea of what
you’re doing? Even the Magnanimous me will be mad if harm were to befall the precious
Magic Mirror!”

“Eh? Ah I’m so sorry!” Yuu immediately took some steps back and bowed down. “I had no
idea something that looked so old was actually precious.”

Another man was shushing the students who were too numerous for Yuu to discern what
they were saying. He lifted his head to glance at the headmaster who was still looking at him
with a bewildered expression.

“Ah, what is it with troublemakers in this School.” He seemed pained as he let out a sigh.
“Enough dillydallying, just give your name to the Magic Mirror.”

Yuu nodded with vigour and turned back to the silent mirror. He looked at the solemn face
and awkwardly said. “Uhm, sorry if I offended you by saying you looked old… As far as I’m
concerned, you’re pretty good-looking… when it comes to mirrors aesthetic I guess?”
Before anyone else could throw a fit because of his words, the Mirror finally spoke again to
reiterate his previous question. “Speak thy name."

Maybe it was something in Yuu’s head, but he could swear there was some bitterness tinged
in the foreboding voice.

"My name is Isayama Yuuichirõ." He finally replied with some apprehension... The Mirror’s
displeasure aside, this was starting to be too well-fleshed to be a dream. Dreams could be
non-sensical, yes, but he was positive about the fact that he had most probably never had a
dream like this.

"Yuuichirõ Isayama." The mirror repeated in his wake, his last name sounding once again
foreign, as if it shouldn’t be said aloud. "The shape of thy soul is..."

A heavy silence fell over the room as the others seemed to wait for something to happen.
Yuu rubbed a hand over his arm as this whole vibe was rather... eerie, even for someone
like him.

After a while, the mirror finally deigned to answer. "I do not know."

"What did you just say?" Almost immediately, the man let go of Grim and hurried to the
mirror, as if he couldn't believe his ears.

"I could not feel any magical wavelength from this one...Neither colors, nor shape, there are
none of it." The Mirror's explanation seemed to light a fire in the assembly, which began to
murmur at the same time. "Therefore, this one is unfit to join any dorm!”

Yuu blinked as the man whirled around to face him, and his first reflex was to immediately
apologize. "Sorry…?"

Though if they were to be fair, it wasn’t like pure magic like they seemed to talk about
existed in anything than fiction.

"There's no way the black carriage would pick up a human who cannot use magic!" The man
exclaimed, sounding as though he was distressed by his apology instead of getting placated.
"In 100 years, there has not been any mistake in student selection ever! Why in the world..."

The young human felt frankly uncomfortable under the piercing gaze of the masked man, but
he did not have to answer anything since Grim had finally freed himself from both the bonds
that were containing him and the loose robes Yuu had previously lent him.

"Then, give that seat to me!" Grim jumped in front of them and the crow man's expression
turned into an aggrieved one.

"Ah, again with this Tanuki!"

"I ain't a racoon! And unlike that human over there, I can use magic! That's why, let me into
the academy instead!" Just as Yuu was surprised to hear that this place was supposed to be
an academy altogether, Grim smirked wickedly as he continued on with his passionate
speech. "If it's magic you want, I'll show you an extraordinary one now!"

And just like that, the monster straightened up on his haunches and took a deep breath
before blowing blue flames all around his vicinity. Yuu let out a gasp as the red-haired boy
behind him shouted in an authoritative voice.

"Everyone, take cover!"

Not to be told twice, Yuu made sure to retreat further as the Crow man tried to diffuse the
flames. Grim continued to huff and puff with some excitement, and several people began to
run for cover.

"If this keeps up, the academy will turn into a sea of fire!" The man exclaimed, with what
could be seen of his face displaying a more than somber expression. Grim somersaulted to
dodge him and continued to shoot flames, catching Yuu off guard when one of them came
close to the bench he was hiding behind.

The other rather striking young men he had seen before avoided the flames with ease... well,
all except one.

"Uwaa!!! Hot, hot, hot, hot! The fire got to my butt!" Yuu watched as he hopped on the spot,
feeling somewhat baffled. The others didn't even bother to pay him any attention and
continued to watch Grim flail about with some indifference until the crow man called out.

"Someone, seize that raccoon!"

An immediate response came from the round-eared animal boy Yuu had described as 'furry'
while he clicked his tongue. "Tch... too annoying."

"Ara? Isn't hunting your specialty?" As if to provoke him, the blond-haired man (who was
even more good-looking than what he had first thought) gazed at him with amusement. "Isn't
this plump, fat monster an ideal dessert?"

Yuu felt downright horrified for Grim, but luckily, the animal man (looking at him more
closely... his lion ears looked very, very real...) was hardly interested.

"Huh? Why would I? Do it yourself."

The handsome young man only replied with a rather haughty 'hmph', as another boy with
pearly white hair stepped forward, a benevolent smile on his lips.

"Crowley-sensei, leave it to me." His eyes riveted on Grim with such intensity that even Yuu
was startled by such a calculating look. "To hurt and capture an innocent small animal... I
shall take over this role that everyone hates."
...He didn't really need to hurt the poor thing... did he?

A voice pulled Yuu out of his rather morbid thoughts and he noticed that the empty place
next to the handsome man... Wasn't really that empty. A tablet sat there, and someone
spoke through it...

He had seen it all now...

"As expected from Azul-shi. Here comes the unofficial credits earner!"

Yuu's attention was nonetheless drawn back to the young boy with the turban who was still
ablaze.

"Hey, can anyone please put out the fire on my butt!"

As his companions gave him no response and were content to continue watching Grim and
his rampage, Yuu cautiously walked over to the other.

"Alright just stop moving and drop to the ground!" The other stopped wiggling around and
seemed relieved to see that someone came to his rescue at least.

He followed Yuu's instructions and dropped down. The human advised him to get into a
prone position and cover his face with his hands.

"Okay, just roll over until the flames are extinguished." Yuu guided him and white-haired boy
followed suit, his words being muffled behind his hands.

“Just like this?”

Yuu hummed in approval and watched him until the flames were finally put from his dark
robes. The haughty blond couldn’t help but huff at them.

“You know you could’ve used your magic to get rid of the fire, right?” His eyes judged the
whitehead next to him.

“Oh, I forgot.” Yuu watched as the one he had helped suddenly laughed out in a carefree
way. “Haha, it’s fine though.”

The blond was a bit startled when the other turned to him immediately. “By the way, thank
you! That was nice of you, I kinda panicked there.”

“Ah, please don’t worry about it.” Yuu felt that this person’s smile was really infectious, and
he couldn’t help mirroring his expression. “Though you should be a bit more careful…
maybe?”

"Probably, usually Jamil makes sure I don't do anything foolish." The boy placed his hand on
the back of his head, a small, blissful smile on his lips. "But since it's the Entrance
Ceremony, he's sitting somewhere further in the benches, haha"
Yuu didn't know who this Jamil was, but he already respected him a lot. "I see, your friend
must be great!"

"And quite a bit too!" The tanned boy suddenly seemed very excited, as if he was
overwhelmed with delight at the thought of someone complimenting his friend. "Jamil is like
a brother to me, we're always together!"

"Oi, surely you're not going to chitchat like nothing is going on." The handsome man cut
them off sharply. "At least have the graciousness to take into consideration your
surroundings."

"You have to give them credit, not many people manage to go off in their own servers just
like that." The voice spoke from the tablet. “Tho, it’s not surprising since the other noob
seems to be even more scatterbrained.”

As Yuu helped the turbaned boy to his feet, he noticed that the other men were all looking at
him, as if waiting for a reaction.

“Is… something the matter?” He tilted his head slightly and the redhead narrowed his eyes
at him.

“I could tell from the ridiculous way you acted that you severely lack self-awareness, but it
seems even worse at closer look.” His expression was strict as he stared at him, and Yuu
was confused.

“Ah, you can see things like that?”

“What a poor, unfortunate soul.” The silver-haired boy who had yet to go take care of Grim
chuckled derogatorily while the Lion looked annoyed.

“He meant that you’re even dumber than you look.”

“Ah, don’t worry about these guys!” The whitehead he helped came between them. “They
like to say mean things, but they’re actually not that bad, haha!”

“Kalim-shi, I’m pretty sure you’re wrong.”

Before Yuu could say anything for his defense — though it wasn’t like he really cared — a
loud thud echoed as a nearby tapestry on the wall was set on fire.

At that same time, behind them, the man that had been addressed as Crowley called out
again in annoyance.

"Everyone, are you listening to me!?"

The lion-eared youth let out an exasperated sigh before crossing his arms, looking
unaffected by the flames around him. "It's just a matter of catching a tanuki, you do it
yourself, Sensei."

"How many times will you make me say that I'm not a Tanuki!?" Grim immediately became
indignant, his fur bristling as he spoke. "I am Grim, the one who will become a great
magician!"

The silver-haired boy let out a chuckle as he adjusted his glasses on his nose.

"A small animal with such a strong might." He turned to the strict-looking boy who had
commented on his ‘lack of self-awareness’. "Riddle-san, would you please help me with this
matter?"

"Ah, yes. I can't overlook an offender, after all. Let's get this over with." Riddle was quick to
respond, and they both grabbed the strange stick that hung at their waists.

"You have guts to break the rules in front of me!" The smaller of the two looked fiercely at
Grim and held up his magical pen.

Grim let out a cry of surprise as a jet of red light focused on him. Yuu gasped at the sight,
and the boy beside him patted his arm soothingly.

"Ah, don't worry!" His heart-warming smile was somewhat contrasting with his words. "Those
two are extremely strong even as second years, there's no need to be afraid of getting hit by
an off-track spell."

Instead of being reassured, Yuu paled at his meant-to be calming words. Watching a cat-like
creature spit out fire like some kind of flamethrower as well as seeing what looked like
human beings like him wielding some kind of wand to fight it was straight-up concerning.

And that sight was actually sobering Yuu up.

This was definitely not some type of weird dream, because he could feel the magic or
whatever it was that was being fired around buzzing in the air and almost seeping into his
bones in a very unsettling way.

While the young man was facing an existential crisis, the one named Azul had managed to
corner Grim.

"Funaaa!? A dead-end!?"

"You didn't even realize we've purposely let you roam free?" A gentle, mocking laugh
escaped Azul's lips. "What a pitiful raccoon."

"Resign to your fate." Riddle cornered him on the other side, a stern expression playing
across his features as he cautioned him. "If you do not..."
Against all odds, Grim was not intimidated any further than that, and instead looked at them
with some spite. "No!! I'm going to enter this school!"

"Azul, stand back!" Riddle warned his companion, and at the same time, the little monster
made one last effort to launch an even more explosive attack.

However, before he could do so, a spell had already been unleashed. "Off With Your
Head!!"

"Fugya!!! What the hell is this!?" Grim raised his paws to touch the strange collar that had
materialized around his neck.

"The Law of the Queen of Hearts, No. 23 stipulates as such: 'Do not bring cats into festival
venues'." Riddle gave Grim a haughty look as he returned his Magical Pen to its original
place. "You, a cat, trespassing is a heavy violation of the rule, therefore I shall have you
leave this place immediately."

"I'm not a cat either~!! I'll burn this collar easily enough..." Grim replied with obvious anger
before attempting to summon his magic once more. "H-huh? My flames aren't coming out!"

"Hmph! Until I release you from that collar, you can't use magic." The redhead looked down
at him as he panicked. "You're not any different from a cat."

"M-meowhat-!?" Grim wore a most indignant look. "I'm not a pet!"

Riddle chuckled before replying. "Don't worry, I don't want a pet like you, either. I'll remove it
when you get thrown out of the school."

"They'll legit throw him out?" Yuu couldn't help but mutter and the boy beside him looked at
him in confusion.

"Hm? Isn't that to be expected?"

"Man~ how wonderful, as usual. Riddle-san's unique spell that could seal any magic." Azul's
voice dropped a tone as he muttered before pulling himself together. "I absolutely want it... I
mean, I definitely do not want it casted on me."

Abruptly, Crowley, after seizing Grim, turned to face Yuu, who had remained silent after his
companion's enquiry. The boy was taken aback when the bright golden eyes glared at him.

