Chapter Text
When Jade Leech is out in nature, he can truly feel at peace.
As much as he loves being the Vice Housewarden to Octavinelle, he too has his days where he wants to just take a deep breath and take it easy.
As much as he loves Floyd and to an extent, Azul, there can be times where he needs to recharge his battery, especially with their…benevolent shenanigans.
Taking a deep breath as he takes in the dense and lush forest that he is currently trekking through, Jade contemplates the last time he had taken some quiet time to himself. In truth, when he is out here, surrounded by nature, he can finally be himself while foraging for mushrooms.
No need for shady dealings, no contracts, and no insufferable idiots, er, students, who lie through their teeth and forcing him to use his signature spell.
Sure, Mostro lounge’s fast paced environment was always a welcome change in comparison to the classroom, the rush of their so called…mafia business…but sometimes there are even days where even he just wants to lose himself to his terrariums, mushrooms, and hiking. It’s just that…
If only there was another person he could share it with.
For weeks, the eel mer had been trying to get more members for the mountain lovers club, but so far, it had not been successful. Whether it was people were afraid of him or they just are not interested in nature, it didn’t matter to him. The quieter Leech twin indulged in these moments that came so scarce.
He just couldn’t help but feel the nagging sensation of loneliness in his gut that made him wish for companionship.
Sighing, the teal haired man slowly looked around as he came across a clearing that was near the beautiful lake. He should be by the edge of campus by now.
It was then he decided that this space would be a great place to set up camp for the weekend. Thank goodness Azul had allowed him the weekend off from working the Mostro lounge. Jade was also even more grateful to Floyd, who, in the grace of being in a good mood, decided to cover his weekend shifts.
Regardless if he did his shift properly or not, it was now Azul’s problem, as Jade makes it a point to not be disturbed by putting his cell phone on “do not disturb” mode during his hiking or mountain trips.
As he slowly started to set up camp on this lovely Friday evening, Jade couldn’t help but make sure that all of his gear was accounted for.
For an organized person such as himself, it was also drilled into him during the human boot camp that he, Floyd, and Azul attended to ensure that all… “thingamabobs” were used properly in the surface world.
However, Jade shunned the concept of canned food. It was one thing that he secretly disliked about human foods, as he and his brother were raised on fresh food resources in the ocean. The entire concept of canned food was lost on him as he couldn’t understand why humans would eat things that were sitting for far too long. Why couldn’t they just eat the food as fresh as it comes?
As Azul had lightly put it, the canned goods never tasted good, as it was never suited to his tastes. It was also made a standard to always serve fresh food in the Mostro Lounge.
In terms of camping, the quieter Leech twin also made it a point to camp out near a lake clearing, where he can easily turn into his eel merman form and catch fresh fish. Besides, it wasn’t as if there were scarier things in the water- he was an apex predator after all.
Finally relaxing into a routine that he made himself, Jade began to finally relax for his weekend excursion.
Little did he know that it was about to change.
There was shuffling outside his tent.
As he slowly sat up, Jade sighed internally as he looked at his cell for the time- 5:30 AM. It was too early for him to be up at this time, as contrary to popular belief, he was not a morning person.
Last time he checked his map, it was too far from campus to be near any other dormitories and he made sure to properly discard his trash and put out the fire before going to bed.
Just to make sure that it wouldn't attract any uninvited guests to his campsite. Stilling slightly, the hairs on the back of neck stood up slowly as he started growling in excitement.
There must be a land predator outside.
During human bootcamp, Jade had researched and read on the different types of land predators that existed. It had intrigued him on learning about the different types of mountain lions, bobcats, and bears that lived in mountains and forest areas.
The apex predator in him couldn’t help but be morbidly curious about how they would stand against a fight with him.
Unfortunately, Headmaster Crowley had reassured him that there were rarely any large predators nearby as there was a magical boundary set up.
The key word was rarely, which meant that somehow, these animals slipped by the boundaries around campus. The eel merman couldn’t wait to see them in person while hiking one day.
