“…nd as you can see, the team system was only formed in…” Ferris said, before squinting at her board again. “…4920, I guess. Initially, it was founded to help mitigate the stupid amount of lives lost during the previous two Wailing Wars, if that were to ever happen again, which it did, because obviously it did…”

“Julia?”

Julia looked up from her notebook. “Yeah?”

“Are you taking notes?” Sola asked, as Julia nodded back. “Can I borrow them later? I hate listening to Ferris.”

“Hey, Julia? Can I do the same?” Harley asked, leaning over Julia’s other side. “You’d really be helping us out.”

“I can take notes for you!”

Harley turned up to Avalon in the seats above them, proudly holding out his notebook. “I have very clean penmanship.”

“No one cares about your penmanship…” Acadia grumbled beside him, as Harley snickered a little.

“I have notes I can offer.” Essex piped up, handing a page over to Avalon, as he happily took them.

“See, that’s what kindness looks like!” Avalon proclaimed. “Thank you…uhh…”

“Essex.” Wess chimed in, keeping up the best with Ferris’ lecture, as Leandra glared down at her.

“Oh, you would know that, wouldn’t you?” Leandra complained, drawing the confused looks of most of the others in Team Exemplary.

“I heard someone was offering spare notes. I can’t keep up with her yammering, so gimme.” Roman asked Team Valiant, as Julia was struggling to keep writing.

“Neither can I. Everyone won’t stop talking.” Julia said, before giving up. “Ugghhh…I’ll copy off Wess later.”

Ferris noticed the people talking further up the lecture hall, but couldn’t be bothered to interrupt them.

“…and as you’d expect, the Wailing eventually adapted, and then we adapted too…” Ferris said, tapping her fingers against her desk while getting a long look at the class she was failing to teach, all basically checked out and doing their own thing.

Ferris kept drumming her fingers, before stumbling onto an idea and grabbing her sword from behind her desk, as she walked to the middle of the stage.

A few students picked up on what she was doing, as she heaved it a few times, before throwing it directly into the air, shooting straight up, as she used her Whil to sharpen it and stick it directly into the ceiling with an audible thud.

The class immediately perked up, all staring wide-eyed at the embedded sword, before Ferris tapped on her desk.

“Have I got your attention?” Ferris rhetorically asked.

The class remained in a silent awe, as she pulled herself toward the board. “Alright, I’m changing the lesson plan. This is your first class after coming back from break, and frankly, I’m sick of teaching this shit and you’re not learning anything anyway…”

“She can do that?” Julia wondered, looking to the rest of the team in confusion, as Ferris started writing a few things up on the board.

After a couple of minutes, she went back to her desk, before pointing at what she’d written.

“I’ve got one thing to teach you today.” Ferris stated, as the board showed a couple crude illustrations with numbers next to them. “I’m gonna give you a few scenarios. You’re gonna tell me what the connection between them is.”

Roman raised his hand, as Ferris groaned and pointed at him.

“Do we get anything for a correct answer?” Roman asked, as the class murmured a bit.

“Get anything?” Ferris repeated, scratching her chin. “…sure. Whoever gets the answer right first gets a…”

“A trophy?” Harley called out, as Ferris glared at her.

“No, not a…” Ferris complained, massaging her eyes. “…fuck it, you get a high-five or something. Or the accomplishment of learning stuff. Whichever you want.”

“She has to bribe us to learn?” Wess pointed out, leaning back in her seat, as Julia scratched her chin.

“…I’d complain, but to be honest, I kinda want that high-five.” Julia admitted, as Sola nodded beside her.

“Let’s do it for the high-five!”

“Alright, shut up! First story!” Ferris said, slamming the part of the board showing a scared person next to a pair of skis, with a giant number one beside them. “Listen cause I hate repeating myself! Okay…”

We focus on man, as he’s about to open up a ski resort. Really fancy one too, in the mountains. Just for some perspective, let’s say it’s in the Northern Wayside.

He’s getting ready to open, wh-

“What’s his name?”

Ferris stared up at the stands, as all eyes were on Avalon.

Ferris blinked. “…the man’s name?”

“Yes, obviously.” Avalon asked, as Claudius cleared his throat beside him.

“Nobody cares, Avalon.”

“Well, I do. Go on, Ferris.” Avalon goaded, proudly facing Ferris again, as she just took a second.

“His name…man…fred.” Ferris replied. “Manfred. Now shut up.”

Okay, Manfred was getting ready to open, but had yet to inspect the interior. So he started heading inside, only to come across weird noises and scratch marks he couldn’t explain. Eventually, he was left fleeing the resort in shock after realising a Wailing was inside, before hiring a team to take care of it.

“…we all good? We’re paying attention?” Ferris asked, before getting some half-decent nods from the class. “Okay, story two.”

She pointed to the board again, depicting another person walking through…snow? Along with a large V over their head and a number two next to them.

“We cut to a Venator…”

She’s trawling through the mountains, out on a hunt for a Wailing. She’s been separated from her team due to a blizzard but figures she can make it back to camp alone. One thing leads to another, and she finds a shelter.

However, the moment she finds it, she sees the Wailing she’s hunting occupying it. Around it were her team’s weapons, and in a fit of rage, she lashes out against it, chasing it off. Once she does, she notices her teammates coming out from the snow, as one of them manages to get a shot off on it as it runs away.

