Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

🐙The Merchant from the Depths🐙 Chapter 35

"Ngh..." Azul groans as he starts to wake up, opening his eyes to see that he was in front of Octavinelle Dorm, looking around to see people looking at him and beside him was Angel, who was starting to wake up as well. He sat up, and everyone sighed in relief at the fact that both Azul and Angel were unharmed, and the twins looked grateful at the fact that Azul went back to his normal self.

"Oh, hey you're awake," Floyd says to Azul as he only looks at the twins.

"Azul how many fingers am I holding up?" Jade asks as he hold up four fingers on his hand.

"Er..." Azul says as he holds a hand to his head, looking at Jade's hand. "Eight?"

"Still in shock, it seems," Jade says with a sigh as he puts his hand down. "But your blot-induced rampage has subsided at last," he says as Floyd helps Azul up, still a little disoriented.

"That little tantrum you threw really put us through the wringer, y'know," Leona sighs as he look at Azul.

Ruggie only look at him in disbelief. "Uh, Leona, I'm not sure you get to say that."

"What did I...do?" Azul asked the group, in which the upperclassmen only looked at each other and the freshmen only helped Angel, disoriented and exhausted about the whole thing.

"You overused your magic and overblotted. Angel helped save you." Jade answered. "You don't remember it?"

"You were sucking everybody's magic dry left and right, bawlin', 'Give me your poweeerrr!'" Floyd says with a high tone, imitating Azul. "It was the cringiest thing I've ever seen. I'm still not over it." He sighs.

Azul's eyes widen at the statement. "Oh, no...Me, going bersek?" Azul says as holds his head, trying to process the words. He looked over to the freshmen, seeing that the girl was standing up, still disoriented by the whole ordeal, giving him a tired look. "I don't believe this..."

"Hey, I can't exactly blame a guy for getting' bent outta shape when something you've been building up for years gets ruined," Ruggie states. "I mean, if someone broke the coin bank I've been saving my money in, I'd hold a grudge for life."

"But all those shady business dealings have gotta stop," Grim says, glaring at Azul. "You oughta learn from this."

"How about you guys learn not to coast through exams using someone else's notes?!" Jack states to the freshmen, who only sigh at his bluntness.

Angel tiredly giggles. "To be honest, no one else could have made those notes aside from Azul."

"...What?" Azul asks in surprise.

"Y'know, it's true," Ace states to him. "One all-nighter reading that study-guide wrote was enough to bag me over a 90 on my exams."

"Yeah. It was seriously on point," Deuce says.

"I heard from the headmage that you wrote that guide yourself, analyzing a whole century's worth of test question trends," Jack explains. "I'm still not okay with your shady practices, but your work took serious guts. That much I'll admit."

Azul look at the freshmen, thinking about their words, then thought about the words that Angel said to him. He only smiles. "Hmph," he says. "Your clumsy attempts at consolation aren't helping me in the least." He looks away from the freshmen.

Floyd looks at Azul and a smirk appears on his face. "Awwww, what's the matter? Are you gettin' teary-eyed, Azul?"

"Dear me," Jade says with a smile on his face. "You've gone back to that ink-spewing crybaby again."

"Hey!" Azul exclaims, looking at the twins. "You two signed an NDA covering that exact topic!"

"Right you are. My mistake," Jade chuckles.

"And you, Angel," Azul says, facing the girl. "We would need to write a contract about that later." Everyone only looked at Azul in confusion, wondering how that came about while Angel only sighs and nodded at him.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me..." Jack says as he goes in his pocket and take out the photo from the museum. "Here's that photo of Prince Rielle you asked for. We got ahold of it. The sun hasn't set yet. I think that seals our victory," Jack says as he holds out the photo, and everyone only gather round and looked at the photo.

"What's this?" Leona says as he looks at the photo. "It's just some picture of a buncha mermen fingerlings huddled in front of a camera."

"Is it some kinda group photo of an elementary school class?" Ruggie asks Azul as he looks at the photo. "What'd you want it for, anyway?"

"Aha ha, that takes me back!" Floyd happily exclaims as he looks at the photo. "This is a picture from our school field trip. Me 'n Jade are right here," Floyd points to two merpeople in the front, with one smiling brightly and one giving a slight smile. "Aaaand...." He moves his hand to the corner of the picture. "See that kid sulking way off in the corner? That's baby Azul!"

"What?!" Everyone except Angel exclaims, who only looked at Azul, gushing at how cute he was as a child.

"AAAAH!!!!! NO!" Azul whines, trying to take the photo away from the group. "Don't look! Please don't look!"

"Well well, Azul," Jade says, a smirk on his face as he looks at him. "You sure are spirited all of a sudden. Shouldn't you get a little more sleep? Considering how far things have already gone, it would be easier for you to let this one go."

"Let's see here," Ace says as he looks intently at the picture.

"What's in the corner...?" Leona mumbles as he looks at the corner as Floyd instructed.

"Are you talkin' about the octopus who's more rounded than any of the mer-kids, even holding the pic at an angle?" Ruggie asks, looking at the picture in different angles to try and figure out if it was really Azul.

"Whoa, Azul! I never knew you used to look like that!" Grim exclaims in shock, looking at Azul now in comparison.

"Aw...." Angel smiles, fawning as she looks at the photo, now having the time to remember how Azul was in the past. "He's so cute and round." The freshmen only sigh at her, knowing well enough she was a sucker for cute things.

"AAAaaaaAAAaaaAAAaaah!!!!" Azul screams, embarrassed at the photo as he only snatches it away, looking away from everyone with a blush on his cheeks.

Deuce only looks at him, nodded at his actions. "I...I get it. I totally get what you're feeling. Everybody's got a past they wish they could erase!" He exclaims. "I saw nothing! Neither did the rest if you, okay?! Never speak of this again!" He says to the group, in which only three of them rolled their eyes at him.

"Never pegged you as this, uh...passionate," Jack states, looking at Deuce.

"Aaaargh..." Azul groans with a sigh. "I was going to expand the Mostro Lounge with a branch café and simultaneously erase the same of my boyhood...It was supposed to be the perfect plan! Two birds with one stone!" He whines out, trying not to let his disappointment show, but at the same time, his intentions was clear.

"Hey, you know what they say: a rabbit in hand is worth two in the bush," Ruggie shrugs as he listened to Azul.

"I got my schoolmates' yearbooks and the negatives from the photographer," Azul says with disappointment. "I succeeded in laying claim to every single old photo of me through a whole web of deals, but there just wasn't any legal way to dispose of that one last photo."

"That doesn't mean it's cool to make other people do your dirty work for you!" Grim angrily exclaims.

"I don't see the big, deal, really," Floyd says. "I like the old Azul. He'd make a better meal than the one we've got now."

"That's not the point at all!" He exclaims.

"You put in an incredible amount of work, Azul," Angel smiles at Azul, and Azul only look away from the girl, embarrassed at the fact of both what happened in the barrier and what's happening now.

Azul sniffs. "This is the worst. I could crawl into an octopus pot right now," he whines.