Mirage, having knelt down in front of the king, waited as the man placed a hand on his shoulder, patting him.
Leonardo stared down at the supposed elder. His gaze filled with a complex emotion as he stared at the face of the man he knew wasn't truly here.
He then glanced at the walls of the room, finding them to be enveloped and coated in a sort of bubbly and ethereal substance that had no defined shape or mass.
He then turned his attention back to Mirage, finding him to have transformed back to the form of a man in his early twenties with long black hair tied in a ponytail with a violet butterfly accessory tied in it.
Leonardo opened his mouth.
"It's good to see you again, Mirage. You may get up now."
Mirage gave a subtle nod, slowly rising to his feet as he straightened out his black robe.
He raised his eyes towards the king, then towards the queen, who was looking at him with a smile, who was looking at him with a, and said:
"It's also a pleasure to meet you again as well, your Majesty. And it's a pleasure to meet you too, Madam. Are you both enjoying the tournament so far?"
The king let out a small chuckle, and so did his wife, who nodded as well. She was then distracted as her daughter suddenly pointed towards the screen.
And what it displayed was Lillian putting Lincoln into a chokehold before finishing him off.
The king, having just glanced back and watched this, smiled before moving his attention back to Mirage and saying:
"The tournament had just begun. But yes, I am enjoying the show so far."
He then turned his body around, moving and grabbing the backrest of the chair he had been sitting on previously and turning it around.
After slowly lowering himself on the seat, he rested his chin in his hand.
"How's being the Headmaster? Stressful I must say with all the paperwork you have to deal with. Louis always ranted about those whenever we met up."
Mirage sighed, tiredness clear in his breath.
"It... isn't an exaggeration in the slightest."
He then raised his hand, flicking his wrist, causing a piece of paper to appear in between his fingers as though he had magically hidden it inside his sleeve.
Leonardo stared curiously as the paper was passed to him. He grabbed it out of the man's hand and scanned through it. His eyes narrowed occasionally on certain information.
"What a worrying report you had given me."
He flipped the report around, trying to find more on the topic before raising his gaze towards the pony-tailed man and asking:
"How many of these... cubes have you found? And when had they begun appearing? You hadn't given these key information in the report, Mirage."
"Are you sure?"
Leonardo raised an eyebrow. Then, a small smile stretched across his lips as he lowered his gaze down to his hands, finding a separate piece of paper in his grasp.
"Should you be messing around Mirage?"
The king scanned through the new report while Mirage, in response to the royal man's words, shrugged nonchalantly.
"Why not? Not like it'll change much if I play a few tricks here and there people. Articles show it could release someone's stress by doing this. It's quite the craze."
"I don't believe it is a craze, as you say it, but very well. You do you."
As he scanned through the report, he felt someone lean over his shoulder.
Glancing to the side, he found his daughter staring at the report with naive curiosity. He smiled, rubbing the top of her head before focusing his attention back on the report.
"So, every month, you would find at least five inside the exact same bin? And this bin happened to always be filled with water? Do you know the reason for this?"
Mirage tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
"The cube or the water?"
"The water. But, if you do have information on the cube, then I would be happy to listen."
Mirage nodded and promptly answered, "The water was caused by a student named Lillian Ker Arius."
Leonardo widened his eyes, subconsciously glancing back at the screen before returning back to Mirage's figure.
"The one currently competing?"
"Yes, your highness." He stated and then repeated, "The one that's currently competing."
The king stroked his chin as he scrutinised the report. It was suspicious.
"For what reason should she be doing this, do you know? Is this... Some kind of event your academy is holding in secret?"
"It is not. We currently do not know and have yet to confront her about it."
"And why haven't you?"
Mirage shrugged casually, "The Student Council has it cov—"
***
Mirage suddenly gasped, jolting awake before looking around frantically.
"... I can still accidentally fall asleep?" Mirage muttered, scratching the side of his head with a look of disbelief. Soon enough, he leaned back into his chair before sighing.
"Why does it have to be my students that are causing trouble...?"
He rubbed the side of his head with tired irritation written across his face before spinning his chair around. Once spun, he stared at the wall behind him that had an enormous hung picture of the actual Headmaster.
He stared and scrutinised the picture.
An old man with a black pointed hat like that of a wizard, a greyish beard of a ridiculous length, and a silly expression that matched his robe that had various paint splashes all over it.
He gazed at the hung picture with a tired expression as he remembered where the old man actually was. He gave yet another sigh and muttered:
"Having fun in there, Professor? Leaving your student here all alone to deal with your damn work."
After muttering that, he turned back around, returning to his work. He still had more to look through. And he was sure he could continue working.
The night was still young, after all.
{3 Days until the Invasion}