Just before the free period between classes, in the hallway right outside one of the classrooms…

Gonnnngggggg… Donnnnnnnnnggg… Gonnnnnnngggg…

The heavy bell tolls, marking the beginning of the free period. A brief moment of silence passes, and the door swings open. A flood of students comes rushing out of the classroom, spilling into the hallway.

「Wait! Wait!… Don't leave! We still have more things to go over!…」

Professor Reise shouts, begging the students to stay as he frantically waves his arms about behind them. Aside from a momentary glance, most of them simply ignore him.

「Ahh… Who does he think he is? We have a right to take a break and eat something!」

Tisha sighs out and grumbles, placing her arms behind her head. Damian is walking ahead of the girls, while Straf is directly behind them all, following them with his hands in his pockets.

「I'm glad he's okay… But he's such a pest now.」

Neela looks over her shoulder at the classroom door, and lets out a frustrated sigh as well.

「What about you, Neela? Are you feeling fine now?」

Cycelia asks, turning her emerald eyes to her with a lightly tilted head.

「Yes… When Tisha woke me, I thought someone cast a spell. I'm glad it's over, it was so awful!」

Neela nods powerfully, clenching her fists as she speaks. They turn a corner, heading to the Cursefire hallway.

「Your headache is gone too, right?」

Tisha asks after a pause, looking at Damian from behind.

「…Yeah. It was getting pretty bad.」

He replies, sounding almost a little distracted as he briefly glances at her. She nods back, though he has already turned his head forward.

The five make their way to the Cursefire hallway. Magic lamps levitate above, illuminating the once dim passage. The brazier is missing, and the light from the lamps shines brightly on the portraits of previous headmasters. As she looks aside at one of them, she abruptly stops in her tracks, forcing Straf to stop lest he bumps into her.

「Hm? What's up, Lia?」

Tisha notices Cycelia is missing from her side, and the rest of the group stops a few steps ahead. They look at Straf and Cycelia while they are looking at a portrait of a familiar man. Corvus is standing beside an oaken desk in his office, if the large window in the background of the painting is of any indication. With one hand resting on the desk, he stands in a dignified but remarkably humble pose, looking at the viewer with a gentle smile. Though he looks mostly the same, his hair and beard are primarily black with some white, and his face is markedly less wrinkled.

「Nothing…」

Cycelia shrugs, glancing at her while she approaches with the rest of the group.

「Ah. It was so dark here all the time that I never took the time to look around…」

Tisha adds with her fists on her hips, looking at the current headmaster's portrait with her hands on her hips.

「…Who'd guess he wasn't old once, huh?」

She smirks at Cycelia, and she returns a faint smile before turning her emerald eyes back to the headmaster.

「…He looks a little sad, doesn't he?」

Cycelia remarks, frowning slightly.

「Hm?…」

Tisha's gaze jumps back to her, then Corvus. She tilts her head, furrowing her brows.

「…Now that you mention it.」

「It's the eyes.」

Damian bluntly states, looking at the portrait. Everyone except Straf looks at him, and he briefly turns his attention to them.

「He's smiling, but his eyes aren't. Either some time passed between the sessions, the painter messed up, or he did-」

He adds, nodding up at the large portrait.

「Nah, he did a good job…」

「Hm?」

Straf cuts in, and with his hands in his pockets, walks past the group towards the foyer. Damian and the girls take one more glance at the headmaster's eyes, before following after him…

…

Half an hour later, in the cafeteria…

The large dining hall is once again bustling with life. The senior chefs have returned to the kitchen and managed to expertly wrestle the chaotic, renewed inflow of students. The kitchen is now calm, with the occasional student coming for a refill of a drink, or seconds, and the younger workers can now breathe out a sigh of relief. At the far end of the cafeteria, the kids in their young teens are no longer sluggish and listless, and they're once again contributing a majority of the noise despite being a minority. Straf is casually nibbling on a hot dog with his elbow on the table, while the rest are about finished with their meals.