“Okay, story three.” Ferris prefaced, just as Wess raised a hand.

“Miss Ferris, if we could have a seco-“

“Nope, I’m not slowing down. Learn to keep up.” Ferris argued, slamming the board again, this time on the part with a person wearing a hardhat next to a crude O2 symbol, with a giant number three. “This one’s in a mine…”

We find a man trapped within a mine, slowly losing oxygen as he’s hemmed in from every which way. The interior keeps shaking over and over, as rubble falls from the ceiling, causing his breathing to get more and more desperate.

He sees other miners around him, terrified out of their gourd, all complaining about earthquakes and wanting to get home. He starts thinking about his family and figures he’s had enough, as he starts clawing his way out through the rocks, before just managing to break free.

“Alright, that’s all three.” Ferris concluded, sitting back against her desk. “Now you’ve gotta figure out what they all have in common. Go.”

The class looked around confused, as Ferris rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

“I’m letting you go. Roam about. Head to the library and learn some shit.” Ferris argued. “You’ve got the rest of the day to figure it out. If you don’t feel like doing it, I don’t care. Just have the courtesy to not hang around here and stare at me awkwardly.”

The class took the initiative and started roaming about, some sticking around to work the problem, while others got up and left soon after, with excited murmuring going about all in favour of the new lesson plan.

“…alright. I’ve written most of i-“ Wess explained, only to notice the rest of the team staring at her doe-eyed. “…yes, you can borrow my notes.”

“Hooray!” Sola cheered, jumping out of her seat. “Let’s head to the study area! We’re so getting this first!”

“Race ya!” Harley added, only to immediately fall over the back of her chair and into Team Exemplary. “Ow!”

She accidentally looked up at a smug Avalon, before pointing angrily at him. “If you make this into a ‘falling for you’ pun, you’re mincemeat.”

“I wasn-“ Avalon started, only for Harley to climb over him and continue her race with Sola. “…see how she flirts with me?”

“That’s entirely not what she was doing.” Leandra groaned, as the rest of Team Valiant chased after Harley and Sola. “We should hurry if we’re gonna beat Wess at this.”

Team Exemplary all got up to leave, just as Acadia was left sitting alone awkwardly.

“Wess isn’t even the leader…”

———

Meanwhile…

Florey patiently waited in the elevator, holding a large number of jam-packed documents to his body, before the elevator eventually hit the seventh floor, opening up to him.

He hurried out, quickly tracking down Cassidy’s desk, before making his way over and dropping the documents off, just catching her attention as he did so.

“Oh, hey.” She greeted, spinning around in her chair, before picking them up. “Wow, you’re really clearing through these. I always worry with how much the bosses are sending you.”

“I can handle it. Helps keep me busy.” Florey insisted, resting his hands in his coat pockets. “Anything else for me to work on?”

“Just more of the same, really. Been kind of a slow week.” Cassidy admitted, grabbing a spray bottle and giving her plants a spritz. “We’re ramping up for the planning stages of the barrier around Detu City, so Ryan and Marcus are a little busy with that.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Florey said, recalling the radio reports talking about it, before an idea crossed his mind. “Hey…in the meantime, could I…suggest something to them?”

Cassidy cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

“Like, work for me to do.” Florey clarified. “I’ve been keeping up with their tasks for me, but…I was thinking I could do more of a personal project.”

Cassidy scratched her chin, before shrugging. “Go for it. I don’t really know their journey-map for you, but there’s no harm in floating the idea their way. What did you have in mind?”

Florey chuckled awkwardly. “It’s actually an idea I had back at the Venator Academy. Cecil seemed to like it at the time, and now that I’m here…”

“Gelatinous Wailing?”

Florey stared at her and blinked. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

“You left a doodle on the back of some paperwork the other day.” Cassidy noted. “Either that, or you’re really bad at animals.”

Florey laughed a little. “Gelatinous, you got me.”

“Well, good luck. You might wanna try Marcus. Ryan’s gonna be out for most of the week.” Cassidy noted, as Florey shuddered a little.

Of course…it’s always gotta be him…

“Let me know how it goes with them. He can be a little hard to reason with.” Cassidy remarked, before leaning in. “We tried to get him a chocolate cake for his birthday, and he nearly threw it out since it ‘wasn’t the right kind of chocolate.’”

“Yeah…that actually tracks.” Florey admitted, before making tracks himself. “Thanks for the advice.”

“No worries, Florey.”

———

“Alright, who’s got a good idea?”

Julia looked to the rest of Team Valiant around their table in the study area, as Sola raised a hand.

“We should get a share plate from the café!” Sola insisted, before the obvious hit her. “Oh, for the thing. Nah, I’m pretty stuck.”

“I have finished re-reading Wess’ notes.” Essex declared, handing them back. “It would seem events in the stories are connected, if only in minor ways.”

“Totally! I was thinking the same thing!” Harley agreed, winking back at Essex. “Looking at you, using that sexy brain of yours.”

Essex was a mix of confusion and embarrassment, as she turned to Julia for some level of comfort. “D-Do you have any ideas?”

Julia shook her head. “I’m drawing a blank. What do you think, Wess? You’re better at analysing narrative and themes.”

“Thank you.” Wess said, cleaning up her notes. “Well…there is a running theme of desperation and escape, most notably in escaping from the threat of death.”

