"Oh hello, how can I help you?" the librarian smiled, leaning over the mahogany counter, the sunlight glinting off his golden glasses chains, contrasting to his long silver hair. The name tag on his flowy shirt read 'Jupiter Z.' with a 'he/him <3' added with gold marker. Certainly an interesting character.

Sugar, Rosa and Hugo had decided that doing some research in the library was probably the best way to get them more points.

"We don't even have to read too many," Rosa had said, "we just need to put them on our reference list and boom, instant 100%!"

"I'm not sure that's how that works..." Hugo had added, but he had eventually been outvoted by Rosa and Sugar.

Scarwood's Library was one of the largest collections of magical books in the entirety of the Northern Hemisphere, and surprisingly, it appeared to be a popular hangout spot amongst its students, especially the girls.

Sugar had thought that maybe it was because there was a good study culture at Scarwood, but he now came to the realisation it was most likely because they thought the librarian was attractive. Typical.

"Uh..." the three first-years just stood frozen in place for a few moments, as if stunned by the man's sheer ethereal aura. He just seemed so bright and... shiny.

"Oh, you're first-years, aren't you? You must be here for the Divination project, then. Come, I'll show you the books." he said, stepping out of his little area, and heading down one of the aisles.

Now, Sugar himself wasn't sure about guys, but he saw the appeal. This librarian just had this ethereal air about him, which made him seem absolutely radiant.

He had to have some kind of magical creature lineage. There was no wand in sight, so he certainly could not have been using magic. And besides, his aura seemed more like an innate effect.

"Do you think he might be half-siren?" Sugar whispered to Rosa, as they walked into the non-fiction section.

"Maybe... half-nymph, half-fae, half-selkie... or full selkie are also possibilities..." she said, "there are a lot of magical creatures who have supernatural good looks."

"I see." Sugar sighed as the librarian, Jupiter, knelt in front of a certain shelf, and began flipping through the books.

"Now, professional diviners have always been few and far between, but there are a few biographies, records of the Diviners Coven, and even some newspaper clippings about notable figures here. You'll have a lot to work with!" he said with a smile, "Though if you choose to do someone really famous like Nostradamus, i won't blame you."

With that, he gave a final wave to the students, before hurrying off.

"So... sparkly..." Hugo said, blinking rapidly.

"Yeah, that's what hot people will do to you," Rosa moved past the boy and looked at the shelf.

"Hmm... old person... dead person... is this manuscript medieval?" she muttered, rifling through the pages, "is there nothing about someone who's young and alive?"

"Divination has always been a wishy-washy, subjective magic... it can take decades for the stuff they predict to come true..." Sugar added, "Scarwood even tried to remove Divination as a subject several—"

"Got it!" Rosa yelled triumphantly, "Diviners of the Early 21st Century!"

She held up a rather small book, causing Sugar to raise an eyebrow.

"Ugh, I don't know why you wanted to pick someone alive... we could pick one from all of history, remember?"

"This is my project. I can do what I like." Rosa stuck out her tongue at him, "you pick your own, bozo."

As she walked off, Sugar sighed and just picked up whatever his hand felt first on the shelf, which just happened to be a folder of newspaper clippings. Guess it would do.

By the time he caught up to Rosa, she was already sitting at a table, perusing through her book.

"Hmm, a lot of doomsday predictions..." she said with a frown. "Guess that's always been popular."

"And always wrong too," Sugar quipped, flopping down next to her and taking out a few newspaper clippings, "literally none of them came true."

"Could you stop attacking me for one second?" Rosa snapped, her eyes then drifting down to the folder, "And stop copying me!"

"I am not copying you."

"Yeah you are, look at your folder!"

Confused, he flipped it over, to see a label scrawled on the cover.

Tribune Magica 2010- 2019 || Topic: Divination

Ah, so he had picked up a modern paper...

"Well, it wasn't a conscious effort, I'll let you know. I just took the first thing off the shelf."

"Likely story."

