"Very well then, I'll be waiting for you," was Reiko replied to Aria's request to be left alone with the elf girl.
However, an unforeseen incident ensured that the redheaded magician would never arrive at her destination. The psychic message that followed the unearthly scream in the woods confirmed Reiko's suspicions that trouble was happening. Aria didn't even need to order Reiko around; the Scarlet Sage was used to dealing with paranormal investigations on a day-to-day basis, the procedure on how to deal with them had been drilled into her a long while ago.
"This took a turn to the worse faster than I anticipated. That's why I don't like to deal with children," Reiko said to no one in particular as she stepped out of the main building, her formal outfit was momentarily engulfed in bright crimson flames, leaving behind the Scarlet Sage's usual hard-boiled
detective atire. "First things first though," she said before producing a handful of paper slips from her coat's pocket and tossing them in the air. The small sheets folded themselves into the form of paper cranes, immediately seeking any students who didn't heed the Staff's message and left the building to see what happened. All of them contained a fairly simple and direct message that would reach their recipients flawlessly:
"This is neither a test nor a game. Return to the Main Building and follow the Staff orientations, for your own safety. Non-compliance will result in detention and a notification to your parents.
—Vice-Principal Reiko Asamiya."
Reiko reached the clearing, and the body, not very long after Aria. She took a moment to glance around and see that the other members of the staff, mainly Tholl, were already in action. The mage also shot a very obvious sideways look at the tree where Circe and Trey were hiding, to ascertain that the messages she sent were meant to be true.
After taking a moment to analyze the corpse, she said,
"That's not the kind of commotion that I expected from the first day of the semester," Reiko said as she twirled the shaft of a bloody feather in her hand.
"The corpse is very mangled, but it's a student without a doubt. A harpy, if the structure of the remaining leg bones and these feathers are any indication," she added, this time addressing Aria.
"Whatever did this is certainly not human. Either a magical beast or another form of apparition. Looks to be small fry, though. I can call Kiara and have her take on this if you want. That said," Reiko took a deep drag of her cigarette, blowing the smoke in a deliberately slow manner before she spoke again,
"explaining this to the child's parents won't be easy."While Reiko waited for a reply, she observed the drifting smoke with great attention as its revealing properties made any leftover traces of magic energy visible as small specs, or wisps, of softly glowing light. They weren't meant to track the creature, but rather to shed some light on the mystery of their identity.
Lotte wouldn't have the chance to show her resourcefulness to Tholl. A sharp scream coming from the adjacent woods, followed by a message from the Head Magister ended the whimsical lunchtime.
Just as Tholl and the others got into action, so did Lotte. The silver-haired fox locked the service exit and stood in way of any student who tried to leave the dining hall through the main entrance. She didn't lock the door, for obvious reason but made as much of an effort to forbid anyone from leaving as she could.
"Miss Aria asked for us to keep all of you safe until this incident is under control. Please, stay calm and continue your lunch. Until it's safe to leave, you can have extra desserts," Lotte said to the remaining students. She hoped that the promise of extra sweets would be enough to have the students behave.
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