Wess stroked her chin in thought. “Manfred escapes the Wailing, the Wailing escapes the Venators, and the miner escapes the mine. Fear of death, confinement, that sort of thing…but honestly, that’s a bit flimsy. There’s not much else to work with thematically. And knowing Ferris, she definitely means a literal connection.”

“Well in that case, I know our first clue.” Harley noted, drawing the table’s attention. “The Venators in the second story were the team called in the first, obviously. So the Wailing they’re chasing must’ve left the ski lodge and booked it into the mountains.”

“Oh yeah! That makes a ton of sense.” Sola agreed, jumping into Harley’s lap. “But how does the mine stuff fit into that?”

Harley shrugged noncommittally, before getting distracted and patting Sola’s head, as Julia stood up and wandered around a bit.

“Okay, so we know the first two are back-to-back…Manfred finds a Wailing in his ski lodge and hires Venators to hunt it down. One Venator comes across it and chases it off with her team.” Julia said, scratching her head. “And then a miner shows up…for some reason.”

“Perhaps the miner’s events are related in some way?” Essex suggested, idly staring at Harley and Sola’s PDA. “Such as the tremors being caused by the fight between the team and Wailing?”

“Or just the Wailing itself?” Wess added. “The Wailing could have run off to the mine and is hunting down the miners, and the miners mistook that as a cave in.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Julia noted. “The team didn’t take care of it, so it ran off and terrorised a local mine. That sounds like a pretty typical Wailing story.”

Julia thought on this, before tapping her head in thought and sitting back down.

“…it’s pretty weird for a mine to open in the Northern Wayside.” Julia pointed out. “Like, Central Point’s where basically all of them are.”

Wess patted her back. “This is one of Ferris’ narratives. Real world accuracy isn’t a top priority for her.”

“Neither is politeness.” Essex added, as Harley turned her head to laugh.

“Great! We already did it! Let’s go brag to Ferris!” Sola insisted, already getting out of her Harley’s lap, only for Julia to read over the notes again.

“I dunno. We should probably refine the idea a li…” She suggested, only to look up and find everyone except Wess leaving the study area. “…you know, right as I was saying it-“

“My thoughts exactly.” Wess chuckled, politely leading the way for her and Julia to head back to Ferris’ class.

———

Leandra bounced her leg in annoyance, staring off into the middle distance, as the rest of Team Exemplary chatted amongst themselves around their table. The rest of the library was pretty empty, and Leandra was having none of it.

“Stupid Team Valiant running off to who knows where just so we couldn’t snoop on them…probably just couldn’t face us without running off scared…”

“Face us in what?” Roman asked, resting himself on the table.

“In…knowledge. Shut up.” Leandra groaned, sliding further into her chair. “I bet they think they’re the best team in the whole freakin’ year, just cause they’ve fought, like, four times as many Wailing as us.”

“And with how well they did during the tournament.” Claudius added. “Wess ground-pounded Cyrus like it was nothing.”

“Don’t bring her up!” Leandra yelled, shooting up from her seat, before sitting back down. “We’re getting that answer first, no doubt about it.”

“What a well-made hat!” Avalon exclaimed, pointing at a folded paper hat Acadia had made out of their notes.

Leandra sank even lower into her seat. “Oh boy…”

———

“For the last time, no! It’s not a metaphor for ‘the innocence of man.’ I don’t even know what that means.” Ferris complained, leaning back and folding her arms.

Efrem pouted, before heading back to the other members of Team Beefcake. “Aww, you’re no fun…”

Ferris casually lay in her seat, taking a free moment to rest her eyes, casually watching her students bum around the class, all working away at their theories in their own time, right as Harley and Sola burst through the main door.

“We figured it out!” Sola cheered, as Ferris lifted her head and groaned.

“Of course it was her…”

“Better get that hand ready!” Harley bragged, just as Essex joined their side and raised her scythe.

“You’re terrible at telling stories!” Essex tried, only for Harley and Sola to insist she pull back, as Essex stepped away. “Relias!”

Ferris stared back at them, before bothering to get up. “Okay then. What’s the connection?”

“Easy!” Sola started, counting on her fingers. “The first storie…”

Right in the middle of Sola’s explanation, Julia and Wess managed to join back up with the team, as Julia read over Wess’ notes again.

“So? How does she look?” Wess asked.

“Mildly frustrated.” Essex explained. “I would assume.”

“Well, I was hoping for something a bit more off-colour from her.” Wess clarified. “Still, I bet sh-“

“Oh no…”

Wess and Essex turned back to Julia, as she scrawled over the notes again.

“Is something the matter?”

“Uhuh. I just realised we’re very wrong.” Julia said, right before noticing Sola proudly proclaiming to the class. “Shit!”

“And furthermore, th-“ Sola explained, only for Julia to cover her mouth, as Sola and Harley looking back at her in quiet confusion.

“Sorry! We didn’t update our notes yet! Sola was working from our first draft!” Julia tried to save, before turning to Sola and shaking her head.

Sola got the idea as Julia let her go, only for Ferris to audibly click her tongue.

“Yeah, nice save there, Julia.” Ferris said, before projecting to the class. “Did everyone hear that? Okay! Just so everyone’s on the same page, the stories are in fact in the same continuity! I’m guessing that’s a surprise to no one who even gave them a cursory glance!”

Ferris turned back to Team Valiant. “However, Team Valiant here were completely off base with their theory about how they’re connected! Especially Sola!”

