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“Oh, look who it is,” Rook says suddenly in his conversation with Vil and an increasingly hostile Leona. “The prefect looks rather harried, wouldn’t you say?”
The two squint in the direction he’s looking in, and while Rook knows that the distance is rather far he wonders if he’s underestimated how much anyone else can see.
“I suppose that does look like the prefect,” Vil says, looking absolutely marvelous even as he strains to see. The wind currently blowing plays with his gorgeous locks, swaying as gently as a field of flowers. “Same tones, I suppose.”
Leona crosses his arms, tail swishing. “Smells like it,” he says, scowling. “I’m leaving.”
Vil’s attention is captured once more, and he starts appropriately scolding Leona for his conduct – and indeed, how much more marvelous he could be if only he refined his patience and already outstanding ability to accomplish anything he sets out to do!
(Other than becoming king, of course. But Rook has more tact than to say that out loud.)
Still, as absolutely rapturous as it is to listen to Vil exhort his values, Rook can’t help but glance back to Yuu, his hunter’s instinct telling him that the prefect’s fast pace should not be ignored. He doesn’t know Yuu all that well to be honest, but from what he’s seen and heard Yuu is not the type to go dashing about the school unless there is a crisis at hand.
Which, to be fair, Yuu has aided in many crises already. All the more reason to be alert!
Rook raises his eyebrows in surprise as he realizes Yuu, with an expression of horror and running like hellhounds are nipping at their heels, is headed straight towards him. Not the group – no, their route is clearly towards him.
Wondering what he could possibly have done to warrant such a ghastly (in the best way) approach, Rook simply waits until Yuu has finally reached them, face flushed with exertion, to say, “Greetings, Trickster! What brings you here with such a deep furrow upon your brow?”
“Herbivore, you look like hell warmed over,” Leona says bluntly, though Rook does not miss how his ears perk up, alert. It seems he shares Rook’s concerns.
“Potato,” Vil begins, and Rook takes a moment to appreciate how they all have their own names for Yuu, “is there an urgent—”
“ Rook,” Yuu wheezes, and while Rook appreciates hearing his name from their wonderful voice, he thinks Yuu should have more awareness. Indeed, Vil’s increasing expression of offense at being cut off is a sign of grave peril.
Leona snorts.
“You have good eyes, right?” Yuu continues to say, ignoring Vil and digging their grave deeper.
“Way too good in my opinion,” Leona grumbles, and Rook smiles at the compliment.
“Indeed, I do! As a hunter, I could not accomplish what I do without them!” Rook declares proudly, a hand over his heart. “Do you have an inquiry about my eyes?”
Fingers latch around his wrist, and Rook thinks, Oh my.
“I’m taking Rook,” Yuu declares to Vil, finally acknowledging him, and turns with the clear intention to start running. Except they pause as they barely start to pull, and then turn to Rook with an uneasy look.
He smiles.
“Um… it’s okay if I take you with me, right?” Yuu asks, and Rook realizes their grip around his wrist is firm, but not oppressive. “If not I totally understand. I’ll just, uh, look for another way…” Yuu bites their lip, obviously struggling with finding another solution to whatever ails them, and Rook thinks he cannot be more charmed.
He lifts his wrist and catches their hand as they let go, cupping it in his own hands, and says, “Oh Trickster, you truly are a most beautiful soul! To think of my own feelings even in the midst of absolutely dreadful panic, to pause and ask for consent! Yours is a heart of gold, and as such, I respond by wholeheartedly dedicating myself to your cause! Please tell me—”
He hears Leona making disgusted noises – his sounds of disgust always sound the same – as Yuu says “Great, let’s go,” links their hands together, and starts dragging him towards the corridors of the college.
“-what it is you require my assistance with!” Rook continues to gush, feeling rather like a fair maiden running with her suitor through a field of dandelions. What an exhilarating experience this is, dashing after someone to help them instead of (attacking) observing! “You are truly an assertive person, not dallying around and instead asking directly when you require assistance! Is this the result of experiencing various overblots? I can only hope that I—”
“I’m sorry, Rook,” Yuu calls back solemnly. “You don’t deserve to be exposed to this, but you’re the only one I can count on. Please, forgive me."
Yuu comes to a stop in a corridor, staring up at one of the arched columns. “Do you see it?” they ask softly, pointing to the grey bricks.
Rook blinks, taking in all of the grain and spotting from wear and age. “What is it, mon ami?"
“I’ve been haunted by this for a while now,” Yuu says, pulling out a crumpled paper from their pocket and unfolding it. “But I need to know if I’m going crazy or if this—if this nightmare is actually real.”
Frowning, Rook looks over at the paper. “What is it?”
Yuu nods to the bricks again instead of answering. “Look again. Do you see it now?”
Such a cryptic reply. Rook decides he’ll humor Yuu – the image of their adorable nervousness while asking for his permission is absolutely burned into his memory now – and looks up towards the bricks again.
Grain, holes, grey material, mildew spots, spots, spots.
Rook blinks.
“You saw it.” Yuu lays a hand on his shoulder, and he looks at them in complete bewilderment. “It makes no sense, but it’s there. It’s everywhere. And I need you to help me find them all.”