"It's about time you did something! It's your familiar, right!?" Crowley exclaimed vehemently
while Grim glowered at him as well. "Discipline it properly!"

"Ginya-! Let me go!" He struggled as best he could, unable to do anything. "I... I absolutely,
absolutely will! ...Become a great magician...!"
"I don't see how I can discipline him, we don't know each-" Just as Yuu was about to deny
that he knew Grim, he stopped as he noticed the desperate look on the monster's face.
"...Actually, you're right, I failed to do my job."

"Of course you failed! Look at the damage he's done." Crowley couldn't help but sigh before
waving him over to pick up Grim who had frozen in his fury. "However, since I'm extremely
magnanimous, I'm not going to have him cooked into a stew. As for you, I won't punish you
for disobeying the rules either."

Riddle scowled disapprovingly as these words left the principal’s mouth, yet Yuu wasted no
time in grabbing Grim, who struggled with greater vigor.

"Get your filthy hands off me! I'm not your familiar and I'm definitely going to be part of this
academy!"

"Hey, calm down a little, can't you see they're stronger than you?" Yuu whispered to him
surreptitiously whilst Crowley exchanged a word with the five boys and the tablet.
"Sometimes you have to know when it's time to retreat."

"Don't you dare talk to me like we're buddies!" Grim grunted in his arms. "You're lucky I have
that damn collar, or I'd burn you like to a crisp!"

"Oh, I'd sure love to have a barbecue right now." Yuu closed his eyes, already imagining the
scene. "Hm, this is making me hungry."

"Are you an idiot or something?!"

Ignoring Grim without a care in the world, Yuu reopened his eyes to see Crowley clapping
his hands and speaking to the entire student body who had calmed down after so much
commotion.

"There was a little trouble, but with this, the opening ceremony is closed!" He motioned to
the young men at his side. "Each dorm leader, please bring the new students with you and
go back to your dorm...Nn? Come to think of it, I haven't seen Diasomnia Dorm's leader,
Draconia-kun at all..."

The lion-eared boy yawned shamelessly before answering. "Him not being here is normal,
ain't it?"

"Huh? Don't tell me, nobody told him about the ceremony?" The poor guy Yuu had helped
looked rather surprised, and the beauty next to him rolled his eyes.

"You're saying that, but why didn't you tell him about it yourself?"

"Mmm. But I don't know much about him."

Yuu, who was still holding Grim in his arms —while simultaneously trying to silence him as
best he could— was drawn in by the multiple whispers that could be heard in the room.
"Draconia... don't tell me, it's that Malleus Draconia?" Malleus... hadn't he heard that
somewhere before?

"So it's real that he's enrolled in this school."

"Scary..."

"Ooh, as expected. I came by here thinking that perhaps he might be here, but Malleus didn't
come, did he." It was when Lilia spoke that Yuu remembered hearing that name come out of
his lips. "It would appear that the opening ceremony invitation didn't get delivered to him,
again."

"I apologize. By no means are we ostracizing him." Azul raised his hands in a conciliatory
gesture, a placating smile plastered on his face.

"He somehow has this hard-to-approach aura about him." Riddle closed his eyes as a bead
of sweat trickled down his cheek.

"Well, that's fine. Diasomnia Dorm's students, follow me." Lilia's voice went down and he
muttered to himself. "...It would be great if he doesn't sulk..."

As if he had given the signal, the other boys followed his momentum and also turned to the
group of students, under the glance of Yuu and Grim who looked at them in silence.

"Listen to me, new students. In the Heartslabyul Dorm, I am the rule." Yuu felt Grim shiver in
his arms as Riddle warned his charges. "I will behead anyone who disobeys, so remember
that."

"That's gotta be a figure of speech, right?" Yuu tried to reassure himself by asking Grim, who
grumbled in a bad mood. "What do I know? He sure got me into a lot of trouble already..."

"...Fuaa~ah. Finally, this tiresome non-sense has ended." The lion stretched before he
began to bark out his commands. "We're going back to our dorm, immediately. Savanaclaw
students, follow me."

"All new students. Congratulations on your enrollment!" Yuu watched Azul open his arms
again, as if demonstrating his caring nature. "So you can experience a fulfilling school life, I,
as the Octavinelle Dorm's leader, shall support you with all my might."

Yuu didn't get a chance to see the rest of the boys gather their new dorm members because
Crowley walked up to him. He took him aside as the students slowly left the place.

"Well then, Yuui… My apologies, I can’t seem to pronounce your full name, would it bother
you if I addressed you as Yuu-kun?”

“No, please feel free to call me however you’d like.” Because of the trouble that he had
somewhat caused, Yuu would be pressed to be picky about how others would call him.
“Alright, then, Yuu-kun, it's very regretful, but...I need you to leave this place." The tone of
his voice was indeed laced with remorse. "There's no way we can let someone with no
magical power enter this academy."

"Oh, there's no trouble with that." Yuu blinked before looking at the little monster in his arms
who was still wearing the collar Riddle had put on him. "What about him? He seems to have
magic, right? He really can't join your .... Uh, academy?"

Yuu didn't know why Grim stiffened in his arms, but he didn't have to think about it because
Crowley shook his head firmly.

"That's absolutely unthinkable." He shrugged. "Your familiar will have to go home with you."

"I'm not his familiar!" Grim suddenly pulled himself out of Yuu's arms and plopped down on
the ground. "I'm not going anywhere with him; you're not getting rid of me that easily!"

Before Yuu could make a move, Grim had already fled the room. Crowley turned to him in
confusion, his eyes widening.

"Catch him before it's too late!"

"Ah, he's not really my familiar." Yuu replied with an embarrassed little grimace. "I just felt a
little sorry for him... I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."

The headmaster looked irked for a split second, then a sigh left him and he shook his head
once more, seemingly coming to terms with the matter.

"Ah, there's nothing to be done about it I suppose." He then began to walk towards the
platform. "There's no use to worry about it anymore."

He then stopped in front of the massive mirror, and gestured with his gloved hand. "The
Mirror of Darkness will immediately send you back to your homeland. Come, enter the door.
Think strongly of where you're from..."

"Time to go I guess. " Yuu closed his eyes as he stood before the mirror. "I apologize for the
hassle."

"No need to worry about it." Crowley let out a small chuckle. "Alright, Mirror of Darkness!
Guide this one to the place they belong to!"

As Yuu kept his eyes shut, trying his best to think hard about whatever he could remember
of his living place, a silence fell between them before Crowley coughed awkwardly.

“… One more time then. Mirror of Darkness! Guide this one to…”

"Nowhere..." The same voice as earlier emerged from the mirror.

"Eh?" Yuu opened his eyes again as that exclamation of surprise left the crow man's mouth.

"The place where this one belongs... is nowhere in this world." A cold feeling washed
through Yuu upon hearing these words. "It is inexistent."

"What did you say? There's no way!" Crowley covered his face with his hands, an aura of
disbelief hovering over his person. "Aah, today is truly a parade of impossible happenings."

"..." Just like the mirror, Yuu preferred to remain silent, not knowing what to say.

"Since I became the headmaster, this is the first time something like this happened. What to
do..." Crowley questioned himself before looking at Yuu, who felt even more self-conscious.
"Which country are you from in the first place?"

"Uh...I… think I’m from Japan..." Yuu scratched his cheek, the sheer incredulity of his
interlocutor was tangible.

"...As a Headmage, I have a grasp of the birthplaces of students from all over the world, but
I've never heard of that place before." He took the time to think momentarily. "Let's
investigate it in the library."

Yuu gave the mirror that was supposed to help him one last thoughtful look. The somber
face nodded in his direction before disappearing. Crowley called to him and he turned to
follow him, his thoughts mingling in his head.

"Uhm, before that, Sir, can I be briefed about... yourself and this place?" Since Yuu had little
choice, he decided it would be more logical to try to find out more about the place he had
mysteriously appeared in.

"Oh, it makes sense that your confusion wasn’t caused by the teleportation magic…”
Crowley frowned when he was confronted with such a question.

"I... All I know is that I don't actually know anything about this place." Yuu bit his lip and the
older man hummed in thought.

"Alright, it won't hurt to explain anything to you. This is 'Night Raven College'." He began his
explanation as they passed through a courtyard. "It's a place where aspiring magicians with
exceptional talents gather, making it Twisted Wonderland's most prestigious magician
training academy."

Yuu contemplated the words, pondering slightly on the 'Twisted Wonderland' mention...
What exactly was it referring to? It certainly wasn't a country or continent Yuu knew of...

If it even existed...

"And I am the headmaster supervising this academy under the board chairman, Dire
Crowley." Crowley finally introduced himself, and Yuu thought to ask a question that had
been nagging at him since he saw the showdown between Grim and the two Dorm Leaders.
"So this place... is for magicians?"

"The only ones who could enroll to this school are those showing excellent qualities as a
magician, the ones who have been approved by the 'Mirror of Darkness'." Crowley continued
his explanation. "The chosen ones are called into this academy through the 'door', from all
over the world. I believe that surely a black carriage carrying a 'gate' came to pick you up."

"I do believe I saw that... I thought it was a dream." He would have still believed he was
dreaming if the situation hadn't escalated so much.

"That black carriage is intended to pick up the new students chosen by the Mirror of
Darkness as it is a special carriage carrying the gates that leads to the academy." Crowley
sighed dramatically as he thought of something. "From time immemorial, it has been decided
by conventional wisdom that carriages are used for pick-ups on special occasion, am I
right?"

"Eh, conventional wisdom... Seems more like a whacky way to kidnap someone instead of
picking them up." Yuu ended up blurting out. Didn't that make more sense? If he'd been
kidnapped, it explained why he didn't know anything and had no memory of how he'd ended
up in such a wacky place.

"Come on, don't be ridiculous, after all, carriages only appear for students who have passed
the application test."

"...I definitely don't remember sending any application for this school..." Yuu looked at him.
"Could it be that someone applied for me?"

"I absolutely don't think that's possible..." Crowley finally stopped in front of a smaller
building a little further down than the slope where the huge... castle they had left was
located. "However, given the more than unbelievable events that took place tonight, I can't
claim to know for sure."

While Yuu looked at him with growing nervousness, Crowley opened the door to the facility.

"This is the library, let us commence our search."

And as Yuu followed him in, he could only think one thing…

This was actually really bad.

~Twisted Wonderland~]
"As expected, it's not here." Crowley snapped the thick grimoire lying before him with a thud.
"I cannot find your birthplace's name anywhere in the world map, since the dawn of
history."

"...I don't recognize any of these places at all..." Yuu couldn't help but reminisce about the
map he had seen. "...Isle of Sages, Rose Queendom, Valley of Thorns..."

"You really came from that Ja-pan place?" Crowley's eyes narrowed dangerously at Yuu's
figure. "You're not lying, are you?"

"Why would I lie?" The young man shook his head, as if disappointed by the Academy
Director's suspicion. "Although... It would indeed be possible for me to lie just for the sake of
appearing more interesting."

"Yuu-kun, I don't know if you're trying to stand up for yourself or if you're trying to incriminate
yourself." Crowley put on a jaded face in response to the other's thinking. "Anyway, if it's
come to this, then there's possibility that perhaps, due to some trouble you were called here
from a different planet... or another world."

"You mean it's possible that I'm an alien?" Yuu interrupted him with a scandalized look. "But
I'm too normal to be an alien, they're always ugly in the movies!"

"Ahem." Crowley coughed, trying to keep a bit of seriousness, and Yuu nodded as he
realized that he had to contain himself. "Did you bring anything with you when you came
here?"

The man stood up as he spoke and began pacing the deserted library. "Something that
could become your identification, like your magic vehicle driving license, or the other part of
your shoes... from what I see, you seem to be empty-handed, though."

"Uh, you hit the nail on the head." Yuu decided to ignore that weird bit concerning the shoes
and looked down at his tunic before shoving his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, I don't have
anything on me, not even my papers."

