#wooooah there are actual CONSEQUENCES for there being more than one yuu? wild

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Yuu can do it!

Part 16

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Masterlist

For some reason, when Ito went to open the door, they had been expecting to find Deuce there. Instead, they found Crowley. Which was kind of like having someone bring out your birthday cake only for them to slam your face into it… but Ito could always tell ahead of time when they were about to play Mordida, and, at least, they would get a cake for their troubles. This was just upsetting.

Dire Crowley smiled upon seeing the group, though some confusion made its way onto his face when he noticed that Ace was there, too. Still, he managed a cheery, “Good morning!”

Less of one now that you’re here, they thought grumpily. Thankfully, they had a brain-to-mouth filter and instead said: “Good morning. Why are you here?”

Enma cuffed them over the back of the head for being rude. It didn’t hurt in the slightest, but Ito pouted on principle.

The tiny balls that made up Crowley’s eyes curved up into crescents, like the interaction amused him. “Well, firstly, I would like to give you all your uniforms.” He tossed a cheaply made backpack to Enma, who instantly started rifling through it. Kuroki picked his head up from where he had been resting his chin on Ito’s shoulder and peered around them to look inside as well. “Each of you has been provided two gym uniforms and two regular uniforms.”

Ito nodded slightly, their eyes never leaving the man.

“Secondly… well, you might want to get changed first. How about you do that and come back down in five minutes or so?”

They narrowed their eyes just slightly, their head tipping to the side as they tried to figure out why exactly he was waiting to tell them, but the man’s smile remained as unreadable as ever.

“Five minutes? These are suits,” was the joke they decided on, smiling as they took the tie Enma was handing off to them.

And, indeed, it took far longer than that. Enma insisted on taking a quick shower – because, despite having had a shower just before sleeping, apparently he didn’t feel right if he didn’t have one in the morning – and, since they had yet to get opaque curtains, no one entertained the thought of using the bathroom while he was in it. Then there was a fistfight to be in front of the mirror while they went through the most basic of skin, hair, and teeth routines (though, admittedly, the mirror was too grimy for any of them to actually see their reflections, they had just wanted to fight). Then Ito and Enma had to teach Kuroki how to tie a tie until Ito eventually gave in and did it for him…

Yeah, it wasn’t a quick morning, but if Crowley wanted them to be efficient then maybe he should have paid for more than one working bathroom.

Regardless, they eventually made their way back downstairs. Enma wore his suit perfectly, with every piece in place and not a single wrinkle. Ito had forgone the suit jacket and instead chose to wear just the blazer over the white shirt and black pants. Kuroki had slung his suit jacket around his shoulders like a cape and didn’t even bother to straighten out his wrinkled tie (he had messed up the knot a frankly alarming amount of times).

Ace looked relieved upon their arrival, for he had been stuck making small talk with Crowley. Whether this was because the small talk had been awkward or Ace just didn’t like the man, it was hard to tell, but both would have been valid.

Ito stuffed their hands into the pockets of their pants casually. “So, gonna tell us what that second thing is, yet?” They asked.

Crowley grinned. “I’ll explain on the way. Come.”

Ace hesitated.

“You need not be there, Trappola-kun.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and fell back on the couch, hand already going to the deck of cards in his pocket.

Grim floated over and took his usual spot curled around Kuroki’s neck. Maybe that was why he hadn’t bothered to look nice – no matter what, his outfit would inevitably get rumpled and covered with the monster’s fur.

Crowley tipped his head to the side. “You needn’t come, either, Grim-kun.”

Grim bared his teeth at the man.

Kuroki smiled and reached a hand up to scratch behind Grim’s ears. “It shouldn’t be long. Besides, if you’re not here then who’s gonna protect poor little Ace-chan from the ghosts?”

(Ace and the ghosts all sent Kuroki identically annoyed expressions, not fond of being used as scapegoats, but they knew better than to say anything.)

Grim huffed, a puff of smoke curling around his nose, but then he nodded and hopped onto Ace’s shoulders. “I will keep the house safe.”

“Thank you, Grim-chan,” Kuroki said, smiling.

Grim nodded before turning to glare at the ghosts, a determinedness to his gaze.

