Sour Candy Kisses

The Red-Rose Tyrant 27-28

We returned to our seats, just as we all sat down Ace paused and looked at Riddle “So what happened to that tart, Housewarden?” 

“I made it for you, as I promised I would. Here: one strawberry tart, crafter by yours truly.” Riddle picked up a tart off his side of the table and placed it in front of us “Nice! The shape’s a little off, but I can tell you put a lot of work into that glaze. A fine job indeed, especially considering it was your first!” Trey gushed. 

“Oh, puh-leeze. How about we actually TRY it before you start fawning all oer him, Trey?” Ace groaned and reached for the tart before getting slapped away by Cater “hold it! Don’t you start cutting that before I get my Magicam snap!” a flash came from Cater’s phone “....okay, got it!” 

Trey cut the tart and put a slice on all of our plates as Riddle watched for our reactions, it seemed like he was sitting on the edge of his seat.

“Tch. I see Cater hasn’t changed a bit either. All right, let’s dig in!” Ace took a bite from his tart, as did the rest of us. 

“Hmmm..?” Deuce hummed. 

“This is kinda…” Trey and Cater spoke in unison. 

“Salty!” Everyone shouted, but I was trying to stay strong and eat it. 

“Whaaat?!” Riddle seemed surprised. 

“Eer? This isn’t KINDA salty—it’s a full-on salt lick! What did you put in this?!” Ace spit out the tart in his mouth and choked down some water. 

“But I followed the rules exactly, and measured everything precisely! Unless… Oh! Could it be…from the oyster sauce?” Riddle asked quietly. 

Deuce was chugging down some water before pulling the cup from his mouth and sputtering a bit “Wait…did you actually use that walrus-brand oyster sauce Trey jokes about?” 

“But Trey said that oyster sauce is an unlisted secret ingredient in all tarts! He said all the finest bakers use it…” Riddle spoke as if he was just betrayed. 

“And you actually believed him?! How could you not tell that he was joking?!” Ace shouted “You fell for it too, Ace!” I hit the back of Ace’s head. 

“Even if you believed the joke, it was only supposed to be a splash. How much did you put in?” Cater questioned Riddle. 

“It’s an unlisted ingredient! How could I measure it if he wouldn’t tell me how much to put in?!” Riddle spoke in a quiet tone, and looked like a puppy who was getting scolded. 

“Pfft… Ah ha ha ha ha! I can’t believe someone actually fell for the ol’ oyster sauce prank!” Trey burst into laughter “ha ha ha…yes. Quite humorous indeed. I truely am a fool.” Riddle chuckled. 

“Ha ha! It really is so disgusting that it’s actually kind of funny!” Deuce laughed out “yeah, what else can we do but laugh?” Ace grinned. 

“You know, in its own weird way, I think it’s actually kinda good!” Grim muttered before taking another bite. 

“Right? It really isn’t half as bad as you’d think.” Cater hummed. 

“Seriously? You’re agreeing with Grim, Cater? He literally eats garbage off the ground.” Deuce looked shocked. 

“Look, I’m not saying it’s amazing or anything!” Cater defended himself “but you like it because it’s not sweet, right? You’ve never really liked sweet things, right?” Trey smiled at Cater. 

“Seriously? Not at all?” I turned to face Cater. 

“Yeah, you got me. But how did you figure it out? I’ve never told anyone that.” Cater mumbled out with a surprised look on his face. 

“Because you casually bring up my Paint the Roses spell every time we’re eating sweets. You hide it pretty well, but that was a giveaway.” Trey leaded a bit on the table with a grin.  

“Ack! My secret is out! This is so so embarrassing! Especially after what happened to you and Riddle. I should have learned by now that keeping your feelings on the DL is not a great idea.” Cater mumbled. 

“How about I cook up a quiche for the next unbirthday party?” Trey smiled at Cater and slightly nudged him. 

“That sounds totes amazing to me. Just make sure it’s as photogenic as the tarts!” Cater smiled.

I stood up from my seat and grabbed a dozen cookies for me and Grim before sitting back down “mm mm mmm! Your baked goods are always so delightful, Trey.” I heard from behind me causing me to jolt around, just to see Chenya munching away on some goods. 

“Chenya?! What are you doing here?!” Riddle jumped a bit with a surprised look on his face “hm? I came to celebrate my unbirthday with all of you. A very merry unbirthday to you, Riddle.” Chenya grinned.

“The unbirthday party is a Heartslabyul House tradition. It does not pertain to you.” Riddle stated, Chenya looked at me and Grim “and those two? What about them?” Chenya pointed at us. 

“Technically you can’t prove i'm not from Heartslabyul, since I don’t have magic to be put into a dorm.” I joked. “Hey! You’re that weird semi-invisible cat guy from before! So you never told us—what dorm are you from?” Grim questioned him. 

“Chenya isn’t even a Night Raven student. He’s a student at our long-time rival school, the Royal Sword Academy.” Trey sighed. 

“Whaaaat? you go to a different school?” Deuce asked as if he wasn’t just told “the frickin’ Royal Sword Academy, no less?!” Ace shouted out 

“Ace just say fuckin’, anyway, Wow, that school has a really cool name!” I smiled as Chenya as his hand rested on my shoulder, I could feel Ace glaring at me.

“Did that guy just say the “Royal Sword Academy”?!” 
“He’s one of those pompous jerk-faces?!”
“What?! Who’s from Royal Sword? We gotta run ‘em outta here!” 
Students shouted and looked around at Chenya. 

“Well, now that I've tasted some tart, perhaps I should see myself out.” Chenya disappeared “bye Chenya!” I shouted. 

“He’s running for it!” 
“After him! Don’t let him get away!” 
The students began chasing after wherever Chenya went. 

Grim jumped onto my lap and clung to me “whoa, everyone turned bloodthirsty real quick.” Grim mumbles. 

“The vasy majority of Night Raven College students perceive the Royal Sword Academy as the enemy.” Riddle shook his head “no surprise, given that they’ve kicked out butts every year for a hundred years straight…” Trey sighed. 

“Hey, stop harshin’ the vibe! This is supposed to be a day of celebration. Can’t we all just enjoy our unbirthdays?” Cater huffed “myah! Merry unbirthday or whatever! I’m gonna eat till my stomach explodes!” Grim shouted and began stuffing his mouth.

Just then I felt a shiver down my spine, I felt as if something bad was going to happen, what could it possibly be?