"This is a problem! I cannot let someone who cannot use magic stay in this academy."
Crowley raised a hand to his temple. "However, to throw away a penniless youth without any
way to contact their guardian extremely hurts my heart as an educator.... Because I'm kind,
after all."

Yuu tilted his head as he heard that... He wasn't that young, but he was effectively by
himself in this place.
"Hmm~.... that's right!" Crowley let out a delighted exclamation. "In this academy, there's a
building that's unused as of now."

Yuu looked at him, waiting for him to develop his idea, and the other was quick to do so.

"In the past, it was used as a dorm, so if you clean it, you should be able to at least stay
there.” He nodded, looking very pleased with his own plan. "If it's there, I shall lend it to you
as temporary lodging for a while"

"...Okay I thought you were just being facetious but you're actually really nice!" Stars
appeared in the appreciative eyes of a more than touched Yuu. "I think I'm going to cry with
joy!"

"Aah, isn't it nice to see how kind I am!" Crowley heaved a sigh as he placed his hands on
his hips. "I'm such an exemplary educator."

"Yeah, yeah, you’re definitely not as passive as you appeared in that room when Grim-san
was wreaking havoc~" Yuu was so happily surprised that his words were unfiltered, and
Crowley ended up opting for ignoring his words —he was after all quite a master when it
came to selective hearing—, and he preferred to broach another topic.

"In that time, you should look for the way to return to where you came from." Yuu was
somewhat apprehensive about not finding anything in regard to this matter, but it was a
problem to be tackled progressively. "Well then, let's strike when the iron is hot. Let's go to
the dorm. It's a bit old, but it's a tasteful building."

...

Okay, Yuu was forced to admit it to himself, Crowley had some kind of nerve to call the
dormitory he'd taken him to 'a bit old but tasteful'. Just by looking at the outside, he could
already see a dozen potential dangers. The whole place was a violation of all safety codes...
in this world and beyond.

Even his orphanage had never been so... decrepit.

But in any case, Yuu wasn't one to complain, and besides... If it was still standing, that
meant it was okay... probably.

"It's pretty impressive, I guess..." Yuu finally said and Crowley smirked as he opened the
front door, which creaked in a disturbing way.

"It is, is it not? Well then, come inside."

"Thanks."

The foyer of the place sure didn't pale in comparison to the outside. Yuu looked around,
trying not to inhale too much of the dust that flew up as they entered.
"In this place, you can at least shield yourself from the rain and wind." A heavy downpour
had indeed begun to pound mercilessly against the roof by the time they had walked in. "I'm
going to continue investigating some things, so pass the time as you like."

"...Uh, okay." Yuu didn't really see how he was going to spend the time... Unless he found
some kind of cloth with a semblance of cleanliness to start tidying up... the nearing area.

"Don't loiter around the academy!" Crowley's piercing eyes crinkled as they fixed on Yuu.
"Alright?"

"Yeah, please don’t worry. I'll behave perfectly!" Yuu replied innocently and the other man
blinked.

"Hm... I'll believe you." Crowley opened the door to the Ramshackle Dorm with an elegant
wave of his hand. "Well then, goodbye for now!"

Yuu lowered the hand he was waving as the door closed. The young man turned to look at
the state of the place, a thoughtful hum emanating from his chest as he slightly tilted his
head to the side.

He stepped forward and took the time to pick up the coat rack lying on the decrepit carpet of
the dilapidated entrance. Yuu hummed absentmindedly and placed the object by the corner
of the wall. In the process, his gaze was drawn to the broom-stick beside the drawer. Oh
boy, he could actually use that! That’d be especially handy if he didn't want to end up with a
spider web on his face or something akin to it.

Yuu smiled happily as he grabbed the broom and proceeded to give it a good shake to get
rid of the dirt covering it. Ah, it may have stirred up more dust, but he had to be honest with
himself: it wasn't going to affect the...charming atmosphere of the Ramshackle Dorm, which
lived up to its name to say the least.

As he moved the rug back into place — no, he hadn't nearly tripped over it and sprawled out
on his face— Yuu was suddenly overcome with discomfort. His fingers tingled, and he felt a
chill running down his spine. Yuu looked around suspiciously. And he believed he had just
caught a glimpse of a fluorescent light on the upper floor...

So he promptly decided that he wasn't going to venture up there. He shrugged his shoulders
and continued towards what he assumed was the lounge, being careful not to let his gaze
linger anywhere for long.

It was well known, wasn't it? Apparitions in horror movies always tried to get their victims'
attention before frightening them. Yuu wasn't that stupid, if there were talking cats and
mages who could wield magical wands, then there was no doubt that there were ghosts or
yõkai in this world too.

And Yuu positively didn't want to find out at his own expense if they were... friendly or not.
"Still, this is kinda careless of Headmage-san." The little dark-haired boy let out a slight sigh.
"He could at least have had the decency to warn me about that, what if I was prone to heart
attacks?"

And as if to mock his words, a merciless thunderbolt erupted outside, startling him at the
same time, however, it wasn't that that really scared him.

No, it was more the thing that came down with a blast from the fireplace filled with cobwebs.

"Gah ーー! Why'd it suddenly rain so heavily!?"

While Yuu let out a yelp of surprise —which wasn't that high-pitched, thank you very much
—, Grim, who had escaped earlier laughed while resting his paws on his small waist.

"Gyahahaha! You look so stupid, like a bat getting hit by water gun—Ouch! Are you
insane?!"

If someone were to ask Yuu if he had deliberately hit the monster with his broom out of pure
spite, he would have taken offense. Of course he didn't! He was an innocent victim in this
story. Grim had just scared him, hitting him with a broom handle —which was frankly sturdier
than it looked— was simply a human reflex.

The tiny smirk that played at the corners of his lips may have been very self-satisfied, but it
certainly didn't prove anything.

"Sorry." Yuu's usually warm eyes seemed to have a dull look that Grim would definitely call
out as being creepy. "I thought it was a bat."

"You bastard! You did that on purpose huh?!" Grim cradled his head gingerly. "He looks
weak but that hit was no joke..."

"Did you say something?"

"I didn't say anything at all!" Grim hopped away from Yuu and went to perch himself on the
coffee table, which seemed to be holding up pretty well compared to the other furniture. "Oh
no, the dust is sticking to my lovely fur!"

Yuu saw him trying to paw away the dust on his slightly damp fur... It was just as silly as it
was futile, considering there wasn't a single clean spot in the room so he would get dirty
anyway...

But since Grim was cute, Yuu wasn't going to burst his bubble.

"I thought you ran away." The weird collar that Riddle had put on him was apparently no
longer present around his little neck.

“Huh? You’re super wrong if you think I’ll give up getting into the academy! It doesn’t matter
if they stopped me from getting in earlier.”
Yuu hummed as he contemplated his reply. Still armed with his broom, he walked over to the
couch next to Grim's coffee table. He thought for a moment about whether or not he should
try to clean the seat a bit before sitting down, but then decided that it was not going to
change anything. This was met with a suspicious look from the cat.

"Okay, story time~" Yuu flashed a grin that Grim didn't appreciate if his slightly disgruntled
expression was anything to go by. "Come on, tell me why you absolutely want to join this
academy."

An academy that Yuu would have rather labelled as a Sect, but that was his own good old
mortal-like opinion.

Perhaps it was because someone finally wanted to listen to his reasoning that caused Grim
to puff his chest out, a look of importance appearing on his little face. "It's a simple story but
listen well, human!"

"Yep, yep." Yuu rested his elbow on the arm of the couch and supported his chin with the
palm of his hand, rather interested in the strange speaker in front of him.

"It's because the Great Grim is a genius born to become a great magician!" Yuu's gaze
immediately lost its luster, and he stood up almost immediately, a disinterested look on his
face. "Hey, wait! I'm not done!"

"Okay~~ Time for clean-up now." Yuu sensed more than he saw Grim yank on a section of
his shirt.

"I told you to wait! You're the one who wanted to know why I wanna join this Academy, aren't
you?!"

Yuu stopped and pouted. He nodded after a moment and conceded, "Right, I admit it was
me who insisted."

Grim watched him sit back down with some resentment. Hazel eyes met his, which were a
captivating shade of blue. "I have always been waiting for the time the black carriage would
pick me up."

From everything Crowley had babbled about earlier, Yuu distinctly remembered the black
carriage Grim had just mentioned. He looked at the cat monster and almost instantly spotted
the miserable look on his face, his round eyes filling with translucent tears.

"Even so... even so..." Grim shook his head frantically and raised his paws to wipe away his
tears. "Hm, hmph! That Mirror of Darkness also has no eyes!"

Yuu couldn't answer because he was so overwhelmed with emotion. That little cat... was so
cute! He was an idiot, but he was honestly so pitiful that Yuu's heart throbbed in his chest.
"That's why, I came here myself." Grim bravely lifted his chin, a somewhat shaken
determination dancing in the depths of his eyes. "Those humans don't understand that not
letting me in is a loss for them."

"Hmm... I see." Yuu finally said. He raised a finger and poked it against Grim's nose, who
stepped back, glowering at him.

"Hands off!"

"Yes, yes, sorry." The human continued to look at him with genuine curiosity, however. "You
know, I think you might be able to get into this school."

"Really, you think so— I mean, of course I do, that's what I just told you!" Although Grim
looked pleased to hear his encouragement, he quickly caught himself and replied with a
haughty look. "I just gotta show them!"

"Hm, and then you have me as an example too!" Yuu couldn't help but laugh softly as he
peered up at him, naively perplexed. "I'm not cut out to join the Academy, but the mirror still
selected me by mistake. Maybe it was wrong in your case as well."

Grim froze in his tracks as he stared at him, a look of astonishment on his face. Yuu really
wanted to reach out and grab the little beast to cuddle him, but even though he was stunned,
he would undoubtedly recover in a split second if he saw what Yuu would attempt to do.

"Eh... Uh..." Grim couldn't seem to find his words, yet before he could even retort anything, a
huge drop of water fell on his furry little head. "Nyah! Cold!"

Yuu looked up just in time to see the stream of tiny droplets starting to drip from the corner of
the wall where a piece of wallpaper had peeled off. He stepped back cautiously as Grim
stated the obvious. "The roof's leaking!"

"Uh, nice call, Sherlock-san."

"Sher–… Whatever you called me isn't my name!" Grim glared at him.

"It's just an expression." Yuu looked at him and giggled as another drop fell on Grim. It was
funny, it looked like the leak had purposely targeted him.

"Fugya! The water's coming down again!" The cat did not continue to bicker with him and
looked at the ceiling in despair. "My charming point, the flaming ears, are going to
disappear~!"

Yuu almost fainted on the spot when he heard him mention his 'Charming point'. Sure, he
was right, his flaming ears were just adorable, but listening to him clearly state that phrase
while panicking was just... way too much for him.

"...What happens if they disappear?" An almost morbid curiosity still washed over Yuu. "Are
you going to die?"
"H-Huh?" Grim looked at him with a slightly frightened expression. "What... Just drop the
questions, do something to stop the dripping water over there!"

Yuu gave Grim's ears –which twitched visibly to the naked eye– one last regretful look
before resigning himself to bother with the disturbing wetness that was beginning to grow
larger in proportion.

"Eeh, reminds me of the good old days." Now that Yuu thought about it, the memories he
had were rather odd; he apparently couldn't remember everything he'd ever experienced, but
when a situation was familiar, his memories seemed to unlock, like ‘special segments’ in a
video game. "A little birdie tells me it's time to go get a bucket~"

Another drop fell on Grim, who let out a high-pitched whimper.

"Or more than one, haha!"

"Can't you just repair this kinda leak with magic?!" Grim grunted, then a mischievous smile
appeared on his face as he recalled a rather crucial detail. "...Ah, wait, you can't use magic...
Pfft! Useless guy!"

"Hmm, maybe it’s wiser to shut up if you're not going to help me."

"Huh? Why would I help?" Grim frowned before yelping when he realized Yuu was already
walking away to search for a bucket. "There's no way I'd help, I'm just a simple monster
taking shelter from the rain for a bit."

