"Most of them, yes." Lucy nodded. "But not all. Some survived. Some escaped. And their descendants are still out there, still fighting, still hoping."
"You sound like you admire them."
"I do." Lucy met his eyes without flinching. "They were brave. Braver than me. They faced impossible odds and kept fighting anyway. That's... that's the type of person I want to be."
"Hmm."
"There's a story," Lucy continued, her voice dropping to something almost reverent, "about a witch named Morgana. Not the one from legends, a different one. She lived about three hundred years ago, during the last major uprising. She had a mutant technique that let her see possible futures even further than the prophets nowadays."
"And?"
"And she saw something. A future where witches and humans lived together. Not as masters and tools, but as equals. As neighbors. As..." She trailed off, searching for the word.
"Friends?"
"Maybe. Or just... people. Living alongside other people." Lucy's eyes were distant now, seeing something Hoshimi couldn't. "She spent her whole life trying to make that future real. Built alliances. Trained students. Wrote letters to every powerful witch she could find, begging them to join her cause."
"She failed."
"Yes." Lucy's voice was quiet. "The hunters found her eventually. Burned her at the stake, like so many others. But she was gentle, she was a person, she loved kids."
Hoshimi's eyes narrowed slightly. "You think her ideas have value."
"I think courage has value." Lucy looked at him directly. "I think hope has value. Even when it seems stupid. Even when everyone tells you you're wasting your time. I believe that at least one person has to inspire the next generation."
"The spy," Hoshimi said, steering the conversation back. "The killer. Do you have any idea who it might be?"
Lucy's expression fell slightly, the dreamy intensity fading back to something more cautious. "I've been thinking about it. Ever since you made the announcement." She paused. "It could be Neila, but I'm not very certain."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I've been watching her." Lucy's voice was firm. "All night. She's annoying and self-centered and probably planning something, but she's not a killer. Not like that."
"Like that?"
Lucy hesitated. "Even with her twisted values and how much I despise her, I can't see her killing someone like Audrey even with what she gained from her death, but the invasion on the other hand…with her connections, that's something I can see her do."
Hoshimi nodded his head.
The silence stretched between them. Through the window, the first hints of the sunset were beginning to shine.
"Can I ask you something?" Lucy's voice was quiet.
Hoshimi nodded.
"Why do you care so much? About Audrey Mirlo, I mean." Lucy's crimson eyes searched his face. "You barely knew her. A few weeks, that's all. But the way you act, the way you're investigating, the way you won't let it go, it's like you've known her your whole life."
Hoshimi was silent for a long moment.
[She's rather good at reading people]
"I don't know," he said. "I guess it's more like a sort of disappointment for failing my task."
Lucy studied him for a long moment. Then, slowly, she smiled. It was a small thing, fragile, but genuine.
"That's okay," she said. "Not knowing, I mean. It's okay to feel things without understanding why."
Hoshimi looked away.
"There's another story," Lucy continued softly. "About a witch named Amara. She lived about a hundred years ago, during one of the smaller purges. She wasn't powerful, barely a level five. But she had this gift for making people feel seen. Understood. Like they mattered."
"And?"
"And she used it to save people. Not by fighting, but by hiding them. By creating networks of safe houses, escape routes, false identities. By the time the hunters caught her, she'd saved over two hundred witches."
Hoshimi waited.
"When they executed her," Lucy said, "they asked why she'd done it. Why she'd risked everything for strangers. And you know what she said?"
He shook his head.
"She said, 'Because someone had to. Because if not me, then who?'" Lucy's eyes met his. "That's what you're doing, isn't it? With Audrey. With this investigation. You're being the someone."
"I'm not a hero," Hoshimi said flatly. "I'm just following orders."
"Maybe." Lucy's smile widened slightly. "But you're here. You're trying. That's more than most people ever do."
The fluorescent lights hummed.
"The witch hunts," Hoshimi said. "You've studied them extensively?"
Lucy nodded, her expression brightening at the topic. "As much as I can. The Academy doesn't keep many records, they'd rather we forget that witches were ever the victims instead of the tools, but my foster mom used to buy me some books before she divorced."
"And what would you like to share?"
"That we've been here before." Lucy's voice was serious now. "This cycle, persecution, rebellion, more persecution, it's happened over and over. Every time witches get strong enough to threaten the established order, the humans find a way to cut us down. To remind us we're just tools."
"But you think it can change."
"I have to believe it can change." Lucy met his eyes. "If I don't believe that, then what's the point? Why keep fighting? Why keep hoping?"
"I'm surprised that you get to read when most of the time you're arguing with Neila."
Lucy laughed, a genuine sound that seemed to surprise even her. "Neila brings out the worst in me. But she also makes me think. About why I believe what I believe. About whether I'm strong enough to stand by it."
"Are you?"
Lucy considered this. "I don't know. I hope so. I think so." She paused. "But hope isn't certainty, is it? It's just... hope."
"I should get back," Lucy said quietly. "Neila will wonder where I went. She'll probably accuse me of plotting against her or something."
"She might."
"She definitely will." Lucy stood, stretching muscles stiff from sitting. At the door, she paused, looking back. "Hoshimi?"
He looked up.
She left before he could respond, her bare feet silent on the cold floor.
Hoshimi sat alone in the common room, watching the sunrise paint the ruined courtyard in shades of gold and amber..
Hoshimi rose from the couch and walked toward the window, staring out at the ruins of the courtyard. Students were beginning to emerge, pale and tired, picking their way through the rubble like survivors of a shipwreck.
The door opened. His room was empty, dark, exactly as he'd left it.
[She's gone, probably to her room, or wherever she finds herself]
The books she'd knocked down were still on the floor, scattered across the carpet like fallen soldiers.
Hoshimi knelt slowly, gathering them one by one. His fingers brushed against the red-covered book Sarah had singled out, the one with the golden lettering, the one that had caught her eye for reasons he couldn't fathom.
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson.
"I wonder why this caught her attention."
He closed the book, setting it carefully on his desk beside the others. His fingers brushed against the drawer where Audrey's black box still rested, where her final message still waited, preserved in static and grief.
[Should I listen to it? I should]
He didn't.
Instead, he walked to the window and stared out at the darkened courtyard below. The craters were still there, dark scars against what remained of the grass. The fountain was still shattered, its pieces scattered like the bones of some ancient beast. Students moved through the shadows in small groups, too afraid to be alone, too traumatized to sleep.
His reflection stared back at him, violet eyes, blank expression, the faint scar on his cheek where she'd bitten him.
[Everyone has something they believe in, but me. What do I believe in? What do I really want?]
His phone buzzed.
A message from Reina: "How's the investigation going, my dear oh so sweet honey? Found the killer yet?"
He stared at the screen for a long moment. Then, slowly, his lips twitched.
"Working on it," he typed back. "Stop texting me. Don't you have any work to do? You're supposed to be the Vice Principal."
Her response came instantly: "I'm ALWAYS the vice principal. But right now, I'm also your mother. And your mother wants to know if you've eaten anything today."
"I'll eat something," he replied. "Go to sleep, miss Reina."
"Love you too, brat."