In the early evening, in the auxiliary Academy building…

Straf tracks down two suspicious students. They make their way to a secluded hallway rarely used by anyone, with Straf trailing them out of their sight. They disappear behind a corner, and Straf follows with [Burglar's Feet] active.

「…So what's next?」

A nasal voice from beyond the corner asks while Straf covertly listens in.

「Everyone gets fucked, of course…」

The smug voice replies.

《Uh-huh, looks like I found my perps… I'll listen for a little longer.》

Straf smirks, hugging the wall with his back.

「And the big tit witch?…」

「You can kill her off. She has served her purpose, we no longer need her.」

A faint, but clear enough clack of glasses being pushed up a nose can be heard from beyond the corner.

《Aria?… Son of a bitch. So she had a hand in this too!?》

Straf narrows his eyes at the corner, and continues listening.

「It truly is a shame… I've grown to like her a little.」

「Stick to the plan. We cannot afford to make mistakes now.」

「That goes without saying… But surely we can give her another role to play?」

The nasal voice asks, and a brief silence begins, only to be quickly broken by the noise of papers being shuffled.

《…What the fuck are they doing? Did they find out I'm listening? I bet one of them wrote「We are being spied on, act natural!」or something like that.》

Straf furrows his brows, and extends his ear with his hand.

「…If you insist, we can have her attempt to turn the headmaster.」

The smug voice replies after one more shuffle of papers, now markedly less smug.

《Turn? Are they spies? Do they have a way to dodge the curse? Is that it? Join us, and you'll live?》

Straf rubs his chin, side-glancing at the corner.

「You're disgusting. This beneath even us.」

The nasal voice says, sounding outraged.

「Think about it!… She'll fail, and she'll be fucked! It'll work out exactly as planned!」

「…And then she gets killed off?」

「Exactly.」

The smug voice says, quite smugly, and a brief silence begins once again.

「…Let's go with that, then. You handle the next part, and I will take care of what we've discussed here.」

「Very well. Let us meet here again, brother.」

Straf hears a specific clapping sound, and jumps out from beyond the corner. Two students are locked into a high handshake, and staring into each other's eyes with determined faces. One skinny and bespectacled, the other fat.

「'fraid your next meeting is with the bimbo. You have a lot of explaining to do, you fucking nerds.」

He says, glaring at them with his fists on his hips. The two look at him, and their faces slowly twist into an expression of jaw-dropped horror.

「…Run!」

The skinny one shouts, and pulls his fat co-conspirator with him. Straf scoffs, shaking his head as he leisurely follows them.

「Stash the materials!」

The fat one screams, and gasps for breath, already out of air after just a few steps. They look over their shoulder at Straf, who is far behind due to slowly following them with his hands in his pockets. They reach the distant corner down the hallway, take one last look at Straf, and run beyond it.

「Eh!?」「Wuaah!」

Thud-thud!

They both trip on Straf's leg as he's already waiting for them there. The skinny student's glasses fly off his face and skid down the stone floor along with his small leather satchel, and the stack of papers he was hugging into his chest scatters in front of him. The fat one simply lets out a grunt like a broken bagpipe, and loses the grip on his satchel as well.

「Ahh! I didn't number the pages!」

The skinny student yells and squints heavily, stretching his hand out towards the papers rocking like a boat while they descend to the floor in front of him.

「Guhhhh… I told you this would happen!」

The fat one takes a large gasp, and angrily shouts at the skinny one. They look at what they tripped on, and gasp in terrified shock.

「How did he-!?」「But we've lost him!」

They stare in panic at Straf's scowling face, and attempt to crawl for their satchels and papers. He effortlessly picks them up by their blazer collars.

「I said explain yourselves. What were you planning? Who do you work for? What is your motive?…」

He begins interrogating them while they remain frozen in their postures like a cat grabbed by the scruff of its neck.

「…Are those your plans?」

Straf asks, staring at the papers on the floor. He drops the skinny student, and reaches for them.

「Noooooooooo! Don't look!- Hurk!」

The student screams, and begins crawling towards the papers again, but Straf steps on his back and kneels down to reach for the biggest, closest stack on the floor.