Harley’s eye twitched, as Julia stretched a hand over to instinctively hold both her and Sola back.

“Get a better theory and come back to me!” Ferris insisted. “And just a reminder, I’m tryna teach you shit, so expect the unexpected!”

“I’ll teach her not to bad mouth…” Harley grumbled, as Julia directed them both to the door.

“Come on. I realised what we got wrong.” Julia admitted, right as Team Exemplary appeared at the entrance as well, with Avalon carrying a similar energy to what Sola had.

“Ferris! We’ve figured out your puzzle!” Avalon declared.

Avalon flourished his cape proudly.

“The stories all, in fact…take place in the same continuity!”

The class lay silent, as Ferris sat back down in her seat with her head in her hands, groaning loudly.

“I hate my life…”

———

“Where the hell is he?” Florey let out, scanning around the top floor of EHM. “I swear, those two are never in their offices…”

Just as he headed back to the elevator, the doors opened right in front of him, revealing Marcus staring blankly down at him.

“Marcus!” Florey let out accidentally, backing away slightly. He realised how loud he was and shied away, as Marcus lazily turned his head.

“Florey!” Marcus replied, before walking to and leaning over him. “What can I do for you?!”

“S-Sorry, I just…I needed to talk with you. I had a suggestion for something I could do.” Florey said, as Marcus raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been caught up on work for a while, and…well, I’ve been here a year already, so I wanted to…try…something bigger.”

Marcus gave him the same lazy glare, as Florey tried to look confident.

“…y-you see, back at the Venator Academy, I had this interest with the Gelatinous Wailing and wanted to try an autopsy.” Florey explained, his eyes darting to avoid looking at Marcus’. “And, well, now that I’m here, I thought I could follow up on that and try studying one in a proper environment. It’d be really useful data on their biological makeup and potential ways to dispatch with them way easier.”

Marcus gave it a few more seconds, before scribbling a note down on his various papers and looking back at Florey.

Florey waited a bit before speaking. “…is it alright if I do that?”

Marcus indicated back to Florey’s lab. “Tell you what…I’ll mull it over. We’ll see if that’s something to work into your schedule. For now, just keep up the workload.”

“Oh. Oh! Okay!” Florey excitedly thanked, almost bowing to Marcus. “Th-thank you, sir, I really appreciate it!”

“You look needy.” Marcus stated, as Florey suddenly stopped bowing, before Marcus left proper to head to his office.

Once Marcus was out of eyeshot, Florey shook his head in annoyance, before looking back up at the painting of Marcus and Cecil and finding himself smiling, focused on Cecil’s determined and prideful look.

“…don’t worry, I’m gonna make you proud.” Florey assured, happily heading back into his lab to continue his idle work.

———

“I was looking over the story again, and I noticed some things that didn’t get explained.” Julia stated, as the team headed to the academy library. “Ferris also said the stories were related, which makes me think she was telling them out of order.”

“But we figured it out, right?” Sola asked, jumping ahead. “Manfred called the Venators.”

“We don’t know that the Venators we see are the one’s he called.” Julia pointed out, right as they arrived at the library entrance. “Also, if they were hunting the Wailing at the ski lodge, why were they out in the snow during a blizzard?”

“Cause it…left.” Harley replied, before scratching her chin. “Huh. I guess we just assumed it did that.”

“Where would that leave the first narrative?” Essex asked, before finding a free table, as the team took their space on it.

“It’s sort of up in the air. I guess we can assume the Venators were out on a different hunt relating to this Wailing.” Wess suggested, sitting down in her seat. “Ferris has created quite the brain teaser.”

Just as the team started to get settled, Wess scratched her chin a bit. “…why hadn’t Manfred inspected the inside of the ski lodge yet?”

The others turned to her curiously, as Julia nodded along.

“Hey, yeah. He was ready to open, but he hadn’t even been inside his own resort?” Julia noted, as Sola nodded back.

“Hey, yeah! That’s weird as shit!” Sola agreed, as Essex poured over the notes again.

“…I have a suggestion.”

“Ooo, Essex has another idea.” Harley hyped up, as Essex smiled a little.

“What if…he had an eversion to going inside?” Essex reasoned. “Perhaps there was a reason for why he hadn’t entered that Ferris has not told us.”

Julia snapped her fingers, before pointing at Essex. “Great point, Essex. Something might have been holding him back from doing so.”

“Way to go, babe!” Sola cheered, hugging Essex’s side, as Essex instinctively pushed her away.

“I-I am happy to help, but please refrain from doing that so suddenly.” Essex insisted, as Sola blushed a little.

“Sorry. Got caught up in it.” Sola excused, as Essex shook her head.

“I will go and ask Ferris about this.” Essex said, getting up to head back to the class. “Dovono.”

“Alright, while Essex is doing that, you wanna start brainstorming some new theories, Sola?” Julia asked, as Sola jumped out her seat.

“I was just about to ask if we could do that!”

Julia smiled, as she tapped her fingers on the table in thought.

“Expect the unexpected…maybe we should look into things like real world events.” Julia suggested. “Ferris might be pulling from actual situations as inspiration, especially since she came up with this on the fly. Even then, there can’t be too many stories about mines in the Northern Wayside.”

“This is my forte, naturally.” Wess assured, as Harley bumped her side.

“And I’m everyone’s favourite sexy historian. We’ve got this.” Harley added, as the duo got up to do so.