Crowley cleared his throat. “Well, then, come along.”

~

The sun was only just coming up, and it bathed the grounds in shades of pink and red. The white gems inlaid in Enma and Ito’s armbands reflected the light beautifully (Kuroki’s was hidden beneath his suit jacket).

Crowley smiled, his eyes catching on the gems on their arms for just a moment too long. “Now, the reason I called you all out at this hour is that I would like to discuss the idea of you three obtaining other occupations on campus.”

Enma frowned just slightly. “What happened to our previous maintenance jobs?”

“To be frank, the previous times I have given you three cleaning jobs ended with a charred statue and a broken chandelier. I am beginning to believe that cleaning might not be the best fit.”

There was a collective wince. Yeah. That was fair.

Crowley hesitated, now, and that sent a minute shiver through Ito. The man did not hesitate, so it was almost guaranteed that the trio would not like whatever came out of his mouth next.

“What’re you hid –?” Ito cut themselves off when Enma narrowed his eyes at their accusatory tone. “I mean… uh, anything else of note, Headmaster?”

(Enma seemed to accept this level of politeness. Good. Ito could be polite but they really weren’t interested in being ‘nice’ to Crowley. What can they say? The man was shady.)

“I was thinking… that it might be best to have you all take separate jobs,” the Headmaster said cautiously.

The grip that Kuroki perpetually had on Ito and Enma’s sleeves tightened. “Huh?”

“You often find trouble while together. I thought it might be less… disastrous if there weren’t three of you in the same area at all times.”

“Technically, trouble finds us,” Enma muttered through gritted teeth. Wow. That was almost sassing an authority figure. He was pissed.

“But it is trouble all the same, is it not? You must understand, I can not have anything go wrong at this fine institution.”

The three of them gave him flat stares.

He cleared his throat. “Additionally… I do not believe that any of us have the means to take on three workers. Ashengrotto-kun might, but I already called in a favor to take on one of you…”

Ito tipped their head to the side. “I guess that makes sense.” They winced at the pair of shocked looks they were sent. “I mean… listen, I don’t like it either… but you guys have seen this place, everyone here is pretty obviously – er – posh. I doubt that the Headmaster was expecting to have to pay for even one student, let alone three.”

(“Four, including Grim-chan,” Kuroki corrected quietly, though he didn’t look particularly happy about contributing to their argument.)

“Thank you, Ito-kun,” Crowley said, beaming. “I certainly didn’t expect to have three – ah – four dependents. How could I have known ahead of time that this would happen?”

Ito would like to take back what they had said. They had pissed off Kuroki and Enma and pleased Crowley in one fell swoop. The two worst outcomes in one.

Enma shoved his hands in his pockets. “This is a top institution, right? Or, at least, a good school? Wouldn’t that mean that they have tons of money saved up from donations and tuition?”

Crowley looked strangely pale at the suggestion… but he was always a little pale, so Ito disregarded the thought in favor of responding to him:

“Not necessarily.” They might have crossed their arms over their chest uncomfortably if Kuroki hadn’t had their sleeve in a death grip. “Budgets are usually determined in advance with only a little bit of leeway in case things go wrong – which is probably what he’s using to pay us right now.”

“It’s not like we really have a choice in this, we can’t afford to be choosy about our work,” Kuroki piped up.

Enma pressed his lips into a thin line and looked away, somewhat huffy, but he didn’t really have a retort for what Ito and Kuroki had said. And, really, he was the most polite of the group. So, when it became clear that neither of his friends were going to fight what was going on, he simply sighed and let the subject drop for the time being.

Kuroki hesitated before letting go of Enma’s sleeve in favor of holding his hand. Enma blinked a few times, then smiled a little and squeezed the hand.

“Gay,” Ito joked lightly.

Enma snickered and reached across Kuroki to flick them in the side of the head. “You’re the worst.”

Ito only grinned. No hard feelings, then.

~

Ito frowned just slightly at the building as they all made their way towards it. They weren’t sure why it put them on edge, the only thing strange about the house-like place was the purple-tinted windows and the assortment of seemingly random items sprawled around the grass at its feet like demented lawn ornaments, and yet there was something there that made their skin crawl. They wanted to run in the opposite direction.

