Business block, Zithen family complex, State Zhyphrese, Draconian continent Voldage, and the Year 2041, Planet Grimoire.
Earlier in the day, Casio and his buddies were infuriated when Thera Tae-Jun intentionally embarrassed them during the photo shoot and the various interviews. He'd clearly known what to expect and yet chose not to warn them. The hell with that bastard. He needed to be gotten rid of. However, Casio saw what happened to other prospective trainees who'd gotten drunk and stupid and then began fighting with each other.
"That was one hot mess earlier." Tama shook her head.
"No kidding," Larssen scowled. "I heard that the water was spiked." He rolled his eyes. "Evidently, whoever did it was also supposed to do it to Thera, Daz, Delilah, and those other two."
Hah, as if that was going to work. Casio shook his head. "I bet Thera figured out what was going on." It must've happened when he vanished at the end of the photo shoot. Casio speculated on what happened. "Somehow, he managed to replace their bottles with fresh water."
"Regardless, it isn't as if we can just put up with him doing whatever he wants," Larssen said with a scowl. "We need to figure out how to prevent him from continuing."
Casio nodded. "That's right." He recognized what was going on. "Somehow, he became streetwise in a matter of days."
The others frowned when they heard that.
"Weirdly, he's managed to change rapidly in such a short time," Tama muttered.
"I know. Something has happened to Thera." Casio aired his doubts about what he was seeing. "None of this is adding up."
Crete sighed. "Well, whatever we do, we have to be careful." He warned. "No repeating the stupidity of those who got booted earlier."
They were in agreement about that. "So what should we do?" preferably something harmless and prankish. That was Casio's aim. "Just remember, whatever we do can't violate certain regulations they've put in place."
Shiki frowned. "That's right. I heard that they've put in some new rules and regulations." He sighed. "We'd better start looking them over so that we know what to look out for," he pointed out wearily. "I don't know about you all, but I don't want to find out I've done something unwitting that would get me kicked out."
They all exchanged glances. "So, who has the updated information?" Casio didn't, which he found strange. "Shouldn't we have received something by now?"
Hmm, that wasn't a good sign, and they all knew it.
"Maybe it'll be sent out in the morning when we gather for the morning assembly?" Shiki suggested. "This might be our last night of freedom to do whatever we want... within reason." He modified that comment when they all rolled their eyes.
"I'll see if I can get a copy of the modified rules and regs," Larssen told them. "I really don't want to get caught off guard." He detached from them and disappeared into another room.
*
As soon as he left the main area where people were gathered to hear the final results from the photo shoots and interviews, Larssen found his contact. "Greetings, I need to talk to you." He intercepted the person in charge of distributing altered schedules for the audition program.
The individual took a dark look at Larssen. "As long as it doesn't involve meddling in Thera Tae-Jun's affairs, I'll at least listen to you." His expression was uncompromising when he made that statement.
Wow, something else must've happened when they were all separated. "Understood," Larssen nodded. "I just need to get a new copy of the updated regulations and rules, please."
The person sighed. "You should know this isn't supposed to go out until early morning tomorrow, right?"
Larssen nodded. "I won't post a copy early," he promised. "I just want to look it over, so I'm not surprised." He merely repeated what the others of his small group were telling him ad nauseam.
The individual snorted. "That parrot act you put on will get you in trouble one of these days."
"However, not right now," Larssen murmured. Since time was of the essence, he was anxious to return to the others. There was no telling what they hatched in his absence. The last thing Larssen wanted was something nasty pinned on him because he wasn't around.
He scanned through the thick packet of rules and regulations. Aww, man, this was beyond suffocating and totally unfair. Larssen gritted his teeth in fury. Well, it couldn't be helped. They would just have to get creative.
"Thank you, sir." He bowed to his contact. "I will endeavor not to create further problems for you or anyone else."
The man snorted rudely. "See that you don't." He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "Now, return to your fellow trainees. Some new announcements will be going out in a minute." He hurried off without telling Larssen anything else.
That had been sufficient warning, and Larssen hastened back to his group. He hoped he wasn't too late, that was all.
*
Tama paced with the others rather agitatedly. She liked only some of the delays happening right now. As far as she was concerned, all this could have been blamed on Thera Tae-Jun. If only he was an average contestant, not a director's bastard son.
Tama huffed. "This is so irritating." At last, she folded her arms. "Am I the only one who thinks that having to pander to a spoiled bastard son of a director is the worst scenario?" Tama regarded the others, who just shrugged.
"Well, that is just a rumor, Tama." Shiki reminded her.
"You know what happens when rumors go out of control and become baseless." Casio stirred uneasily.
"That's right." Larssen returend without warning. "I found the latest copy. We need to familiarize ourselves with it, memorize it, in fact, because otherwise we could get in serious trouble." Clearly, something he'd prefer to avoid at all costs.
Tama took the packet from him and read through everything. She winced a few times with disbelief and sighed. "Oh yeah, that nails it." Tama handed the packet to Shiki. "We definitely need to follow Larssen's advice. If we don't, we'll be the next ones to get booted." This was going to take some serious creativity to work around, but that wasn't going to be too difficult, Tama decided. It must be done carefully, so that wasn't a problem.