With that, she returned to her dorm temporarily as they had heard that the lounge had been fixed up for the time being. However, the moment she stepped into the hall of mirrors, she was struck by a cold wind as she lept back out in bewilderment and shivering in shock!
So cold!
Could it be that the absence the magestone due to the fairy gala has already taken affect this quickly?
She hesitated going out this time before sighing in disappointment. It was then that she noticed that a wool beanie was placed on her head that she looked up in bewilderment and saw that it was Ren!
"Trying to go out?" Ren asked.
As she clung onto the wool beanie, Lotus nodded, "I didn't think that the Hall of Mirrors would be freezing."
"It's like that for the headmaster's office and Scarabia, apparently. The students in Savanaclaw are also having trouble trying to stay active during their daily training due to the cold while Scarabia students have been shoveling snow every morning." Ren explained, "Our dorm is hit with the heatwave alongside the school building and all the other remaining dorms. Aside from the Hall of Mirrors, the rest of the path should be easy for you since you are more accustom to the heat than the cold."
Lotus nodded, "I heard that the lounge room was finished and that the commotion had made all the other dormleaders come together for a meeting upon the headmaster's call today. He was supposed to be returning the other day too too. Unfortunately, this happened immediately upon his arrival. I hope Mister Trein wasn't placed responsible for this sudden incident. That's why I'm going to the nurse's office first to check on the situation with the staff."
"He should be fine." Ren responded, "The headmaster is also knowledgeable about the Fairy gala to a certain extent. He wouldn't put the acting headmaster responsible for something even he could not control. You should go check to your dorm leader for now."
"I see." Lotus sighed in relief, "Then, I'll go see Yuu. Will you be joining us?"
Ren nodded, "I've put aside my studies for today. So, I'll accompany you."
"Great! The more, the merrier! Let's go!" Lotus responded with a wide smile as she dragged Ren with her.
Ren was surprised by her sudden enthusiastic as he was dragged out of the mirror and into the ice cold hall of mirrors where he quickly became amused upon finding Lotus stuck in one place shivering from the cold again.
"I-I-Isn't this a little too cold?!" Lotus grumbled miserably as Ren bit back a chuckle yet she could see his crooked smirk, "Huh. Mister Ren actually does have some strange hobbies too. Such as being amused by others' miseries."
"Ahem!" Ren cleared his throat with a slight blush hidden by the cold, "There's no such thing. Now, come on. The prefect and the others are probably going to be resting in Ramshackle dorm right now and planning the next step."
"Plan?" Lotus muttered curiously to herself.
.....
There was a number of metal bars and wooden frame built up in the shape of the old dorm as Lotus and Ren opened the door and walked through the halls. Upon returning to the lounge, she poked her head in before Ren questioned her curiously, "What do you see?"
"Hm..." She hummed curiously, "The prefect, Ruggie, Scarabia's dormleader, vice dormleader, and a large cat."
"What?" He looked to her seemingly dumbfounded, "A cat? Grim, right?"
"Nah, Grim is busy having a can of tuna." She responded.
"Then..." Ren clammed his mouth shut and tapped her on the head with a frown seemingly scolded as he did so, "Treat others with a little more respect, Lotus. One day, this will bite you back if you don't change your behavior."
Lotus grumbled, "But, I'll be all right. You know I can take care of myself too..."
"Seriously..." Ren sighed in disappointment as he opened the door and entered the room, "Prefect Yuu, we're here."
"Ah, Ren!" Yuu looked up in his white and silver costumes with a bright smile upon seeing him, "Welcome! How is Lotus?"
"I'm right here!" Lotus popped up from behind Yuu shocking almost everyone there!
"Lotus!" Yuu cried out in surprise before breathing is sigh of relief, "It's good to see that you've been doing well, but was that really necessary?"
"Well, this is our dorm, so why not?" Lotus questioned with a look of curiosity.
"Here we go again." Ruggie sighed in bewilderment while also donning his white and silver costume, "It's no wonder that he could get so out of hand when the prefect is also this nice to his students."
"That is true..." Grim grumbled before cheering, "You should try and put Lotus in his place sometimes, Yuu! Then, we can have more time to go hang out with Ace and Deuce more often!"