Yuu refrained from bickering uselessly. He instead headed for the door adjacent to the room,
and let out a satisfied exclamation when he saw the kitchen.

If he couldn't find any buckets, he was sure to find some pots and pans in there.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Grim had followed him as best as he could since he nearly
slipped on the floor. "If there was canned tuna, I'd perhaps consider working a bit."

"Uwah, if there was canned tuna, I'd eat it alone." Yuu grinned at him a bit ferociously.

However, he had not thought that his answer would terrify the cat so much that he looked at
him with abysmal horror.

"...Uh, you know, I was just messing around." Yuu ran a hand over the back of his neck as
he felt strangely endangered. "...I would definitely share with you if I had one."

"Hihihihi, then would you share with us too?" An eerie voice came from behind him and he
whipped around in a flash.
Yuu stared at the transparent figure that had just passed through the very dirty sink. The
entity let out a rasp that sounded suspiciously like laughter as another apparition made its
entrance.

"It's been a while since we've gotten a guest!"

"Make yourself at home, hihi."

"Gya-----!!!" Grim suddenly grabbed onto Yuu's leg as a third ghost circled them. "G-g-g-g-
gho... ghoooooooooosts!!!"

"Whoever came here always got scared of us and ended up leaving." One of the ghosts
moaned dramatically, his loud voice bouncing across the walls.

"But we're still looking for new comrades. What about you joining us?" The three ghosts
came dangerously close to them, and Grim's claws dug into Yuu's trousers.

Yuu had been busying himself observing the three ghosts who... looked like they were out of
a cartoon with their cute little accessories. Although they were displaying 'menacing'
expressions, Yuu unfortunately found them very sweet. After all, he expected to encounter a
demonic apparition with bloodied eyes and decaying, sharp teeth.

"Eh, no thanks." Yuu finally gave a reaction, which was actually a polite smile. "It's nice that
you want to be our friends, but the truth is I don't especially want to die."

"Uh?" The three ghosts paused, completely unprepared while Grim was still transfixed.

"I hope we can get along as roommates, though." Yuu reached up to pat the tiny ghost's
arm. He reconsidered when he realized that his fingers were probably going to go right
through him. "It's cool to see actually see ghosts without being some kind of medium.”

"...Uhm, yeah."

"No... sweat." The ghosts were frankly rather disappointed with such acceptance from the
human.

They then turned to discuss amongst themselves, while Yuu finally decided to give Grim
some attention.

"He's neither scared nor surprised." The little ghost muttered in dismay, and his rather plump
companion was frankly disappointed.

"And here I thought we were finally going to have some fun."

"What's with ya?" Yuu bent down to grab Grim, who kept a cautious eye on the specters.
"You're awfully quiet all of a sudden."
"It's none of your business, human!" Grim hissed and Yuu shrugged as he began to struggle.
"Let me get the hell out of here!"

"Okay~" And as Yuu let him slide upstairs, he didn't realize that the emaciated ghost had
caught his friends' attention.

"Hey, I think the little monster is afraid of us." He laughed evilly and his friends immediately
understood what he was up to. Yuu turned just in time to see them disappear, and he
frowned...

Hm, this really didn't bode well... But he had more pressing business to attend to.

It was with a rather reckless ease of mind that Yuu continued to search for containers that
could at least slow down the oncoming flood.

And perhaps he should have known that these leaks would soon be the least of his worries.

~Twisted Wonderland~]

When Yuu went upstairs after a valiant attempt to ignore a number of very disturbing
crashes, he unfortunately already had an idea of what to expect.

And of course, he wasn't even remotely shocked to see the flames unsuccessfully trying to
strike at mischievous pranksters who were having the time of their lives.

"Where are you looking at?" The little ghost let out a wicked laugh as he appeared behind a
frantic Grim.

"Where are you aiming at?" The ghost that had surrounded him previously pulled him to
another direction "We're here, here! Hehehe!"

"Shit! Stop appearing and disappearing like that!!!" Grim shrieked and braced himself to blast
away with greater fury.

"Whoa, what are you guys getting into?" Yuu dodged the flaming curtain at the last second
and it dropped to the ground. He used the water-filled bucket in his hand to extinguish it.
"Grim-san, if you keep aiming with your eyes closed, you'll set the whole place on fire."

"Shut up! Don't order me around!" Grim growled at him and Yuu frowned as the ghosts
cackled around them.

"It would be great if you guys would stop bothering him, I really want to have somewhere to
sleep at the very least." Yuu spoke to the ghosts, since the cat monster didn't seem to want
to listen to him.
"Hihihi, are you getting mad?" The chubby ghost came and brushed his arm. "We just want
to play with the little scaredy cat for a while~"

"Huh?! I'm not a scaredy cat!" This seemed to infuriate Grim even more and Yuu let out a
sigh. "Gununu, I-I'm a genius! I'll finish you guys by myself..."

"Ooooh? I doubt it!" One of the ghosts slid towards him and Grim yelled out before spewing
fire in his general direction. "Missed again~"

A jumble of mocking laughter echoed off the walls as the ghosts went flying in all directions.
Grim clenched his little fists in annoyance.

"There's way too many of you, cowards!"

Although Yuu could easily understand that the ghosts just wanted to have fun with Grim, he
couldn't let them go on any longer than that. For one, Grim would end up burning the whole
place down, and he didn't want to deal with a weeping school headmaster. Besides, the
ghosts had picked a fight out of their own volition, Yuu was a pacifist, but if the situation
called for it...

Then he wasn't going to hold back.

"Grim-san." Yuu called out to him before he could set ablaze the already battered carpet.
"I'm going to need your incredible talent to be able to keep them at bay."

"Huh?" Grim was caught off guard as Yuu walked towards him, completely unheeding any
interested 'Ooh~?’ from the ghosts.

"I beg you to assist me and aim where I tell you to shoot." Yuu put on a pitiful expression as
he closed his eyes and brought his hand to his forehead. "I'm just a poor defenseless
human, there's no way I could survive this night without the help of an omnipotent, awesome
mage!"

"Ack-what's... you're not going to fool me with, with this!" Though he tried to affirm his
sentence, it was obvious that Yuu's words had flattered him. "I already know that I'm
amazing!"

"And of course, to thank you for your grandiosity, I shall gladly offer you whatever you want.
By the way, what do you like to eat?" Granted, he didn't have a dime, but those were the
kind of mundane details Grim didn't need to know about~

"Tuna cans!" Grim had an overexcited look. "I love having them!"

"Okay, is it a deal then?" Yuu moved his hand towards the monster's paw, who nodded.

"Okay— Funyah!" Before he could clap the human's hand, one of the ghosts, who was tired
of waiting for their little discussion to end, appeared between them.
"Have you forgotten all about us or what?" He chuckled at the look on Grim's face and Yuu
wasted no time.

"Go on, now!"

On cue, Grim blew towards the little ghost who let out a shriek.

"Hot, hot, hot!!!"

"Ah, it hit!" Grim looked surprised as Yuu used his fingers to form a viewfinder and point it at
the ghost, who dematerialized to escape the flames.

"Hehe, spot on!"

"Alright, we're gonna drive them away just like this!" If Grim hadn't been convinced by Yuu's
words, seeing their plan in action had ensured that he was in.

"Okay, no problemo~" Yuu finger gunned him as the ghosts, who had been caught off guard
returned in force.

"Hihihi, now we're talking about fun!"

"To your right Grim-san!" The ghost that had appeared from that direction appeared startled
when he realized Yuu had noticed him and Grim took the opportunity to strike him in the
face. He flinched before disappearing into thin air.

"I'm not going to stop!" Grim looked hyper-excited as he saw that his attacks were finally
hitting their intangible targets.

Yuu stood to the side and squinted. A strange feeling overcame him every time one of the
ghosts appeared. His body was almost in a state of high tension, and shivers ran through
him at opportune moments, allowing him to warn Grim when he needed to.

For his part, the little monster managed to fulfill his role perfectly under Yuu's guidance. It
seemed almost ridiculous that the ghosts failed to change direction after Yuu's call, but Grim
was really quick to react...

It evidently seemed to be going directly to his head.

"Yeah!!! As I thought, I'm a great mage!" He hopped on the spot as the big ghost passed
through the floor so that he was no longer on fire. "Nyahahaha! Grim-sama doesn't need any
directions from a mere human!"

Yuu looked at him jadedly. He bent down to avoid the ghost that popped up behind him and
charged at Grim.

"Booo!!!"
"Funaaa!???" Grim stiffened in fear at the sudden apparition, then turned, full of fury at a
wide-eyed Yuu. "Oooooooooi, you! If the ghost is going to appear, tell me!"

"Ah, sorry, I'm just a lowly human." Yuu couldn't help but smile a little. Maybe it was
immature, but it was funny to mess with someone who was susceptible. "But you're so
capable, you probably don't need me anymore~"

"Meowch!" Grim launched a random fireball as a ghost tugged at his tail, "Ah, just tell me
already and let's get this over!"

"Roger~ You know what's next now!"

Yuu's eyes met the eyes of one of the ghosts attempting a sneak attack squarely, he froze
as a fierce smile appeared on the human's face.

"Behind you, Grim-san!"

"Now we finish them all in one go!" Grim in turn smirked as he turned around and directly
fired off a blast of flame, hitting the poor ghost directly.

"Hot, hot, hot, hoooot!!!"

No less than five minutes into their alliance, the ghosts at last seemed to have had enough.
The unexpected duo watched them disappear into the walls.

"Hi, hii～～～!!! We're gonna get erased! Run～～!!"

"You can drop by anytime to play!" Yuu said cheerfully, and Grim swatted his leg.

"Absolutely not!" The cat glared at him before letting out a sigh, the fatigue from his frantic
attacks finally seeming to get to him. "Ah, at least, I...won ?

"Yup, that was amazing, Grim-sama!" Yuu leaned towards him, offering his palm, hoping to
get his little accolade. "You were really fired up, haha~"

Grim was mildly exasperated when he heard his pun —which was rather lame—, but the cat
nevertheless tapped his hand after a moment's hesitation.

"Tha- that was scar...No, it wasn't scary at all!" He seemed to realize that Yuu was still
looking at him, and he quickly caught himself. "For Ore-sama, it's easy as pie!"

"Hm, it really looked easy when you were doing it." Yuu nodded, "I think it's really impressive
that you can do that without any prior training."

Once again, the monster was speechless at such an appraisal. Yuu's heart tightened
slightly: Grim certainly didn't look like he was used to being complimented...
And given his desperation to join this school, perhaps he had never been taken seriously
before.

"Ah, you're... you're kinda strange, human." Grim looked down, his tail curling shyly between
his little paws. "But I guess it's normal for a magic-less loser to be in awe in front of the Great
Me!"

"Yeah, yeah." Yuu patted his head before standing up. "We should go downstairs and see if
we can find anything in the kitchen that didn't expire fifty years ago."

"Huh? By the way, you owe me some tuna!"

Before Yuu had any chance to sweet-talk him in any way, a person they weren't expecting
appeared from the stairs with a rather dramatic flourish.

"Good evening. The kind me brought you dinner..." Crowley froze in his tracks when he
noticed Grim. "...Wait, that's the monster who acted violently during the opening ceremony! I
thought he left already, why is he here!?"

"Hmph! I exterminated the ghosts here! Be grateful!"

Yuu closed his eyes as he heard the monster's haughty reply... Honestly, he couldn't really
read the mood, huh?

Naughty, stupid and couldn't hold his tongue... Luckily for him, he was really cute.

"Hm? What's going on here?" Crowley held the package he had in one hand and used the
other to hold his chin in thought. "Come to this of it, there were mischievous ghosts that
settled down in this dorm, causing students to stop approaching this place and turning it into
an abandoned dorm."

"...And no one thought it was weird?" Yuu muttered under his breath as the crow man looked
at them with interest.

"However, hmm..." He bobbed his head, sounding as if he had come to a conclusion of his
own. "For the two of you to work together to drive out the ghosts-"

"Oi, I can't let that pass!" Grim straightened up, a miffed look on his face. "'Work together',
this guy practically only watched you know!"