“We’re making really good progress.” Julia admitted, finding her face getting redder. “Team Valiant for the win.”

“Look at them over there.” Leandra muttered, hiding behind the bookshelves, despite the rest of Team Exemplary being out in the open. “I bet they came to the library just to spy on our work, those scumbags.”

“Or to use the computers.” Roman noted, as Leandra swung her head around to him.

“Leandra, we’re trying to brainstorm here.” Avalon insisted. “Team brainstorm.”

Leandra raised a finger. “I’m helping. I’m gonna go steal answers from Team Valiant. Claudius.”

Claudius sat up a little, looking around nervously. “I’m up. I was paying attention.”

“We’re gonna do recognisance.” Leandra insisted, as Avalon stood up in his seat.

“Now, hold on. It won’t be fair if we go and copy answers from other teams.”

Acadia sat up frustratedly. “You literally offered them your notes, like, an hour ago.”

“Notes are different.” Avalon noted. “We’re doing this above-board, like Team Exemplary should. And I’m the leader, so that means we all agree. Now, how does the miner fit into all of this?”

Leandra gritted her teeth, before Roman tugged on her sleeve.

“Hey, I’ve got this. Go do your thing.” Roman insisted, giving a thumbs up. “I’ll distract him for you.”

Leandra found herself grinning, as she gave back an energetic thumbs up, before dragging Claudius along with her and shuffling over to Team Valiant’s table.

“So…Avalon.” Roman started. “Before we get stuck into this…who’s your favourite Venator?”

“Who’s my favourite?” Avalon exclaimed, before propping his feet up on their table. “As if I could pick just one! We could always go for the classic, Team Alpha, but I’ve personally always been more interested i…”

“Aww, Roman. He won’t shut up now.” Acadia complained, before Roman pointed back at Leandra and Claudius sneaking away. “…oh. I see. How long does she need?”

“About ten minutes. Try making another hat.” Roman suggested, as Acadia got to work, right as Leandra and Claudius worked their way through the bookshelves.

“Why am I helping in your spying efforts?” Claudius asked.

“Cause you’re quiet.” Leandra whispered. “Acadia and Avalon can’t keep their mouths shut, and Roman would probably trip over something by accident.”

Claudius raised an eyebrow. “Has that happened before?”

“Yes.” Leandra answered, just as they got close to Julia and Sola. “If we can get to Ferris before they can, we’ll…”

“…get a high-five?” Claudius answered.

“It’s more than a high-five.” Leandra insisted, skulking around the bookcase. “It’s more than a high-five…”

Claudius stared at her crouching, before chuckling to himself. “You’re a weird one.”

“You think they’ve got something in common?”

“Yeah! Ferris mentioned the miner was thinking about his family.” Sola pointed out while climbing over the table. “So what if he thought of his Venator team like a family?”

Julia scratched her head. “I dunno…it’s kind of a stretch. Like, why couldn’t he just be thinking abo…”

Julia stopped herself, as just out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Leandra and Claudius hiding very badly behind a bookcase.

She decided to ignore it, before giving it a closer look, as Sola noticed she was getting distracted, before spinning around and noticing them as well.

“Oh, hey Leandra!” Sola greeted, waving to her, as Leandra jumped pretty suddenly. “How’s your team been doing?”

“…decent.” She replied, still ‘hiding.’

“Is that Claudius behind you?” Julia asked.

“Yep.” Claudius replied, waving through the bookshelves.

Julia and Sola both looked at each other and shrugged, before turning back to them. “Hey, you guys wanna help us with something?”

Leandra took a beat, before standing up and revealing herself, as she frustratedly walked over to their table, followed by a far less embarrassed Claudius.

“We’re just trying to see if the miner’s related to anyone else in the story.” Julia pointed out, showing off their ideas scattered around the table. “Sola thinks he might’ve been part of the Venator team in the second story.”

“And that when he’s thinking of his family, he’s thinking of the team!” Sola insisted, as Leandra folded her arms and looked away.

“…it’s kind of a stretch.”

Sola pouted, before Julia grabbed for a couple more papers. “Did you guys come up with any good ideas?”

“Not really. Acadia keeps making these hat-“ Claudius started, only for Leandra to immediately shut him down.

“Don’t engage!”

“You’re the one who wanted to come over here.”

“Yeah, stealthily! Behind a bookshelf!”

“Yeah, a bookshelf. It’s full of gaps.” Claudius noted. “Did you really think they wouldn’t noti-“

“Shut up!” Leandra snapped, before giving her attention back to Julia and Sola. “Short answer, no.”

“Oh. Bummer.” Julia let out. “Man, Ferris came up with a good one here…”

Julia and Sola poured over their notes again, as Leandra caught a glimpse of some of their work, before scratching her nose.

“…he could still be related.”

Julia lifted her head. “Did you say something?”

Leandra kept avoiding looking at her. “…the miner could still be related to the Venator team. Like, he wasn’t a part of it, but the Venator we see is his sister or something…”

Julia’s eyes widened, as she nodded along and wrote a few things down. “That’s a really good point. Maybe that’s why the Wailing’s attacking the mine.”

“The Wailing’s…?” Leandra let out, as Julia connected a few other ideas.

“Whoa! That makes way more sense!” Sola let out. “Thanks, Leandra!”

“Yeah, thanks for that.” Julia smiled. “You guys wanna borrow some of our work?”

