Eavesdropping

Upon leaving the residents, Lotus found Lilia, in a blue official clothing and yellow Chinese dragon horns on top of his hat, in front of the porch where Sebak also stood next to him in surprise.

"Lilia-senpai, good evening." She responded curiously, "My voice must've been rather loud? Apologies?"

"Oh?" Lilia looked to her in surprise, "Actually, it would be our fault for eavesdropping. We were going to check if everything is all right, but I see you have everything taken care of."

Lotus nodded with a sigh, "For now."

She closed the door behind her, so her prefect and the others could rest properly.

"He must have had it difficult. We're sorry for not being able to stop them at the entrance..." Lilia said to her in disappointment.

"They must've been shocked, but our prefect's reactions are pretty good." Lotus responded politely, "I'm sure he knew of your efforts since your dorm leader likes to observe the gargoyles sitting atop of our dorm building. No one but the magicam monsters are at fault today. It was just unfortunate that we were unable to stop what happened today."

She noticed that Malleus wasn't around nor was Silver and said as they walked away from the door, "I hope the dorm leader wasn't too disappointed by today's affairs?"

Lilia shook his head with a sigh, "They've tried to take pictures of him and were rather delighted instead when he spoke to them."

"Not to mention, he must've chosen Ramshackle dorm so our prefect can celebrate Halloween in this world too..." Lotus frowned.

"Hmph!" Sebak scowled harshly, "They make Malleus sad... Those magicam monsters are unforgivable!"

"Ah, he's been acting like this since what happened this afternoon. Speaking of which..." Lilia looked to her curiously, "I'm surprised you've only come across this problem recently. It's started yesterday."

Lotus shook her head with a sigh, "I was often told by my seniors in the Science club that I often study like a madman when I found something of interest. I've been told that it has even worried Mister Crewel when he learned of this later on. I was stuck in my room the entire time. So I left as soon as I helped Trein create acidic chemicals for the cleaning supplies of the school. I should've paid more attention to my surroundings instead. Thanks to that I've made Grim and our prefect suffer with the ghosts for a whole day and night."

It was honestly a surprise and she really hadn't been paying attention to Grim and the prefect recently because she was recuperating at the moment. Thanks to her negligence, something like this happened while all she could think of was protecting the hall of mirrors now that she's made a barrier for the prefect.

Lilia nodded, "It's rather good that you noticed in time."

"Right." Lotus sighed shaking her head, "Right when I was finished with my research, something like this happened. Aah... so tired..."

Lilia smiled, "Now I can see why Ren is attached to you."

"Hm?" Lotus raised a brow in confusion.

"You don't know?" Lilia chuckled, "Even though Ren has been with us since the start of this school year, he doesn't like to associate himself with others very often and focuses solely on his studies and classes."

Lotus nodded, "I remember his name being on the top 50 students for the finals."

"That's right." Lilia nodded with a frown, "But, he isn't satisfied with his scores which caused some discontent with other residents. However, Ren doesn't take the effort to clear up this conflict."

"Hm?" Lotus frowned, "That's not good. Even if he wants to keep to himself, if he doesn't clear this up, it could only hinder him in the long run. But, do you mean to say that he only interacts with me despite this?"

Lilia nodded again with a smile, "That's correct. Normally, we only watch over our dorm leader as you've guessed. However, Ren has been following Malleus after entering the school. So, he's somewhat piqued our interest. But, it seems he's rather close to you more than he is with his other classmates."

Lotus sighed, "Even if you tell me this, I can't solve all the problems in his life since that's based on his decision and actions. If I interfere with his private life, it'll only make things worse."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Lilia looked to her in surprise.

Just what does this child mean by making things worse in his private life? For once, he was genuinely surprised with alarm. It sounded as though Ren really does have a troublesome lifestyle at home from Lotus's words. Lilia shook his head. As an outsider, he shouldn't interfere with the matters of family, but it would be different if it was other outsiders. Not only that...

"Nevermind, then." Lilia responded with a wide smile, "I'm only saying that it's good that Ren has other people outside of the dorm he can look up to."

"I understand." Lotus nodded her head with a wry smile, "Though I think it would be better to look up to the dorm leaders, instead. Diasomnia's dorm leader is amazing with magic and dorm leader Riddle has always been first in his studies, for example. the other dorm leaders doesn't lag behind either. If anything, I find this year's dorm leaders to be more interesting than the last I've seen them on television when I was a child."

Sebak seemed to be nodding his head in agreement with a satisfied smile when he heard of Malleus's name while Lilia smirked, "If that's what you say."

.....

After returning to the dorm, Lotus had rubbed some ointment onto Grim's paw pad after it had been stepped on. That's when the cat dawned upon an idea as he waved his small paw drive with a wide smile, "What a second. What if we use my injury to let us use magic and chase them out next time?!"

Lotus flicked his head with a sigh, "We're still in school. If you get hurt, how are you going to participate in athletics? You're going to have to do a lot to make up for it, you know?"

"Ugh..." Grim grumbled in dismay as he saw Yuu nod his head in agreement.

"Well..." Lotus smiled, "Even if I can't protect the entire dorm, I can still protect some of the rooms, but, since the prefect's and Grim's room are so far away, I can only settle for the other few rooms Yuu cleaned out. Since he knows where they are it can make it easier for you guys while I'm away."

"How are you going to do that?" The ghosts looked to her in confusion.

"Lilia-senpai and I have talked with the headmaster." Lotus responded, "We have the permission to have someone use magic to make a small barrier to one of the rooms. Both windows and doors."

"How was he when you talk to him about using his name and the school's?" The chubbier ghost asked nervously.

Lotus sighed, "I was let off with a warning since I also put in a few good words on his generosity. However, I had to promise not to do it again without permission. Though, he's a bit tied up on how someone was able to video record the entire break in event and post it online. He's rather freaked out that the school's reputation to protect the students might be at risk too since people were able to break into the dorms. He's placed extra security for the Hall of Mirrors just incase lingering guests planned to sneak a stay overnight."

"Wah..." Grim looked in awe, "He's not kidding..."

"Exactly." Lotus responded with a nod, "When you decide to come into contact with young ones, you need to be prepared to face their guardians. Something like this cannot be put lightly. It's already good enough that the parents aren't rushing over or sending messages and calls that they want to pull out their students from school yet since the staffs started acting on time and the ghosts was with you two leaving a rather interesting impression for the parents."

"R-really?" The three blushed.

Lotus turned to Yuu and frowned, "Things at my home have been going on for a while now. I have some stuff to look at the foot of the mountain by the end of this week and letters to send out. I don't think I'll be able to continue to help you further from here, but a word of warning: the next few days will be very busy. Be careful and that means you too, Grim. To others, you're a cat and cats don't have much rights as humans do. If you harm the guests with your magic, you won't be let off as easily as humans."

"O-Oh." Grim whined in grief.

Yuu nodded, "We'll watch our steps, Lotus. Thanks and I hope everything goes well on your side. Let me and Grim know if you need any help we can offer."

Lotus smiled warmly, "Right."