Rook had already suspected something was off when he noticed that she had been treating everyone from Pomefiore with great caution. He saw that she had to grow to get used to interacting with the students from his dorm and especially with himself. However, to hear that she treated Silver in the same was set off a little sense of confusion in him and his instincts told him that Vil or Epel could be in great danger.
"Hmph! So you're a student of this dorm." Vil huffed with an off-handed but dignified manner.
"Of course, I'm a student of this dorm." Lotus responded with a shrug before glancing at him loftly, "Where else do you expect me to be?"
Hearing this and seeing her posture, Vil frowned, "And here I was wondering what sort of dorm would accept such a rude student. Turns out it had to be this dorm."
Lotus sighed in exasperation, "The fact that you're here meant that you had no objects to this dorm. Now, you want to walk out of it?"
"You…"
"L-Lotus, you know each other?" Yuu quickly intercepted in shock as her former hesitant demeanor quickly shifted onto the offense.
"We ran into each other in the courtyard last few weeks or so… literally…" Lotus responded bluntly without fear nor aggression.
"Huh, this is the first to hear a potato act like a diva." Vil responded with disdain.
Lotus sighed, "I've been mistaken for a fish eye before, but this is the first for someone to use the term potato. Unfortunately, I'm not even vegan."
Hearing this, they could feel the tension rise fast as the others behind them looked up in disbelief as Lotus threw out these words.
"Lotus…" Yuu frowned having noticed this and knowing that he absolutely can not falter now before everything falls out of place.
Lotus shrugged and sighed again, "I know, I know. Just tell me, Yuu… Was it the headmaster?"
Hearing this, Yuu understood her words and nodded, "It was the headmaster that arranged this."
His words made her narrow her eyes in dismay, but she frowned and nodded her head, "All right. How many are-!"
"Whoa, this house's ceiling is pretty low. I'd ram my head right into it if I got on a magic carpet."
Lotus raised a brow and saw Kalim rush past the door past the formerly shocked Jamil and Hearstlabyul students, Ace and Deuce.
"Dorm leader Kalim is here too?" Lotus looked on in surprise, "He also took part in the tryouts?"
"Y-yeah!" Grim said with a wide smile in relief having seen that the tension has vanished into shock.
"I see…"
So, he's finally decided to try going out of his shell now.
Seeing this, Jamil heaved a sigh of relief and exasperation and muttered, "First of all, stop trying to fly indoors."
He turned to them and said apologetically, "Prefect, sorry for the trouble, but could you put me in the same room or the one next to Kalim? Security here is a lot weaker than at Scarabia since you don't have to go through the Mirror chamber."
"You're still such a worrywort, Jamil. There hasn't been any assassins after me since I started school here." Kalim laughed seemingly rather thrilled to come across Lotus in Ramshackle dorm, "Hi, Lotus!"
"Good afternoon, Kalim." She nodded her head.
Jamil shook his head as he continued to survey the area hesitantly, "I'm not worried about you. My standing as your servant would fall if something happened to you. Everything was fine yesterday, but we can't assume it'll be the same today."
Lotus nodded and turned to Yuu and said, "For situations like this, it would be better to put Jamil and Kalim on the first floor. It'd be more reassuring for Jamil if he knows they have an easy exit out should something happen. Even if there's nothing, we should do this for reassurance for their part. We've recently cleaned out a few rooms here. Singing and dancing can be a stressful thing. It would be better for them not to worry about anything unnecessary during these few weeks. So, they should go use one of the clean rooms we cleaned out. Leave the other rooms to me."
"Don't push yourself." Yuu warned her hesitantly, "Let us know if it gets too cold."
"I understand. I'll be careful." She nodded calmer and got up, "I'll leave the designations of the other rooms to your original plan."
"All right."
"We're comin in." Ace announced carrying in their luggage and a large box before Lotus could return upstairs. Having felt relieved that things have calmed down significantly, he was a lot more cheerful now that things are like this.
She raised a brow as Deuce walked in hesitantly before lighting up at the sight of Grim and Yuu and took the box from Ace to hand to Yuu, "Prefect, thanks for having us. Here's something from Trey."
