She opened her eyes and found that the blot that had surrounded Azul had vanished leaving the Azul they know very well behind.
"Azul!" The twins rushed over to him after he collapsed onto the ground.
Lotus got up and sighed as she thought to the creature in the dorm, "I've already had the intention of letting him go from the start. After all, I have a deal with him."
"Now," She added, "before I forget. I would like to speak with the guardian here in this dorm tomorrow in the afternoon."
"That's... I'm afraid that's not possible." The voice responded nervously, "That guardian is not here in this dorm."
"Oh?" Lotus thought for a bit, "Where are they?"
"They have gone outside of the dorm." The voice responded, "They've went to take residence in Sea Coral."
"Sea Coral..." Lotus understood, "That's where the museum was at... I understand. I'll go see them tomorrow, then..."
"This one understands, your majesty."
"Thank you... Please continue to protect the students to the best as you've always done so."
"Of course."
Lotus walked away as she staggered over to the group and found that Azul had just opened his eyes rather dazed with a start.
"Oh, he's awake." Floyd pointed out with a smirk.
"Azul, how many fingers am I holding up?" Jade said showing four fingers.
"Ei... ght?" Azul replied hesitantly.
"Okay." Jade nodded, "You appear to still be out of it..."
"But, I'm so relieved." He added with a small smile, "We were able to stop your blot induced rampage."
"Jeez..." Leona spat the words out and leaned against the glass wall with an irritated look on his face, "pain in the neck."
"No no," Ruggie said unflinchingly in a weary voice as he reminded the dorm leader of the last event, "Leona, you're in no position to talk."
"Overblot...?" Azul seemed to have recalled something, "What... did I do?"
"You used magic so much that you overblotted. Do you remember?" Jade reminded him with a small wry smirk.
"'Give me your strength~' You were crying while running around sucking up people's magic." Floyd said bluntly without hesitation after trying to imitate his voice, "It was hard to look at, super uncool."
"I-I... went on a rampage..." Azul looked around and finally noticed the bodies of students that had been knocked out with a look of dismay, "Unbelievable..."
"Well, anyone would be pissed if something they'd been working on for so long got erased right in front of them." Ruggie supported in defeat before he scowled at the thought of something unpleasant, "If someone went and cracked open my piggyback I'd never forgive them."
"But, you gotta knock it off with the shady business, y'know." Grim pointed out with a frown, "Shape up."
"And you should 'shape up' and stop using test notes created by someone else!" Jack said to the cat with a frown.
Leaning against the glass wall, Lotus laughed, "But, nobody else in this world could have put those notes together."
Yuu nodded in agreement, "I'm still amazed you got Grim to score over 80."
"Eh?" Azul looked to them expectedly.
"You're right." Ace admitted, "Azul's test notes got me a 90 even though I only spent on night pouring over them."
"Yeah." Deuce nodded in agreement, "It was a great secret weapon."
"The headmaster told us you made that by going through the past 100 years of test questions." Jack told Azul and sighed, "I can't say I approve of what you did, but... your determination is crazy impressive."
Surprised by their words, Azul was baffled but quickly composed himself and grumbled, "Hmph. Your words don't bring me any sort of comfort."
"What now?" Floyd pointed out as he poked Azul's cheek with a smirk, "Azul, are you getting a little misty eyed?"
"My, my," Jade teased with a wide smile, "have you gone back to being the in-spitting-crybaby?"
"You two!" Azul scolded immediately with a slight blush rather from embarrassment or fury, "You should be under contract to keep that confidential!"
"Oops, my apologies." Jade smirked mischievously.
"Ah, oh yeah." Jack pulled a paper object out of his pocket as he recalled something and handed it to them, "We brought the photo of Prince Rielle just like you asked. Since the sun is still above the horizon, that makes this our complete victory."
"What's this a pic of?" Leona took it curiously from him and examined it, "...There's a bunch of tiny merfolk, I don't get it."
"An elementary school class photo...?" Ruggie raised a brow curiously as he saw this, "What d'ya want this for?"
"Aha, this take me back." Floyd cheered with a wide smile as he took the photo to show them instead, "This is a photo from when we went there in elementary school."
Lotus noticed Azul jolting slightly when he heard this as Floyd began pointing over to two small little merfolk children with long green tails. He said in a hushed voice, "Me and Jade are right here. And..."
Realizing Floyd was up to something, Lotus watched on curiously. Floyd slowly began to announce in a loud voice, "Nestled over in the corner is... baby Azul!"
"What?!" Everyone shouted in disbelief as they looked back at the photo.
Sure enough in the corner of the picture was a rather chubby looking child with eight octopus legs and cowering in the photo at the corner.
"Waaaaaaaaah! Stop!!!" Azul screamed in horror when he heard this and tried to rush over and snatch the photo back, "Don't look! Please don't look!"
Floyd swiftly moved his hand out of reach and handed it back to Leona as Jade came up to the side with a smile, "My my, Azul. You sure perked up quickly. Why don't you rest some more? Giving up now is the best idea."
"Which one?" Ace rushed over with a wide smile as he looked at the photo quickly.
"Hiding in the corner..." Leona observed the photo carefully rather intrigued a little enough to look.
"Are you referring to the timid looking guy with octopus legs that's twice as wide as any other mer..." Ruggie pointed at the younger Azul curiously in doubt.