Kuroki’s grip on them tightened. Enma looked strangely pale.

Well, at least it wasn’t just them.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem like they were going to be going inside. Instead, they were waved over by one of the two guys standing by a tall, but dead, tree out front.

“Hey, look, it’s you,” said Enma, grinning weakly as he nodded to the tree.

Kuroki’s expression twisted from fear into annoyance.

Ito raised an eyebrow.

“It’s… my name, it roughly translates to ‘black wood’ or ‘black tree’,” he explained easily enough, though he was still sending Enma a halfhearted glare.

They groaned a little. “Enma, please, I’m begging you to get a sense of humor.”

“I’m very funny, thank you,” he said, pressing his free hand to his chest and giving them a playfully affronted look.

And, despite the pun, both Kuroki and Ito’s faces fell back into slight smiles. Neither of them were stupid, they knew that the joke was more than something he had done simply to be annoying (though, surely, that was an added bonus), and they appreciated it.

Sure, they still felt the strange need to run as far away as was physically posisble, but some of the tension had been removed.

They looked back up to find the two people scrutinizing their group of three.

The first was a man with dark skin and dreadlocks. He was dressed all in purple and black, with a top hat made of patchwork. There was a tiny skull affixed to the hat, and Ito would have assumed it was fake and there for purely ornamental reasons if not for the two very real bones sticking out of one of the pockets on his apron and the necklace made of long, sharp teeth from an animal they couldn’t name. Magenta eyes scrutinized the group from behind two dyed purple dreads before his gaze slid away to narrow at Crowley.

The second was the shady guy with white hair from the ceremony – not to be mistaken for the nice guy with white hair, nor the guy with white hair, ears, and a tail that had dragged Grim off campus. He looked relatively normal, if not for the way his pupils were horizontal slits behind his glasses. He wore a school uniform not much unlike their own other than the pale purple accents, and Ito had to give him credit for apparently owning a business while in school.

Ito tipped their head to the side just slightly, watching as Crowley and the man stared each other down.

And then the man turned back to the trio and he smiled, spreading his arms wide in a slightly dramatic fashion that showed off the bone-like buttons on his shirt. “Hey hey, little ghouls!”

Enma’s lips twitched into a grin. “Dibs,” he whispered.

“Hey, we’re not gonna fight you. We get enough bad jokes with just you,” said Ito, holding their free hand up in a kind of mock surrender.

“Actually,” started Crowley. “They will be deciding who their employees are.”

Enma pouted lightly, but quickly gave up the act. It wasn’t like it didn’t make sense.

Crowley smiled and came to stand behind them, resting his hands on Enma and Ito’s shoulders and squished the Yuus closer to each other before shoving them toward the two men. The motion wasn’t unlike a proud man showing off a line of trophies. “These are the misfortunate students that I mentioned.”

“My name is Enma Yuuken. It’s nice to meet you,” he introduced himself, smiling politely.

Kuroki shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Kuroki Yuuya.”

“I’m Jules, but you can call me Ito,” they said, giving them a wave and a grin. “I use they/them pronouns.”

They could see the guy with white hair carefully file the information away before nodding, a businessman’s smile making its way across his face. “My name is Azul Ashengrotto. I’m the owner of the Mostro Lounge, a fine establishment on campus, located within the Octavinelle dormitory.”

Ito tipped their head to the side. His name was Azul? Ignoring the fact that his name was literally just the color blue, which was unfortunate but still not as unfortunate as being named Deuce, they were shocked to hear any Spanish in the new world. Was it a language there? Ace had said that he had never heard it before, so that implied that the answer was no, but if this guy was named it… was it a coincidence?

“I am looking for someone to join my waitstaff. I have been informed that, despite my staff’s superior training, some of my workers are seen as ‘unsettling’ and ‘intimidating’.” Azul gave what he clearly assumed to be a sad look, shaking his head, but it came off as exasperated more than anything. “I need someone who will not scare off my customers.”

Now, he examined them. His eyes passed right over Enma, who stood a good thirty centimeters taller than both Kuroki and Ito, to scrutinize the shorter pair.

