The Student—Book 1, Chapter 2
The Student / The Grounds Keeper (2) / The Nurse (3) / The Student (4) / The Grounds Keeper (5) / The Nurse (6) / The Student (7) (You're here!)
“... Hm.” The cafeteria buffet looks like an allergy nightmare. Was I supposed to bring my own lunch? Shit… “... Excuse me, are there any gluten-free options? I have an allergy.”
The response is predictable. “Um… lemme ask—Chet! Chet, do we have any gluten-free options?!”
“I will have that, then.” I already know I’m never eating here again when I have to ask the cafeteria ghost to change his gloves.
“Hey, Raye, get me the grilled chicken! And an omelet! And that jelly-filled bread!” Grim cheers. “Seriously, go crazy, I want, like, twelve of them!”
“Okay, hand me a tray and I’ll get it.”
“Mrah? Why can’t you just stick it on the one you have?”
“Because wheat flour shreds my internal organs.” I state with all seriousness. It gets the point across, and the tray is given. “Thank you.”
“Okay, is there an empty table, or… ?”
“Hey, over here, we got seats!” Cater waves at us.
“Oh, heyyyy, Cater!” Deuce laughs sheepishly. “It’s cool, we’ll find—hey, wait, Raye!”
“ ‘Sup, CayCay.” I plop myself at the table. Ace and Deuce need the lore drop, and I don’t wanna walk anymore. Also, gotta meet the big brother. “I’m Raye.”
“Trey Clover. Nice to meet you.” He smiles warmly. “How’s the dorm been treating you all right? Ramshackle… Mmm… Well, it’s a very old building, is all.”
“It’s tolerable for now. But I’m definitely looking for ways to fix it up, so if you hear about any side jobs or have things you don’t want or need anymore…” Grim tries to talk with his mouth full. “Empty your mouth first, honey.”
He does so in one swallow. “Hey, so you know how your guys’ dorm looks like a castle? What are the other ones like? Are they just as cool?”
“You’ve seen the giant statues of the Great Seven out on Main Street, right?” I tune out a lot of the conversation because I’ve played enough of the game to know what all the dorms are like. It’s going to be a lot of fun to see them in person, though! … Up until crap hits the fan, of course.
“Look, there they are now.” What? Oh, Cater’s pointing at the table with the Diasomnia boys. Sans ‘Hornton’, of course.
“Wait, is that a little kid?” Ace asks.
“Technically… you can skip grade and enroll here young,” Trey said. “But no, he’s not a kid. He’s in the same class as me.”
“Lilia.” I jump as I hear his voice in my ear and snap my head around to meet his eyes. He’s hanging from the ceiling like he was in the game. “Lilia Vanrouge.”
“... Nice to meet you.” Lilia was cute in the game. He was pretty in the anime.
He’s giving me a near heart attack in person. I thought his eyes were crimson, but now that I see them in person, crimson is the wrong word. Mulberry, maybe.
“Likewise, my fair lady.” He lands on his feet like a cat, blazer fluttering ever so slightly with the movement. I’m thinking it’s totally like him to be so dramatic when he takes my hand and kisses it.
… With how chaotic he is, and the lack of women in this series, it’s easy to forget he’s also a gentleman. I don’t even have time to process his bow-kiss combo before he’s moved on to teasing the others about his age.
Of course, they're a little focused on something else the old bat said.
“Dude, why'd you call him a ‘fair lady’? There's no girls here.” Ace asks.
“Oh, so your pronouns are he/him?” Cater asks, looking at me.
“... No,” I answer after a moment. “Lilia did, in fact, gender me correctly.”
“Oh, okay! Side note, how come the Headmage let you stay even though—”
“W… wait!” Ace sputters. “Raye, you’re a girl?!”
“...” Deuce’s mouth won’t close. And he’s turning redder by the minute.
“Oh, that makes sense,” Trey hums, adjusting his glasses. “I was wondering why you reminded me of my sister.”
“Oh my—I can’t believe I acted like that around a lady!” Deuce recovers just to hunch over and hide his face.
“Wait—are you three saying only Lils and I knew Raye’s a—?”
“Apparently.” I sigh deeply. “I didn’t realize this uniform made me look that androdynous…”
“Dude!!” Ace hisses. “How did you convince the Headmage to let you stay here?!”
“And where am I supposed to go??” I ask him. “I legally don’t exist in Twisted Wonderland. … Also, I’m not sure he even knows.”
“...” Everyone considers this now. Does he know and didn’t comment, or is he as dumb as some of his students? Honestly, it’s a complete toss-up.
“... Anyways—” I start the conversation again, turning to—oh nevermind, he’s gone. I turn towards the Diasomnia table and wave. “Nice to meet you, bat man!”
I didn’t say it too loudly, but he turns to grin at me and wave anyway. Silver and Sebek both glower at me.
“How did he move across the room so fast… and how did you know he would hear you?” Deuce asks.
“He’s a fae,” I shrug like it’s obvious, even though I know knowledge of the Fair Folk is probably not common.
“Yeah, Diasomnia is full of odd ones,” Trey chuckles.
“And their housewarden, Malleus, is worse, if you can believe that,” Cater says, and I have to bite my tongue because I’m not supposed to know anything about this sweet baby boy.
There’s theories on why the Overblots occurred this year. Why I was pulled from my world during this time. Why Grim is here. I have no idea if any of them are true.
But if there’s a person behind all of this, I cannot let them know I know what’s happening.
So I don’t say a word when I notice the dark spots in Riddle’s magestone. I couldn’t stop it if I tried, anyway.
I do, however, speak up when I feel the telltale itch in my throat that indicates I’ve consumed gluten.
Shit. “... Where’s the nurse’s office?”
