Victor hugged the freshly carved, sharp-scaled wooden crocodile head, rolling back and forth on his "Kingdom" bed next to the toilet door. His actions were as exaggerated as an abandoned golden retriever.
"Oh—I have been abandoned by the cold and heartless Miss Detective—"
He dragged out his tone, burying his face in the crocodile's cold wooden teeth, his voice muffled.
"She wasn't even willing to take her loyal Watson on an adventure!"
"You look like a pathetic simp right now," Venom emerged unceremoniously from his shoulder, rolling his massive white eyes.
"Do you need me to play some sad music for you? Like All The Chocolate Has Left Me?"
Victor sat up abruptly, holding the crocodile head in front of his face and staring into its hollow wooden eyes.
"No," he blinked, the fake sorrow on his face instantly replaced by new excitement. "She doesn't need me? That's fine! I can find my own fun!"
He jumped off the bed hugging the crocodile head and announced enthusiastically, "I'll go play with Enid then!"
"Oh my god!" Venom let out an exaggerated groan, covering his face with a tentacle.
"Your solution to problems is to go find the backup tire? Now you look like a total scumbag! Let's get this straight first—if you get your head chopped off by a goth girl or a rainbow wolf girl or whoever in the future, I am not saving you!"
"This is called social flexibility!" Victor corrected, already skipping toward the door with the crocodile head. "Besides, Enid is so cute. Like a strawberry milk chocolate bar that's always full of energy!"
---
On the other side of campus, Enid Sinclair and her two friends were busy around their canoe, the Black Cat.
The air smelled of paint and fresh grass.
"Yoko, the colors need to be brighter! It needs to look killer! We have to win the Poe Cup this time!"
Enid cheered her teammates on while painting bright yellow stripes onto her paddle.
"Hey! Are you guys building Noah's Ark? Is there room for me on board?" A familiar voice, laced with laughter, suddenly cut in.
"Victor?" Enid turned around in pleasant surprise, but her smile froze instantly, transforming into a short scream—"Oh my god!"
A hideous wooden crocodile head with a gaping maw was shoved right in front of her face!
Startled, she leaped backward violently. Her foot caught on a paint can, throwing her completely off balance. She flailed her arms, falling backward!
"Whoa! Watch out!"
Victor reacted extremely fast. He immediately tossed aside the culprit crocodile head, stepped forward, extended an arm, and steadily caught Enid around the waist, scooping her back up and saving her from the fate of falling into a pile of wet paint brushes and pigment cans.
"Oh, that was dangerous," Victor grinned, looking down at the shaken Enid in his arms.
Enid's cheeks turned bright red instantly, matching the red boat paint she had just applied.
Her heart pounded—half from fright, half from the warm, steady arm around her waist and Victor's excessively close proximity.
She could even smell the faint mix of pine shavings and chocolate on him.
"Wooo..." Enid's two friends nearby let out long, ambiguous jeers simultaneously, exchanging "you know what's up" glances.
"Why does this scene feel like something I saw not long ago?"
Venom felt that human interaction patterns truly lacked innovation.
"I think I heard you mention the Poe Cup just now. What's that?"
Victor asked, his arm still around Enid's waist, seemingly forgetting to let go.
Hearing this, Enid seemed injected with energy. She bounced up from his arms, full of fighting spirit.
The blush on her cheeks was replaced by excitement. "That is my only pursuit this year! Half canoe race, half cross-country footrace. And the most important thing is—there are no rules!"
As she excitedly explained to Victor, she subconsciously smoothed her messy hair, trying to hide her still-red ears under the golden strands.
"No rules?" Victor's eyes lit up instantly, as if hearing the most beautiful words in the world.
"That sounds too interesting! Need any help with the grunt work?" He bent down to pick up the trouble-making wooden crocodile head and offered enthusiastically.
"Really? It would be great if you could help!" Enid's eyes sparkled, completely missing the knowing look her two friends exchanged.
"Hey, I think the pizza we ordered is almost here," one of the girls suddenly spoke up, linking arms with the other. "We need to go check the school gate. We'll leave things here to you guys for now!"
"Oh, okay," Enid, whose mind was completely on the competition and talking to Victor, answered absently. "Take your time, be safe."
Watching the retreating backs of her two friends, Victor cupped the hideous crocodile head and whispered mysteriously to Enid, "Actually... I have a 'special modification' idea for your boat. Guaranteed to give the other teams a big surprise..."
His warm breath brushed over her ear. Enid couldn't help shrinking her neck, but hearing this outrageous yet tempting plan, she couldn't help laughing, her eyes curving into crescents. "Oh my god, Victor! You are such a bad boy! But I like it."
She paused, feeling her cheeks heating up again, and quickly added, "I mean I like your prank idea!"
The two friends who had walked away looked back at the pair on the grass, their heads almost touching as they whispered over a wooden crocodile head.
"Maybe... we can come back a little later?" one suggested.
"Good idea," the other agreed wholeheartedly. "How about we find a place for a long afternoon tea? I don't think they need us for a while."
The two laughed and walked away, leaving Enid and Victor under the sun, enthusiastically plotting their battle plan.
---
The two were so engrossed in discussing their battle plan that they almost forgot about afternoon classes. Enid didn't even remember her two friends who had gone for pizza and never returned.
During the afternoon Botany class, the classroom was shrouded in a peculiar smell—a mix of fertile soil, humus, and the pungent scent of exotic plants.
Victor and Enid sat side-by-side in the "underachiever seats" in the very last row.
This spot offered a wide field of view and was far away from the dangerous specimens on the podium that looked droopy but were rumored to cause hallucinations or make ferns grow all over your body.
Their attention was completely drawn to the fierce confrontation in the front row.
Wednesday Addams and Bianca Barclay, like two battleships firing all cannons, were bombarding each other in a sea of knowledge.
"Wolfsbane, also known as Aconite," Wednesday's voice was cool and clear, like a scalpel slicing through velvet.
"It contains the deadly toxin aconitine. Symptoms of poisoning include paresthesia, vomiting, arrhythmia, and ultimately death by respiratory paralysis or ventricular fibrillation. By the way, doesn't its withered flower resemble a hood prepared for the dead?"
Bianca retorted almost immediately, a curve of arrogance on her lips. "Precise but unimaginative description, Addams. Why not discuss its ritualistic uses in Gallic Druid culture?"
"Or its other, more commonly known name—'The Goddess's Slipper'?"
"Allow me to correct you. The flower's shape is more often compared to a monk's cowl than a hood. Just curious, is your knowledge regarding hoods derived from personal experience?"
Wednesday didn't even lift an eyelid.
"At least the source of my knowledge isn't legends of Sirens who rely on singing to attract attention."
"Incidentally, your so-called 'Monk's Cowl' caused a careless gardener in Italy in 1581 to roll in agony for a full twenty-four hours before expiring. His dying words were complaints about a burning sensation in his fingertips—that doesn't sound very 'divine,' does it?"
"Now this is getting interesting!" Victor watched with glowing eyes. He couldn't resist pulling a box of popcorn—chocolate-coated—out of Venom's body. He shoved a handful into his mouth and naturally offered the box to Enid.
Enid was entranced, subconsciously taking the popcorn and stuffing it into her mouth, eyes still glued to the smokeless war ahead. She mumbled indistinctly, "How do they know everything..."