-previously-

"Just don't expect me to go easy on you three. Charlotte can handle herself when it comes to her dancing and singing, but you three are my next obstacle."

......

"My name is Rook Hunt. The motto of my life is to search for beauty, and saving beauty. For I-" He stood up and placed his hat back on, continuing, "-am the Roi chasseur d'amour. Pleased to meet you all."

......

himself will fall before her, no matter their strength or power. And if I see you or that pompous leader of yours harm her in ANY way, I'll make you regret it! So stay away from her or else. Got it?"

——————————

-Yet another Three days later...-

-Vocal & Dance Championship Audition Day-

The day was finally here and our first year squad had never felt more nervous, courageous and sick in their lives. Despite Charlie's word of motivation, there was still a pit of nervousness implanted in their hearts. Even going through the mirror hall and through the portal, and making it to the lounge did the nerves increase. It took Charlie just now to see the banner with the Pomefiore Crest hanging outside the building: deep purple with royal purple, dark gold stars and crescent moon shapes dotting the background, and the dorm name written in cursive across the top. Above the crest was a high white collar and a magnificent gold crown, and smack in the center was a dagger piercing a poisoned apple. Contrasting with the large red banner it was stitched onto.

"Whoaaa....there's so many people here to audition!" Grim awed at the crowd.

"Looks like there's more than fifty..." Ace muttered, scanning the room.

"N-Now I'm nervous..." Deuce's hands were shaking. "I-I'm likely to f-forget the words I memorized!"

"No, Deuce! Don't start!" Charlie made him face her. 'You've come too far to back down! We're gonna blow the roof off this place with our dance! Don't think about passing out on me! If you were Ace, I'd let you hit the ground and not give a damn until I notice you."

"Hey!!!" Ace said, offended.

"Oho! The ADeuce duo and our Ramshackle pair! You're here for the VDC auditions as well?" She whipped around to find the source of the voice.

"Cater!" she smiled. "You're going for this as well?"

"Of course, Charlie-chan!" he smiled. "Since we're the school hosting it, Vil's a part of the event too! Being part of the event with a celeb that's got over 5 million followers online, it's worth the memorabilia!"

"Deuce isn't acting like himself, but I guess it's nice to see that the pressure's not affecting you..." Ace joined the two.

"Eh~? I thought everyone was here for a similar purpose. Look over there." Cater pointed over to where Ruggie was humming to himself.

"Eh, singing's not my strongest attribute....maybe my dancing can make up for it. That 5 million madol reward's as good as mine!"

"Wha- he's aiming for the money!" Grim's jaw dropped.

"Oh? Cater, you're here. Nice to see you." an all too familiar voice spoke up, whilst hanging upside down like usual.

"WAHHHHHHH!!!!" the guys screamed. But Charlie, just stumbled back a bit at the sudden appearance.

"Such strong reactions." Lilia flipped rightside up and stood by Cater. "Your dorm's as spontaneous as ever."

"Lilia-chan...you know that scares them outta their minds."

"Hey, I know you...you gave me that card when everyone got back for the new term!" Charlie, having seen his face more clearly, claimed. The third year saw the girl and smiled as he approached her.

"But of course. Lilia Vanrouge at your service." He took her hand in his and kissed the back, his lips ghosting over her skin like a feather.

"Wait, a card...?" Grim thought back. "Right, you said you got a holiday card from someone when we got back! Was it from him?"

"The initials written weren't mine, though." Lilia denied. "It's not that difficult to know who gave it to you."

Charlie nodded, remembering the name. Even thinking about it shook her mind. If that was possible.

"Did you come for auditions as well?" Cater steered them back.

"Yes. Being in the Light Music Club, I just had to take part after hearing there was singing involved. I did ask Malleus if he wanted to join, but he declined saying he didn't want to be the center of attention. He's such a shy person despite his appearance."

"Uh, I think being shy is not the word you're looking for..." Cater whispered to himself, then spoke up, "But you're pretty strong-willed to get someone like him out of his comfort zone."

"Since this is a school event, it'd be better if he takes up challenges for the first time in a while." Lilia shrugged. "And what of Trey? What did he say?"

"Well I did tell him, but like you, I got shot down...He needed to give Riddle an extra set of hands for setting up." Cater whined and Lilia nods understanding. "But that's something we both share. Maybe for the occasion, let's get a pic to commemorate."

"Sure. Join us, little ones." Lilia beckoned the group.

"Uh, you sure you want us in it?" Deuce was skeptical.

"We weren't rejected, FYI." Grim scowled.

"C'mon, go with the flow!" Cater urged. With some convincing, the others crowded in as Cater tilted the phone up at an angle and snapped it faster than lightning. All were smiles but Deuce, who frowned. Cater started tying away with the hashtags, "#NRC, #VDC Auditions, #We're gonna pass!, #Dumpies". A few button clicks, and "Uploaded!"

