The sun peeked lazily over the misty ridge, casting golden streaks through the academy's clouded windows. Reika stood in front of the stove, spatula in one hand, a cracked egg in the other, wearing an apron that clearly didn't belong to him. "KAIRO'S KITCHEN KOLISEUM!" Kairo bellowed from the living room. "Today's combatants: Reika 'the Reluctant Flame' vs. breakfast itself!"
Farl leaned over the kitchen counter, drooling audibly at a half-cooked pancake. "He's gonna burn it again."
"I heard that," Reika muttered, flipping the pancake with a sizzle.
Behind him, Aira waltzed in like a breeze off marble floors. Her short, navy-blue gown swayed just above her knees, perfectly pressed and oddly unwrinkled for someone in a combat dorm. Blue hair tied in a silky ribbon, green eyes sparkling like wet grass, she hummed a soft tune as she stood beside Reika.
"Let me help," she said sweetly, picking up a bowl and whisking it with almost no idea what she was doing. Flour exploded everywhere.
Vivi and Mira appeared at the same time.
"Oh look," Mira said flatly, "an heiress cosplaying as a chef."
"Just appeared out of the blue, didn't she?" Vivi added, folding her arms. "No history, no files—just poof. Rich girl drops from the sky."
Aira blinked innocently. "I've always been here… Reika remembers me."
Reika glanced back. "We moved a lot… but yeah. She's not lying."
Vivi and Mira exchanged suspicious looks. Mira narrowed her eyes. "Convenient."
Before Aira could respond, Farl bit into a raw potato and coughed dramatically. Reika turned around to scold her, and in that moment—
BOOM.
The stove exploded, sending flour, eggs, and magical runes shooting in every direction. A glowing mark flared on the cracked stove, a ghostly echo from the ice cream curse. Reika dove forward, covering Aira as a frying pan spiraled like a chakram past his ear.
"OH MY GODS!" Kairo shouted. "He's dying for breakfast!"
Mira was already tracing a barrier rune in the air. "The curse—it was hiding in the stove! It's siphoning heat!"
The air turned cold and thick. From the stove's remnants, a flaming spectral maw rose—a small mimic-like spirit of burnt cooking magic, squealing in high-pitched fury.
"THE PANCAKES ARE MAD!" Farl howled and leapt behind the counter.
Reika launched a blast of flame at the mimic. It shrieked and evaporated into black mist, leaving the kitchen in smoky chaos and everyone dusted in batter and soot.
-___
As they opened the windows to let the smoke out, the sky turned dark. Raindrops tapped softly at the roof. The sunlight vanished beneath thick, grey clouds.
Then the power went out.
"…Perfect," Kairo muttered. "This place has the budget of a soggy carrot."
Outside, sheets of rain fell. Thunder growled low and close, shaking windowpanes. The group lit candles and gathered in the common room, bundled in blankets.
"Board games?" Farl suggested, holding up a dusty box.
"Sure," Kairo said. "As long as it doesn't eat us."
They cracked open an old game labeled The Labyrinth of You. Oddly pristine for its age. Mira raised an eyebrow. "This shouldn't even be in the academy."
Reika shrugged. "Looks harmless."
They set it on the table. Pieces moved themselves. The board shimmered—and without warning—
Everything shifted.
The room warped, stretched, and twisted. Suddenly they stood in a massive stone labyrinth, walls endlessly high, lit only by flickering torchlight. A deep voice echoed through the maze.
"To escape, confront the version of yourself you've hidden. Or be lost forever."
Vivi spun around. "We are NOT playing games like this again."
Aira looked terrified. She reached for Reika, who gently took her hand. "It's alright. We'll find the way out."
Mira, watching, pressed her lips together, saying nothing.
As they split up, each person was separated into individual mirror corridors. Whispers filled the air. The walls shimmered with false versions of them—smiling, angry, crying, broken.
Vivi punched her mirror.
Mira walked calmly past hers.
Kairo yelled at his.
Farl offered hers a cookie.
But Reika's illusion didn't take his shape.
It took Aira's.
"Do you feel the same way I do?" the fake-Aira asked him, standing close. "Or am I just another pretty face from your past?"
Reika didn't answer. He looked up at the real Aira standing a few steps behind, watching silently, eyes wide. She wasn't supposed to hear that.
But she did.
He stepped through the illusion, took her hand again, and didn't let go.
Back in the Real World:
The game ended. The labyrinth faded. Everyone stood in the common room again, slightly breathless.
Aira turned to the others. "I don't know why you think I'm part of a conspiracy. But I'm not hiding anything."
Her voice wavered slightly.
That slight nervous crack was all Vivi and Mira needed to hear.
Mira leaned into Vivi and whispered, "She is hiding something."
Vivi nodded. "But what?"
Kairo sprawled on the couch, exhausted. "If this keeps up, I'm starting a cult. A cult of naps."
Reika stood by the window, watching the rain.
Aira joined him, brushing her shoulder against his.
He looked at her, eyes calm.
She smiled gently. "Still think I appeared out of the blue?"
"…No," he said. "But the storm sure did."