「It's over…」「What did we do to deserve this!?」

The fat one briefly goes limp, then curls up into a fetal position while covering his face with his hands. The skinny one simply surrenders in despair, and turns his face towards the ground.

「Alright, let's see what laundry list of evil shit you little fuckers came up with…」

Straf says, and adjusts the papers in his hand, turning them around. At a glance, it appears to be drawings, but upside down. He adjusts the papers again, and looks at it once more.

《This is a… Comic? I have to respect the dedication for how much effort they put into something no one will ever see… So they thought, at least.》

To his surprise not only it is drawings, they are also quite well made, although entirely black and white. A woman with large breasts and a large pointy hat bent at its tip announces in a spiky speech bubble, that her work is complete at last. The next few panels appear to be complex drawings of detailed alchemical implements. The page ends, and Straf discards it to the floor with a slide of his thumb, and a flick of his wrist.

「What is this shit? So you've got Aria here, and who are these two supposed to be? The northern princess and her friend?… There's that glove-throwing bitch. I see a bunch of other random girls too…」

「It's not Aria!」「All appearances are coincidental!」

Straf remarks, after reading through a seemingly disconnected page of cute girls doing cute things. Without wasting a second, the two vehemently deny that the comic panels feature any persons living or unliving. He thumbs the page out of the way, and begins reading the next one. In a similar fashion, it's yet another wildly disconnected page. Straf lets out a large sigh, and drops the fat man to the floor with a noticeable rumble.

「…And they've all got dicks.」

He says with his mouth heavily scrunched, after looking at an entire page of the previous girls waking up with a morning erection to mixed reactions from each.

「I seriously wasted my time stalking two fucking degenerate perverts over a smut comic?」

Straf asks, hopelessly spreading his arms as he looks at the two students on the floor with immense fatigue and disappointment on his face.

「It's not smut, you swine! It's art!」

The nasal-voiced fat man protests from his knees. His belly jiggles as he angrily points his sausage-like finger at Straf.

「Ahhh… Noooo!… Just organizing the pages will eat hours… I'll have to skip sleeping again!」

His skinny pornographic co-conspirator crawls on all fours, fondling the floor for his glasses. He finds them, and places them on his nose.

「This is your fault! Give those pages back!」

The skinny student shouts at Straf as he begins picking the papers up and hastily re-ordering them.

「You are literally living the dream of most teenage boys, and you dedicate your time in a magic school to this?… Grass is always greener, I guess…」

Straf asks as he holds up the pages he took off the floor, before throwing his hands up.

「You wouldn't get it!」「Art takes precedence!」

The two artists angrily protest. Straf rolls his eyes and sighs.

「…Do you even have an audience for this shit?」

「Of course we do! We are a well known art circle, and a lot of people at this very Academy waiting for the next chapter of Girls' Erochemy Academy!」

With the two of his chins held high, the fat student proudly declares in a nasal voice.

「…Really? Like who?」

Straf tilts his head as he asks.

「I'd sooner die than reveal who our secret brothers are!… Or sisters!」

The bespectacled skinny student announces, pointing angrily at Straf.

《…Should I inform them just how close they were to death due to chicks with dicks?… Nah, I'm feeling merciful right now.》

He glances at them both with a mixture of pity, and deep disgust, and takes a quick glance at the awakening page again.

「Well, I was going to tear these up, but aside from the dongs, it's not that bad. You're wasting your talent on this trash.」

Straf shrugs his hands, and throws the papers in his hand into the air, then turns to leave.

「Ahh!」「Ahh!」

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The two scream, and begin grasping at papers, trying to collect them before they fall.

「You little rat! Get back here! Help us put this back into order, or I'll report to the headmaster that you are bullying us!」

The fat artist demands, pointing at the skinny student desperately clutching at the thin air while the pages descend to the ground.

「Hooooh? Should I let Aria know-?」

Straf asks over his shoulder with a malicious, smug grin. Before he can even finish his sentence, the two artists cling onto his ankles, kneeling before him with their foreheads to the ground.