"Hey, question: I know Diasomnia's all formal and whatnot due to Malleus being your leader, but you're a lot more friendlier than I imagined..." Ace asked. "Or maybe I'm just too scared about the dark auras surrounding you guys..."

"Well, I mean, you, me, and Riddle-kun are all different, right?" Cater points out.

"You're right, actually." Deuce nodded, "Riddle is pretty scar- uh, well disciplined after all. So, I wonder what part of us the Mirror of Darkness considers to be fitting for a certain dorm..."

"You'd learn something new with the people you encounter on a daily basis." Lilia chuckled. "Look over there-" he points towards another part of the room where a slew of students were mashed together. "Ignihyde is known for people who don't want to stand out. Yet there's a few who are here for auditions."

"Oh hey! There's Idia younger bro! It's rare to see him by himself." Cater was surprised.

" 'Younger bro'...but he looks like he's in elementary school! But that hero suit of his suits him." Ace shrugs.

"You guys just came in this year and you still don't know.....Both him and his brother, Ignihyde's leader: Idia Shroud, were accepted together." Cater whispered.

"What?!"

"Together? Is that even allowed....?" Charlie asked.

"It's my first time being in class with Idia this year, so the details are still blurry..." Cater frowned. "They're in the same classes, and the teacher's don't mind it."

"No matter how close they are, normal people don't bring their brother with them to school together no less..." Deuce whispered.

"Idia's such a bad brother complex..." Grim shook his head.

"DON'T YOU THINK ABOUT BADMOUTHING NII-SAN!" A young voice chided, and the group looked over to see the mentioned right in front of them.

"What's with people and their hearing?!" Ace whispered fiercely. "We were ten meters away from him in this noisy-ass room!"

"I can hear human whispers from over 50 meters away through a directional mic nii-san installed in me!" Ortho claimed.

"Well, then. That's certainly surprising." Lilia rose an eyebrow. "Only Fairies and Orcs can have good hearing such as that."

"Eheh! Totally! My Nii-san is awesome!...anyhoo," Ortho giggled as he straightened himself. "Besides the point, we had already received the headmaster's permission to attend the school together. He didn't bring me because he felt lonely!" He glared slightly at the group.

"Oh! Right....s-sorry bout that." Cater stutters. "The Shroud bros are a mystery like the Seven Wonders of this school. We just got carried away talking about you."

"Don't worry, it's alright!" Ortho chirps. "I didn't mean to overreact. I just don't want Nii-san to be misunderstood by others..." he frowned.

"No, it's fine." Charlie smiled gently. "You just want to protect him. I know that feeling myself." she smiled sadly remembering her own siblings. Ortho looked up and stared at her.

"Exactly! Thank you, Charlotte-Luchessi-San!"

"Also, you came here to audition for VDC as well?" Cater asked.

"Yeah! Nii-san though...."

-flashback-

A tall figure stayed hunched over his keyboard, typing away furiously. While the tablet projected his voice.

"I may've told Riddle I was working on my research presentation. I've ran the simulation in my head thousands of times. I can't do it clearly in front of a crowd! But I don't want to incur Riddle's wrath...But after much trial and error, I've finally got a way to create a voice from storage to replace my own voice. Finally...I've got a program that'll naturally read the sentences while i type in real time! Flawless speaking that'll make others think it's my voice. Transitional that you don't even know it's a synthetic voice!" He turned towards the little bot. "Ortho, what say you? You think it's good? No one's gonna notice my voice now that It's coming from a machine, right?"

"Nice job, Nii-san! Very loud and clear!" Ortho cheers.

"I know, right? Wow....I've such a great voice! That way, I can answer with no drawbacks during the Q&A!" He laughed. "I knew it: science and technology can win against theory! I'm sorry....sorry for being such a genius!"

"Yeah! I think Riddle will be shocked by this!" But at that, Idia froze.

"U-uh, no! Until the presentation is over, don't speak a word of this to Riddle. Wait until he looks all smug and says 'See? You can do it if you try' yea? Then I'll say, 'You didn't notice I was lip-syncing? Haha! Amateur~!' Now he's the one who'll look like a fool!"

"Ugh, Nii-san! Stop being mean to your juniors!" Ortho sighed sadly.

"It's all good." Idia shrugs. "He may be younger than me, but his experience as a dorm leader is far excelled than mine so then he'd be my senpai. Still....the world of sound and acoustics is pretty deep, huh...Virtual idols are popular lately, so maybe I'll try some of those vocal synthesizers on you, too..."

"Sounds cool! I wanna try singing!" Ortho clapped.

"Then leave it all to me!"

-end flashback-

"And that's what happened! Nii-san became addicted to creating vocal synthesizers. And since he did this with a passion, I'm gonna give it a test run and see how it works out! So that's how I ended up here!"

"Seriously?! You created a program that lets you sing like that?!" Ace was confused.

"Hahaha! As expected from the child of an engineer of Ignihyde. He'd do something quite revelating." Lilia laughs.