Slowly dressing himself and dragging on his hiking boots, the tall man made sure that his magical pen was with him as he slowly stepped out of his tent, and into the dark woods. The eel man didn’t have to worry about lighting due to him being used to living in the dark ocean for most of his life.
Thank goodness that Azul found a way to transfer Floyd’s and his sharp eyesight to his human form!
Whatever was poking around his camp, it was not appreciated as it was still very dark outside. However, peeks of the sun started to show as he recognized the signs of dawn breaking to start a new day.
Jade made a mental note to start a small fire to start cooking whatever it was that was disturbing him.
As he silently crept around his tent, he listened and observed the shuffling grow louder as he approached. His eyes widened slightly as he saw a giant, round, black figure shuffle around.
It was a huge black bear!
He couldn't help but slowly grow excited at the thought of taking it by surprise!
Fish and mushrooms were nice, but Jade couldn’t help to wonder:
What did bears taste like?
Internally counting to three, the teal haired man swiftly stepped out from the side of the tent, pointing his wand at the intruder, pupils dilating to slits as he felt his second jaw deep within his mouth snap in anticipation-
“Zero Ray!”
“AHHHH!”
Thud.
Jade blinked in silent confusion as it registered to him that whatever screamed was a human voice- but not just any human voice-
A certain female's.
“...Prefect?...Yuu-san?” Jade whispered.
“..Aughh… that hurt- you got me good!...Jade-san?”
Blinking slightly, Jade observed as the Ramshackle housewarden’s smaller figure stepped out behind the large black obtrusion.
He silently observed her from head to toe, noticing that she was also wearing camping clothes and gear, and she was wincing and rubbing her cheek.
He realized that the slight red swelling in her cheek was from where his Zero Ray hit her.
As much of an apex predator as he is, Jade was also a gentleman. Shaking out of his stupor, Jade quickly closed this distance between them as he got out a small healing vial from his front pocket and handed it to her, muttering his apologies.
Thank goodness that he paid attention in Crewel- sensei’s potionology class!
As for the huge, black, obtrusion that the prefect stepped out from, upon closer inspection, Jade’s eyes widened in surprise- it was the body of a black bear!
Gripping Yuu-san’s arm in surprise, the taller man swiftly put his body between the bear’s and hers, the other arm grasping his magical pen to strike-
It was then at that moment he realized that the Ramshackle prefect was talking amicably to him.
Without a trace of fear.
`“-Ah thanks, Jade-san! I’m glad you got those healing potions in handy! By the way what are you doing out here in this part of the woods?”
Jade was so busy gawking silently that he couldn't answer, his gaze shifting between the mass of the apparently (dead?) black bear and Yuu. The question hung right at the tip of his tongue as Yuu looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.
“...I’m on a weekend hiking trip stay-cation...Is.. that bear…dead?..and I can ask you the same Yuu-san…” Jade started.
“Hm? Oh yes! I’m on a solo weekend camping trip too! Grim didn’t want to come, so he’s at Heartslaybul with Ace and Deuce. I set up camp not too far from here, and I woke up to shuffling outside and saw the stupid thing eating my tent! When it saw me, it fled, with my tent in its hold-”
Yuu signed defeatedly and pointed a delicate but slender hand to the mouth of the bear, where he could see the remains of her tent in tatters clasped in its jaws.
“-and then I packed up my stuff, and tracked it nearby! So I used kyusho-jitsu on it and effectively killed it-”
Jade whipped his head so fast from the bear back to the female prefect.
Kyusho-Jitsu?! The prefect knew pressure point martial arts?!
“-And then I decided to carry its body back with me back to my campsite!”
“May I ask why? Also, how were you dragging it back with you like that? From the looks of it, the bear is a male… They can weigh between 130 to 660 pounds Yuu-san!”
Jade looked at her with his full attention, astonished at the smaller lady’s strength.
“Oh- well my parents back home taught me not only martial arts, but how to carry things larger than me.” At the mention of her parents, Yuu’s bright expression slowly dimmed.
Suddenly, her face lit back up in happiness again, thoughts moving towards a happier subject.
