"Ah, Lotus!"
Lotus looked up from her pot of soup and saw that it was Trey. She smiled, "Good evening, Trey-senpai."
Trey wore a wide smile as per usual, "Good evening, Lotus."
"Are you here for the kitchen?" Lotus wondered curiously, "Or... not? Heartslabyul has a kitchen of their own, right?"
"Our dorm does have its own kitchen since we keep having so many tea parties." Trey nodded with a smile, "But, I came looking for you today. I need your advice on something."
"Oh?" Lotus raised a brow curiously.
"Can you come over to the Heartslabyul dorm soon?"
Lotus nodded, "Let me first bring this over to the Ramshackle dorm."
"All right." Trey nodded back as he watched her hurry away out of the kitchen.
Once out of sight, he hummed curiously, "I didn't think he'd spend this much time for Grim and Yuu..."
He'd think of Lotus as someone dedicated towards his own studies and experiments with how well she has surprised everyone. He recalled the way Rook described her when she was looking through the herbs.
"Domineering... and kind...?" Trey muttered in confusion before he shook his head with a sigh of exasperation, "Just what did Rook mean by this? Also, just what am I saying?"
He turned around and walked out of the kitchen to the Hall of Mirrors. Though he thought it sounded ridiculous, he soon realized that he couldn't get the words out of his head. It also brought a strange feeling to his chest in a nagging manner as if something wasn't right.
.....
It took only half an hour before Lotus made it to the Hall of Mirrors with a wooden box.
"I'm back!" She smiled.
Trey nodded, "Good. Follow me."
Trey brought Lotus into the Heartslabyul dorm mirror before looking back once more in slight confusion. Ever since the imaging they've seen, the three had been prepared to encounter a dead body in the Hall of Mirrors when they recalled that the dead body had been abandoned in the area, but they hadn't witnessed the body in the least nor even heard of a incident of a dead body, much less a rumor. Trey was a little worried about it, but it was fine as long as Riddle didn't decide to kick up a fuss over it and the students are safe.
He then brought Lotus to the empty kitchen where they found Riddle zapping at the purple lotus pod with a scowl on his face as Cater stood far away from the side in a dark suit with white ribbons, supposedly his costume as a part of Heartslabyul's Halloween theme as skeletons which she had already seen.
"Eh? Dorm Leader Riddle-senpai?" Lotus called out in confusion.
"Ah, Lotus!" Cater called over with a wide smile and sighed in relief nervously, "You're finally here..."
"Lotus." Riddle nodded as he picked up the pod in his hand and brought it to Lotus, "Do you know what this is? We... got it from her and Cater wanted it for a snack, but none of us could crack it open sadly."
Lotus stared down on the purple lotus curiously before she sniffed it and jolted up with wide eyes, "This... Isn't this a Purple Fuchsia Lotus seed?!"
"Purple what Lotus seed?" Cater questioned in confusion.
"Explain." Riddle stated.
"Well, let me check again..." Lotus said nervously before giving it another sniff.
An aromatic soothing scent filled her nose and she nodded after examining the purple exterior, "Yeah. I can't be wrong. This is the Purple Fuschia Lotus seed... Did she ever say where she came across it?"
"Eh?" Cater raised a brow, "First of all, what is this?"
"Ah, right." Lotus took a deep breath and responded, "Apologies for that. I got a little excited there. The Purple Fuschia Lotus is as its name indicates. A purple lotus that has take taken the characteristics similar to that of a Fushcia plant. While most lotuses are faced up above the waters or curved to the side, the Purple Fushcia lotus curves down like a lantern facing the murky waters it's born from and it absorbs mana energy from the earth, hence the purple color."
"However," she continued with a frown, "It's not easy getting this thing. It can only thrive in high altitude where there is a lack of oxygen, but the temperature can't be low in the least and little to no wind. The problem isn't just this, but no one even know where to start looking for this. Moreover, just cultivating it yourself gives a low percentage of success rate."
"So you're saying we got something rare again?" Riddle huffed with a smirk.
Lotus sighed, "Didn't you said this Peony was the one who gave you this? So, she must've known where to find these things. If I can meet her, I'd like to ask where she found this..."
"So, do you want it instead?" Cater spoke up curiously.
Lotus pouted, "Do you take me for a thief? Moreover, the value of this is too much for me to just accept it. I won't accept anything of such great value that I can't return in full. None of what I have can surmount to this herb. Also..."
