Atop the fourth floor of a stone spiral in the center of the Academy, an earnest-looking middle-aged man sat stroking his beard with smoking a pipe. Atop his desk were scattered papers, some with familiar family seals, and others with obscure reading material. He was enclosed in a room of bookshelves, but few rows were filled with paper or parchment; rather, they were clustered of small trinkets, knick-knacks, and intriguing artifacts he collected over the years.

"... We've had requests for tournaments, battle-royales, excursions, and even - even - fashion shows, but we Majin Academy has never been home to an art gallery. And you even intend to have it open for auction?" He said, releasing a haze of blue smoke. "I assume this is relevant to the curriculum?"

"That, uh, Headmaster, sir, it is-"

He set down the pipe immediately and got up from his desk. He chair rolled back to the stone wall, nearly cracking the glass window behind as he jolted to his feet.

"Say no more! That's all I need to hear. You intend for visitor passes, correct? Given the space of the dorm courtyard, any more than five each is too much...

"Right! If there is to be a gallery in this school, there must be some sort of judging, right?! Otherwise, it just wouldn't be fun. Say, have you got a judge? I am definitely, definitely open that day!"

"Uh, we-" Ayla looked troubled and looked at Erik for help.

Lina stepped up in their place. "Headmaster, we already have three judges. Normally it would be improper to have an even number..." she said, intentionally slowing her speech at the latter half.

The Headmaster looked crestfallen, but Lina quietly said, "normally, of course..., but there must someone else you know of, right?"

"Huh?! Yes! I do. He is a very good friend of mine, though he loathes to admit that. Let's call in Edward - err, Edward Shields! He's your teacher after all!"

"... We already have him judging the technical portion, Headmaster," Lina said with feigned timidity.

"I-I see... well, then in terms of an artist's eye, there is no one better than Jore! He is being lazy as a chef right now, but back in our day-"

"... Sorry... and even Natalie..."

"Wha-?!" The Headmaster bit his lipped and racked his brain for an excuse to avoid work- an excuse to attend the seminal art gallery. "... Then... uh... I'll call on Mitra! Oh, she's Mitra Lan, a friend of Edward and I. She currently teaches the Lamia first-years, so you may have heard something or another about her.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Anyways, your expression tells me that's fine! It's settled! All five of us will be the judges! What time? I trust it will begin in the afternoon and I will officiate a banquet for those in attendance, right?"

"I-if you'd be willing to...?" Erik said, suddenly feeling a great deal of pressure over the whole event.

"It's fine, it's fine. Here, wait here. Watsan!"

The man who directed them to enter the room now entered himself. He was dressed in hyper-formal garb, as compared to the slovenly dressed Headmaster. However, he still lowered his slightly and looked towards the other man.

"I want you to prepare five visitor passes each for the entire first-year class of Scylla, labelled 'Art Gallery' or something that sounds more elegant, and have them effective for noon-to-midnight on Sunday. We'll also need to allocate some of the free second- and third-years who haven't found a job placement to assist with security for the event. Have some hundred-plus meals ready in the banquet room for six o'clock at night, with a stage for formal bidding. Invite the two first-year teachers of Centaur and Satyr. Ah, please ensure that tickets mention the need for formal attire. Setting the scene is important. Based on the success of this, we may expect to see the others come up!"

"Noted. Anything else?"

"Send a warning to the tailoring department to stock up on materials for formal attire. We may expect quite a bit of the students rushing to it with such an audience. Nevertheless," he said, staring the confused students, "we do not do things half-ways here, as you may or may not have noticed. I expect good things."

"..."

Only Lina was able to respond. "We'll do our best to match them, given our limited ability."

"Yes, yes! Now there is much planning to be done! It's is also getting close to the time for class, so I suggest you all hurry back to your dorms if you forgot anything back there. You're all dismissed - just leave the rest to the adults!"

Watsan held the door open for the students as soon departed to his desk to deal with the rest.

As they descended down the stairs, Erik was the first to mutter, "what... what have we gotten ourselves into...?"

"... S-sorry...!"

"Wendi, it's fine! We just have to work extra hard! We can't back down now, so we'll just have to do the best we can!"

"T-that's true... I-I just didn't expect a banquet... an, and..." She rubbed her cheek worriedly.

A scar ran through one of her dimples, surfacing from pursed lips.

"... Uh, this... is going to cause a lot of stir - not just in our class alone, right?" Erik said, rubbing his temples.

"Huh? Yeah! But it'll be fun! I didn't expect to use those formal clothes so soon!"

"That's fine, but people are going to have a lot on their plate."

Erik had a headache coming on. He was certainly drained from the day before, but it was more that the day exceeded his expectations. His work-load - in and out of school - was expanding faster than he could think of solutions or ways to delineate the work.

"... Jack and Tanner will be fine, but..." Erik's murmurs trailed off.

"Huh? What about them?" Ayla asked.

Erik just raised his hands. "It's nothing. We need to go back to warn them, though."

Erik and Wendi cast their sights on Lisanna - who was already crouching down to listen to Lina's whispers.

Mina was encircling the two but seemed frustrated at being unable to pick up on the conversation.

Since their time was running out, they hurried back to get back to the dorms. Lisanna broke off from the group that went to inform the rest, noting the urge to bury her head in the sand.

'Am, am I going to be the only one who won't use the passes...?'

She shook the thoughts away. "Mathias! Get up!"