Grim is in the middle of a nap when he hears loud voices downstairs, totally interrupting his beauty sleep and afternoon of laziness. He’s been looking forward to this all week! No one is going to ruin this!
Climbing down the stairs, completely intent on roasting whatever nuisance is down there, Grim doesn’t expect Yuu and Rook to storm up and almost squish him (well, Yuu storms, Rook just saunters).
“Hey!” he yowls, ears flattening. “What’s the big idea? Yuu, why is he here?”
This is supposed to be my super-safe zone! he nearly yells. Rook Hunt gives him the heebie-jeebies, with those eyes that just focus too much.
“It’s here too, on the shelf above the bed!”
The fur on Grim’s back stands as he hears Yuu speak. They sound kind of desperate – maybe a bit crazily desperate.
“I see it,” comes Rook’s more casual response, and Grim thinks he should get out while he’s ahead. “It’s too early to truly see a pattern, but I do have a hypothesis.”
There’s a pause, and in unison, they both say, “Spots.”
Yes, Grim thinks, making a mad dash for the door, uncaring of the fact that he can’t reach the doorknob easily, I need to get out of here.
“I’ll have a small black tea, thanks,” Yuu says, walking past Jade with a confidence he has never seen on them. He can’t spare too much time being surprised, however, because he realizes Rook is walking with them and will no doubt see every sign of Jade’s confusion.
Rook smiles pleasantly at him. “I shall have the rose tea.”
Jade smiles back, already writing their order down. “Of course, coming right up.”
He watches them approach the aquarium that illuminates the room, passing the order slip to a waiter headed to the kitchen. They don’t sit down – rather, Yuu points to the darker background and leans in close to Rook.
The feather on Rook’s hat bobs as he nods.
Yuu then holds up a hand and gestures for Rook to turn around.
Jade gets a clear look at their expressions as they gaze up at the jellyfish lights. Yuu points, and Rook seems to have a hard time looking straight at the lights – which Jade will make sure to keep filed away for later; good eyesight only worsens looking directly at lights – but then…
Rook actually frowns, and he turns to Yuu to say something. Yuu shakes their head grimly, gesturing for them to finally sit at a booth, and they do so with pensive expressions.
Should he ask them what that was all about? Send in Floyd to strongarm the answer out of them?
Jade later brings them their drinks and opens his mouth, intending to ask—
Yuu chugs their black tea like it’s liquor, so reminiscent of his parents’… acquaintances… and even Rook drinks his tea with a sense of urgency Jade has never seen. It’s rather unsettling if Jade is honest.
“Thanks for the drink, I’ll go pay,” Yuu says, wiping their mouth with a serviette and dashing out of the booth.
“I truly am the fair maiden here,” Rook says half-heartedly, staring down into his cup.
“Is everything alright?” Jade finally asks, watching Yuu race to the counter to pay. “I noticed you both were enthralled with some of our decor earlier.”
Rook sighs and delicately sips the last of his tea. “Monsieur Prémédité,” Rook says sadly, “I believed I was assisting our wondrous prefect in a mission of great personal importance.”
Jade smiles. “Oh?”
“But, it seems that was not quite the case.” Rook gazes back into the deep blue of the aquarium, crossing his arms. “No, it is much worse than that.”
“Is something wrong with the aquarium's interior?”
“There is something wrong,” Rook agrees. “With everything in this college.”
For a few months, the students of Night Raven College witness a spectacle even more eye-catching than the overblots (the frequency of which is rather alarming).
It becomes widely known that Rook Hunt, Pomefiore’s vice housewarden, and Yuu, Ramshackle Dorm prefect and magicless human, are on a hunt for something within the college. In fact, it seems they’ve found many clues, or have encountered The Thing they’re searching for many times.
At first, it is only the prefect who fusses madly over whatever it is the two are looking for, staring at random furniture while pulling on their hair. Rook only looks on with a small smile. At first.
Then the days turn into weeks, and he starts to lose his smile. Two months in and Rook only watches grimly as the prefect writes furiously in a notebook (attempts to steal this notebook fail, as Rook is the one who keeps it and fights tooth and nail to take it back. Ruggie is still unwilling to be near him).
They crowd around a vase of white and red flowers in Heartslabyul, ignoring the puzzled looks of Ace, Deuce, and Cater, as they whisper and point at the plants. They hightail it out of the room when they spot some books Riddle once forced Cater to study on a desk, screaming about the size of the bookmarks.
They break into Leona’s room while he’s in it and escape through the window when he attempts to wring their necks, yelling “Two! Two!”
Even during Beanfest, when Rook and Yuu are on opposite sides, they have to discuss their findings before finally battling.
“Three,” Rook says, holding an arm out before Trey, who just sighs and waits.
“Two,” Yuu says, doing the same to Grim and Cater. They simply stare at the two, clutching their beans in anticipation.
Sighing in unison, the two suddenly slip back into competitive mode and force the others to battle, acting as if nothing ever happened.