Lotus turned to Riddle with a wide smirk that sent a shiver down his spine the moment he met her eyes.
"You also have something else, don't you?" Lotus grumbled unhappily.
"W-what?" Riddle looked to her in confusion.
Lotus pouted, "I've been catching whiffs of another lotus herb on Riddle this whole time... You don't happen to have another pod with you, right?"
"Eh?" Riddle looked to her in surprise before nodding his head, "I do have one..."
"How did Lotus smelled it so quickly...?" Cater muttered in shock, "The last person I knew who could pick up scents was Jack but that was because he's a beastman..."
"I'm not a beastman..." Lotus pouted again.
Trey's eyes widen upon realization, "Ah. It's probably because Lotus also uses his nose to tell herbs apart for a long time, so you get used to smelling out herbs easily. You've told Rook and me at Science Club once that you can use your five senses to determine the herbs apart and you've been doing this for a long time. Catching the fragrance of a herbs somewhere shouldn't be too hard for you."
Lotus nodded with a sigh, "You could say that. To be honest, I've been catching that smell since a few weeks ago whenever I come into the dorm or whenever the Heartslabyul student was around. I thought it was probably just me, but I've been catching it getting stronger whenever dorm-leader Riddle-senpai shows up even during horse-back riding club. I just didn't think about it till now that I've seen this Lotus pod. You have a lotus pod with you too, right?"
"That's true." Riddle nodded, "It was something Peony's familiar threw to me the last few times we've met."
"Was it also the familiar who picked up this pod too?" Lotus questioned as she placed the pod on the cutting board.
"Yeah..." Cater froze when he noticed her movement and said quickly, "H-Hold on! Are you going to crack this thing open?"
Catching their attention, Lotus nodded her head, "Yup. This pod is the reason you called me here, right?"
"That's true..." Trey nodded back hesitantly.
"I know how to break it open." Lotus responded.
"How do you break it open?" Riddle said curiously.
Lotus smirked, "Well, it's actually not that difficult. You just need to carefully wash it after you're done removing it."
"Wash it after removing it?" Trey wondered curiously, "What do you mean?"
She responded bluntly, "We'll dissolve it in poison."
"What?!"
The guys looked to her in disbelief as she rearranged some of the herbs and noted, "The Lotus seeds have a special coating and structure making them immune to poison and acid."
"Uh... What about consumption?" Cater questioned nervously.
Lotus sighed, "Well, it's not inedible after you dip it in a base solution and wash it off. The seeds can't easily be destroyed unless you use some reptile's poison."
"Reptile's poison?" Trey frowned, "Why use poison?"
"Poison is much more acidic than the acids in the laboratory and reptile's poison is also too acidic too since it's use to kill." Lotus explained, "I still have a poison sac of the tarantula and a few poison herbs that I can mix to melt the pod down. The poison of a tarantula was made to usually keep other creatures away from them, not to kill. The venom of a male spider can paralyze the victim while the female can kill in two bites. The venom sac and... let's see... I'll have to use the laboratory at this rate..."
"Um..."
Find that she was already in a state of concentration, Trey sighed with a frown, "Here we go again..."
"Has he been like this in Science Club too?" Riddle asked curiously.
Trey nodded, "It doesn't matter if it's the teacher or the students. Nobody can snap him out of it till he's finished. It had Mister Crewel worried for a period of time too when we brought him over."
Cater nodded with a sigh in exasperation, "At this point, it's not much different from a mad scientist level. I can see why Mister Crewel would get worried. It's like he's in his own little world at this point."
Riddle frowned as he became uncertain as to whether this is a good or bad thing. He turned to her and called out after some thought, "Lotus?"
Sure enough, she didn't reply as she began jolting down something on a piece of paper. Later, she went onto examining the glass container of liquid.
With an idea in mind, he left the room quickly.
"Riddle?" Trey raised a brow in confusion.
"Has he come up with an idea already?" Cater questioned nervously, "Because this guy is almost ready to dip the pod into the liquid acid!!!"
"What?!" Trey turned his attention back to her in shock to find that she had poured a concoction from a porcelain bowl into a glass flask.
Cater breathed a sigh of relief, "N-n-nevermind..."
"Geez..." Trey shook his head in dismay, "We should ask Peony next time instead..."