“I think Yuuya-san would be the best fit for my workplace,” he decided.

Ito knew it was because Kuroki was currently holding onto both Enma and Ito like they were lifelines and shrinking back into his jacket as if hoping it would swallow him and hide him from view, making him unintimidating to even the most cowardly of squirrels…

But it was also way more amusing for them to shake their head and mutter “Racism”.

The man that had yet to introduce himself smiled widely, amusement glimmering in his eyes. Ito decided that they liked him, even if his first words to them had been a terrible joke regarding his strange clothing theme.

Azul spluttered, slightly slimy expression dropping in horror, and started to try and explain himself: “Nonono, I assure you, I was not –!”

“It’s fine, blancito, I’m just messing with you,” they said, expression bright even as they watched him carefully for any understanding.

He relaxed slightly at the words, before sending a tiny glare.

But he didn’t recognize the term. They could see that in the slight furrowing of his brows.

Hm. The name was just a weird coincidence, then.

They pushed down the slight disappointment that threatened to rear its head in favor of looking to the unnamed man.

“Now, I’m Sam. I work at the school store – Sam’s Shop, maybe you’ve heard of it.” He looked between the two remaining options before shrugging his shoulders, still smiling that casual little smile. “I need someone that can help me lift boxes and, sorry Ito-kun, but I don’t think you’re strong enough for some of the things you might need to handle.”

That made sense… and they were happy to watch as Enma’s eyes lit up, pleased that he had ended up getting to work with the man even if he hadn’t gotten to choose…

But the man was raising an eyebrow at them challengingly, surely aware of what they were so tempted to say.

And they were not one to back down from a challenge.

“Racism,” they said again, sighing with mock sadness.

Only to feel a sudden, sharp pain in their forehead.

They blinked. It hadn’t hurt, really, but they were surprised.

They rubbed the spot absently. If they hadn’t known better, they would have thought that someone had flicked them in the forehead, but they hadn’t seen anyone do so. Maybe a bug had flown into them?

They let it go. Magic world. Weird things. Whatever.

Besides, they had more pressing things to think about: “Wait, if they’re not taking me, what’s going to be my job –?”

They turned to look at Crowley for answers, only for it to hit them.

Shit, they thought.

“Oh,” they said instead.

The smile he always seemed to wear spread ever wider. “I’ve been thinking about getting an assistant for a while now...”

~

After talking to their respective new bosses alone, they start heading back to Ramshackle Dorm. They needed to pick up Grim before he lit something important on fire, make sure that Ace hadn’t died, make sure the ghosts weren’t trapping the place in hopes of making one of them join them – you know how it is.

“I have an interview this weekend,” Kuroki said, swinging the hand he had in Enma’s absently.

Ito raised an eyebrow. “You have to go through a whole interview process?”

“Yeah, something about a background check,” Kuroki said with false casualness.

Enma frowned. “None of us… can pass a background check,” he said slowly. “We don’t exist.”

He only shrugged.

It was quiet for a minute before Ito sighed and broke the silence: “I’m in charge of getting the library in order.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Kuroki said quickly, glad for the change in topic.

“Well, apparently, there’s no librarian. They’ve just been trusting the students to put things back in their rightful place when they’re done with them.”

“... isn’t this place made up of mostly teen boys?” Enma said, amused.

“Exactly. Remember when I found those books on dimension travel? It was a mess,” they said. Then, they threw their hands up in mock frustration. “They don’t even have the Dewey Decimal System, guys, they’re so disorganized.”

Enma gasped, eyes wide in false horror. “No! They don’t have a Dewey Decimal System?! How?!”

They shook their head slowly. “I know, I know. I have to start working there later today, this needs to be rectified at once.”

(As if they had an option. None of them really had the funds to stall on the whole ‘working’ thing, especially not if Kuroki didn’t even have a chance at getting his job for another couple of days.)

“I’m starting later, too,” Enma said. His lips twitched. “Think I can convince Sam-san that we’re all super sad, poor, unfortunate students and get a discount?”

Kuroki grinned. “Gonna have to. If thaumarks are anything like yen, Grim-chan is going to bleed us dry by the end of the week. I already owe him two cans of tuna, we’re screwed.”