Lotus sneered, "Hm? Somebody wants to get back to their studies that badly? Well, who knew!"
"Uh... nevermind." Grim jumped in bewilderment with his ears folded back.
Leona, Ruggie, and Ren were seemingly surprised to see the black cat back out so quickly that they thought that something was wrong with their senses!
"Huh? Did the little guy backed out already?" Ruggie noted in surprise upon seeing this.
"No." Jamil sighed as he finished adjusting the white sleeves of his white and silver costume, "I can assure you that this is normal."
"Seriously?!"
"Yes..." Vil sighed in dismay having finally spoken up after long moments of silence to himself.
Pushing away the white cape of his white and gold costume, Leona narrowed his eyes before he scowled and looked away.
"Ah, right." Ruggie recalled, "You guys were together for the VDC school event. So, you all already know one another."
"Yeah!" Kalim cheered, "We worked really hard and got pretty far. It was a lot of fun too!"
"During our stay, Lotus was the one who helped a few of us study on occassions." Jamil responded as he fixed the gold and white sash of Kalim's costume, "He was particularly watchful over Grim's grades."
Lotus smirked, "You say that as if it was unusual."
"All right, guys." Yuu broke the group up with a clap and turned to the map on the table once more, "Let's go over how we're going to sneak into the botanical garden again."
Lotus looked over the map and, having seen the layout, she quickly understood the plan. However, for her role's sake, she responded, "So, how is everyone going get back the stone? And the layout?"
"Well, we've had someone look over the layout." Yuu explained as he drew over the map with the end of his eraser, "The fairy gala's layout over the botanical is like this. Because it is said that this year will have multiple themes, we plan to steal back the stone during the first theme: Exotic."
Looking around, Lotus nodded, "I get it now, so while Leona, Kalim and Jamil are distracting them, Ruggie will go swipe the stone? No, that'd give it away... Then, there would be a swap then?"
Yuu nodded, "I'll be on the lookout and give Ruggie the signal when the Queen is fully immersed in the show, then he'll switch tiara immediately."
"Interesting." Lotus hummed curiously, "Ruggie is quick too, so this should be easy for him as long as you guys help give him the chance the act."
"Oh? So, what do you think about this, Lotus?" Jamil questioned her curiously.
"You want my thoughts about this?" Lotus noted with a raised brow and turned to Ren, "I wonder what does Ren think about this."
"Me?" Ren looked to her in surprise as eyes came upon him. He thought over the plan for a bit and responded, "Based on what I heard from the past, this plan should work. However..."
"However?" Vil raised a brow curiously.
"However, I feel like we're forgetting something." Ren shook his head with a frown.
"Are we?" Kalim looked to him in confusion.
"Time." Lotus responded with a sigh, "During certain intervals of the day, the sprinklers turn on in areas of the botanical garden. If you want to get in and out safely, you need to know where to go and when to avoid the areas. According to what I've heard, Fairies can smell the scent of humans and rely on fairy dust to tell apart fairies and human. However, it is considered illegal to commercialize this and even the fairies prize this product. Since you're doing this, I suspect that you've already gotten your hands on some fairy dust?"
"We got it." Vil responded in confusion, "The headmaster bought it from Sam. Looks like he was able to acquire a bottle from who knows where."
Lotus shrugged, "You better not have misjudged the amount for all of you, then. But, then again, this is you guys we are talking about. Misjudging the amount would be no easy task as it is not to misjudge it."
"You seem pretty knowledgeable about the fairies." Leona smirked, "Did the lizard taught you something while you were over there?"
"Do all of my knowledge only need to come from one source?" Lotus smirked before turning to Yuu, "Anyway, what I said now should not be anything new to you."
"But, Ren did bring up a good point." Yuu responded, "More importantly, we don't know the schedule of the sprinklers."
"The subtropical has simulate squalls that begins without warning." Lotus responded, "The last thing you need is to walk through that area and get the fairy dust washed away."
"Ah! That's right!" Ruggie cried out in surprise, "That was a good save... It completely slipped my mind. But, how did you know about this?"
"Lotus's research in the science club often requires him to use the herbs in the botanical garden so he often goes to ask the staff for permission to use it." Yuu replied, "They had told us once about the subtropical area too."
"Huh..." Ruggie noted to himself mentally for future reference.