Maria P.O.V

After the meeting was over, Riddle walked me back to Ramshackle. I gave a kiss on the cheek and thanked him for walking me back. Riddle left with a red look on his face, which I find very cute. When I entered the dorm, I saw Grim sulking on the couch

"I don't wanna do anything... Noting brings me joy if I can't play Magift" Grim said

"There, there Grim" I petted his back hoping to cheer him up

"What's up Grimy boy? What's got your fur in a bunch?" Berry asked

"He's pouting cause they won't let him play in the Magical Shift Tournament. Hee hee hee!" Curley chuckled as he answered

"If you wanna play that bad, we'll play against you" Albert said, surprising both Grim and I "We were players that drove the crowd wild 90 years ago!"

"We need a team of seven, right?" Grim asked

"Doesn't matter since it's not official! Let's go!" Berry said as he grabbed Grim's paw and went outside

'I should watch them play so I can understand how to play' I thought to myself as I walked outside

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

After Grim played Magift with the ghosts, he looks happy now. I walked towards Grim and patted his head

"You did great, Grim!" I said and Grim smiled, but it quickly disappeared when we saw the headmaster coming

"Hello everyone. Are you playing Magicial Shift?" Headmaster Crowley asked

"Geh. It's the guy that always brings down the room" Grim said

"I see you're getting along well with the dorm ghosts. Splendid, splendid" Headmaster Crowley said

"We are not getting along!" Grim shouted "What d'you want?"

"I have a request to make for the both of you. It's not a simple chit-chat, so let's go inside" Headmaster Crowley said as he started walking inside the dorm without waiting for us

'Remind me again why or how he's the headmaster' I thought as Grim and I started heading inside

Ramshackle Lounge

We took a seat on the couch and waited for Headmaster Crowley to start explaining

"What's the request? We aren't your handymen anymore, y'know" Grim said

"Oh yeah? I don't remember saying anything about your room and board being free of charge. Labor is a beautiful thing, right, Grim, Maria?" Headmaster Crowley said

"Are you threating us? Cause if you are I'm letting Crewel sensei know about this" I said with a glare, and that made the headmaster freak out a bit

"Ah! No, no. It's nothing like that. I promise" Then Headmaster Crowley cleared his throat "I will get straight to the point. Recently, there have been an increasing number of students injured in suspicious accidents. I'd like to have the both of you investigate them" Headmaster Crowley said

"Injuries?" Grim asked

"What kind of injuries?" I asked

"Tripping downstairs, burned by boiling water... The causes vary, but in the past several days, the number of patients in the infirmary has dramatically increased. Including the person who fell down the stairs yesterday. That makes ten people injured. I'm glad none of the injuries have been severe, but..."

"Aren't they all just clumsy?" Grim asked

"The whole school is giddy for the approaching Magical Shift Tournament, that's true. Even still, there's too many people getting hurt if you look at the past years. On top of that, those injured in these accidents were all in the running to be starting members for their dorm's team" Headmaster Crowley said and Grim's mood turned sour

"Based on what you told us so far, you think these aren't accidents, correct?" I asked

"Very nice deduction. However, I have no evidence to prove it was foul play. All the victims were injured in places with plenty of other people around them. Nevertheless, all bystanders had this to say: They looked like they weren't paying attention" Headmaster Crowley said

"Sounds like they all screwed up. There, problem solved" Grim said

"My dear Grim, that's quite irresponsible of you" Headmaster Crowley sounded disappointed

"It has nothing to do with me. I still can't join Magift. Doesn't matter to me what happens to the tournament" Grim said

"Is that so... I'd like to give you a tremendous reward for your help, but..."

"Hmph! That's not gonna work this time! You'd need at least 100 cans of tuna to buy my help" Grim said

"Why tuna?" I sweat drop on the question

"Then how does this sound, you could join the tournament as a player" That caught Grim's attention "If you can shed light on this series of events, then I shall prepare a way for your dorm to participate as competitors. How's that sound? Aren't I just the most gracious ever?" Headmaster Crowley said

'The headmaster sure knows how to bait Grim, and why do I have a feeling he's not gonna keep his word when we solve this?' I thought to myself

"Your gallant figure will be broadcast world-wide. And you'll be able to bask in the applause of the coliseum filled to the brim. They'll scream things like 'Woooh woo! Here comes the standout rookie, Grim!' " Headmaster Crowley said as he tried to sound like a fan

"Oh, oh my... I can already see it happening" Grim said as he took the headmaster's bait

"But you said that you wouldn't help solve this matter. Unfortunate. Please forget I said anything" Headmaster Crowley said as he was about to leave, but Grim stopped him

"Hold it right there! We'll do it! We'll definitely help!" Grim shouted

"Oh? You will?" Headmaster Crowley asked

"Being in the tournament changes everything! Right!?" Grim asked as he looked at me

"Of course, I'll be happy to help solve this matter, whether or not if I was bribed" I said, making the headmaster flinch