"That actually does sound pretty cool!" 'Kinda like vocaloid in a way...' Charlie nods. "Maybe that's how some music artists sing live in concert if their throats can't actually sing due to sickness or a hoarse voice..." she thought.

"Programming a synthetic voice software, creating a song and uploading it is really fun!" Cater grabbed his phone. "Kinda similar to Electro pop."

"Yea, I don't get it..." Grim piqued.

"You don't watch virtual idols?" the ginger asks. "Lemme get the video up." he taps away and holds up his phone. "Hold on, there's an ad we gotta get through, first. It'll be a second."

The commercial appeared and there on screen stood a tall guy with short shiny black hair in a white and gold uniform, with what looked like a hand-knitted sweater, blue with red accents on top, cascading to a fair yellow at the bottom. Underneath was a gingham collared shirt and red bowtie, whilst pinned to the lapels of the white jacket were bird pins and a red-gemmed brooch. He dons a black and red beret as well.

"Hey, did you know about a magical drink that can relieve your stress with one sip?"

The image flashes with bright light and the boy stood there, holding a soda can in hand with a cheerful smile.

"It's fizzy and refreshing! Deep red with a spark of love~ It's the newly released "Red Apple Soda~!"

"Oh, it's that ad!" Cater nods. "I'll probably go check if the school store sells that stuff, too~."

"Oh, That young man Neige was quite the topic during the Prefect's meeting, too. I heard that he will be participating in this year's VDC." Lilia recalled. "Remember Charlotte?"

The girl nodded absentmindedly, but a few seconds of connecting the dots later, she flew into a frenzy. "Wait, Hold the phone. THAT'S Neige?!" she snatched Cater's phone from him and stared at the screen intently with huge eyes. She didn't know what to think or say at this point, but stare at the cute guy until his face was burned into her memory.

"Wait! A famous celeb is gonna be a part of this?!" Ace heard as his mouth dropped open.

"No wonder people are so determined to get in....we need to take this seriously then..." Deuce thought.

"Maybe if I get into this somehow, I can get a pic with Neige-kun?" Cater asked as he calmly took his phone back from Charlie's iron grip.

"Cater-senpai, you're still on about that?" Ace sighed.

"Well, I mean, Neige-kun is the hottest Magicamegrammer. This chance is once in a blue moon, no? I'll go viral when people see the photos!"

"Oi, Cater! Can't see the video if you're holding it to your face like that!" Grim squirmed up onto his shoulders to get a better view.

"I can play the video on the wall with the projector installed in me if you'd like?" Ortho offers.

But all conversation stopped when the main doors to the ballroom were thrown open.

"Enough with your jabbering!" a voice commands.

All eyes turned to see:

"Crap! I-It's Too bright!!" Deuce squinted away, being flashed by sparkles.

"I can't see anything!!" Grim literally saw stars, and nearly fell to the floor.

"You all should know by now who I am. No one here should not know that. But as proper, an introduction is in order." Vil strode forward, his robes dragged behind as he walked forward. "I am Pomefiore's dorm leader, Vil Shoenheit. Today, the headmaster has entrusted me to find the next stars for the VDC. Auditions begin now. Rook-" he turned towards his right. "-they're yours."

"Oui, Roi dus Poissons." Rook steps forth. "Rook Hunt, vice leader of Pomefiore. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He bows.

"So the weirdo who accepted applications is really the vice leader?" Grim asked himself. "Wow..."

"We shall be watching you perform the given piece. And shall be judging you based on the lyrics as well as your dancing. We'll be calling up three people at a time. Please come inside once your names are called."

Charlie stood straighter with her game face on. It's time to kick ass.

——————————

In the ballroom, the auditions took place. Everyone stood in the waiting room as people were called in.

"Alright, then! We shall start! The first entry....music start!" Rook commands. Ruggie steps up to bat as the two third years watch:

Nejireta rizumu de odorou

Utsumuku haru iji mo aikyou sa kamawanai yo

Chotto warui kurai ga ii jya nai?

Rook was competely ecstatic, "Monseiur Dandelion, such light steps, A captivating smile! Valiantness and loveliness ae such a melodic duo! Beaute! 100!"

However, Vil was another story...."His movement is pretty good....but it still looks messy overall. Next!"

Next was Cater.

"Monseiur Magicam! Vocals shine bright as diamonds! It's wonderful! I wish to hear it everyday! Beaute! 100!"

"Both are accurate...but not an ounce of passion....NEXT!"

Lilia: Third time's the charm.

"Monseiur Curiosity. A mellow tone that differs from that adorable body, so alluring....Beaute! 100!"

"I'm not sure why... I just can't sense a high schooler's youthfulness from Lilia... Next!"

Ortho? Add him to the Vocaloid roster, please!

"Monseiur Doll. Such novelty....such smooth dancing and vocal, I can't look away... Beaute! 100!"