「So… Tisha, Damian… I've been thinking…」

「Yeah?…」「Hm?」

Cycelia says, glancing at both as she speaks. Their brows rise slightly, and they turn their eyes to her. Damian looks at her with a disinterested gaze, while Tisha blinks curiously, waiting for her next word.

「…Since we found the thing responsible, and it turned out to be a wraith… What happens to your bet now?」

「Ah.」「Ah.」

They both utter out at the same time, and their eyes snap wide open in realization.

「I mean, we did find something, but it was a wraith, not a ghost… So…」

She adds, spreading her hands. Cycelia's head swivels between the two as they stare at each other, blinking, and unsure what to say.

「W- Well… I suppose we'll have to call this a draw-」

Tisha crosses her arms, pouting a little as she turns her gaze away from him.

「I won. Obviously.」

Damian declares, scoffing with a smirk.

「As if!」

Slam!

Tisha shouts, slamming her pale fist on the table with a clatter of utensils on the trays. Some of the chopped vegetables Neela scooped into a pile chaotically scatter along the tray just as she was about to fork it on.

「Tiishaaa!…」

Neela cries out with a voice full of frustration.

「A wraith is close enough to a ghost. It's what was causing the disturbance-」

「No it's not!」

Damian casually explains, and Tisha angrily cuts him off. Gently rising his brows, Straf watches on with bored gaze, chewing the hot dog like a ruminant.

「Yes it is. Broadly speaking, a ghost just-」

「Well it wasn't a ghost! I was going to let it be and call it a draw, but not anymore!」

She cuts him off again, pointing her finger at his face past Neela and Cycelia.

「You have until the end of the term to prove there's a ghost here, slave!」

Tisha adds, and lets out an angry huff out of her nose, crossing her arms again.

「…You're really going to pretend you won, huh? What's the point of betting on something, if you're not going to honor it when you lose?」

He asks, scrunching his mouth to the side.

「I didn't lose! You didn't prove a ghost exists! Go on, show me a ghost! I'm waiting!」

The two continue loudly arguing. Cycelia turns her head to Straf, who's watching the argument with a bored face, chewing slowly on the last of his hot dog.

「Straf… Shouldn't you ask for a new uniform?」

She asks, looking at his frayed blazer. He glances at it, and gives it a little tug to examine its damage. His sleeves are covered in slashes and rips, his collar was pierced at one point, the lower back of his blazer is similarly torn, ripped and shredded. The white of his shirt shows through the gaps in the fabric, and even being torn in a few places, revealing little bits of his skin. Straf turns his bored eyes back to Cycelia's.

「Meh. The term ends soon, doesn't it?」

He shrugs, dismissing her while Tisha and Damian continue arguing in the background.

「Well, that may be so… But you shouldn't look like a slob, Straf!」

Cycelia insists, peeking past Tisha while she's glaring at Damian with her arms crossed.

「Tsk…」

Straf rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue in response.

「Straf!… There's still the barrier issue, isn't there?」

She says, pouting at him.

「…I guess.」

He throws his hands up, scrunching his mouth.

「Then, we don't know how long we'll stay here. You should ask for a new one.」

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

「Fine… I'll go there now-」

Straf sighs, and stands up.

「That's right!…」

Damian suddenly exclaims, furrowing his brows.

「Huh?… So you agree? Good, I'll be less harsh on you as a slave-」

Tisha's golden head perks up in surprise, she smirks, looking at Damian as he rubs his chin deep in thought.

「Tsk… shut up already, you nuisance. I'm thinking about something important!」

Damian says with a raised voice, looking at Tisha with his mouth heavily scrunched to the side. Straf stands behind them both, pausing his departure to look at them.

「Huh!? You're just deflecting again!-」

「Seriously, shut up!… I just remembered something important, but you made me forget again!」

Thud.

Damian angrily slaps the table, and points his hand at her in exasperation.

「What was it, Damian?」

Cycelia chimes in, leaning past the northern princess to get a look at him. They both suspend their argument, and Tisha crosses her arms with a huff.