"He did it for tuna." Yuu supplied and Grim nodded frantically. "Yeah, I only did it for tuna—
Hey, I have yet to receive it!"

"Just wait." Yuu looked at him blankly, "Y'know what they say? Good things come to those
who wait."

"I don't want to wait!"

"The two of you." Crowley suddenly called out to them. "Would you please show me how
you exterminated the ghosts, once again?"

"Sure." No way!" Obviously, their answers contradicted each other. "Besides, we've already
drove away all the ghosts.”

"Good point, maybe they'll come if a sacrifice or something is made."

"A-ahem." Crowley gave Yuu a strange look as Grim stepped back a few inches, a wary look
on his face. "I'll take the role of the ghost."

"I only want my tu-na-cans!"

"If you win against me, I shall provide you your tuna cans." Crowley placed the package he
had on the dusty floor filled with cinders, courtesy of Grim. "I am kind, after all."

Yuu wouldn't say that resorting to extortion, or persuasion if he wanted to be polite, was an
act of kindness. However, Yuu had nothing to lose by taking part in the current event. On the
contrary, he would consequently not have to provide Grim's tuna cans himself.

“Well then, transformation medicine, gulp!”

And while the principal proceeded to drink the contents of the strange vial he'd materialized
out of nowhere, Grim slumped next to the wall, looking completely uninterested.

"Eeh~ I don't want to." He threw a wry glare at the light-haired human. "It's too bothersome,
to work with this guy again..."

"Hm? Isn't it still a chance to get more tuna cans, boss?" Yuu bent over to him, a knowing
look on his face that he hid with his own hand. "And besides, it might be the chance you
were waiting for to enter the academy."

This seemed to strike right into Grim's heart and he looked tempted. "Ngh..."

His eyes met Yuu's, who tried to keep his expression not overly gloating.

"This is the last time, okay?" He hastened to add when Yuu pumped a fist in the air with a
gleeful exclamation. "This time, absolutely, absolutely give me my tuna cans, okay?!"

"Count on me!" Yuu winked at him. "Now, let's accept the headmaster's challenge."

"Now is the time for you, to exterminate me, who turned into a ghost!" Upon hearing
Crowley's sentence, Yuu and Grim turned to face him.

He looked just like the smallest of the Ramshackle ghosts, the only difference being his
trademark hat and, of course, the mask that sat proudly on his face.

"Ah, pretty cute." Yuu blinked. "I like this look better than the bird one."
Crowley gave him an annoyed glance before clearing his throat, maintaining his composure.

"Come now, attack me without hesitation." His cloak floated in the air as he approached. "I
won't get angry. I am kind, after all."

"No helping it if it's for my tuna cans." Grim stood on his haunches before turning to Yuu.
"Right, you! Tell me where he is properly, okay?"

"Well then, let's start!" Crowley immediately dashed to Grim's left, and Yuu hurried to steer
him.

"Gotcha! Eat this!" He bellowed at the Headmaster, who let out a pained yelp.

"Hot, hot, hot, hot!" He didn't seem to be expecting to be caught straight away, Yuu rejoiced
at that. "No wonder the ghosts left if they kept on being hit."

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Grim exclaimed with pride and Yuu rolled his eyes before
moving to the side to better predict where Crowley would appear from.

His eyes were drawn to the ground, which almost looked like a flat surface of water that
rippled uncannily.

"On the floor, Grim-san!"

Grim leapt at the last moment, just as Crowley emerged from under the carpet. He received
a fireball right in the face, and Yuu thought for a moment that his hat was going to catch fire.

This cat-and-mouse game continued for a few instants. Yuu noticed that Grim was starting to
show some signs of fatigue, and Crowley was about to gain an advantage.

"I see, you're quite good." The ghost-mage gave a strange smile that presaged trouble. "Well
then, I shall raise the difficulty."

"Hmph, it doesn't matter!" Grim stamped his foot on the ground, causing a large layer of dust
to rise. "It's easy for Grim-sama-cough!"

"Idiot." Yuu opened one of the windows with some difficulty. He glanced with concern at the
joints, which creaked ominously. "Yikes, maybe I shouldn't have touched it."

"Yuu-kun, focus please." Crowley let out a polite cough to bring him back to order. "I have
yet to finish testing you two."

"Bring it on!" Grim threw out defiantly and Yuu nodded, turning back to them.

"Sorry, we can go on."

Crowley didn't wait any longer and suddenly dashed around Grim. The two companions
were surprised to see how much his speed had increased.

"Funa!? He became so fast!!" Grim shouted as the ghost darted from side to side, while Yuu
narrowed his eyes at the sight.

"Well, can you still follow my movements?" The Headmaster looked like he was having a
good time, it was safe to say.

"Just you wait!"

"Grim-san, wait!" Yuu warned him as he blew to one side, at which point Crowley had
anticipated him and teleported away at the last second.

"Hah." The cat almost slipped when he saw there was nothing in front of him. " Where did he
go-"

"Right there!" Crowley sprang up with renewed vigor and Grim nearly fell over, however Yuu
quickly grabbed him and held him in his arms.

"Hey, get off me!"

"You can barely stand." Yuu watched the ghost slip away and he concentrated while looking
around the room from every corner. "I'll just carry you and you only have to blast away,
okay?"

"Who the hell do you think you are, human?!" Grim was so preoccupied with taking offense
that he hadn't noticed Crowley stepping out of an already out of place frame. "Hey!!!"

He hadn't expected Yuu to turn him around sharply towards Crowley. He was so surprised
that he had only one reflex when Yuu pressed lightly on his belly...

"Ouch!" Despite his speed, the Headmage still got caught by Grim's flames. Yuu let out a
snide giggle.

"Haha, you're even better as a flamethrower, Grimmie-san~"

"Who are you calling a flamethrower?!" It was amazing how Grim always found something to
be outraged about. "And by the way, don't call me Grimmie either!"

Yuu hummed something, his hands moving according to his electrified senses, which
seemed to be able to predict where Crowley was going to emerge from.

"Haha, come on human, one more time!" The monster didn't seem to be upset anymore that
Yuu was directly using him as a tool, instead, it made him even more excited to be able to
attack Crowley like that. "We got him!"
Indeed, Crowley had just received yet another glowing blue attack to the face, and the
director finally stopped, an appreciative look forming on his... ghostly features.

"Ooh, this is surprising." He hummed, holding his chin between his fingers.

"Haa, now that's it over, I'm realizing..." Grim suddenly slapped Yuu's hand, which was still
holding him. "You're using me too roughly! Be gentler!"

"Sorry." Yuu apologized but couldn't help but squeeze him one last time, the cat gave a
strangled exclamation and struggled to escape his embrace. Yuu let him go with some
sorrow.

~Twisted Wonderland~]

Short Ghost/A/Jasper
Plump Ghost/B/Grubb
Long Ghost/C/Moss

At the Ramshackle Dorm ‘s hallway

Grim: Huff… huff… How’s that!?

Crowley: For there to be a human who could make monsters obey them…
Hmm… actually, I’ve had my educator’s intuition tingling ever since the uproar during the
opening ceremony… That you, Yuu-san, probably have the makings of a trainer or a
beastmaster.
However… grumble, grumble…

→ Can you let Grim live in this house with me?

→ Grim wants to enter this academy.

Crowley: What did you say? Let a monster live here?

Grim: You…

→ Please!
→ It’s scary if ghosts appear again, anyways.

Crowley: …Sigh… There’s no helping it.

Alright.
Grim: Funa!? Really!?

Crowley: However.
There’s no way I can let someone who weren’t chosen by the Mirror of Darkness… a
monster, at that, to enroll into the school.
You too, Yuu-san. I cannot let you to just freeload until you can go back to your own world.

Grim: What’s with that… that was a short-lived joy.

Crowley: Well, listen to me until I finish talking.

We, the academy, are also responsible for the summoning of your soul, as the one owning
the Mirror of Darkness.
In any case, for the time being, we will offer you this lodging for free.
However, we’ll have you pay for your living necessities by yourself.
As for what someone empty-handed like you can give… fufu, that’s right. Let’s do it like this.

→ Gulp…
→ What in the world will you make me do?

Crowley: You don’t have to be that on guard. I’m only going to make you do odd jobs like
maintenance within the school.
Judging from your appearance, Yuu-san, you seem to be quite good at cleaning.
For starters, what about you two teaming up as the “handymen”?
If you do that, I will give you a special permission to stay inside the school.
I will also permit you to use the library to gather information on ways to go back to your
world, as well as to study.
I am kind, after all.
However, it is only after you finish your work.

Grim: Eeh~!? I don’t wanna!

I also want to wear that cool uniform and become a student!

Crowley: If you’re unsatisfied, then it’s alright. We only have to throw you out again.

Grim: Funa!? Go-got it! I only have to do that, right!

→ Understood.
→ There’s no helping it…

Crowley: Very well. Then, you two.

Starting tomorrow, work hard as Night Raven College’s handymen!
 Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 8: School-attending
Pressure!

At the Ramshackle Dorm, in your room

Ghost A: Hihihi… don’t you guys have to clean up the academy now?

Grim: Uu～mm… munya… five more minutes…

Ghost B: If you keep rolling around lazily like that, one day you won’t be able to wake up for
eternity, you know?

Ghost C: Just like us! Ihihihi!

Grim: Fugya! There are ghosts again!

Oi, you! Wake up!

Ghost A: So, you both are going to live here from now on?
You guys are so prank-worthy, kekeke!

Grim: Shit. One day I’m gonna drive all of you out!

Crowley: Good morning, both of you!

Did you sleep well?

Grim: When we sprawled on the bed, the bottom of the bed fell out and we were so
surprised, you know!
How long did you neglect it to dilapidate?
We got woken up by a ghost too this morning, it’s the worst!

→ Slept like a log!

→ I couldn’t sleep that well.

Crowley: Even though you were hurled here from another world, you’re tough, very good!
Well then, now that that’s out of the way, I want to talk about your job for today.

At the Ramshackle Dorm’s lounge

Crowley: Today’s work is to clean the inside of the academy.

…Even if I said so, the academy is very vast. It will be impossible to finish cleaning the
whole place without magic.
That’s why, for today, please clean the Main Street starting from the main gate to the library.
Do you understand, Yuu-kun?
Please look after Grim-kun properly so he doesn’t cause an uproar like he did yesterday.
→ Understood.
→ I’m not confident…

Crowley: I’m relying on you.

I will give you permission to eat lunch at the school cafeteria.
Well then, work hard!

Grim: Tch… I can’t stand doing things like cleaning up!

I also want to attend the magic classes and do lots of cool magic~ like boom! Bo-bo-bo-
boom!!

→ Let’s study in the library after we finish cleaning.

→ Anyways, let’s just try and go to school now.

Grim: Grumble, grumble…

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 9: Encountering

Person!
At the Main Street

Grim: Whoa～ Amazing!

So this is the Main Street.
I didn’t get a good look yesterday, but what’s with these statues?
There are seven, and all of them look scary.
This auntie, here, looks especially self-important, see?

???: You don’t know the Queen of Hearts?

Grim: Queen of Hearts? Is she an important person?

???: In the olden days, she was the queen who lived inside the Rose Labyrinth.
She’s a strict person who respects discipline, and she wont forgive any disorder among the
Trump Soldiers’ advance, or in the roses’ color.
Even though it’s a country full of insane guys, they’re all in complete obedience to her.
Why, you ask?
It’s because disobedience to law will get you instantly beheaded!

Grim: T-thats scary!

???: Isn’t it cool!? I like it.

‘Cause, like, nobody will obey a queen that’s only kindhearted, right?

Grim: That’s true. It’s better to have a strong leader.

By the way, who are you?

Ace: I’m Ace. A fresh first year student starting from today. Take care of me well ♪

Grim: I am the great Grim! I’m a genius who’ll become a great magician!
And this dull one is Yuu. My henchman.

Ace: Yuu? That’s an unusual name.

→ Please take care of me well!

→ I’m not his henchman..

Grim: Hey, hey, Ace. Then, is that lion with the scar on his eye also a famous guy?

