For reasons unknown to her, she could feel her mind clear as she turned back to her little project at hand. It was as though, she was no longer left stranded around one thought anymore.
After finishing up some minor changes to the armlet, she smiled confidently. The result of her hard work was a couple of inscribed armlet of silver carefully molded and enhanced by yours truly. The armlets were made with a type of living metal that would expand according to the wearer, much like the other one, but it can also shrink if the owners got thinner too. Looking up, she could see the sun finally beginning to rise and changed out of her brocade. She changed into her school attire and left the room.
.....
"This is..."Jamil looked over the pill in his hand in confusion.
"You sould recognize this scent." Lotus stated bluntly, "This is the pill used for recovering mana and strength after an overblot. I added a larger amount of one of the herbs to delay the effects. When they get their hands on you, they will make you cast magic till you are spent both mentally and physically. After a few tests, you will recover much faster than the others. That would give you time to act accordingly to the situation."
"So, there's no way to avoid this?" Jamil muttered in dismay.
"No matter where you go, they will track you." Lotus concluded, "If you resist, they can always try other ways. Force is not unlikely. It will be the first move they will take once they see that you do not comply. Being around me for so long, are you willing to look down on their strength? Or are you that itching for a fight against them?"
"After all this time, you think I'm that dumb?"
Lotus smirked as she joked, "Hasn't it only been a few month, in your perspective?"
"How would I know that this pill won't do something else?" Jamil glanced over to her curiously.
"To trust me or not is up to you." Lotus huffed, "If you won't go through with this, then I'll just have to take some actions myself. It's just that simple."
"And this is all that you want me to hand to Roi de Ta Chambre." Rook pondered curiously interrupting the conversation in an attempt to sooth any potential tension by mentioning Idia with his nickname for him.
Seeing the basket in his hand, she nodded, "Yes. Just hand the chocolate bar to Idia when you see him."
"That's it?"
Lotus nodded, "That's it."
"What about the overblot?" Rook hummed in confusion.
"Yuu and Grim will be there regardless." Lotus explained, "And they won't be alone. If anything, I hope there won't be another overblot. I don't know what you and the other dorm leaders will do, but, no matter how destructive things become, there are always other possibilities as long as everyone comes out intact and alive. As long as that happen... There is still a chance for that one..."
"What?" Jamil raised a brow.
"Nothing." Lotus shook her head just as the school bell rang, "It's time to get going. I'll see you all later, then."
Watching her receding back, Jamil stared at her closely before he could bring himself to agree with Rook. Lotus seems to have been more depressed as of late... or rather, the better word for it should be "Cold". "Cold" both literally and mentally...
He gripped the pill in his hand as he recalled the startling chilling sensation of her hand against his skin when she handed him the pill. Her skin was cold like ice. Her eyes too...
In the past, she always held some motive with eyes sparkling like a kid. Fireworks of Mischief. But now, it's become more devious...
If he doesn't take the pill to go along with her plan, then she would take action on her own and leave him aside. Whatever it is, it seems that her desperation has made her become cold and her poison...
He recalled that flash of light that shone that day at the exhibition. Though he was evacuating the area with Kalim, he thought he could see Lotus's silhoutte when he glanced back. Was Lotus present back then and had something happened to her?
Next to him, the Vice-dorm leader watched her leave quietly as he pondered in circles in his mind. What could he be thinking?
.....
The school schedule had returned to normal. Aside from that, homework and classes had become difficult once again as she continues to utilize all of her resources to keep the last two assassins within her sights. That was how her morning went.
Hurrying through the halls, Lotus quietly made her way just before club activities could begin. She had already sent a message to the wolves to do this favor for her. Seeing that the reply was favorable during lunch, she can only hope that everything went well.
"As it turns out, the Shroud family's background was actually a lot more complicated than I had expected." She sighed and snuck over to the window.
There, she sent out a butterfly using her magic to teleport it and made sure that it was safely sent out of sight before she made her way back to the dorm. Once back, she grew curious over what the others would do when she noticed everyone from the disbanded VDC team standing before the door. She raised a brow in confusion, "What is everyone doing here?"