「Please don't, I'm sorry! Please forgive me!」「Please don't tell anyone! We'll let you see the drafts!」

They immediately start apologizing, placating Straf, and kissing his boots.

「Gross, get the fuck away! I like it more when the girl and the dick comes separate!… 」

He pulls away a few steps in unveiled disgust.

「…For someone with a big audience, you sure are scared as shit of this getting out.」

He says, pointing down at the skinny student kneeling before him.

「Our audience is enlightened and like-minded!」

「Nobody else understands!」

The fat student's chins jiggle as he nods in agreement with his co-conspirator's reply.

「Tsk… Whatever, I wasted enough time on you as is…」

Straf clicks his tongue, and turns to leave again. He abruptly comes to a halt after just a few steps.

「…I better not end up as a character, or you will tragically go on a prolonged hiatus.」

He ominously cautions the two, pointing at them as he's partially turned around, then he departs shaking his head…

…

Around the same time, in another part of the building…

Cycelia is on a ghost hunt with Damian and her friends. Once again nothing has happened, and once again they chat away about inconsequential things that happened during the day. Cycelia cannot stop twiddling with her thumbs, however, and she mostly stays out of the conversation. Tisha glances at her concerned face.

「What's up with you, Lia? Something bothering you? You barely said a word.」

She says, and the two look each other in the eyes.

「Ahh… It's just…」

Cycelia lets out a discomforted sigh, and continues fidgeting with her hands.

「What? You can tell us, Lia.」

Neela chimes in from her other shoulder. Cycelia lets out a soft, quiet grunt, then sighs. She grabs Damian's shoulder, and pulls him to a halt.

「What?」

He asks, snapping his somewhat surprised eyes to her.

「…I have something to tell you. All of you. Can we go somewhere, where no one can overhear us?」

Cycelia asks with a serious, troubled expression, briefly looking at all three around her as she retracts her hand.

「Uwa… How serious is it?」

Tisha asks with her brows raised in shock.

「…Very.」

Cycelia replies, and her friends look at Damian. He returns a quick glance at each, then shrugs his shoulders.

「…Alright. Come with me, I guess.」

He says, and continues onward. They turn at a T-junction, head up the stairs a few floors, and continue following Damian through the winding halls. Eventually, they make it to a dead end, and the closest doors are a considerable distance away due to the size of the rooms nearby. He leans his back on the dead end's wall, crosses his arms, and looks at Cycelia with a serious expression.

「Well? It better be worth going all the way here.」

Damian says, momentarily spreading his arms.

「…First, I want you to promise me you will keep it a secret. It's important.」

「Sure.」

He says as he shrugs, and nods his head. Cycelia looks to Tisha and Neela, and they silently return two powerful nods, staring at her with big eyes.

「Since you are my friends, and since I am certain things will turn out well if we work as a group, I figured I can tell you this…」

Cycelia says as she glances at each of them for a brief moment, still mildly hesitant, but too far in to back out now.

「…Someone has cursed us to die. Worse yet, the Academy's barrier has been corrupted, and now it's deadly. It already has killed a worker.」

「…What?」「…What?」

Neela and Tisha ask at the same time, blinking at Cycelia with deeply confused looks on their faces. Damian appears unfazed, and still serious.

「…Whoever is behind this should still be within the barrier, and I believe Damian's blessing can help. It's likely there are at least two people responsible. One for the barrier, and one for the curse.」

「…Bullshit. And you know this how exactly?」

Damian scoffs, and continues staring at Cycelia with the same, serious face.

「The headmaster told me. Straf has been trying to find whoever had done this, but no success so far.」

Cycelia explains with a likewise serious expression, gripping onto her silver medallion with her fingers while she looks at him.

「Wait, so you mean…」

「…You mean this whole time Straf was busy saving the Academy?」

Tisha and Neela once again cooperatively complete a sentence.

「Yes. That's why he had no time for me.」

「Uwaaaa… I feel bad about badmouthing him now…」

Tisha covers her mouth with her fingers, cringing a little.

「…How does the curse work?」

Neela asks, tilting her head.