Ace: Of course!
He’s the King of Beasts who ruled over the Savanna.
However, he’s not a born-king. He’s a hard worker who took over the throne with a
scrupulous plan he made by himself.
After he became King, he proposed to live together with the hyenas, who were hated by
everyone, too, without discriminating them.

Grim: Ooh, people who don’t get swayed by social status? Rocks!
Who’s the auntie with the octopus legs before him?

Ace: She’s the Witch of the Sea who lives in a cave in the depths of the sea.
Her raison d'etre was to help unhappy mermaids.
If you pay the price, she’d help you find solution to any of your worries, starting from desires
to change oneself to love troubles!
It seems that there aren’t any wish she can’t grant. Well, I heard the cost was a bit
expensive, though.
If it’s to grant any wish, then it’s natural, don’t you think?

Grim: Nyaha ー!
In other words, if I become a great magician, I’d get rich!?
Then, then, what about this uncle in the big hat?

Ace: He’s the Great Sage of the Desert Kingdom.

He’s the cabinet minister who works under the kingdom’s useless king, and he’s a clever
person who managed to see through a swindler who tried deceive the princess by faking his
status as a prince!
And after that, he managed to get the magic lamp and rose to become the world’s number
one Great Sage!
Furthermore, it’s said that he also took the king’s throne by using that power!

Grim: Oh-ho! So as I thought, it’s also important for a magician to have a discerning eye!
Ooh, this person’s beautiful!

Ace: This person’s said to be the world’s number one most beautiful queen!
Everyday, she checks the world’s beautiful person ranking in the mirror!
And then, it’s said that if she’s about to fall from the number one spot, she wont spare any
efforts!
Her, you know, high awareness to keep being the number one beauty in the world? Is
impressive, right?
And, it seems that she was an expert at making poisons.

Grim: S-she’s beautiful but scary…

Ace: Really? Isn’t it cool to have a fixation you wont ever yield?

Grim: I-indeed, to have one’s own beliefs is cool!

What about that man with a burning head?
He looks scary!

Ace: He’s the King of the Land of the Dead!

They said he ruled over a land squirming with evil spirits by himself, so he must be a super
powerful person.
He has a scary face, but he’s a sincere person who does even unpleasant work pushed onto
him without rest, and Cerberus, Hydra, and the Titan family all follows his orders and fight for
him.

Grim: Fumu, fumu. To not become haughty even though you have strength is an important
thing.
Lastly, what about this person with the horns?

Ace: The Witch of Thorn who lives in the mountain of demons.

Noble and elegant, and even compared to all the other seven here, her magic and curse
skills are number one!
She does things like manipulating thunderclouds to bring about a storm, fully covering a
whole kingdom with thorns… anyways, her magic’s on a super huge scale.
They said she could also transform into an enormous dragon.

Grim: Ooh～ a dragon! The admiration of every monster!

Ace: They’re so cool, right～

…Unlike a certain raccoon.

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 10: Cheeky Mates!

At the Main Street

Ace: They’re so cool, right～

…Unlike a certain raccoon.
Grim: Funa!?

Ace: Pu… ahahahaha! I can’t hold it in anymore! Ahahahaha!

Hey, you guys are the ones who caused a riot during the opening ceremony, right?
A guy who got called in front of the mirror but actually couldn’t use magic, and the monster
barging in even though he didn’t get invited!
Man~ it was so hard to stop myself from laughing during the opening ceremony.

Grim: What!? W-what a rude guy!

Ace: And, in the end you both couldn’t get into the school so you became handymen? Haha,
lame.

Grim: Meowhaaaat…!?

Ace: Plus, to not know who the “Great Seven” are… how ignorant are you?
I recommend you to start over from kindergarten before coming to Night Raven College.
Pukuku…

Grim: Gunununu…

→ Whoa, whoa, calm down.

→ Awawa… if this keeps up…

Ace: I called you out to tease you a bit, but you guys exceeded my expectations.
Well, I have classes unlike you guys, so, bye! Work hard cleaning, you both♪

Grim: This guy～～! Let him talk and he crosses the line! I’m angry now!
Funa～～～!

Ace: Uwah!
Oops, that’s dangerous! What the hell are you doing!?

Grim: It’s because you make fun of me!

I’ll make your explosion-head[1] even more exploded!

Ace: Explosion-head～?
Heeh. You got guts to pick a fight with me.
You too, I’ll turn you into a frizzy toy poodle!

Grim: Funa～～～～!!!

Ace: Oops, that’s dangerous. Take this!

Grim: This guy, he used magic to make the wind blow! My flame’s bending!

Student A: What’s up? A fight?

Student B: Nice! Get ‘em!

→ So there’s magic that could control the wind, too.

→ Awawa… don’t stir them up!

Ace: You think that kinda flimsy flame would hit me?

Grim: What did you say!? Prepare yourself!

At the Main Street

Grim: Eat this!

Ace: That kinda flame, I’ll just change its direction with the wind… like this!
Aaaaaaaah!! Shit!!
The Queen of Hearts’ statue burnt black!

Grim: It’s because you changed the flame’s direction with the wind!
Just get burned obediently!

Ace: You think there’s anyone who’d obediently get burned because they’re told to!?

Crowley: Hey!!! What’s all this racket!?

Ace: Ugh, it’s the headmaster…

Grim: That guy, he’ll bind you with his whip of love! Run!

Ace: That hurts!

Grim: Fugyaa!! That’s two days in a row, it hurts!

Crowley: It’s the whip of love! It’s 100 years too fast for you to run from me!
Sigh…
I thought earlier I’ve told you to 'not cause an uproar’?
Furthermore, to burn black the Great Seven statue!
It seems like you want to be expelled so much.

Ace: Wait! Not that!

Crowley: Yuu-kun, too, you can’t call this supervising Grim-kun!

→ I’m sorry.
→ I did try to stop them, but…

Crowley: Really… You, what’s your year and name?

Ace: Ace Trappola. …I’m a first year.

Crowley: Well then, Trappola-kun. Grim-kun. And Yuu-kun.
As a punishment, I order you to clean 100 windows!

Grim: Meow!?
Originally, the problem lies in him for making fun of us!

Ace: Eeh!? Me too!?

Crowley: Of course!
After school, gather in the school cafeteria. Understood?

Ace: Yea～h…

Grim: Since yesterday, nothing’s gone right～!!

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 11: A Hundred Split

Windows!
♡—Cafeteria—♡

Grim: I’m already exhausted from cleaning all day… But now we have to clean one hundred
windows…

⇨ There’s nothing we can do about it.

⇨ If you’ve learned your lesson, then just do it.

Grim: Anyway, that Ace guy is late. He’s got some nerve making me wait on him! I’m getting
annoyed!

⇨ ……………..

Grim: ………

………………

………………………………There’s no way he’s this late!!

Do you think he bailed on us!?

⇨ It’s possible…

⇨ Let’s try to look for him.

Grim: I’m not letting him run away and leave the punishment to us!

Let’s go, Yuu! We’ll catch Ace and make him clean the windows!

♡—Classroom—♡

Grim: C’MON!! Where are you, Ace!? You’ll pay for hiding from us!

…Er, there’s no one here!?

Portrait on the Wall: No. I am here.

Grim: AHHH!!! The painting spoke!!

Portrait on the Wall: So what? A talking painting should be nothing unusual at this academy.

The lady on that wall, and the gentleman on this wall—all of us speak.

Portraits have mouths, and so they can talk. Isn’t that normal?

・━━━━✥◈✥━━━━・

Selection
⇨ Normally pictures don’t talk.

Portrait on the Wall: Your “normal” is different than my “normal.” We must respect one
another’s individuality. Don’t you agree?

⇨ Are you a ghost like the ones from yesterday?

Portrait on the Wall: Rather than restlessly floating in the air, I’ve been sitting on this wall
perfectly still for more than fifty years.

・━━━━✥◈✥━━━━・

Portrait on the Wall: So? Are you two looking for someone?

Grim: We’re looking for this guy named Ace. He’s got a heart on his face, and a big sweep of
hair on his head.

Portrait on the Wall: Ah, I know him. He’s one of the new students that came in today, right?
A little while ago it seemed like he was heading back to his dorm…

Grim: What!? He really was trying to bail on us! Do you know where he went!?

Portrait on the Wall: The doors to the dorms are in the back of the east school building.
Grim: Yuu, let’s go after him!

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 12: Punishment Escape!

♡—Hall of Mirrors—♡

Ace: They really expect me to clean a hundred windows? I’m heading back to my dorm…

Grim: HEYYYYY!!!

Ace: ! They found me!

Grim: Ace!! Stop right there!! I’m not letting you be the only one getting out of this!

Ace (running away): I really don’t have the time to stop! See ya!

Grim: Running off by yourself isn’t fair! I wanna skip too!

Deuce: ….?

Ace: Get out of my way!

Deuce: Huh!? Uh, uhhh!?

・━━━━✥◈✥━━━━・

⇨ Please catch him!

Deuce: Using magic!?

⇨ He’s a bad man who’s not cleaning like he’s supposed to.

Deuce: What!? He’s a bad guy!? How should I catch him——

・━━━━✥◈✥━━━━・

Deuce: I could freeze him in place… No, tie him with a rope?

Or… um… um….

Grim: Anything works, just sock him in! Now!

Deuce: Anything!? Anything, anyth——

Alright!

Anything works, so… Come out!

Something heavy!

(A giant cauldron falls on top of Ace)

Ace: Gwahh! The hell is this!? A pot!?

Grim: Bwahahaha! Look at that, Yuu!

Ace got squashed under a giant pot!

He’s so lame!

Deuce: I didn’t think I’d summon a cauldron. Was that a little too much…?

Ace: Ow, ow, ow…

Can’t you just quickly clean those hundred windows yourselves?

⇨ It’s not something we can do quickly!

⇨ This is an order from the headmaster.

Deuce: You have to clean one hundred windows as a punishment? What did you guys even
do?

Ace: When I was messing around with that furball over there this morning, the statue of the
Queen of Hearts got a tiny bit burnt.

Deuce: You damaged one of the stone statues of the Great Seven!? Obviously you’d get in
trouble!

You just got enrolled in this prestigious school… What are you going around doing on the
first day…?

Ace: …Whatever. Anyway, who’re you?

Deuce: I’m Deuce. Deuce Spade. Why don’t you try to remember the faces of your
classmates?

Um…

Ace: You don’t remember me either–

Deuce: A-anyway! Since this is an order from the headmaster, you’re going to have to do it
seriously.

Ace: Yeah, yeah, I know… Alright, let’s get on with it then.

….Hn?

⇨ …Huh?

⇨ Grim’s been kind of quiet, hasn’t he?

Ace: Ah! The furball’s gone!

Grim (from Main Street): Hehe! I’ll leave the rest up to you guys!

Bye-bye!

Ace: Damn him! He took my place!

Oi! Er, what’s-your-face, Juice?

Deuce: Wha—it’s not Juice. It’s Deuce! Deu!

Ace: This is your fault too, so help me catch that furball!

Deuce: Why do I have to!?

Ace: ‘Cause the other option is dull and can’t use magic, so they’re out! Now c’mon!

・━━━━✥◈✥━━━━・

Let’s Chase Grim! | Rhythm

Ace: Hey! Stop right there, furball!

Grim: No way, static-hair head!

Ace: Tch, guess we’re going to have to chase after him…

Let’s go, Juice!

Deuce: I’ve told you, it’s “Deu”!

Ace: Alright, almost there.

Ace & Deuce: I’ll freeze you in place with magic…!

Ace (turning to Deuce): Can you not copy me? Lay off!

Deuce: You were the one butting in on me!

Grim: Now’s my chance!

Ace: Ah, wait!

Ace: Don’t forget your promise of cleaning all one hundred windows by yourself if we catch
you!

Grim: I never said that!!

Ace: Alright, shoot your magic on cue, Deuce!

Deuce: Huh!?

Ace: The hell, you cast it too early!

Grim: Lucky, lucky! I’ll escape while I can!

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 13: Careless Tactics!