"Hm?" Grim looked up curiously as he sniffed the air curiously, "I smell something sweet in that box, y'know."
"We got Trey's deluxe chocolate cake and apple pie." Ace explained with a wide smile excited for the sweets, "He went on and on about us not coming over to stay at another dorm empty handed. Like he's a mom or something. We can all share this later."
"Nyahah! That glasses guy never misses a beat when it comes to food." Grim cheered with a bright smile.
Lotus frowned curiously and turned to Ace with a frown, "Did you tell him what the training camp would be about?"
"Eh?" Deuce looked to her curiously as she said that, "No…"
Lotus frowned, "Dancing and singing is one thing, but you are also performing. Meaning-"
"Unfortunately, it means I'll be confiscating those from you." Vil said as he took those boxes away.
"What?! Why?!" Grim cried out in disappointment and horrified to see them snatched away from Yuu.
Vil shook his head and sighed as he could feel the weight of those boxes, "Goodness, Trey really never changes."
"Men that overly spoil people thinking it's all for the best are the ones you have to be the most careful around." Vil warned with a scowl.
"Are you gonna be like Riddle and go off about stupid rules while you throw out food?" Grim thought with an angry scowl on his face, "I don't forgive guys who disrespect food, y'know!"
"Huh? What are you talking about? I didn't say anything about throwing them away." Vil folded his arms and raised a brow in confusion, "We have important things to discuss before we start this training camp, so take your things and meet in the lounge."
Yuu raised a brow in confusion and turned to Lotus, "Let's go. It should be warmer in the lounge too."
Hearing his concern in his voice, Lotus heaved a heavy sigh and nodded her head reluctantly following them into the lounge with the fireplace lit warming the room.
Vil watched them enter lounge one by one before he stood before them firmly making Kalim wondering if there was something going on as he spoke up in confusion, "So, Vil, what'd you wanna talk about?"
"Could you all please open up your bags?" Vil said or rather announced firmly.
"Huh? Shouldn't we save unpacking for up in our rooms?" Ace said in confusion
"It's fine, just open them." Vil insisted.
"But…" Deuce said in contusion.
"It's fine, Deuce." Lotus reassured him with a nod, "There's nothing for you to worry about, right? We all know you two aren't the type to hide anything illegal in your bags. So, you don't have to be so defensive about it, right?"
When she said this, Deuce realized that it was indeed a little weird that he was being so defensive about his bag and nodded, "That's true… All right."
The two unzipped their luggage revealing large amounts of snacks and sugary drinks. Seeing this, Lotus shook her head and frowned. She already had an inkling when she heard Vil call them in and Deuce's confused look when Trey was mentioned.
"I expected this." Vil muttered speechless in disbelief and growing dismay as he placed his hands on his waist with an angered expression, "Fresh Potatoes One and Two. What are all these snacks and carbonated drinks? Cookies and candy, there's chocolate bars here too!"
"I get hungry at night, so…" Deuce replied in confusion to Vil's reaction.
"We wanted to eat this all with Prefect and everyone, since we're all staying here together." Ace responded with a wide smile.
"Kalim, more than half of your bags are stuffed with tupperware full of food!" Vil said with a horrified look when he heard this.
"Yeah! There's some fried steam buns Jamil made and flour based dessert called kanafeh." Kalim responded with a wide smile, "Nuts and cheese, put some cream on top and its so delicious. I really want you to try some!
Vil shook his head in dismay before settling his eyes on Jamil's bag with a look of surprise and curiosity, "It doesn't look like you brought any food with you, Jamil, but...what do you have wrapped in here?"
Seeing him point at the cloth wrapped object, Jamil unwrapped them showing a few set of tools and responded, "It's a set of magical and medical plants that I keep with me so I can whip up an antidote on the fly if the need arises. I probably won't need it since you're here and so well versed in potions, but I thought just in case…"
Vil hummed uncomfortably at the meaning behind those words combined with the words of assassins earlier in the halls and muttered with a frown, "Well that's unsettling. But, I leave it be."