Leandra looked offended, before turning away and heading back to Team Exemplary’s table in a huff. “I-In your dreams! Like we need any of those! Come on, Claudius!”

Leandra stormed off, only for Claudius to stick around and take a couple.

“Thanks.” He said, pointing back at her. “Sorry about her. She’s a lot.”

“I noticed.” Julia remarked, getting a laugh from Claudius. “You can pretend you stole those from us.”

“Duly noted.” Claudius thanked, before heading off as well.

Ferris had finally managed to get comfy at her desk, using the murmuring of her students as a comfortable white noise, before Essex burst through the main door, panting.

“Miss Ferris!”

Ferris looked up. “You don’t have to yell.”

“Does Manfred have an eversion to enclosed spaces?!”

Ferris blinked suddenly. “What?”

“What is the reason Manfred hadn’t entered the ski lodge until now?”

Ferris kept blinking, before leaning back in her seat. “I already told you.”

Essex looked puzzled, before Ferris waved her hand. “Look over your notes. It’s in there.”

Essex blinked as well, before nodding and taking her leave. “Relias!”

Ferris stared at her leaving. “Okay…Relias you too.”

“Alright…that’s starting to look pretty good.” Julia admitted, looking over their makeshift timeline. “We just need Essex to come back an-“

“Julia, dear?”

Julia turned her attention to Harley and Wess at the computers. “You guys got something?”

“Probably.” Harley clarified, as Julia and Sola quickly joined them. “There’s only one recorded mine in the Northern Wayside, but it wasn’t meant for anything mining related.”

“What does that mean?” Sola wondered, leaning over Harley’s chair, as she pointed to the screen.

“Well…”

Julia covered her mouth. “Wait…is that really…?”

“The greatest tragedy within the Northern Wayside…” Wess clarified, leaning back in her chair. “All taking place within our ‘mineshaft.’”

Julia stared blankly at the screen, just as Essex reappeared by the library entrance, as Julia swallowed heavily.

“This just blew everything wide open…”

———

Speaking of blowing things open…

Very soon after Essex’s re-entry into the classroom, and right after Ferris was starting to get settled in again, the doors burst open.

She didn’t even have to look up to tell who it was, as Julia announced their results.

“We figured it out.”

Ferris glanced up and barely changed her expression, before slowly clapping. “I’m so proud of you. Look at you, all grown up.”

“Jokes on you, Ferris, we totally did!” Harley backed up, as the team filed down into the lecture hall proper.

“Oh, did you now?” Ferris asked, shoving her hands in her pockets and nodding towards Sola. “Even her?”

“Yeah, actually!” Sola exclaimed back, as Julia walked up to the board.

She grabbed the eraser and started clearing it, before realising what she was doing and turning back around to Ferris. “U-Uhh, can I…?”

“Go nuts, kid. If you’re convinced you’ve got it, I wanna see you make a fool of yourself on as big a stage as possible.” Ferris encouraged, getting up and taking up a seat with the other students, who were now facing toward Julia taking up the main stage.

Julia started to panic briefly as her anxiety kicked in, just as the rest of the team started making up the space, with Harley and Sola clearing the board and Essex displaying their work.

“A few things we’d like to clarify before we start.” Wess declared over Ferris’ own microphone, as she encouraged Julia to join her side.

She pulled away from the mic. “You want us to take it from here?”

Julia thought on it for a moment, before shaking her head. “You guys start…I’ll join you after calming down a little.”

“Alright. No pressure.” Wess said, squeezing her hand, before facing the mic again. “Ferris.”

Ferris lifted her head.

“First, congratulations on quite the brain teaser. We didn’t think you were capable of those, but by some freak accident, it happened.”

“You’re welcome, and up yours.” Ferris replied, getting a nice laugh from the rest of the class.

Wess resettled herself. “Easily the hardest part of this was figuring out how the miner fit into all of this. Despite the other two stories having an obvious connection, suddenly cutting to a c-plot out of nowhere put a hamper into any good theories.”

“Until Ferris admitted the stories weren’t in order!” Harley added, slamming the board. “Then it was super obvious!”

“Of course the mine story wasn’t in the right place, and neither were the other two. They had been reversed as well.” Wess admitted, getting some murmuring from the audience. “We believe the real order is…”

“Venators, miner, ski lodge!” Sola exclaimed, having used the chalk to whip-up a crude looking outline of their timeline on the board, along with their scrupulous notes.

“I’ll let Essex explain this next part.” Wess declared, as Essex took over the mic.

“…we begin with a Venator team sent out to hunt a Wailing. We had assumed that Manfred had hired them to hunt the Wailing discovered in the ski lodge, however, this was realised as wrong once we discovered who the miner was.” Essex explained.

Essex pointed back at the board. “They were not sent to hunt this Wailing in particular, but rather…the Venator had confused it for their Wailing. Additionally, the Venator believed her team had been killed by it, before realising they were alive, leading to the Wailing in question being attacked wrongly.”

“This leads into the miner’s story.” Wess followed up, taking back the mic. “We should clarify that what the miners believe to be ‘earthquakes’ are actually the Wailing attacking the mine’s exterior.”

More murmuring came from the class, as Ferris started to sit up in her seat, paying a bit more attention to the board.