♡—Cafeteria—♡

Ace: Damn! He keeps scampering around!

Grim: Hehehe! Catch me if ya can!

Deuce: Climbing the chandelier just makes you a coward!

I still haven’t learned flying magic yet…

Maybe something to sandwich him between, or to catch him… erm, maybe, hmm…

Ah, I know!

Ace: We need some good ide——uh, oi oi oi oi, hold on!

Why are you pointing your magical pen at me!?

Deuce: I’m going to throw you!

 ⇨ Whaaaat!?
⇨ I have a bad feeling about this.

Ace: You’re joking, right!? Whoa, whoa, whoa! I’m floating!

You’re going to throw me!? Stop! Seriously!

Deuce: Make sure you catch him!

Aiming right there…. Now GO!

Ace: AAAAAHHHHHH!!

(Ace is sent hurling towards Grim)

Grim: AHHHH!?

(Crash!)

⇨ T-The chandelier…!!
⇨ What is this guy doing!?

Ace: (*cough cough*) Unbelievable!

Grim: Aaaa….

Deuce: C-Crap! I wasn’t thinking about where you’d land after you caught him…!

Ace: Are you an IDIOT!?!?

Yeah, I caught Grim, but if the headmaster finds out we destroyed the chandelier——

Crowley: If I find out… what?

Ace: Ah… Headmaster…..

Crowley: What… in… the… world… ARE YOU GUYS DOING!?

Grim: Aaaa… My head is spinning…

Crowley: As if damaging one of the stone statues wasn’t enough, now you’ve gone and
destroyed the chandelier!?

I am no longer going to tolerate this. All of you are expelled!

Deuce & Ace: WHAAAAAT!?

Deuce: No! Please, could you forgive me just this once? I have something I need to do at
this school!

Crowley: You can blame yourself for behaving like a fool.

Deuce: I’ll do anything to make it up if it would just get you to forgive me!

Crowley: This chandelier was no ordinary chandelier.

This was an enchanted chandelier! It was powered by magic, and its candles were never
supposed to burn out for all of eternity!

This was something crafted by a magical artifact meister of old.

It had been carefully passed down ever since this academy was founded…

Considering its historical value, it would be worth no less than one billion madols.

Could you make that up?

Deuce: O-One billion…!?

Ace: B-But, can’t you just fix it up quick with your magic, Professor…?

Crowley: Magic is not all-powerful.

What’s more, the magic stone, which could otherwise be called the heart of the magical
artifact, has broken.

No two magic stones are the same.

This chandelier might not be able to light up again.

Ace: No…

Deuce: Damn it… What was I doing…? How am I going to tell Mom…?

Crowley: …Oh, actually, there is one thing.

There might be a way to fix the chandelier—but only one.

Ace & Deuce: What!?

Crowley: The magic stone that was used in this chandelier can be mined at the Dwarfs’
Mine.

If you were to obtain a stone that had the same properties, it might be possible to repair it.
Deuce: I’ll go get the magic stone!

Please let me go!

Crowley: However, I’m not certain there are any magic stones left in the mines.

It’s been quite some time since it closed, so there’s a high chance all the magic stones have
already been dug up.

Deuce: I’ll do anything if it means I won’t have to be expelled!

Crowley: …Very well. Then I will wait only one night.

If you do not bring me a magic stone by tomorrow morning, you all will be expelled.

Deuce: Right…! Thank you!

Ace: Ah, geez… Guess I got no choice. Alright, let’s go get that magic stone.

Crowley: You can get to the Dwarfs’ Mine in an instant if you use the gate in the Mirror
Chamber.

Deuce: Yessir!

(Deuce runs out)

Grim: Ha! Wh-what…? What was I doing…

⇨ I would’ve loved it if I was the one passed out this whole time.
⇨ This has gotten ridiculous…

♡—Mirror Chamber—♡

Ace: Ah, geez…Why did things turn out like this? I’ve had so much bad luck today…

Deuce: We don’t have time to stand here and complain! Let’s go!

Mirror of Darkness! Lead us to the Dwarfs’ Mine!

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 14: Reluctant Travel!

♡—Dwarfs’ Mine - Silent Woods—♡
Deuce: This is the Dwarfs’ Mine… Long ago, this place seemed to be a bustling place to
mine for magic stones…

Grim: Uu… It feels spooky here…

Ace: Oh, there’s a house back there. Let’s go see if they know anything.

♡—Dwarfs’ Mine - Small Cottage—♡

(Deuce knocks on the door)

Deuce: Good evening! …Is it empty? It doesn’t look like anyone’s been taking care of it.

Grim: Pwah! I’m getting spiderwebs in my face! Pweh pweh!

Ace: Don’t the table and chairs and everything look really tiny? You think they’re meant for
kids?

One, two, three, four… seven! That’s a lot!

Deuce: I’m sure this house was full of activity when the Dwarfs’ Mine was still in business.

Ace: Guess there’s no point looking here. If there’s even any magic stones still around,
they’d probably be in the mines.

Alright, let’s go.

♡—Dwarfs’ Mine - Mine Entrance—♡

Grim: Y-You wanna go into that pitch-black cave!?

Ace: What, ya scared? Wuss!

Grim: What!? I-I’m not scared!

Since I’m so great, I’ll even be the leader! All of you, follow me!

♡—Dwarfs’ Mine - Interior—♡

Deuce: !? Wait!

Ace: What?

Deuce: Something’s there!

Grim: hic!?
Ghost A: Ehehehe! It’s been ten years since we’ve had guests!

Ghost B: Why don’t you make yourself at home here? For eternity!

・━━━━✥◈✥━━━━・

Run from the Ghosts! | Rhythm

Grim: AAAAAHHHH!! I-I-I-I knew it!

Ace: Idiot, calm down!

Deuce: Dammit, we don’t have the time to deal with ghosts right now…!

We’ll run till we lose the ghosts! Under my lead!

Grim: Hah… hah… They’re still chasing after us!

Ghost: Hah… hah…! Make… yourself… at home…!

Grim: How are you out of breath!? You’re a ghost!

Deuce: Ghosts have lungs!?

Ace: Can you wait till we’re done to talk about that!? Let’s go!

Deuce: …Tch!

Grim: Hah… hah… It looks like they’re not following us anymore!

Deuce: Alright, let’s keep going. We don’t have much time.

Grim: AHHH!! D-Did you hear something just now!?

Deuce: I thought we shook them off, though.

Ace: Shh! There’s something over there…!

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 15: Tough Spot!

♡—Dwarfs’ Mine - Interior—♡

Ace: I didn’t know there were ghosts hangin’ around here too.
Deuce: This’ll never end if we keep engaging them. Keep moving!

Ace: I’d rather you not be actin’ all tough and ordering me around.

This never would’ve happened in the first place if you weren’t acting like an idiot!

Deuce: If we’re going down that route, you’re the one who started this for skipping out on
cleaning!

Ace: Okay, well, this furball over here is the one who burned the statue of the Queen of
Hearts first!

Grim: Huh!? You were making fun of me, so that was your fault!

Deuce: GUYS! Do you know the situation we’re in right now?

We’re going to get expelled if we don’t bring back a magic stone by morning!

Ace: That’s why we should’ve split up from the start! Man, I’m pissed off.

⇨ Calm down, you three.

⇨ …I think I just heard a voice.

???: Not… give…. nn…. not…

Everyone: !!

Ace: W-Who… said that?

???: Stone…. uUUuUuu…. mine…

Ace: It kinda… sounds like it’s getting closer…

???: Sdome… is MIIIINE!!

Everyone: A MONSTEEEER¹!!

(They run away)

Deuce: What was that!?

Grim: WAHHHH!!

No one said anything about that being here!! Let’s get out of here!

Ace: That was terrifying! But didn’t it say something about the stone!?
Grim: What!?

Faceless Monster: Sdome… stone… not give…!!!

Everyone: !!!

Deuce: So there still is a magic stone here!

Grim: N-N-N-N-No way! I may be a prodigy, but there’s no way we’ll win against that!

Deuce: But if we don’t bring back the magic stone, we’ll be expelled… I’m going!

Ace: Are you serious!?

⇨ You can’t do it alone!

⇨ It’s dangerous!

Deuce: There is no way I’m going to let myself get expelled!

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 16

Selfish Three!
Faceless Monster: Leave! Leave!! Leeeeaaave!!!!

Deuce: Guuuuh!

Ace: Stand back if you have no control, Mr. Serious! I'll stop it! Haaa!

Faceless Monster: Wuuuuuuooooooohhh!!!

Ace: Guuhaaaah!!

Grim: Ffgnaaa!! Stay away!!

Faceless Monster: Grrrrr!!!

Grim: I-It's not working at all!

......!?
Did something just sparkle!?

Ace: Behind that thing! At the end of the tunnel, something...

Deuce: That light, is it a magic crystal...!?

Faceless Monster: GGGOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!! WON'T GIIIIIVE!!!

Grim: L-l-l-l-let's get out of here! We're done for at this rate!

We need to escape, you two!

Retreat! Retreat!

Faceless Monster: Gggooooohhhh!!!

Grim: Is this far enough?

Ace: Oooww... What in the world was that? No one said anything about that!

Deuce: It didn't seem like any old ghost.

Ace: Let's give up and go home. I'd rather get expelled than fight that thing.

Deuce: Wha!? Don't screw with me! I'd rather die than face expulsion!

Deuce: There's a magic crystal right in front of us and you wanna go home!

Ace: Ha. You talk big for someone worse at magic than me. Go alone if you want. I'm done.

Deuce: Ooh, that right? Then stay right there cowering like a spineless coward!

Ace: Huuuuuh?? Coward? Who exactly are you talking about?

Grim: U-uuuhh... Deuce. Did you switch up your character?

Deuce: Huh! A-ahem! My bad. I lost my composure a bit.

What to do...
Can magic help up at all?

Deuce: Like the headmaster said earlier, magic isn't all-powerful.

Deuce: If you can't imagine it then it won't materialize.

Deuce: Large-scale or complicated magic require a lot of training to use.

Ace: But that's why we have schools for magic.

Ace: You have to practice a lot to use magic just as it comes to mind.

Ace: Bluntly, you'll screw up if you lose your cool.

Everyone has just been using it willy-nilly.

So that's why Grim can only use fire.

Ace: Stuff you're good at you can go off instinct.

Deuce: At any rate, I'm going in there. I'll figure out how to beat that thing and come back
with a magic crystal.

Ace: However.Judging by the chandelier incident, you're a complete idiot.

Ace: You couldn't land a single hit earlier but now you'll "figure it out"? It's going to end the
same.

Deuce: Come again!? You think of...

Grim: Here they go again.

Will you two knock it off!!

Then we face expulsion together.

Grim: Waah. Why are you shouting all of the sudden?

Neither of you could do anything back there.

Let's try to work together.

Grim: Ff... fgnaaa...

Deuce: Guuhh... B-But... What exactly should we do?

Let's put our head together.

We have to come up with a proper strategy.

Ace: Strategy? You mean get along and work together?

Ace: Ha! That's cold. You have no problem saying lame things with a serious face, huh.

Deuce: Agreed. No way I'm working with this loser.

Grim: But... I feel like it's way lamer to get expelled on the first day of school.

Ace: Uuh, that's...

That's not cool at all.

I do have one idea, but...

Ace: ....haaaah. Fine! We just have to get it done, right!

Ace: So, what's your plan?

Grim: You... really think it'll go as planned? I'm sca... no, just nervous.

No worries, I'm sure it'll be fine somehow!

We just have to accept our fate.

Ace: Haha, you're too stiff. Just go with the flow. Let's get this over with!

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 17

United Front First!

Grim: Hey, beasty! O-o-o-over here!

Faceless Monster: Grrrrr.... LeaAAAAAAAVVEE!!!

Grim: Gah! It's coming!

Over here, beasty!

Come this way~!

Faceless Monster: Grr!? There... thief... too. Won't give... Mine... Mine!!

Grim: Pyah! That punch looks like a knockout if it lands!

Get it as far from the tunnel as possible.

Geeeh! So scary!!