'Looks like he understood on what I was saying'

"Wait a sec. We need seven teammates, right? How are we going to find some?" Grim asked

"Fret not. As the headmaster, I will perform a magical miracle to supplement the other five people you need" Headmaster Crowley promised

"Hooray! You got a deal! Let's go find the culprit!" Grim said excitedly

"I'm counting on you two" Headmaster Crowley said with a smile

'It feels like the headmaster is dumping his responsibilities on us, or I should say me' I thought to myself

Once Headmaster Crowley left Ramshackle, I went upstairs to get my notepad and pencil for the investigation, and we left the dorm

School Infirmary No One P.O.V

The first victim was the student from Heartslabyul, he hurt his leg after falling down the stairs. Maria looked for the student, and she found him on the school's bed with his friend

"Excuse me. May I have a moment of your time" Maria asked politely

"What's with you, guys?" The injured student looked at us with a confused look

Oh! You're those guys from Ramshackle Dorm that were at the Unbirthday party" The injured student's friend smiled

"Oooh, look at how famous we are!" Grim said

Maria grabbed a seat, and took out the notepad and pencil

"I know this may sound like a touchy subject, but can you explain to me about what happened?" Maria asked

"I really don't get it either. Him and I were just talking... and before I knew it, I'd fallen down the stairs" The injured student said

"Yeah. It wasn't like he stumbled or slipped or anything" His friend said

"Almost like my body just kinda left forward... I can't really put it into words well"

"I see, I see" Grim said

After Maria wrote down the information, she got up from the chair

"Thank you for your time, and I hope you'll recover from injury" Maria said as she and Grim left the infirmary, and they made their way to the next victim

Classroom

The next victim is from Pomefiore, he burned his hands during the lecture. Maria entered the classroom, and she saw the student who has bandages wrapped around his hands. Maria knew she needs to be careful on what to say, but...

"Hey, hey. You got hurt pretty bad not too long ago, right? Tell us about it" Grim said bluntly

"And who are you guys exactly?" The injured student gave us a glare

"He is upset that he can't participate in Magift in top condition right now!" His friend yelled

"How could you be so tactless!? Throwing salt onto someone's wound like that!" The injured student took out a glove and threw it on the ground "I challenge you! Pick up that glove!"

Maria walked towards the glove, picked it up, and put back in the injured student's pocket

"Huh?" He looked at Maria with a confused look

"I apologize for Grim's lack of remorse, but I believe it's not right to fight someone who is injured. Plus, I don't want to risk leaving a scar on your hands, and I'm pretty sure your Dorm leader wouldn't like to see the scar either" Maria said as she touched the injured student's hands dedicatedly like she was holding something fragile, making the injured student turn red

"A-Alright... I'll tell you about that day" The injured student was about to explain, but his friend explained the situation

"It happened in the laboratory. Out of nowhere, he grasped a pot of boiling potion with his bare hands and threw the whole class into an uproar! Then he went and knocked over the pot all over the counter. I was so surprised!" His friend explained

"Are you going to tell them everything!?" The injured student yelled at his friend

Maria wrote everything down

Thank you for explaining. Please, take care and I hope your hands will recover" Maria said as she and Grim left the classroom. The whole half of the day, Maria and Grim went to talk to the victims that had accidents.

Ramshackle Lounge

Finally, after talking to the victims, Maria and Grim are back at the dorm, relaxing on the couch

"I can't see anyone we talked to as anything other than clumsy. Do we still think these aren't accidents?" Grim asked

"To be honest, Grim, I'm not sure. Based on what we gathered so far, it doesn't sound like accidents, but foul play. Like someone is sabotaging the candidates or something" Maria said, and they heard the doorbell buzz

"Hm? Who's here?" Grim asked as they made their way to the front door. At the door, it revealed to be Ace

"Yo! Oh, Grim, you look better" Ace said

"Ugh. It's just you. Listen, I'm pretty busy right now, so I don't have time to hang out" Grim said

"Busy? You're not gonna finish the homework?" Ace asked and turned his gaze towards Maria "Hey, babe, what's going on?"

"Let's talk about it in the lounge" Maria said as they went back to the lounge, and Maria started to explain

"Hmmm. People getting injured suspiciously, huh" Ace said

"But while we were listening to them, it sounded like they were being clumsy or getting caught up in the excitement for the tournament" Grim said

"Yeah, but we're still not sure" Maria said, and they heard running

"Ace! This is bad!" Deuce came running into the lounge, out of breath

"Deuce?" Maria looked at Deuce

"Huh? What's got your panties in a bunch?" Ace asked

"Clover got hurt falling down the stairs!" Deuce said

"Wha!?" Both Grim and Ace said unison

"Trey got hurt?! But he's not the type to be clumsy or getting caught up in the excitement" Maria said

"You're right, Trey isn't the kind of guy to just trip over nothing" Ace said

"Let's go ask him what happened!" Grim said, and they all left Ramshackle dorm in a rush

To be continued