「It targets all students, professors, and workers, but specifically only within the Academy's grounds. Outside of it, the curse weakens to essentially nothing… But we can't leave due to the barrier…」

Cycelia says, looking at Neela with a deathly serious, troubled expression. Damian silently listens.

「…It will slowly render us weak, sickly, and generally sap away at our strength until we die. Normally this wouldn't happen, but the low range of the curse empowers it. Someone really hates us all, too…」

She adds, and lets out a quick sigh with a gloomy face.

「…How long do we have?」

Neela asks, and exchanges nervous glances with Tisha.

「At this point… Roughly a month and a half.」

「Wha-!? That's less than the term!」

Tisha exclaims with her jaw dropped.

「Yes. At this rate, we can't count on even finishing the term before it kills us. We need to find whoever is responsible and stop it before everyone dies.」

Cycelia nods with a fixed, serious look on her face.

「…I still don't know why I should believe you. Cursed how? By what means? You mean some guy just said,「Argh, curse you bastards, die!」and it'll actually happen?」

Damian asks, looking at her with eyes full of suspicion.

「The Cursefire Brazier. Whoever is responsible burnt their grudges within it. It happened a few days after the entry exam.」

She responds, and his eyes widen. He lowers his head, and rubs his chin.

「As I thought, the announcement was something else entirely…」

Damian mumbles under his breath, then lifts his eyes off the floor back to Cycelia.

「…And it would make sense why the Cursefire suddenly returned to life from the brink of death. But that is still all too convenient. You said students, professors and workers will die, right?」

「Yes.」

「…That leaves Straf. Otherwise, it's some sort of a suicide pact.」

He says, and bounces his back off the wall, approaching Cycelia with a frigid stare.

「The headmaster explicitly excluded Straf out of the list of suspects. He also has a theory, that it may actually be someone who is neither of those. But he has no idea who it may be.」

She shakes her head, and explains.

「Why is Straf excluded? He is neither. And if he wants to assassinate you, this is the perfect excuse. Once you're dead, he could even lift the curse and act like a victim.」

Damian says, and briefly points at her before crossing his arms again.

「It's not Straf. I know it's not.」

「Because you trust him? That doesn't mean I will-」

「Because he doesn't have to do that. He wouldn't need to put on such farce to kill me. If he wanted to do that, I'd be helpless to stop him.」

Cycelia shakes her head again. Damian's serious gaze does not abate, but he glances at Tisha and Neela instead.

「…I'm kind of willing to believe that. He beat up so many losers in those duels, that they all just got scared.」

Tisha chimes in, glancing at Neela.

「…And he just doesn't strike me as the type of person to do something like that.」

Neela nods, and the two look at Daniel. He clicks his tongue, and lets out a large sigh.

「Tsk… To be honest, I think so too. It made no sense to me, considering how powerful he feels. But I still think he's suspicious. I will just assume that he's not. For now. But what about the ghost?」

He begrudgingly admits, and shrugs.

「It doesn't exist.」

Tisha scoffs, smirking at him like he's ridiculous.

「Shut up! It is! I've seen it! I bet it's the ghost's doing, actually!」

Damian immediately barks back at her, and his serious face turns into frustrated anger.

「I think we should continue our search, but for suspicious people instead of a ghost, and much earlier. We should start during the free period, and then continue immediately after the classes.」

Cycelia explains, looking at all three for a few seconds.

「During the free period?… But what about studying? We were supposed to pass this term…」

Neela asks, furrowing her brows.

「Neela, if we don't find the guy, you'll take your knowledge to the grave. We don't get to graduate one way or another.」

「Ahh…」

Tisha replies, and lets out a large sigh. Neela lets out a sad little moan, her shoulders slump, and she frowns as she hangs her head.

「Tsk. Shit… We're going to be stuck in the first term until the end of times, huh? Even my dad has limits to his patience…」

Tisha adds, shaking her golden head with her fists on her hips.

「…Let's do as you say. We'll start tomorrow.」

Damian says to Cycelia as he walks past her, heading back down the long, empty hallway…