When the morning sunlight spilled through the gaps in the curtains into the girls' dormitory at Nevermore Academy...
Enid woke up dazed, her consciousness not yet fully awake.
She habitually moved her arm and felt like she was hugging a... cold, soft body?
Who is this? Why are they in my bed? Enid's brain, not yet fully online, began to turn slowly, creaking like rusty gears.
Oh, what did we do yesterday... We won the Poe Cup, the celebration party, Victor and I seemed to get drunk... Who finally brought us back?
Was it Wednesday? Wednesday seemed to throw Victor and me onto the bed... Oh, wait! That means... the person I'm hugging now is... Victor?!
This thought struck Enid like a bolt of lightning, making her instantly half-awake, her heart starting to pound wildly.
A rush of heat, a mix of shyness and massive surprise, surged to her cheeks.
Oh, Wednesday! My best friend! I will thank you for the rest of my life! she screamed silently in her heart.
Now that Victor hasn't woken up... can I... do whatever I want for a little bit?
Enid's heart began to pound, and a blush rose to her cheeks.
Her eyes were half-open, and although her vision was still blurred, she could already vaguely see the silhouette of dark hair beside her.
Holding her breath, with a thief-like excitement and shyness, she pursed her pink lips and carefully leaned in to kiss the cheek of the blurry figure beside her.
At that moment, Wednesday also woke up.
But right now, she wished she hadn't—no, she was incredibly grateful that she had woken up at this critical moment.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a pair of pursed lips getting closer and closer, and Enid's expression immersed in "happy fantasies."
Wednesday felt every hair on her body stand up, a sense of crisis stronger than facing a homicidal maniac instantly seized her.
Just a second before those lips touched her cheek, Wednesday suddenly reached out and pressed her hand precisely against Enid's face, pushing her away with force.
Wednesday's voice carried a rare, almost cracking, sharp-tongued tone:
"Enid Sinclair! It's not werewolf mating season yet! Keep your saliva-secreting organs away from me! Right now! Immediately! Wake up!"
This familiar voice, this cold touch, this sharp-tongued tone... like a bucket of ice water, it instantly extinguished all of Enid's romantic fantasies.
Enid suddenly woke up completely, her deep blue eyes wide with shock.
Her vision focused, and she clearly saw Wednesday right in front of her, with a rare expression of disgust on her face!
"W-Wednesday?!" Enid bounced back, shrinking into the corner of the bed like a startled rabbit, subconsciously clutching her nightgown tight, even quickly looking down inside her clothes to confirm everything was intact. "You... why are you in my bed?!"
Wednesday sat up, expressionlessly straightening the collar of her undisturbed black nightgown, the corner of her mouth curling into a mocking arc: "Because some idiot took my bed."
She said, her gaze cold as she glanced toward the opposite side.
Enid followed her gaze across the edge of the bed and saw Victor Black sleeping splayed out on Wednesday's bed with its black silk sheets, one leg hanging off the edge, arms hugging the headboard, sleeping incredibly soundly, even snoring slightly.
"Victor?!" Enid cried out again, her voice full of confusion and a hint of... disappointment? So the one she almost kissed just now was Wednesday? Oh, Wolf God above!
At this moment, Wednesday didn't seem to intend to get up, but instead sat leisurely on the edge of Enid's bed, looking down at the vintage watch on her wrist, seemingly waiting for something.
"What are you doing?" Enid asked curiously, completely confused by the situation.
"I made a little mechanism for my bed to 'wake me up' when necessary."
Wednesday's gaze didn't leave the watch face, her tone as flat as if discussing the weather, "Though I usually don't need such low-level assistance."
Three, two, one... here it comes.
Wednesday counted down in her head.
Whoosh—!
A slight whistling sound of something cutting through the air suddenly erupted from the foot of Wednesday's bed!
A small but sharp crossbow bolt shot out from a hidden launcher at the foot of the bed, drawing a cold straight line and passing precisely past the bridge of Victor's high nose. With a "thud," it embedded itself deeply into the wooden headboard above him, the fletching still vibrating slightly.
"Awoooo—!!!"
Victor Black let out a scream comparable to a wolf's howl, jolting awake from his dream, his body snapping upright like a spring, heart racing, pupils dilating, his face filled with extreme terror and the daze of having just woken up.
"What's going on?! Enemy attack?! Assassination?! Venom, get up!!" he shouted incoherently, his hands instinctively groping around him as if looking for a non-existent weapon.
Venom was woken up by him, its small head poking out dazed from his collar, muttering sleepily: "What's the noise... it's not even dawn yet... hmm? The smell of metal?"
Wednesday watched his panicked performance coldly, her voice like ice water dripping: "Do you remember what happened last night? About how you 'occupied' my bed?"
Victor clutched his still-pounding chest, his other hand rubbing his aching temple, trying to piece together memories from the hangover and the shock: "Oh... I think I got drunk last night... my head hurts... I didn't do anything weird, did I? Wait..."
He frowned, trying hard to remember, and some blurred fragments began to flash back—being pushed down by Wednesday, bound, the intense light of the desk lamp, and... he seemed to suddenly catch a clear fragment, his movements pausing, his eyes wandering, and a suspicious blush even appeared on his cheeks.
"I seem to... remember a bit..." His voice grew quieter, with a bit of uncertainty and shyness, "I seem to... be pushed down... by Wednesday? And then... used an extremely brilliant, artistically masterful rope artistry..."
Click-clack-clack—
Enid's neck turned toward Wednesday like a rusty clockwork toy, her expression extremely complex, a mix of shock, confusion, and a hint of betrayed grievance.
"You guys..." Her voice was trembling, "What did you two... do while I was sleeping last night?!"
Enid's tears welled up in her eyes, her voice carrying a hurt tremor: "What were you two playing behind my back?!"
Victor seemed completely unaware of the weird atmosphere, even adding in a somewhat boastful tone: "Wednesday is incredibly professional! That technique was definitely master-level!"
Wednesday took a deep breath, the veins on her temple faintly visible. Her cold gaze swept over the "innocent" Victor and the tearful Enid, her voice sounding like it was pulled from the depths of an ice cellar:
"Do I need to tie you up as well, so your brain stops producing those baseless and incredibly stupid, terrible delusions, Miss Sinclair?"
She took a step forward, looking down at Enid, her speech fast and clear, like reading a dull experimental report:
"The essence of the matter is boringly simple: Black broke in while drunk, interfering with my independent investigation. To obtain valid information and prevent him from continuing to cause chaos, I employed the most efficient interrogation method—restricting his freedom of movement and conducting targeted questioning."
"The entire process lasted seventeen minutes. It mainly revolved around his illegal bribery of Thing to monitor me, and his fragmented memories regarding the laboratory smell and Joseph Crackstone. None of the plots from those cheap, vulgar scripts playing in your head occurred."
"Now," Wednesday's gaze was like a scalpel, "do you understand?"
Enid was a bit dazed by this string of cold facts and nodded subconsciously: "Oh... oh, so that's how it was..."
But the skepticism flickering in those deep blue eyes clearly indicated that her inner theater had only temporarily dimmed its lights and had not completely closed.