"Hi, Lotus!" Kalim smiled wide, "Vil told everyone to gather at Ramshackle dorm today. He mentioned he had something he wanted to talk about."
"I see." Lotus nodded and opened the door to let them in.
After that, she returned to her room briefly before returning to the lounge to find them there, "I'll be going to the greenhouse now. Yuu will be back in a short while."
With that, she left.
Seeing this, Epel looked on in confusion, "He's not staying?"
"Lotus has his own schedule." Rook replied with a bright smile on his face.
"Now that you mention it, he seemed to be a little on edge this morning too..." Ace muttered hesitantly.
"You can tell?" Jamil looked to Ace curiously.
Deuce nodded, "We've been around him for so long. we can somewhat sense when he's not feel well. But that's probably not the case this time."
"Could it also be because of Grim's absence?" Epel questioned them hesitantly.
"Well, this morning..." Deuce began with a hesitant expression.
It was a regular schedules of classes and they were able to get their friend cheered up for the time being when a couple of delinquent students appeared out of nowhere and began to jeer at them. In the end, the one who solved all of it instantly was...
.....
"Perhaps I should've brought Leona over, after all... Since he has the right to call you pathetic as your dorm leader..."
"What did you say?"
The jaguar guy glared at her as she stood between the two groups. Lotus, however, was completely unfazed. Lotus continued, "Bring your dorm leader over so he can call you pathetic?"
"You!" The fox guy reached out to her.
Despite the speed to which he lunged, she quickly grabbed his wrist and didn't let go. Instead she maintained a simple gaze at him straight in the eye as she continued, "Since you're someone who hates being weak... Let me tell you a little secret to get stronger..."
With each word, the fox shuddered as he realized he couldn't move his hand at all!
She sneered as she responded, "Those who tend to find the weaknesses of others have the horrible habit of exposing their own weaknesses. If you don't want to be found out, hehehe... Perhaps grow a pair of eyes..."
She pushed him back with just her hand alone and he stumbled back, but not enough to make him fall back on the ground.
.....
So domineering!
Epel's eyes widen in awe as he continued, "Then, what happened after that?!"
"After that..." Deuce sighed, "He sent them away."
"I wouldn't say that was all..."
Yuu walked in much to their surprise as he continued with a small smile, "I'm here. Sorry, I was late."
"It's fine. It's fine!" Kalim said with a bright smile as he asked rather curiously, "So, what happened to them after that."
"They were sent back... right into Dorm leader Riddle..." Yuu finished.
"Ack! D-Dorm leader Riddle?!" Ace yelped in horror, "Ah... We're going to be in trouble again?"
"I don't know about that." Yuu responded, "I talked to Riddle earlier after class. He dragged those two to Ruggie with a collar on each one of them. When he passed them to him, he removed the collars and left. He decided to let the matter go because we fought back in self-defense. He did want me to remind you that he will let this go and that this will be a warning for us. When Lotus stepped in, I noticed that Riddle was just outside the courtyard and Leona was sleeping under the tree nearby. When the delinquents left with Lotus, Leona was on his phone."
"It was planned." Jamil stated with a sigh.
"Eh?!" Kalim looked to him in shock.
"He already knew that Grim was your partner in combat. Without him, it would be difficult to do anything against magicians. So, he predicted everything and led the dorm leaders to that area." Jamil explained bluntly, "Then, the dorm leader of Heartslabyul would come across them, 'coincidentally' and catch them in the act. Aside from the staff and the headmaster, the students would listen to the dorm leader because they can't be messed with."
"So, that's it..." Kalim laughed, "Good thing that our dorm has many good students!"
Hearing this, Jamil sighed wearily before continuing, "Anyway, this would also be a lesson to other students that the students of Ramshackle dorm aren't lacking in strength even without a familiar."
"Haa... That..." Yuu muttered in embarrassment with a tinge of shame in his heart.