“For a while, we had a theory that the miner was one of the Venator’s from the previous story. However, if the miner was a Venator, he would’ve easily recognised that it was a Wailing attacking.” Wess pointed out, as Harley and Sola did their best to dictate her points. “Additionally, the Order of Procedures mentions scouting the area and protecting citizens when in a dangerous position, which he didn’t even attempt.”

Wess raised a finger. “However, you also mentioned a seemingly innocuous detail.”

Wess went to speak, only for Julia to come join her side again, as Wess made a point to step aside and let her speak.

Julia took a needed breath, before leaning into the mic

“…h-he thought about his family.”

Julia pointed back at the board. “Why would you mention that i-if it wasn’t important? Clearly, his family had to be part of this. It couldn’t be Manfred, for reasons we’ll…get to, so who else?”

Julia slammed her hands on Ferris’ desk. “He’s related to one of the Venators. Specifically, the one that shot the Wailing as it got away.”

Leandra shot out of her seat in an instant.

“That makes so much sense!”

The rest of the class stared at her, as she realised she was causing a scene and sat back down. “Whatever! I didn’t say anything!”

Julia took a beat, before speaking again. “…and the reason the Wailing was attacking the mine was because it confused the miner for the Venator that shot it. They’d look similar if they were related, after all.”

Ferris kept nodding along, as they got to their last point.

“Lastly, the ski lodge…our introduction to Manfred.” Julia said, before stopping. “Except, not really. Manfred showed up earlier, we just didn’t realise.”

Julia indicated to Essex, who didn’t know what to do and simply bowed. “And thanks to Essex’s great suggestion, suddenly it made sense.”

Julia offered the mic to Essex, who grabbed it immediately.

“…Manfred was the miner.”

The class was abuzz with chatter, as Ferris was having trouble staying in her seat, before Julia resumed her explanation.

“We noticed Manfred hadn’t gone into the ski lodge yet, despite the fact it was about to be opened.” Julia clarified. “And after Essex wondered if he had a reason for it, we began to brainstorm.”

Harley and Sola waved their arms in front of the board as Julia kept explaining. “You said the ski lodge was in the mountains, but you meant it literally. Manfred was hollowing out the mountain to build it. But after getting trapped in there, he was probably traumatized. It’s no wonder he wouldn’t want to go back in.”

Julia resettled herself. “He goes through with construction and builds it, but inspects it, maybe to conquer his fears. Only then does he realise it was a Wailing harassing them, so he hires Venators to take care of it.”

Julia let out a heavy breath, as Wess subtly grabbed her hand behind the desk, helping her to continue.

“…but that’s not the end of the story.”

Ferris raised an eyebrow.

“…we looked into any real-world inspirations that might clarify what you were trying to teach.” Julia explained. “There’s only one record of a mine opening up in the Northern Wayside, with this also being turned into a ski lodge. For a while, it was just that, but…”

Julia gripped the desk tightly.

“…Ferris, is this abou-“

“The Tragedy of Team Ballistic.”

The class was left in a dead silence, as Ferris got up from her seat to slowly walk up to Team Valiant.

“After their star was starting to rise, the beloved Team Ballistic gets called up to a ski lodge to take care of a Wailing inside, only for every member expect one to end up killed in the attempt, with the remaining member fucking off to wherever.” Ferris explained, facing the class. “While not everything in this story was true, the gist of it was. Including the origins of the Wailing in the ski lodge.”

Ferris pointed back at the board. “But that wasn’t the Wailing that arrived then.” Ferris clarified. “Sure, it was the one holding up construction, but it wasn’t the one that killed them.”

Ferris let out a sigh, before grabbing for her microphone again. “Even in all that, they couldn’t escape it. Hunting and getting revenge, only for it to keep going around like that. Venator hunts Wailing for no good reason, Wailing hunts person for no good reason, person takes it out on Wailing…and the Wailing take it out on Venators.”

Ferris turned to the team. “So well done, Team Valiant. You now know the best lesson going into the Venator industry.”

She grabbed the mic again.

“Don’t get caught up in it.”

She simply left it at that, as the class kept to themselves, mulling over Ferris’ lesson, before Sola shot her hand up.

Ferris turned back to her. “Yeah?”

“Can we get our high-five now?”

Ferris blinked, before groaning and pulling herself out of her seat. “Sure…get over here.”

Ferris lazily held up her hand, as Sola ran over to high-five her.

Right as Sola hit her hand, the sword that Ferris had thrown into the ceiling at the start of the class suddenly loosened, before slipping out and spinning in the air, embedding itself into the floor right next to them.

The class gasped, as Ferris and Sola stood in silence, only broken by Ferris letting out a held breath.

“Holy shit, I completely forgot that was there.” Ferris admitted, pulling her hand away from a stunned Sola.

After regaining her breath, she slowly turned back to the rest of Team Valiant with her hand out.

“Do you guys…?”

“No, we’re good.” Julia insisted, as the rest of the team thoroughly agreed, before going to sit back down at their seats, leaving Ferris up on stage.

“Okay…I think we’re done.” Ferris let out, only for the class to stay still. “Go! I’ve taught you. You’re dismissed. Go live your lives without me.”

The class finally started making tracks, as Team Valiant all took a moment to let the lesson settle in.

“…huh.” Julia let out. “…I guess Ferris can teach.”

“Sporadically.” Wess noted, scratching her chin. “Don’t get caught up in it…”

“I think we will have that handled.” Essex assured, standing up and stretching. “With that said, I’m surprisingly hungry.”