「Ahh… It was something about the curse and the barrier… It's related to what I was thinking about before the curse disappeared, but that loudmouth made me lose my focus.」

He replies, rubbing his brow and temple with his eyes forced shut as he tries his hardest to remember.

「…That's your own fault. You should have taken the draw.」

Tisha grumbles, refusing to even glance at him.

「Shut up already…」

He replies, and lets out a large sigh.

「…If you forgot, maybe it wasn't that important?」

Neela says, tilting her head at him. He shakes his head, staring aimlessly into the distance through the seated students.

「No… I thought that too, at first. I was kind of out of it… But now that I remembered about the barrier, I've got this strange feeling back.」

Damian replies, focused on nothing in particular, tapping his finger on the table deep in thought.

「What feeling?-」

Cycelia asks, tilting her head as well.

「If you have a plot point to make, you better say it right now.」

Straf says from behind Damian.

「Wh-? Why are you standing over me!? Weren't you going to get a new uniform!?」

Startled, he looks over his shoulder only to find Straf towering over him with his hands in his pockets, staring at him with bored eyes and a tight-lipped grimace.

「Yeah, I am. Give me the foreshadowing or the antagonist reveal in 50 words or less, or I'm leaving.」

Straf shrugs, and continues staring at him from behind. Damian slowly turns back around to the table, and interlocks his fingers with his elbows upon it.

「…I don't really know. It's just a bad feeling, like I'm missing something important. I've had it before. If I knew what it was-」

「Okay, bye. I'll be busy, Lia. See you in the evening…」

Straf blurts out, and walks towards the exit.

「Well safe travels!」

Damian angrily shouts towards Straf's back, and clicks his tongue, turning his eyes back to the girls.

「Tsk… Anyhow… If I knew what it was, I'd probably have investigated it myself already. I have a feeling it's related to the curse… But I don't remember how. Nnnhh…」

He explains, and lets out a frustrated groan as he returns to thinking intensely.

「…Maybe it'll come back to you. I don't think you should beat yourself up over it too hard.」

Neela says, and shrugs her shoulders.

Damian glances at her, and a brief, relative silence begins at their table amidst the noisy cafeteria. He continues blankly staring at randomly selected points, mostly at the table, grimacing heavily with a troubled face.

「Maybe… Hey…」

He calls out, though without looking at either of the girls, bringing their attention to himself. Neela and Cycelia tilt their heads, while Tisha clicks her tongue and glares at him.

「…I think we should continue our search for suspicious people. Just in case.」

Damian says in a serious tone while looking at the girls.

「…Does that have something to do with that feeling, Damian?」

Cycelia asks, blinking at him. He nods.

「Yeah. And I think-」

「You just want to desperately find the ghost! Take the loss already!」

Tisha lies down an accusation, scrunching her mouth at him in frustration.

「Shut up already! This isn't about the ghost! We're past that!…」

Thud!

Damian shouts back, angrily slapping the table again as the argument flares back into life…

…

Less than half an hour later, in the uniform storage…

Straf nonchalantly enters, and shuts the door behind him.

「Hey, can I get a new uniform? Do you have to pay up for new ones?」

He asks the white-haired bored woman at the desk. Her head perks up when she sees him.

「Hm? No, in case of damage- What happened to you!?」

Leila exclaims, jumping up and out of her chair. She rushes up to Straf, and starts looking at the holes and rips in his uniform.

「I had a fistfight with some sore loser.」

He nonchalantly replies, shrugging his shoulders. Her yellow eyes dart from hole to slash to hole, peeling his open blazer away a little.

「There's so much… And everywhere! This doesn't look like a fistfight! It looks like you got stabbed a hundred times at least! How are you not dead!?」

She asks, staring in wide-eyed shock at his bored face.

「I am. Have you checked inside?」

Straf shrugs again, completely deadpan.

「This isn't a joke! If someone has tried to kill you, you should report it to the headmaster, or-!」

「He knows.」

He replies, pulling his hands out of his pockets to shrug them. The elf woman's face grows troubled, but she nods and takes a step back.