Faceless Monster: Go away! Go away!!

Grim: It's pretty far from the tunnel now!

Now!
Go for it!

Ace: Ok, I got this! Let's go, Extra Large Tempest!

Grim: And the Great Grim's Fire Special! Ffgnaaaaaa!

Faceless Monster: Guaaaaah!!?

Ace: How's this! I can even fan Grim's shoddy flame into an inferno!
Grim: It's not shoddy! Ugh, every word out of your mouth pisses me off!

The monster is caught in the fire tornado!

Now's our chance!

Deuce: Calm down... Take aim... The biggest, heaviest... thing I know...

Deuce: Come forth, cauldron!

Faceless Monster: Guaaa!?

Grim: Got it! Nice work everyone!

Grim: Hey, look!

Grim: The monster looks flat as a pancake just like Ace earlier!

Ace: You don't need to bring that up again! Jeez, today just isn't my day.

Deuce: Let's go get the magic crystal while that thing can't move.

Faceless Monster: Waaaaaaaiiitt!!!!

Deuce: There! A magic crystal!

Faceless Monster: Hands ooooooofffffff!!

Ace: Crap! That thing is almost free!

Grim: Oi, Deuce! Throw some more stuff on it!

Deuce: Eeeh, something heavy!?

Deuce: C-Come forth! Cauldron!

Deuce: And, uuummm, ummmm, cauldron!?

Deuce: One more, cauldron!

Faceless Monster: Nnnguaaa!!

Ace: Do you have nothing but cauldrons in your repertoire!?

Deuce: Shut up! I'm at my wits' end here!

Grim: We got the magic crystal! Let's skedaddle!

Ace: Roger!
Faceless Monster: That. Is... MIIIIIIIINNNEE!!!

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 18

Tenacious Chase!
Grim: We got the magic crystal! Let's skedaddle!

Ace: Roger!

Faceless Monster: That. Is... MIIIIIIIINNNEE!!!

Ace: You're kidding!? It knocked off all that stuff and came after us!

Faceless Monster: Uuuh... uuughhh...! Give... it ba...ck!!

Deuce: Shoot, it's gonna catch up to us!

But it's weaker! Now we might...

We just gotta go for it!

Ace: Aaaaah, fine! Let's finish it! Don't let me down, Mr. Serious!

Deuce: You, too!

Grim: I'll show off my true power!

Deuce: Huff, huff...!

Ace: We... did it?

Grim: W-We won... We actually won!

Deuce: Hooray!

Ace: We did it!

Grim: Victory high five~!

All: Yaaaaay!!

You're getting along well now.

Is this “adversity brings people together”?
Deuce: ...Ah. N-no. This is nothing like that!

Ace: Y-yeah, yeah! Could you stop saying weird things?

Grim: W-we won thanks to my genius!

Grim: It's not because we pooled our strength!

Ace: ...I guess making excuses is pretty lame. I hate to admit it but we won thanks to your
plan.

Deuce: ...True. We got the magic crystal because you gave us level headed instructions.

Deuce: We can prevent our expulsion this way.

Deuce: ...I'm so relieved.

It's thanks to your teamwork.

I'm glad everyone is alright.

Ace: Yeah, yeah. We're all relieved. And seriously worn-out and battered. Let's go home.

Grim: I'm starving from using so much magic...

Grim: Hmm? What's this?

Deuce: Remnants from that monster?

Deuce: A magic crystal...? But I've never seen one pitch black like coal before.

Grim: Snif, snif... This thing smells really good...

Ace: No way!

Grim: This has to be candy the monster was hiding! Oooooh, I can't hold back!

Grim: Time to dig in!

He actually ate it!?

Woah! Spit it out! Spit!

Grim: Uuhh!!!!!!

Deuce: Hey, you alright!?

Ace: Aaah. That's why you don't eat things off the ground~
Grim: D....D-d-d-d..... DELICIOUS!!

Deuce & Ace: Wha!!?

Grim: It's full-bodied but also rich, with an aromatic sweetness that blooms in my mouth...

Grim: Like a whole field of flowers in my mouth!

Ace: Bleegghhh. Monsters really do have different tastes from us.

Deuce: ...I guess so. But more than that...

Deuce: Most people wouldn't even put a mystery object in their mouth without a thought.

Is he really alright?
Monsters are omnivores...

Grim: Gahahaha! Tasty, tasty!

Grim: Don't worry, my stomach isn't weak like yours.

Ace: Don't come crawling to me when you get sick later.

Deuce: Switching gears, let's get this magic crystal to the headmaster!

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 19

Reconsideration Miracle!
Crowley: Eh!? You really went to Dwarfs' Mine to find a magic crystal?

All: Huh!?

Crowley: I really didn't think...

Crowley: You'd not only go but then come back with a crystal in hand.

Crowley: I quietly completed the paperwork for your expulsion.

Grim: Nnga! The nerve of this guy! While we were off fighting some crazy beast!

Crowley: Beast?

Ace: There was a monster there!

Ace: It was super gross and crazy strong, it was awful!

Crowley: Could you explain in more detail?

Crowley: Hoh hoohh.

Crowley: A mysterious monster living in the coal mine.

Crowley: The four of you worked together to defeat it and bring back a magic crystal?

Ace: We didn't really work together...

Deuce: It was more like our goals were aligned...

Crowley: Ooh... Oooooooh.... OOOOOOHHHHH!!!! OOOOOHHHHH sob sob sob!!!

Grim: What's with this guy? Why is an adult bursting into tears!?

Crowley: In all these year that I've been headmaster...

Crowley: For the day to come that students from Night Raven College go hand in hand to
face and defeat their enemy!

Deuce: What!? I did not hold this guys hand!

Ace: I would never do that, gross! But headmaster, how old are you!?

Crowley: I am overwhelmed with emotion.

Crowley: This incident confirms it.

Crowley: Player. Without a doubt, you have talent as a beast tamer!

Beast tamer!?
What talent now!?

Crowley: Students of Night Raven College are budding wizards called here by the Dark
Mirror.

Crowley: However, they are of a superior class that makes them prideful and egotistical
people

Crowley: that have not even the slightest inkling to work with others. Making many of them
selfish and self-centered.

Grim: You're really not saying anything good.

Crowley: You cannot use magic.

Crowley: But, maybe, precisely because you cannot use magic means that you could give
instructions to wizards and get them to cooperate.

Crowley: Perhaps that mediocrity is exactly what this school needs right now!

Ace: He's not saying anything nice is he!?

Crowley: I have no doubt that your existence is essential to the future of this academy.

Crowley: So says my educator-senses.

Crowley: Trapola. Spade. Along with rescinding your expulsion I shall

Crowley: give you the qualifications to attend Night Raven College as a student!

All: Eeh!?

As a student!?
Even though I can't use magic?

Crowley: Yes. For I am exceedingly gracious.

Crowley: But, there is one condition.

Crowley: You cannot use magic. Becoming a wizard is out of the question. You probably will
not be able to complete all you lessons.

Crowley: That is why, Grim.

Crowley: You have proven to me that you possess enough talent to become a wizard.

Crowley: Therefore, I shall allow the two of you to enroll together, as one student.

Grim: Ffgna!?

Grim: I... I can go to this academy too...? Not as a handyman, but as a student?

Crowley: Yes. Provided that!

Crowley: You don't ever let an incident like yesterday occur again! Do we have an
agreement?

Grim: Ffgnaa... Fffnaa... We- we can...

That's great!
Let's do our best!
Grim: Ffgnnaaaaa!! I did it!!

Crowley: Well then, I shall give the symbol of your status as a student of Night Raven
College, a magic crystal, to Grim.

Grim: Woah! A magic crystal!?

Crowley: It is the norm for students to have their magic crystals in the form of a "magical
pen" but,

Crowley: You wouldn't be able to grip it in your paws, right?

Crowley: It's a special custom. Aaah... I pay attention to even the smallest details!

Crowley: Aren't I too gracious?

Grim: I did it!! I'm so cool! I got my own special magic crystal collar~~

Crowley: He isn't listening at all...

Crowley: Do you understand? As you can see Grim is not accustomed to human society.

Crowley: It's up to you to take the rein and supervise him to prevent from causing anymore
trouble!

Ace: Aha! Look at you. School's just started but you're already a supervisor?

Deuce: I see. There's only the two of you in your dorm...

Deuce: So if you've been entrusted with supervising Grim, that makes you a supervisor.

Ace: Pufft... Isn't that unheard of? For there to be a supervisor student who is unable to use
magic.

Ace: Nice. It's cool. A supervisor student who is unable to use magic!

I'll do my best!
I'm not confident...

Ace: Ahaha. Good luck, Supervisor!

Crowley: I see, a supervisor.

Crowley: I do have a work request, and having a title makes it very convenient... This is
wonderful!

Crowley: Supervisor. I entrust you with this.

Crowley: ...This is nicknamed the "ghost camera".

Ghost?
Camera?

Ace: Ah, I think my grandma told me about that. It a super old magic tool right?

Crowley: It is not "super old"... Ahem.

Crowley: It's true this may have been invented during your great grandmother's, or great
great grandmother's time.

Crowley: There is a very special spell cast on it.

Crowley: It not only captures the subjects' form, but also a part of their soul.

Deuce: A part of their soul...?

Crowley: We call this "Memory: A Fragment of Remembrance."

Crowley: Furthermore, the most interesting part of this magic camera is that the souls of the
photographer and the photographed become deeply connected and

Crowley: the Memory in the photo comes jumping out!

Souls are connected?

It comes jumping out?

Crowley: Depending on how close the subject and photographer are the picture could move
like a video,

Crowley: or bring to life the situation in the photo. Fascinating, right?

Deuce: Bring the photo to life? It's like a ghost photograph!

Crowley: Yes. Therefore it is called a "ghost camera".

Crowley: They say it was made before the time of videos for when people wanted to leave
behind vivid memories...

Crowley: Spade was correct, in the past people would scream "ghost!" in surprise when the
memory came jumping out.

Crowley: They were paralyzed with fear at the thought of having a photo taken with this
camera.

Ace: A camera for freaking people out...

Crowley: Supervisor.

Crowley: Please take photos of Grim and the other students to leave behind many memories
of your lives in this academy.

Grim: La-lalala. Take lots of cool photos of me~

Crowley: ...Especially, always make sure to get "Memories" when someone steps out of line.

Crowley: It's a most suitable way to report to me, right?

Crowley: Keep an eye on your surroundings and take memories as the supervisor.

Crowley: To generously give you an rare item that can be used by non-wizards...

Crowley: Does my graciousness know no bounds?

Thank you very much.

I'll try it out.

Crowley: It is already late. Let's save the detailed conversation for tomorrow.

Crowley: Return to your dormitories, everyone.

Deuce: Pardon our intrusion.

Twisted Wonderland] Prologue 20

Finale Prologue!
Deuce: Haaaaaah... Expulsion rescinded... I'm beat.

Ace: Oh my, oh my...

Grim: La lala~

Grim: I start as a student of Night Raven College tomorrow!

Grim: I'm gonna leave you all in the dust and take the top spot!

Ace: You talk big for someone who is only half a full student. ...Anyway, it's fine.

Deuce: We're classmates tomorrow, Supervisor, Grim.

Once again, nice to meet you!
I wonder if it'll go well...

Ace: Saying that again is really embarrassing, will you stop?

Deuce: Pff, that's true. Even if we don't want to, we're going to see each other everyday.

Deuce: I'm even in Heartslabyul with this jerk.

Ace: Thinking about seeing your serious mug everyday, no thanks.

Deuce: That's my line, truant Ace.

Ace. Sure, sure. Almost-expelled-crybaby Deuce. Alrighty, see you tomorrow, Supervisor.

Ah, those names...

They might actually make a good combo.

Grim: Those guys might make a good combo. They're the "fight because they're so close"
type.

Grim: We better get back to the dorm!

Grim: Tomorrow we aren't the handyman!

Grim: Finally... Finally!

Grim: Our bright and shiny academy life at Night Raven College begins!

~Twisted Wonderland~
English Text