Not A Step Into The Dorm

"If you are at all worried I have no problem lending you my power." Azul suggested with a wide smile showing his business manner once more in a confident tone, "I have the know how I gained during the magift interhigh, you see."

"Hey, octopunk..." Leona spoke up with an annoyed scowl, "How 'bout I evaporate that lose tongue of yours right out of your mouth?"

Azul sneered as he rebuked smoothly followed by a chuckle, "Oohh, so scary."

Seemingly annoyed by this guy's antics once more, Riddle stated firmly with a heavy sigh, "Your help is unnecessary, Azul. I have no interest in being in your debt. There's no telling what you'll ask for as payment once everything is said and done. Just worry about the things you're in charge of."

"That's too bad." Azul sighed in disappointment before smiling welcoming once more, "Come to me anytime if you change your mind. I am benevolent enough to help you at any time."

"Yeah, yeah. You can come to us if you're ever in trouble. I'll help you with anything." Kalim added with a real welcoming and dazzling smile, "I can't wait for this festival!"

"Ughh...." Idia groaned, "I'm jelly that extroverts can enjoy everything like that. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out a way I can do my research presentation without going up on stage. I know that everyone is going to go about my hair or if I'm that Shroud boy. They'll whisper about what unsavory research I could've been doing. Ughh, this sucks. Making introverts like myself do public speaking is expert, no, master level difficulty."

"Idia, the rules state that the researcher themselves must go on stage to give their presentation." Riddle reminded him bluntly, "I won't make room for exceptions."

"There it is, Riddle's activated his "rule adherence" skill. I think that's super illogical." Idia grumbled in disdain, "In general, it would go a lot smoother if I just used a voice synthesizer rather than making people listen to my geeky prattling."

A stern frown appeared on his face as he pointed out firmly, "Idia, correct if I'm wrong, but are we not having a normal conversation?"

"T-Talking with someone you know or online chats are not the same as talking in front of a bunch of strangers." Idia stammered nervously, "The Q&A section at the end is totally impossible for me."

"The festival is still over one month away. How about you practice opening your mouth and speaking clearly?" Riddle suggested as he offered, "If you'd like, I can help you practice after class."

"Eek! I-I-I'll manage on m-my own so I'll pass." Idia declined quickly with a sense of fear in his voice, "No way I'm taking part in the Riddle's Demonic Training event."

"Wonderful. I'm looking forward to your dignified presentation." Riddle said with a wide smile at his success in 'persuading' the nerd before announcing, "That is everything from the executive committee."

"Then that brings our dorm head meeting to a close. Please keep up your preparations until the big day." Crowley nodded satisfied with the results.

With the end of the meeting and everyone getting ready to leave, everyone packed up and got ready to leave. Riddle, who was still thinking back to the information mentioned by Lilia and Azul, remained in the room in deep thoughts staring at his paper as though he was still looking it over once more. To the other dorm leaders, this wasn't unusual despite it being is as they were not interested in the matters of the other dorm leaders and some have heard that he had just returned to the school with Trey together bringing about murmurs that Riddle had finally confronted his mother and had been kicked out or that he was finally allowed to interact with friends now and talked some sense to his mother. Due to the rumors, nobody dared to push him over the edge regarding his family matters again as Trey was now watching over him.

It was when Riddle was about to leave that he heard something and turned to the direction to find that it was Vil giving out a quiet and rare sigh which surprised Riddle as he rarely seen Vil dropping his guard or slipped out a sigh from those mouth covered in purple lipstick.

Vil also noticed movement from under his range of vision and looked down in surprise to find that Riddle had noticed him. Seeing this, Vil grew annoyed and turned to leave the room.

Seeing this, Riddle can't forget Peony's words for a second and started to grow worried once again. However, he recalled Vil's silence since the mention of the application ended. Could it have something to do with the application?

At the thought of this, he pondered whether or not he should continue with this event at the thought of another overblot. However, Vil wasn't a weak character, but neither was Leona even if he didn't want to admit it. Peony had also mentioned her ideas of Malleus's character as well. Can he really say the same absolutely won't happy for Vil either?

For the first time in a long while, he had become confused and hesitant with his actions once again. Can he do it? No, should he do it?

