Twisted Wonderland x (Todoroki) Reader

The Watchman of the Underworld

-3rd POV-

"I must hand it to whoever designed these cages...Nothing short of a major blast has any effect on them." Azul said, looking around as they stood in front of a cage.

"Hey! There's a Phantom moving around in this cage." Riddle said, brows furrowed, "I'll blow it open with magic. Azul, get back."

"Again, telling me to stay back...Not that I really mind, I suppose." He said, doing as so.

"Here goes. Hrah!" He said, opening the cage with magic.

"Gwaaagh!" The Phantom yelled, jumping out.

-----

"Aaagh!" The Phantom yelled out, before melting, dropping something.

"The Phantom dropped something..." Azul said, before walking up and his eyes widen, "Aha! It's the ID card!"

"Excellent. That was surprisingly quick." Riddle said.

Soon, scratches and pounding could be heard.

"Grrr...Rrrr..." A Phantom growled.

"More of them are growling now...Let's head get out of here." The red haired male said, walking towards the door.

"I second that." The gray haired male nodded, following and using the ID to open the door, which opened and they walked through.

"Whew...At least we got through that in one piece. Ortho and the Phantom could ambush us at any moment, though. Make sure to stay close to me." He said, looking at him as they walked.

"Leave it to the star student to safeguard his far less capable peer. How very kind." He smirked.

"Could you quit it with the sarcasm? I never said you were incapable." He deadpanned.

"But it's true. After all, I've never once scored higher than you on anything in our entire time at school."

Riddle's eyes widen, "...What? You were trying to beat my grades?"

"Is that so wrong?" Azul frowned.

"No, I'm just surprised. The thought never crossed my mind before."

"My, my. That's quite the insult, you know. I have remained consistently in the top 10! Are you saying that I am not worthy rival?"

"Well, yes. Your fingers are in far too many pies to truly compete with me."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Not only do you run the Monstro Lounge, but you also have your stock investments and such. And I hear you're still doing your backroom "consultations" as well. Jade's also mentioned you often leave campus on your days off under the pretense of market research. Not to mention, I've seen your exam study guides when I've confiscated them from my dorm's students."

"Helping so many other people must take a considerable chunk out of your own study time. You might get perfect scores on tests if you gave your studies your full attention. But you don't. You spread your valuable time and knowledge doing analysis and crafting guides that help others get better grades. Meanwhile..." His brows furrowed, "I've devoted all my time to academics and magic for as long as I can remember. And you expect to outscore me? That, as you say, is quite the insult." He smirked.

Azul's eyes widen.

"I don't have to put up with this."

"I didn't mean it as an insult. Doesn't everyone want to go for the top spot?"

"That's fair. It's commendable to aim for first place, of course. And if you focused solely on your academics, you might claim the top spot. I suppose we'd both be in the top spot, though."