Eventually, Rook and the prefect stop screaming and instead begin to shrink into themselves upon each discovery, pointing at a random wall or flower vase and leaning against each other for support in blatant displays of insanity.
Though, perhaps the students at NRC are just as crazy, because they start tailing the duo as they run around.
It’s not like Rook and Yuu hiding what they’re doing. They’re just hiding what it is that they’re hunting for, and it’s driving everyone mad.
Vil and Jade attempt to subtly interrogate the duo. Azul carries a list of all known places where they have reacted. The freshmen supply the most information because of their proximity to Yuu. Even Malleus attempts to ask on one of his visits to Ramshackle.
Nothing of substance can be gathered.
Of course, it all ends in a way that completely spites their efforts.
It all comes to a head one day, outside in the courtyard where it all began.
Ace and Deuce are (part of the group spying on them today) just passing by when they notice Yuu and Rook running to the apple tree, pointing frantically to the shadows cast by the sunlight through the leaves. The pair looks around, with Yuu even getting onto their knees and crawling around in search of The Thing.
They find it.
Rook is the one who sees it. He points behind Yuu, and when they turn they see The Thing and—
And…
Ace watches in horror as Yuu buries their face into their hands, shoulders beginning to shake. Rook is quick to kneel down and wrap his arms around them in a hug, patting their back in what is obviously a comforting gesture.
Ace can’t do this anymore. He starts running, Deuce not far behind, and ignores all of the other students popping out of the woodwork in favor of getting to Yuu as fast as possible.
“Oi, Yuu!” Ace calls, watching Rook for any sign of hostility. Rook only barely glances at him, a somber expression on his face. “What’s wrong? Need me to deck someone?”
“I’ll break their bones,” Deuce promises. “Just say the word.”
“Yuu’s my henchman!” they hear Grim yell, turning to see him being carried by Jack. “If anyone’s going to be beating others up it’s going to be me! ”
“Well, we’re an actual mafia,” Floyd says as the Octavinelle Trio walks up, clearly finding humor in all of this. “Just make a contract with us and we’ll get rid of the problem, no sweat.”
Azul looks at him in disgust. “Floyd, that is not how we make deals. You’re being too honest.”
“Another day, another question,” Jade says and doesn’t elaborate.
“I love you morons,” Yuu says, their voice muffled by their hands. “But shut the hell up.”
“Wow.”
“Alright, out with it.” Ace kneels down, poking Yuu. “You’ve had us all wondering what you were freaking out about for months now. Seems you've finally hit your breaking point, which I think means its time to talk to someone. And by someone I mean me. Preferably with answers."
“I think,” Yuu says, lifting their head the slightest bit to stare at their hands, “that I brought a cosmic deity with me when I came to this world. It watches us all.”
“It watches,” Rook parrots, and he doesn’t even have the decency to pretend he doesn’t believe his own words.
They all stand in silence for a moment, just staring at Yuu and Rook – they wear too-grim expressions – before Floyd cheerfully says, “Okay, sure. Cosmic deities. What sort?”
“You’ve been freaking out,” Azul says slowly, “because you think you somehow brought a… cosmic deity with you?”
“I would be inclined to call this nonsense,” Jade says. “However, I do have some faith in Rook to remain sensible when Yuu does not.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Merci beaucoup, monsieur.”
“Come on now, who is this ‘cosmic deity?’” Ace asks mockingly.
"And where, exactly, have you seen him?" Azul adds, pulling out his notebook and a pen.
“Mickey," Yuu breathes. “Mickey Mouse. Everywhere I look, I see his face.”
“Absolutely everywhere,” Rook continues to repeat. “I have learned that even I can miss what I do not know is there. My eyes will not deceive me again.”
“Mickey Mouse,” Deuce repeats faintly.
Reaching into their pocket, Yuu unfolds a wrinkled piece of paper and presents it to them, rubbing their eyes. “Here. It’s the silhouette of Mickey. He’s a huge cartoon character in my world, so much so that you could ask anybody and they’d probably know who he is.”
“Why did you react so badly today?" Jack asks as they study the shape. It's just a circle with two smaller circles on top, forming the vague shape of round ears. "Why this time in particular?”
"The shadows are always changing, and yet there is a Mickey that has always retained its shape. Even worse, there is a new Mickey. Look."
Yuu shifts to the side, searching for the Mickey they have found. Rook gently takes their hand and points it to one of the spots where light passes through the trees, directing their eyes to—
A circle, with two smaller circles on top. Two circles akin to ears.
"EEEK!" Grim shrieks, clinging onto Jack's face and resisting his attempts to pry Grim off. "It's actually there!"
Yuu sniffles, and says, “Rook, I’m going to be so glad when you graduate and leave. I don’t want your eyes to look at me.”
“But,” Rook answers without missing a beat, even as he gazes at the ground forlornly, “I always want to look at you.”
Yeah, Ace isn’t touching that with a ten-foot pole. Actually, he doesn't think he wants to be anywhere near them or that... thing.
Floyd hums. "You mean these things are all around the school?"
"I'm transferring."
"Me too."
"So, if I checked all of these locations..."
"Did I mention," Yuu says, "that he has talked to me?"
"What the f—”