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ROBINS was heading for the grassy plaza late at night, long after the torches had been extinguished.
The students were dreaming in their beds now after a night of Halloween festivities. He knew he wouldn’t be spotted unless he made loud noises, but it was better safe than sorry.
Robins pulled his black robe around his body to disguise himself in the darkness.
Once he arrived at the snap apple stand, he saw the other five fruits were still hanging where he’d left them. Robins sighed in relief that none of the other students had touched them. He would have to find a safe way to dispose of them before morning.
Manchineel poison would dissolve into rainwater and even spread through the smoke if he burned the fruits. He could either throw them in the ocean or feed them to someone who could survive the poison.
Robins stood beneath the fruit, took one into his hands, and just as he was about to bite into it…
“Don’t you know it’s poor manners to eat while standing?”
His heart skipped a beat when he heard the female voice behind him.
Only boys were permitted to enter Ark School. On an island full of nothing but elderly school staff, there could be only one person behind that young, lovely soprano voice that bloomed in the air like a rose.
Robins let go of the fruit and slowly turned toward her.
The girl observing him from the bench with the wavy red hair that fluttered in the night wind was Alice Liddell.
I held the bitten manchineel fruit in my gloved hands. I probably looked repulsive and creepy to him. But Robins smiled innocently at me, just as he did during the day.
“I wasn’t going to eat it. I was just smelling it to see if it was a real apple or not. Anyway, it’s lights out. You should head back to Lion Dorm before Charles scolds you,” he said.
“There’s no need to worry. I’d be the biggest fool in the history of Ark School to let go of my target as soon as I found him.”
“Target? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play dumb. You’re a demon, aren’t you?”
Robins’ body went stiff. Even in the darkness, I could see how pale he looked and the beads of sweat forming on his temples.
“…I’m no demon. Take a good look. Don’t you see? I’m obviously a human!”
“So you won’t admit it? Very well.”
I stood up and curtsied, pulling on the uniform I was wearing. My skirt had enough fabric to pull it out very far to my left and right.
“I won’t call this ‘an eye for an eye,’ but poor hospitality deserves fitting retaliation, as I see it.”
Suddenly, a black mass shot out from behind the left side of my skirt.
With his curly blonde hair swaying, Dum, who was supposed to be asleep in Lion Dorm, attacked Robins with his two daggers.
Robins blocked the attack with his bare hands. The blade sliced into his palm, sending blood dripping down his wrist.
“Ngh!”
He grimaced and was met with another blow to his body. When he looked down, an arrow was sticking out of the right side of his chest.
“Where…did this…?”
He looked and saw Dee behind the right side of my skirt, kneeling and pointing his crossbow at the prefect. Dee swiftly readied another arrow, squeezed one eye shut, and fired at him over and over again.
The arrows struck Robins in the right upper arm, left shin, right thigh, and left hand. He stumbled backward with each impact.
“S-Stop!”
“Why did you trick us?”
“Why did you trick us?”
Dum, with the free hand Robins hadn’t blocked, shoved his blade through Robins’ neck.
“Aaaaaaah!”
Robins’ body started to transform into a shadow. It swelled up like bread in an oven, sending the arrows stuck in him falling to the ground. His blood evaporated and disappeared.
His body twisted and wrenched until, finally, his lower half was that of a strong lion. Feathers sprouted on his top half, a large beak formed, and wings seemed to split his back as they forced their way out.
I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from curving up.
“I’ve finally caught you, Gryphon the demon.”
I was looking at the monster that attacked us that night.
His injured wing was probably the result of the lightning bolt he protected Charles from. I hadn’t noticed before, but the collar around his neck looked just like the choker Robins wore.
Now that his transformation was complete, Robins spoke from his beak in a deeper voice than before.
“I’m surprised you figured it out.”
“Swallowing a manchineel fruit gave it away.”
I’d searched all over the sports grounds while the students were sleeping just to be sure, but I never found the piece of the apple Robins bit off.
“You should have been on the verge of death like Snow White if you swallowed any of that fruit. But you were perfectly healthy, enough to walk back to the dorm. That was when I knew you couldn’t be human. You were the legendary monster that’s said to live on this island.”
Charles’ research into the monster led me to the demon known as Gryphon.
Robins slumped to the ground. His curved beak hit the dirt.
“I didn’t even think to spit it out… I was just focused on protecting you all since I knew it would be really bad if you ate any of the fruit.”
“Thank you for saving us. I hear you’ve been saving students in that form for a while now. Allow us to introduce ourselves now, with our understanding that not all demons are evil.”
I looked at the twins standing at each of my sides.
“I’m Dum, Alice’s left hand.”
“I’m Dee, Alice’s right hand.”
“These two protect me, the head of the Liddell barony. My family works outside the law to maintain the country’s order from the shadows. I came here to have Dum and Dee enrolled in school, but then they had their bodies transformed. We’re at a real loss for what to do. Are you the one who cast that spell on the food in the rest area?”
“…I’m sorry. I had to do that to protect everyone.” Robins folded his wings and pointed his beak at me.
I couldn’t read his expression but could tell he was upset.
“I was given an order to kill the next candidate for school executive who came here. I saw you sailing in on the boat from the harbor, but you’re all so young, I didn’t know which of you was the noble. He was going to do it himself if you showed up at the school without me doing anything to you, so all I could do was force a situation where you kept your identities hidden. He would have killed you otherwise.”