"Don't you remember your promise?" Ethan got up from the ground.

I groaned as I recalled how I promised to help him with Sprinkles in exchange for destroying his family's teleportation gate. Why didn't anyone let things go? I felt like I was regressing more into my elementary school days lately with the reappearance of my old childhood friends.

"What promise?" I pretended to forget about the horrible favour I would have to do.

"Sprinkles," Ethan glared at me.

I was surprised how Sprinkles had such a long lifespan. The white and pink polka dot patterns on its shell where it opened to bloom its vicious white glimmering teeth. The Venus flytrap always had a huge appetite. I shook my head as I recalled through all the hard days, I went through to feed Sprinkles.

Since the school maintained its grounds very well, it was very hard to find bugs. Digging piles of dirt metres away from the surface was the only way to find them. I still hate bugs, period. Helping Ethan breed more bugs within the school was extremely risky. If one of them escaped from the place we kept them, it would cause an uproar. Sometimes, he would breed a whole army of ants and the one looking out for any security guards was me.

I would cringe every time I picked up a bug to put into a cage. Even when I used my mana so I wouldn't have to touch them, I would see the bugs squirming with its many legs. The worst part was doing this for a whole load of bugs, meaning if my control snapped, the bugs would all fall on me. But thankfully, Sprinkles wasn't a picky eater, making any insect work.

Knowing that Ethan wouldn't be able to hide Sprinkles from Flora, it made sense how she never wanted to go near him. Sometimes he still had saliva and blood from the insects on his hands and clothes. Maybe that was why during the charity ball, she never made any contact with him. And the reason why I never wanted to run into him again after he graduated from elementary school.

"So where are we going this time?" I wondered which concealed location he found since we couldn't go into the elementary school grounds.

"The courtyard," Ethan led the way.

"Sprinkles have grown, so she needs more food than before," he still seemed familiar with the middle school grounds.

"But broad daylight?" I wondered if he wasn't afraid of people finding out.

"My fraction has a meeting place near here and I don't think there's a meeting today," Ethan waved his hands over a large bush acting as a dead end.

The bush parted into two to show a cobblestone passageway into another garden. Like the neutral fraction, it was like I was stepping into the middle ages with all the antiques decorating the place. But since I went through it once before, it didn't appear as anything special. At this rate, I wasn't surprised at all the secret passageways that connected the different sections of the school together.

When I turned my head, the bush closed again, showing no exit. I sighed as I rolled my sleeves up to prepare to dig some holes in the ground. No wonder Ethan seemed so assured that no one would figure out. It was an improvement from having to carefully watch for anyone passing by. Ethan threw me a shovel after he pulled on his gloves.

'Are you serious?' I threw him a glance.

I threw the shovel on the ground and chanted a quick spell to dig up the ground. I had to be careful with my steps to make sure I wouldn't be the one in the death trap full of whatever would be inside. I quickly stepped back as a large hole appeared between Ethan and me.

Ethan's eyes glittered as he peeked into the ditch. I tilted my head down to realize that I have gotten the jackpot of the nastiest worms and not-so-small eight-legged creatures layered on top of each other for a few centimeters. This had to be enough to feed Sprinkles for a few days. The problem was how to collect the bugs without touching them.

"You collect them," I glared at him.

"You don't mind them crawling on the ground?" Ethan grabbed his shovel to dig up the bugs.

"Fine! Get your cage out," I groaned.

Ugh! He knew I hated them crawling anywhere near me. Ethan pulled out a large cage from his inventory as his marble glowed. Once the top of the cage opened, I gulped as I made all the bugs float into the cage one by one. My hands trembled, fearing what would happen if few of them dropped on my clothes.

"So we should have one of go to support the host on this day," Charles' faint voice could be heard.

"Didn't you say there's no fraction meeting today?" I whispered.

"There isn't supposed to be one," Ethan started to help me out.

"Don't you think this day is better?" another voice responded.

"Careful!" I almost shouted when his control faltered.

"Is anyone there?" someone noticed our voices.

"There's no way someone can come here without our permission," Charles walked towards us to check.

"Are we almost done?" I finished transporting the last group of bugs on my end.