Riddle shook his head and heaved a heavy sigh when he suddenly heard a voice coming from behind him.

"Thou arst hesitant..."

The papers nearly fell out of Riddle's hands as he looked around to find the everyone was absent and turned around in shock to find the mask in the Dark Mirror having revealed themselves. He got up in surprise and said in surprise, "D-Dark Mirror..."

"Thou hast the child's aura in the shape of your soul..." The mirror stated solemnly, "Thou hast met them..."

"The child's aura in my soul..." Riddle muttered in confusion before his eyes widen upon realization, "Could you be talking about her?! So, you do know her! Then, she actually decided to tell you about us herself? However... Why have you appeared now?"

"Thou is troubled. They hast asked to see into the meeting and assess the souls of those who had overblotted. Thou arst one..."

"Ugh..." Riddle muttered nervously since he wasn't wrong before a thought came to him, "There's something I want to ask, if that's all right?"

The mirror did not say anything which Riddle took as a positive tone and responded, "Vil seemed to act weird. Sighs are a sign of stress. I think the application may cause him to act unnecessarily. I can't say for sure if I should continue with this event. It'd backfire if there is another overblot scenario in this school. It's no many in one year for this school to take, but not doing so may also backfire."

Riddle shook his head, "I've never felt this conflicted before..."

There was a moment of silence as Riddle waited for an answer. He was uncertain if he had understood the mirror correctly from this moment of silence.

"Do as thou must..." The Dark Mirror responded bluntly, "He has already stated to allow him to support your decision."

Hearing this, Riddle grew confused as he thought of the words' meaning before he came to him in disbelief, "It can't be... She actually wants to shoulder the consequences of our decisions?! But an overblot isn't easy to prevent! She's overestimating herself! She can't possibly shoulder so many overblots in one year. And... I've heard if she send another imprint to another person again... She could be easily killed by those intruders..."

However, by this point, the mask behind the mirror disappeared and left him to think of the decision on his own. Left in the room on his own, Riddle was left in his own thoughts for a long while before he noticed that it was almost time for tea and got up.

.....

"Vil?" Lotus looked to Riddle in confusion as he sat by her desk writing the papers and heard about the meeting.

"Vil Schoenheit..." Riddle clarified, "He's the dorm leader of Pomefiore."

"P-Pomefiore?" Lotus looked up from her red bean bun as she froze in surprise.

Seeing this, Riddle was seemingly amused to see her strange reaction and nodded, "That's right."

Lotus thought for a bit and mumbled in confusion, "So, what is it that you want me to do?"

"Can you keep an eye on him?" Riddle responded curiously.

"No way."

Her blunt response surprised him as he looked up in surprise, "Why is that?"

"You said he's a celebrity and has beauty." Lotus grumbled with a scowl, "I just so happen to dislike those types of people the most. The more beautiful they are, the more I don't want to see what's under that mask."

Riddle was rather surprised to hear of this as he stared at him in confusion.

"Moreover, Rook is the vice-dorm leader of the dorm. He's a hunter with great sight and hearing that may be on par with Lilia's capabilities." Lotus reminded him, "No matter what good terms I'm on with him, he's obsessed with beautiful things, yet has a healthy obsession with it. He's a really unusual person and I don't want to get on his bad side. If he realizes that I'm stalking Vil, Rook will definitely not let this stand if he feels that it's hostile. I can dodge his arrows, but not because he attempts to give me a scare. Not to mention, anything that has to do with Pomefiore, I don't want to get involved with."

"Do you have a grudge against the dorm or something?" Riddle looked to her in disbelief from what he was hearing.

"Do you know how terrifying they can be?" Lotus sighed, "If I hadn't changed my relationship with them to business and asked Mr. Sam for help, they wouldn't let me go. Their obsession for beauty is really terrifying. I've never seen such drive for beauty from men till I arrived here... I wouldn't mind if their dorm leader's logical sense can be switched with those guys instead."

The more he heard, the more confused he was as Riddle wondered in confusion, "Just what in the world did you do?"

Lotus grumbled and sighed, "Just promise me to not do anything for free when you leave school. I'm not taking a step into that dorm."