Book 2 - The Usurper from the Wilds: Chapter 7; Accident Suspicion

The screen turns on as the chapter title plays "Chapter - 7; Accident Suspicion".

Now with Yuu in Ramshackle dorm lounge as Grim complains "Man… If I can't be in the Spelldrive tournament, then what's even the point anymore?"

Although the dorm and lounge was still an absolute disaster, they had managed to clear up some spots.

Yuu was leaning back on one such spot as she thought 'You're still not over that?' but only said "Wow, uh, melodramatic much?"

But the ghosts suddenly popped up as Ghost A asked "What's wrong, Grimmy? Something got ya down?" Ghost B answers for him "He's sulking because he can't play in the Spelldrive tournament." Ghost C then offered hearing that "If you wanna play Spelldrive that badly, why, we can play with ya!"

This got a couple of doubtful looks from the two living as Ghost C defended "I was the team captain ninety years ago, y'know. The girls in the stands couldn't get enough of me!"

Grim is now more onboard as he asks "Yeah, but wouldn't we need seven people?" But Ghost A told him "It's not a real match, so who cares? Let's just play!"

They all then headed outside to play the game.

They all had a good time even if Grim was complaining about how he lost the game, though he was still in a pretty good and hopeful mood.

But just then the headmage walks up to them outside, greeting them "Good day. Playing some Spelldrive?"

Seeing and hearing the headmage Grim immediately loses that same spunk as he says to himself "Aaand here comes the Fun Police. There goes my good mood, right down the drain."

The headmage doesn't hear Grim's comment as he was mainly looking at them and the ghosts getting along as he says "I'm pleased to see you're all getting along. Quite pleased indeed." Grim replied to that "Yeah, they just keep comin' back anyway. Might as well get along, I guess."

Before he asked suspiciously "Did you want something, or…?" The headmage simply says "I have a request to make of you both. Why don't we take this inside?"

The three then head back indoors and into the lounge, as they all take a seat on any available spot.

Now sitting down Grim complains "Seriously? MORE requests? I ain't part of your janitorial staff anymore, y'know!"

But Crowley just counters back "Oh? You DO recall that I never promised to cover the living expenses you've been racking up, yes? Hard work can be a beautiful thing, Grim. I'm sure you agree, Yuu." Hearing the tone of his voice Yuu sweats slightly as she thinks 'Is that a threat…?' But decides to be more passive as she says "I don't seem to be in a position to disagree."

Knowing how bad that could be for his image if it got out he cleared his throat, in an attempt to help move along faster as he told them "I'll get straight to the point."

As the headmage then started to explain "There has been a rash of students being hurt in suspicious incidents on campus lately. I'm here to ask you to investigate the matter." Grim asks "Suspicious incidents…?"

The headmage then explains further "Yes. Students falling down stairs, getting burns from boiling water, and so forth. The specifics of the incidents differ, but the nurse's office has had a clear spike in patients over the last few days. With yesterday's incident on the stairs, we now have ten wounded students. We're just fortunate that none of the injuries have been life-threatening" as he pauses clearly not liking what he's about to suggest "...yet…"

But Grim then asks him "Ya sure it ain't just kids bein' clumsy?" The headmage answers "I'm sure many of our students are too distracted by the upcoming tournament to focus properly. But this is far more accidents than we've had in past years. Furthermore, all of the wounded students were considered contenders to make their dorms' teams."

Grim says at that "Oooh, NOW this is gettin' interesting."

Yuu then asks him to confirm what she thinks he's implying "So you don't think they were accidents, then?" The headmage tells her "An excellent deduction, Yuu. However, we have no evidence of foul play. All of the accidents happened in public spaces, and all of the witnesses said the same thing: "It looked like he was just being careless.""

Grim then tells Crowley "Sounds like they were just bein' careless, then. Case closed! Glad we could sort that out. Bye!"

The headmage frowns as he scolds "Not the most thorough of investigations, Grim."

But it's proven that Grim was mostly just mad at him as he says next "But this has got nothin' to do with me! I can't even participate in your dumb tournament! So what do I care what happens? Ptooey!"

Yuu tries to give Crowley a 'don't you dare' look but either he doesn't notice or doesn't care as he bribes Grim "I'm sorry to hear that – especially after I'd prepared such a magnificent reward for you…" But luckily Grim had gotten a little smarter since last time and told Crowley "Ha! I ain't fallin' for that line again! I wouldn't do it even for a hundred cans of tuna!"

Yuu almost heaved a sigh of relief but Crowley didn't give up at that and instead bribed "But what if I allowed you to participate in the Spelldrive tournament?"

This majorly surprises both of them as Grim shouts "PARDONNE-MOI?!"

Crowley then restates his deal "Should you solve the case, I'll generously permit your dorm to enter the Spelldrive tournament." He then asked "What do you say to that? Surely you're dazzled by my altruism?"

Grim in a panic looks between Yuu and her look that tells him not to accept and the headmage's face that told him to say yes to the deal as he looks between them he shouts "Myah… Myahaha!"

Noticing Grim's indecisiveness Crowley further tempts Grim saying "As a participant, the whole world will lay eyes upon your majesty. Just imagine the cheers echoing from the sold-out stadium seats!" He then mimics an idea "This year's most promising rookie, the mighty Grim, has taken the field! Hurrah!" Before finishing with "And so on." And by this point he's already tempted Grim to the point of no return.

Yuu facepalms as Grim says "Oh, man. It's like I can taste it…"

Now getting him to actually admit to the bribe he used reversed psychology's saying "Ah, but of course, you have refused my offer. How unfortunate. Let's forget this ever happened."

Before he stood up and started to slowly walk away. Which causes Grim to stop him shouting "No, wait! WAIT! I'm in! I'll do it!" Crowley turns back around saying in a fake surprised tone "What's that? You'll do it, you say?" Grim tells him "If you'll let me into the tournament, you bet!"

Before turning to Yuu and asking "Right, Yuu?" trying out puppy dog eyes.

Yuu seeing both Crowley and Grim looking at her expectantly, she puts a hand to her head as she ignores how bad of an idea this is as she tells them "Let's catch the culprit and enter the tourney!"

Grim, now getting the confirmation that they will be doing the investigation, starts to think about how it would work a little more as he asks "But hold on a sec. Don't we need seven players? What are you gonna do about that?" Crowley answers "As school headmage, I will simply perform a magical miracle to fill out your team somehow." Grim then exclaims "Sold! You got yourself a deal, good sir!"

The deal part puts a pit in Yuu's stomach for a second even if she had no idea why. As Grim floats over to her and tells her excitedly "C'mon, Yuu, we got a crime to solve!" The headmage tells them "I am counting on you both."

The screen then fades to black as the "To be continued" shows on the screen before fully turning off.