On Ace's head, Grim saw the picture in disbelief, "Azul, were you really this chubby back in the day?!"
Lotus chuckled finally feeling a little better now. Yuu, on the other hand, was very confused, "That's what this was about..."
The poor guy screamed in agony when he realized that everyone had seen the photo and found his younger self.
"I totally get how you feel. Everyone has a past they want to erase!" Deuce sympathized with the Octavinelle's dorm leader and tried to pull back Ace as he was not daring enough to snatch the pencil away from Savanaclaw's dorm leader, "I didn't see anything! You guys should forget you saw anything!"
"You really just go with the flow, huh." Jack noted a little surprised.
"That's why things are rather interesting hanging around with them." Lotus smiled with a chuckle.
"Fgna! Lotus. You're feeling better now?" Grim looked to her in surprise.
Lotus nodded with a small smile, "Much better. I was probably a little affected by the tense atmosphere earlier."
"You should be more careful, then." Grim pointed out nervously.
"Right." Lotus sighed in dismay.
"Shit...!" Azul muttered in embarrassment, "I was supposed to expand Mostro Lounge and completely delete my dark past at the same time. My plan was flawless..."
"They say that those who case after two rabbits will end up with neither." Ruggie pointed out with a victorious smile.
"I've gone through and edited every other photo..." Azul groaned, "From the graduation albums to the film in photo studios. That photo from the museum was the only one I couldn't legally get my hands on..."
"Stop going around and making others do your dirty work, y'know!" Grim pointed out with a scowl.
"This pic is totally fine." Floyd said with a wide smile, "I like the old Azul. You used to be so tasty looking."
"Huh?" Lotus raised a brow in confusion.
"That is not the problem here!" Azul rebuked agitatedly.
"Floyd's and Jade's merfolk figure are moray eels." Jack responded bluntly.
"Aah..." She nodded in understanding.
So, it's basically the prey and predator situation but in a silly manner.
Lotus chuckled, "You don't have to hide it..."
In agreement, Yuu nodded, "You worked so hard."
Nearing tears, Azul sniffled with a hiccupped defeated, "I'm done. I wanna hole up in an octopus pot..."
"Anyway," Jack spoke up, "We brought the photo as promised. We cleared all of your conditions."
"Well, the contract is already dust in the wind, though." Grim smirked victoriously.
"But you know, I'm not cool with stealing." Jack reminded them, "Azul. Isn't it your policy to keep your dealings legal, right? Take responsibility and get it back to where it belongs."
"The museum is at Coral Sea, right?" Lotus said with a smile, "I'd like to go there too. I've never been there before since it's underwater."
"Eh? Are you sure?" Deuce questioned her nervously, "You don't look too good..."
Lotus nodded, "I'll be fine after I sleep for the night."
"Those guys didn't make you run around all day, right?" Grim said worryingly.
Though truly tired, Lotus laughed before the twins could rebuke, "How can that be? Our dorm isn't Mostro Lounge, you know. I'm also not their staff. I probably just stayed up studying too much."
Ace sighed, "You bury yourself in your books too much, you know? You should take a breaks too."
Lotus nodded, "I understand."
"Then," Yuu brought up his thought with a smile, "Let's all go together."
Azul sighed, "Understood. But at least let me run it through some editing software to erase my shame..."
"Hah," Leona spat out an annoyed sigh, "you don't know when to give up."
"He's right." Jade agreed with a smile, "Memories are to be treasured."
"Hey, hey!" Floyd said cheerfully, "So, when're we gonna go? We're all going, right? I'm so excited! We haven't been there since elementary school."
Lotus thought for a bit in curiousity, "I've... never been to a museum before... This sounds interesting."
Unbeknowest to them, Grim had already strayed away from them and was sniffing around the ground. Ace had been the first to notice him doing so and called out to him, "Hm? Why are you sniffing around on the ground, Grim?"
"My gourmet hunter senses are tingling..." Grim responded with another cocky smile before he cheered, "My favorite pitch black truffle has fallen somewhere around here!"
"Are you a pig?!" Ace questioned in bewilderment.
Ignoring Ace, Grim found the stone in the corner of the stone path and picked it up with glee, "Ffgna! Found the black rock! The nose of the Great Gourmet Hunter Grim cannot be fooled!"
Leona watched curiously with a raised brow, "...A black rock?"
"Thanks for the food! Omm nom!" Grim stuffed the entire rock into his mouth before anyone could stop him again, "Mmmm... It starts out heavy and rich but them there's a punch of saltiness... I'll never get tired of this flavor! Y'know!"
"Ah!" Deuce reprimanded the cat with a scowl, "Are you eating crap off the ground again?!"
"There's no point trying to stop him," Ace said with a sigh in defeat, "we just have to accept that monsters have different tastes. See? Even Lotus has given up trying to stop him."
"Hm?" Leona hummed curiously when he heard this, "Is that raccoon always eating black rocks off the ground?"
"Got always, but..." Yuu sighed in defeat, "Grim is ever the glutton."
"It was the same after you and Riddle both overblotted before." Lotus said to him with a frown, "For some reason, Grim is able to consume these black stones."
"Is something the matter, Leona-senpai?" Jack questioned Leona curiously.
"Nah. It's nothing." Leona grumbled wearily.