Sugar fought the urge to roll his eyes, and began skimming through the clippings. It was the usual fare, new predictions from established Diviners, some fortune-teller ads, the Frost Coven scandal from a few years ago, where it was revealed that the matriarch had moonlighted as a palm reader amongst the humans in her younger years. Just as Sugar was about to give up and go find a book about Nostradamus after all, a final clipping caught his eye.

CHILD PRODIGY TO BE REMOVED FROM VERIFIED DIVINER LIST:

Accompanying the article was the photo of a small child, who looked at the camera with huge, empty eyes.

When the June 2015 edition of the List of Verified Diviners, sanctioned by the Witching Council, is released in a week's time, a notable name will be removed. Child prodigy Rina Li, the youngest ever diviner to be registered and verified after her remarkably accurate and clear predictions of future events, recently was hospitalised after an unknown incident. Sources indicate that this incident became a reason for her removal.

"This removal is not an indication of inaccuracies in Miss Li's predictions, but rather, a safety precaution," said a spokesperson for the Council last Tuesday, "we have reason to believe that Miss Li's mental and emotional health will be in jeopardy if she continues to work as a professional diviner."

Rina Li... Sugar was certain he had seen or heard of the name before. He got his answer soon enough as Rosa leant over his shoulder to have a snoop at what he was reading.

"Holy shit, isn't that Wendy's friend? The one we sat next to when we watched the Mag-Com match?" she said, eyes widening, "they used to be on the Verified Diviners list?"

Oh right, that's where it was. The second-year that had struck up a conversation with them... now that gave Sugar an idea.

"Hey, since we know Rina, won't this project be a cinch?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can get first-hand information from them, y'know, interview style!"

"That... might just be the smartest thing I've heard you say since we met!" Rosa said with a grin. Sugar almost wasn't offended by the backhanded remark... almost.

"Wait... now you're the one copying me. I found the newspaper clippings, so it's my project."

"Yeah, whatever bozo."

"Stop being a hypocrite!"

"Hold on, I might still have their business card." Rosa muttered, rifling around in her pockets, before pulling out the slightly beat-up piece of paper. The silver script on it said:

Rina Li, youngest ever (former) Witching Council Verified Diviner. Will do: fortune readings and other general consultations. Find me in the abandoned greenhouse on the 4th floor (DON'T TELL A TEACHER!)

"The fourth floor, huh? That shouldn't be far, the library is right by the stairs..." Rosa mused, "besides, what if Wen—"

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Sugar interrupted, getting up, "let's go!"

"Hold on, not so fast. We should ask Hugo if he wants to go or not. We can't just leave him behind. Poor guy'll have an anxiety attack."

But before the two of them could even find their friend, the librarian descended upon them.

"Ah, kids, please do keep it down, there are many other students studying here, who rather enjoy a peaceful library," he said, voice not holding even a fraction of malice, unlike the glares said other students were now shooting the duo.

Yeah, they better get out fast.

✧༺✦✮✦༻∞　　∞༺✦✮✦༻✧

"You think this is the place?" Sugar said, tapping on the grimy window leading to the disused fourth floor greenhouse, which now had a huge 'OFF-LIMITS. STAFF ONLY' sign obscuring most of it.

"Of course, you dingbat. It's the only greenhouse on the fourth floor." Rosa said, rolling her eyes, "Come on."

She shoved the door open, eliciting a rather high-pitched squeak. But soon, it became apparent that it wasn't the door's fault.

A certain blue-haired boy immediately shut his mouth when he realised that everyone could hear him.

"Girl! Don't scare me like that. I though Miss Nightblood was coming to rain down her wrath on all of us," Jayden said, trying to change the subject, while his companions just sat in disbelief that such a sound could have come out of him.

"Why are you even worried? She loves you, you're literally her favourite student." Wendy said with a small chuckle, before turning to the new arrivals, "Come on in, just close the door behind you."

The greenhouse definitely looked abandoned. Various plants grew wild, sprouting out of every crack, and even stretching through the broken glass panels to the expansive sky above. The remained panels were covered in a layer of cloudy residue, making them almost like frosted glass.