“Then I saw your tent and got curious on who would camp out all the way out here! I’m glad it’s just you, Jade-san!” The short female beamed up at him.
At those words, Jade was utterly flabbergasted.
“Glad to see him?!” NO ONE, well, maybe his brother and Azul, would EVER think of saying those words to him.
The student body may have labeled Floyd as the unpredictable twin, but unanimously everyone labeled him to be the scarier twin, as no one, including Azul, could ever tell what he was thinking.
The Leech twin also noticed that she decided not to comment on what she was planning to do with the bear..
“Speaking of which,” Yuu started, “...May I please camp with you? My original campsite is a bit far and the stupid thing slashed my tent- it's useless now.”
Both know silently turning their gazes again to the shredded tent, or what was left of it, anyway.
Yuu sheepishly rubbed her arm the longer she stared at it.
Sighing, the female prefect walked up to the bear, and with a practiced fluid motion, picked the accursed thing up- linking one of her arms under its belly and hoisting it up-draping its body over her shoulders.
At her movements, Yuu ignored the sharp intake of surprise that came from Jade.
Sensing the tension filled silence, Yuu-san turned her head to look at the Leech twin but flinched in surprise.
While she was busy with the bear, Jade was looking at her intensely, without any expression on his face. Her face grew hot in embarrassment at the sharp look he was giving. It was as if the Leech twin could look past her physical body and into her soul.
“...”
“..uhhh, Jade-san?”
“Yuu-san, you didn’t answer my question earlier.” Jade calmy started to move towards her, almost like a predator stalking its prey.
Yuu stood quite still, not wanting to give him any reasons to come after her. Her expression reminded him of the look people gave him when they were caught in the act of lying, or hiding something.
Signing and shifting uncomfortably, Yuu peered up and Jade sheepishly looked into his eyes.
“...About the bear?” Yuu mused.
Jade nodded silently, urging her to continue.
Yuu shifted her eyes away from Jade's mismatched ones in embarrassment, looking towards the sunrise slowly coming up from the trees. From the looks of it, it was well past six AM now.
“...I didn’t want its meat to go to waste, so I… wanted to see what it tasted like.” She quietly confessed.
It was so quiet as she spoke, it was as if the forest animals had wanted to hear her reasoning too.
“.....Fufufu…”
At the noise, Yuu quickly turned to look back at Jade again, stunned. She observed as he quickly covered his mouth and slowly started shaking.
“...pffft….fufufu….hahahahahahaha!” Jade had then thrown his head back, laughing, while holding both hands over his stomach.
Yuu couldn’t believe her eyes! She had seen the eel merman laugh quietly at things, but never outright, whole heartedly laughing! He was even crying!
As she silently watched him, the shock slowly wore off and Yuu felt her face grow hot into a blush as she couldn’t help but think:
…Wow, he looks quite handsome like this…
Jade couldn’t remember the last time that he laughed like this in a long, long, time.
After a minute of having a good, hearty laugh, he quickly wiped his eyes of any stray tears and peered down at Yuu. He couldn't help but feel more amused at her shock of seeing him look at her with a gentle, but genuine smile on his face.
The vice housewarden of Octavinelle knew it would shock her, for it was a very different look from his shady, business-like smile.
It was rare for him to give it to people outside of Azul and Floyd, for he was a very private person.
“Of course you can share my tent, Yuu-san! I hope you bought some extra utensils. There’s plenty of room in my campsite, and in return for letting you share my tent, let’s try the bear together. Sounds good?”
Jade didn’t bother to wait for a reply as he started walking back to the entrance of his tent.
It was too bad that he turned around quickly, for the eel had missed the way Yuu’s face flushed red as her blush got deeper.
“...Thanks Jade-san. By the way, do you carry butcher knives with your camping gear? I don’t know if the knives on me can cut through the bear’s fat.”
And so, as the Vice Housewarden of Octivinelle leads the Housewarden of Ramshackle back to the entrance of his tent, Jade couldn’t help but feel excited about what Yuu will do next that will keep things interesting.