Lotus was strolling in the Ignihyde dorm on her way back to the Hall of Mirrors when she noticed a strange lanky figure with flame blue hair stealthy sneak through the dorm hall in a lab coat. She raised a brow in bewilderment when she saw him turn to her. Seeing him freeze before her, she spoke up, "Um... I didn't see anything... if that's what you're worried about..."
"Eh?" He looked to her in confusion.
Lotus sighed, "Well, you're wearing a lab coat, so you're probably worried about getting caught for some reason. I have no interest, so I'm going to go back now."
The man froze in bewilderment before turning his back to her in bewilderment, "What is he saying? He didn't see anything? Can something this convenient really happen?"
Lotus watched him in confusion, "Um... It'd be convenient for me."
"Huh?"
Lotus pointed to her wrist with a dry smile.
"Eh?" He looked up in surprise when he remembered, "Ah! T-T-T-The curfew... Wait..."
Regaining his composure, he raised a brow, "Can't you just stay over at someone else's place?"
"I'd prefer being in my bed rather than take someone else's bed." Lotus responded bluntly, "I also don't want to sleep on the floor if I have the option not to. After a day of coding, I'd rather not sleep on the floor."
"Ah, you were coding..." He looked in bewilderment, "Wait! You can code?!"
He looked to her armband and saw that he didn't have an armband much to his surprise, "Ah, you're from that Ramshackle Dorm, right? I didn't think the Supervisor would be breaking the rules."
Lotus smirked, "Haha... No. I'm not the supervisor, but you know which dorm I'm from, at least."
"Ah, you must be that third place student with no magic." The man looked to her curiously.
"And, you know that too." Lotus sighed in exasperation.
"The one our freshman brought in during Halloween." He finished.
Lotus nodded, "Yeah. I wanted to see the dormleader create an automated robot of the pumpkin knight, but I could only watch from afar and couldn't even see the dorm leader..."
The man looked up in bewilderment, "That can't be right. You should know that the dorm leader had a different appearance."
"Eh?" She looked up in surprise, "Different appearance... I guess rumors are just rumors. Cause I've heard that the dormleader doesn't like to draw attention to himself. I'm a little behind when it comes to information on Ignihyde dorm. Sorry about that. I'm Lotus Xue. What's your name?"
"Eh?" He looked to her in bewilderment, "You... don't know who I am? You're not lying, are you?"
Lotus raised a brow, "I'm asking about your first name. Shroud is just your family name, after all."
"I thought so..." The man sighed in annoyance.
The Shroud family is a noble family on the Isle of Lamentation. It is said that the family is a cursed one due to their unique hair being that of blue flame that can turn red when angered, much like that of the Ruler of the Underworld. Finally seeing a member of the family here is the dorm leader, it made more sense why he always uses the tablet during events.
"Since we only know half of each other's name, I thought I'd ask for your first name and gave you my last as a curtesy." Lotus explained, "Though I'd really like to see Ortho again."
"Eh? You've already met him?"
"Yeah." Lotus nodded, "I first saw him at the grilled squid stand during magift once but didn't get to call out to him, then we got to know each other during Halloween Week."
"I see. So you've already met him..." The man responded curiously as he muttered to himself something rather incoherently.
"We talked for a bit about some of the games the dorm plays, but nothing much into personal information." Lotus clarified.
"Oh..." The man continued to mutter to himself nervously before inching away.
Lotus raised a brow, "Um, there's a few questions I wanted to ask you about games, but I need to hurry back to the dorm before the supervisor finds out I snuck out. I still haven't go to hear your name though. It'd be hard on Ortho if I call you Shroud when both of you have the same last name."
"I guess..." The man raised a brow, "Do you really know who I am?"
Lotus hummed, "I know. I can't sympathize much of what you go through because of your situation, but what does that have to do with getting to know people. You're the first person I've seen who's from Isle of Lamentation. I've never been there before, either, so I'd like to know what that place is like."
"I-I see." Idia muttered nervously as the only thing in his mind was to just get her out of here regardless of what reason she was here for, "My first name is Idia... B-b-bye!"
With that, the guy vanished before her in a flash. Lotus thought curiously before walking away, "I guess interacting with someone who isn't an otaku is still a problem. Too bad... I'd really like to know what the Isle of Lamentation is like and his coding skills."
Just as Lotus reached the entrance of the dorm, she could feel eyes on her as she slinked into the darkness with ease before secretly using her ability just as she left through the mirror.
"That person was very strange, Master." Ying Hui spoke up curiously, "He's obviously just a shut in."
Lotus smirked and noted curiously in her mind, "Idia Shroud, he may be the first person in both of our worlds to achieve it..."
"Achieve what?" Ying Hui asked in confusion.
"You probably haven't heard, but Ignihyde is filled with people who likes to create many devices." Lotus explained with a wider smile, "The best way to describe them in our world's term is that they are very similar to armament masters, except they don't know how to smith but can still tell materials apart. Amongst all of them, I'd say that Idia seemed to be the first person to have achieved something that neither armament masters or people who practice ghost cultivation can achieve."
Hearing this, both siblings looked up in bewilderment, "You can't mean..."
"An artificial soul..."
.....
Upon his return, Ortho looked up to his brother in surprise, "Big Brother?"
Wiping away the sweat from his forehead, Idia breathed a sigh of relief before jumping onto his bed in exhaustion.
"Ah." Ortho looked up curiously, "Looks like someone caught him..."
"I leave for only a couple minutes and this happens!" Idia grumbled, "I didn't expect to run into anyone from the other dorms..."
"Eh? Someone is still out at this time?" Ortho looked up in surprise, "Now, that I think about it. One of the freshmen brought in a student from Ramshackle dorm to teach him coding..."
"What? Teach him?" Idia raised a brow in bewilderment, "Why would he do that?"
"Because..." Ortho said innocently, "He never seen computer games before and doesn't even know about the animations done during Halloween Week were electronically made. So, the freshman started teaching him coding because he wanted to learn how objects moved without any attachments. All he knew was how to text from Cater."
"S-Seriously?! That bad?" Idia looked to him in bewilderment, "Just where did he come from, then?"
"We don't know." Ortho responded curiously, "He said that he only returned to the city recently before he received the acceptance letter. He's been to a few places, but he was bummed that he couldn't travel to some places before then."
Idia frowned in confusion, "He talked about not being able to travel to Isle of Lamentation before, so he wanted to get close to me to know about it."
"Ah!" Ortho looked up in surprise, "I remember that he asked me about Isle of Lamentation too, but everyone was already leaving for break by the time this happened. So, I couldn't answer him. He really liked to travel, though. He's been to a lot of places too."
"Then, he should've already gone to Isle of Lamentation." Idia pointed out with a frown of suspicion.
"Not really..." Ortho sighed, "Apparently, his parents holds a prejudice view to both humans and residents of the isle. So, he wasn't allowed to travel there and he couldn't travel alone as a minor..."
"And someone like that wants to know about the Isle of Lamentation?" Idia shook his head and sighed as he grumbled to himself, "Either he's too naive or he is plotting something... Either way, I don't want to be caught in something so suspicious."
"Eh? What did you say, Big Brother?" Ortho looked over to his pale-skin brother in confusion whe he noticed that the guy had returned to the screen.
"I-It's nothing. I'm going back to play some games now." Idia responded quickly as he tried to focus on the screen once more.
Ortho raised a brow in confusion, "But, weren't you hungry earlier?"
Seeing that Idia was now too hesitant to leave the room and another rumble could be heard, Ortho shook his head and sighed, "I'll go get a candy bar, then."