However, it clearly had been meticulously made into a hangout spot. Chairs and small desks (clearly 'borrowed' from a classroom) were set up neatly, with books paper, and the occasional potion bottle piled on top. There had clearly been an attempt to cultivate the plants, judging by the flowers and fruits growing on the lower branches. And a shimmery glow around the missing glass frames clearly showed a shield charm had been implemented as a form of waterproofing.

It was a rather charming hangout spot, with a sense of 'organised chaos' to it.

Rosa seemed to light up as soon as she noticed Wendy's presence as she walked into the room. She was so focussed on the girl that she nearly tripped over a rope on the ground. Only that it wasn't a rope.

The brown and red snake hissed with displeasure.

"Come on, Nimbus, don't be like that. You know she didn't mean it." Wendy said calmly, and the snake seemed to give up the fight, before it slithered back to her mistress' side.

It looked like the second years had obtained their familiars. Sugar inwardly groaned, knowing how much Rosa would gush about that snake from now on.

"So, what are you here for?" Wendy asked, petting Nimbus' scaly skin, "need help with pulling a prank?"

"Hunting down test answers ahead of time?" Jayden piped up, his confident demeanour returning.

"No, actually, we need help from..." Sugar searched the small area for the person he was looking for, before spotting Rina feeding blueberries to a small raven, "... them"

Rina looked up, realising they were being addressed.

"Ha, see?" they laughed, pointing at Jayden, "I told you my divination skills are legit!"

"Doesn't change the fact that you said I'd date a fish." he replied, eyebrow raised, "You're still a quack in my eyes."

A... fish? Rina must have noticed Sugar's mildly horrified expression, because they quickly wheeled back to the two first-years, but not before giving Jayden a hard side-eye.

"Ignore Jayden, he's just a sceptic. So, what can I help you two with?"

"We're," Sugar sharply elbowed Rosa to get her to stop staring at Wendy, "working on a project for our Divination class, research and create a profile on a famous diviner."

"We saw you mentioned in a newspaper clipping, so we thought you would be a nice subject for our investigation," Rosa finally piped up, "if you don't mind, of course."

"Hmmm, there's actually not much to say," Rina admitted, "I was five when i was added to the list, and six when I was removed. I don't remember too much of what happened from then. You'll probably find more about me in the papers..."

"Do you at least know why you were removed? The papers said it wasn't because it was inaccuracy..."

"Oh, now I do remember that! My brain eventually fried from all the predictions I made, and I had to be hospitalised." Rina said, with an inappropriate amount of cheerfulness.

"Zero out of ten. Horrible experience, would not recommend. My predictions lost a lot of their clarity after it."

"You mean accuracy," Jayden said with a snort.

"One more word out of you, and I'll feed Titan to Nyx and Nimbus," Rina jokingly threatened, most likely referring to their familiars.

Before any of them could make a response, they were interrupted by the sound of something wet hitting the roof.

"Are you kidding me? Did another bird shit on our roof?" Rina said with a frown, but when they looked up, they saw instead a splatter of bluish-purple, sparkly liquid.

"Unless our feathered friend ate purple glitter, I don't think that's it." Wendy remarked.

Meanwhile, Sugar narrowed his eyes. He could swear he recognised that liquid from somewhere...

A dull thunk confirmed his suspicions, as a potion bottle plummeted down, catching on the greenhouse roof for a few moments before plummeting to the ground below.

"That's... Knight's medicine."

┌─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.☪ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐

𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣'𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖

└─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.☪ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘

No, Jupiter was totally not based off Argenti from Honkai Star Rail, what do you mean? *sweats*

Now, we finally get to meet our second year trio, for realsies this time :D They will end up joining up with Sugar and co to form the main 5, but if u do the math, sadly, two characters will sadly remain as secondaries... but that's okay lol.

Also, oh no, who messed with Knight's stuff? it couldn't be a certain blond brat with a bird in his last name, could it? ;3

~Viva