「Well then, if the headmaster knows… It's unbelievable what lengths some people will go to.」

She comments, and sits down sideways in her chair, peeking at the book on the desk.

「What name?」

Leila asks, peering up from its pages.

「Straf Katastrof.」

「I see… Ah, yes, the headmaster brought you two here… Same size? Everything fits?」

She nods, and asks another question with her snow-white brows raised.

「Yup.」

「I see… Give me a moment. Your size is pretty rare, but we should have one or two more if that dummy was keeping the records right…」

Leila stands up from the chair, and briefly pauses in the doorway to the side to explain, before slinking into it.

「…Where's that guy who works with you?」

Straf asks, slowly pacing to the open doorway leading to the storage.

「He's out on a break right now!」

She replies, loudly rummaging through something inside. Straf paces back to the front of the desk, and reads through the noticeboard. The headmaster's old cover announcement regarding the barrier is still up.

「Here it is! A full set!」

Leila announces as she walks out of the storage with a folded blazer, pants and shirt. She places it down on the desk, and sits down, marking something in the records with a quill.

「So… You were around by the time the Academy was built, huh?」

Straf asks, standing in front of the desk with his hands in his pockets.

「Hm?… Well, not around here, but I was in the general area of the contemporary kingdom, yes.」

Her yellow eyes briefly jump up to his face, before returning to the records.

「Have you heard anything about any students having bad blood between each other?」

「What a silly question… Of course I have. Most mages are stuck up and extremely competitive. Even the smallest slight is grounds for a duel to them.」

She lets out an amused huff, shaking her white head. The tips of her pointy ears briefly make an appearance.

「…Bad enough to murder someone?」

Straf asks with a serious face. She briefly freezes up, before placing the quill back in the ink pot, and pushing the record book away.

「Is this related to your uniform being covered in-?」

「Vaguely. You're like the Academy's history book, aren't you? Have you heard of anything escalating enough to that degree?」

He shrugs his hands, leaning onto her desk.

「…N- No- What time period are we talking about here?」

She furrows her brows, lightly tilting her head. Straf briefly glances up at the ceiling.

「Let's see… 200 years ago? 180?」

He asks, looking into her yellow eyes with a bored expression.

「I wasn't at the Academy yet at that time… And I haven't heard of anything like that. Why? You sound like you're talking about something very specific, but you're being vague about it.」

Leila replies, leaning onto the desk with her elbows, closing in.

「Never mind then… I was thinking about a dead guy, and I thought you might know one or two… Hundred.」

Straf straightens out, shrugs his hands again, and places them back in his pockets as he grimaces a little. The elf woman's face grows visibly sullen.

「Yes… I do.」

She nods, and lowers her eyes to the desk.

「Figured. Let me guess… You find yourself amongst short-lived humans, and now you think your long lifespan is a curse…」

He nonchalantly says, staring at her confused face. Her brows begin to furrow.

「…You want to love and be loved, but ultimately you are afraid of loss. Am I right?」

Straf asks with a serious face, staring into her yellow eyes.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

《What?… That's not…》

She thinks, and places her hand on her flat chest without saying a word. Straf snaps his fingers, grinning.

「Bingo. Man, elves and vampires are dime-a-dozen. Have you tried going back to your country?… Wait, are there even male elves?…」

Straf points his finger at her, before rubbing his chin deep in thought.

「Of course there are! What are you even thinking!?」

She slams her dainty hands on the table, and the door behind Straf opens. He picks his fresh uniform up, and turns to leave.

「I'm back.」

Leila's coworker announces, and steps out of Straf's way as he departs. He shuts the door for him, and moves to sit in the second chair behind the desk.

「…Took you long enough.」

She grumbles, crossing her arms.

「What? Did that guy make you mad again? Don't take it out on me.」

He asks, hopelessly spreading his hands.

「It's nothing! Shut up!」

Raising her voice, Leila replies with a sour expression on her face, looking away from him.

《…Stupid human. That's not it at all.》

She huffs, and her yellow eyes slowly drift to the floor…