“Oh yeah, we forgot that share plate.” Sola admitted, before jumping out of her seat. “Let’s go get something in Detu City. Virgil recommended a place to me.”

“Ahem!”

Just as the team were getting up to leave, in their path was Avalon, holding his hands behind his back, with the rest of Team Exemplary scattered around him.

“Well well we-“

“Don’t start it.” Harley insisted, holding up her hand. “Class is over and we’re heading out. No dates. No pickup lines. No terrible attempts to flirt.”

“Harsh, but I just had one thing to say before you did.” Avalon said, as Harley folded her arms.

Avalon lay a hand on his chest.

“I wanted to congratulate you.” Avalon insisted. “You rightfully bested me.”

Leandra jabbed his arm, as he rolled his eyes. “Sorry, us.”

“…is that all?” Julia asked, as Avalon jumped a little.

“No, actually. Leandra wanted to thank you for the notes.” Avalon declared, only for Leandra to butt in.

“I wanted to do nothing of the sort!” Leandra complained, as Roman pulled up behind her.

“The rest of us did, though. It didn’t help, but it was nice.” Roman pointed out.

“Oh. Well, glad we could offer you some help.” Julia smiled, before heading up the stairs with the team. “Feel free to ask for them more directly next time.”

“Don’t count on it!” Leandra yelled back, as Acadia facepalmed next to her.

“This is why no one likes us…”

“Well, we like each other!” Avalon insisted, watching the team leave, before Claudius stepped to his side.

“I just realised. You didn’t actually ask Harley out again.” Claudius noticed.

“Claudius, first, she’s taken.” Avalon pointed out, before sighing. “Second…I don’t know. Just didn’t feel like it this time.”

“Ooo, someone’s growing up.” Roman joked, getting a laugh from the rest of the team, as Avalon puffed out his cheeks.

“I’m plenty grown up!” Avalon declared, as Acadia subtly placed another paper hat on his head. “Tha…oh haha.”

“Well, there’s nothing up there. I had to fill it with something.” Acadia remarked, as everyone except Avalon got the joke.

Leandra patted his back. “Come on, Av. Let’s go grab something from the café. Your treat.”

“…fine, but only because Team Valiant beat us.” Avalon muttered, hopping up the stairs, as the rest of Team Exemplary followed. “I feel like…ice cream and milkshakes!”

———

Florey hummed to himself as he worked, dissecting what he could of a Wailing leg, before standing back up proper and wiping some sweat from his brow, making notes as he went to place the leg back into cold storage.

Just as he was wrapping up, he spotted Marcus standing at the entrance to the lab, just outside the autopsy room, before he hurried himself up and went to meet up with him.

“Mar!…cus.” Florey let out, stopping himself from saying it too loud. “I was just finishing up some studying into Wailing joint anatomy. Did you know unlike animals, their joints don’t point in any particular direction based on subspecies, and can either point back or forward?”

“I knew that already.” Marcus answered, shutting Florey up, before he pulled out a few documents and laid them on Florey’s counters.

Florey gave them a glance, as Marcus cleared his throat.

“I’ve decided to allow the autopsy. Once you’re finished your current tasks, you can focus most of your time on it at your leisure.” Marcus explained, as Florey almost jumped for joy.

“I-I can really do it?!”

“However, you’ll need to secure the Wailing yourself, as well as take out time to finish other menial work we give you.” Marcus clarified, shutting Florey down somewhat. “Just the benefits of the position.”

“Oh. Right, that makes sense.”

Marcus raised a finger. “That being said, we’ve also allocated one of our other staff to help you in this matter, since you’ll be killed otherwise.”

Almost on cue, the lab doors opened, as Florey peeked his head up to try and get a glance at who was coming through.

Rosalind lazily walked through the lab doors, slinking her way into the room, looking around somewhat frustratedly.

“This is Rosalind. She specialises in Wailing handling and combat.” Marcus said. “For the duration of your autopsy, she’s gonna be at your beck and call.”

Rosalind didn’t exactly look thrilled, as Florey debated whether to step forward and offer a handshake.

Rosalind noticed his worry immediately.

“…Marcus?” She asked, indicating to the side, as her and Marcus stepped just out of ear shot, still looking back at him on occasion.

“So this is the kid?”

“That’s him.” Marcus said, tilting his head to indicate back at Florey. “He’s got a gifted mind.”

“So I’m babysitting?” Rosalind asked. “Is this punishment fo-“

“This isn’t that. He needs a watchful eye.” Marcus pointed out. “And just a reminder that there might be a similar arrangement in the future.”

“…right.” Rosalind realised. “…beck and call?”

“Within reason.” Marcus added, before deciding to take his leave. “Don’t let him push you around.”

Marcus snapped his fingers, as Florey jumped to attention.

“I’ll leave you in her care. Get to know each other.” Marcus called out, very quickly exiting the lab, as Rosalind walked further into the lab, hands in her pockets, and right in front of Florey.

Florey decided now was the time to ask for the handshake, as he stuck it out.

“H-Hi the-“

“I don’t shake hands.” Rosalind said, walking right past him, before idly knocking her fingers against some beakers. “There. Now we know each other.”

Florey could feel a pit developing in his stomach, as she bummed around the lab, clearly unhappy to be there.

Oh boy… Florey thought, watching as she failed to make herself comfortable. What have I gotten myself into?