Academia: The House of Lionheart

IX

Oh, how much of an adventure Roiru had while acquiring the familiars of all the Lionhearts — it would be one he wouldn't forget. At least for the parts he was awake for. Now, they had three little critters running around their common room, causing more mayhem than the Lionhearts ever did. The bigger familiars rested on the second floor with all the space they could ever want to themselves, but Ariella had to bide at the dragon tower near the Grandmaster's Square.

Now that their familiar contracts were complete, they'd swirl into reality beside the Lionhearts when they call their servants by name. At least, they should — the younger critters were more unruly than not and often refused to respond for a while. Needless to say, they ran into some trouble because of it.

"Help!" yelled Luna, bursting through the door to the common room. "Yuki's running through the corridors."

"Yuki? Call her back," said Roiru, but Luna's fox had a thing for mischief.

"She's ignoring my summons," it was the only day the Lionhearts had off from training, but they all went to help Luna with the problem child of the bunch.

"Yuki!" said the Lionhearts, searching throughout the tower of houses, "Yuki!"

"It's no use," said Luna, "If calling her would bring her back, she'd have responded to me already."

"Right," said Raiden, "Let's split up and search the different parts of the academy. Eliona, let's go to the southern—"

"Why do I have to pair up with you?" said she, snapping at him.

"Well, fine — Roiru's obviously gonna go with his brother, so I'm taking Sebastian to the southern parts of the castle."

"Huh? Me?" said Sebastian.

"You don't want to either?"

"Well, it's not that I don't want to . . ."

"We don't have time for this! What if Yuki gets outside the academy's walls," yelled Luna.

"You're right, let's go," said Raiden. He stole Eliona's arm and dragged her through the halls. Roiru and Ren ran up north with Reign, and all that was left was Sebastian with the bickering girls.

"No way," he muttered under his breath. He didn't want to get in the crossfire of their tension, so he vanished into the crowd behind Eliona and Raiden, leaving the pair to their devices.

Roiru, Ren, and Reign made a good team — their eyes combined, they scoured every inch of the Great Northern Hall. It was particularly bothersome around the other students, however — they'd trip them, shove them, and call them mongrels and mutts.

"Oi!" said Roiru, calling the students' attention in the great hall. Ren tried to quiet him down, but he had no bad intention. "Come on, Ren. What do you take me for? Everyone! Has anyone seen a small golden fox with two tails running around?"

"A familiar?" sneered one of the cadets closest to them, "The Lionhearts can't even keep their servants under their command?"

"Actually," said another, further down the hall. The cadet stood from his seat, leaving his food behind to speak with them. "I did see a two-tailed kit running towards the central tower."

A wave of whispers and snickers overcame the cadets — was there something wrong with the southern tower?

"Ya know, towards that room."

"That room? Where?"

"I suppose you'd obviously be ignorant of the castle's mysteries considering your newfound conscription. It's a seemingly empty floor beneath the Regent's chamber. There, you could feel your feet vibrating with the muffled screams in the floor. Some have said they've heard the walls shifting when visiting the grandmaster. Others claim to have seen bricks moving in the corner of their eye.