"Wait a minute! You really have dumbass rules like that?!" Ace protested.
"Yeah! I'll eat the tart if you're just gonna toss it anyways!" Grim added.
Trey sighed. "My deepest apologies, Dorm Leader. I was the one who suggested we should make mont blanc."
"Yeah, yeah," Cater said, nodding nervously. "We didn't know there was a rule for something like that."
"The problem isn't that you made it!" Riddle reprimanded them. "The problem is that you brought it here today!"
"So you're just going to be an idiot and throw it out then?!" Rory protested. "We worked hard to make it perfect for you, and you're gonna toss it just because it's the wrong time?!"
"Idiot, you say?" Riddle asked, glaring at her.
Cater shook his head rapidly. "Wait, stop! That word's taboo!"
"Oh, and exactly what is he gonna do?!" Rory shot back. "Take away something I never had in the first place?!"
Cater nervously turned to Riddle. "Dorm Leader, these are freshmen just learning the ropes, and two of them aren't even part of this dorm!"
"Shut up, Cater!" Ace yelled. "I'm gonna say it right now: anyone who agrees with these rules is an idiot! Stop screwing around!"
Deuce stepped forward. "I agree with Ace. Rules are meant to be followed, but this is far too arbitrary for anyone to be comfortable with it."
"You've got some nerve talking back to me," Riddle growled. "Listen well: even breaking insignificant rules leads to huge problems."
"Come on! Everyone else is too scared of losing their magic to speak out against you, but I know they feel the same!" Ace retorted.
Both of them turned to the crowd of students. Rory could feel the tension in the air.
Finally, two people stepped forward – people Rory immediately recognized. It was the delinquents that had been harassing her and her friends.
"H-He's right!" the blonde boy said, though there was some fear evident in his voice. "These rules are way too much to deal with!"
"Y-Yeah!" the red-haired boy agreed. "I-I don't like these guys, but...everything they've said is true!"
"...aren't you the second years who've been harassing the dorm's underclassmen? Riddle asked them.
The pair gave some shaky nods. Riddle regarded them in silence for a few seconds.
Then, in one quick motion, he pulled out his pen, pointed it at the delinquents, and yelled "OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!"
In a bright flash of magic, the two delinquents had collars around their necks. Whimpering, they retreated into the crowd.
"Anyone else?" Riddle asked coolly.
Rory scanned the crowd. No one else seemed brave (or stupid) enough to speak out; even Trey and Cater looked uneasy.
Ace tsked. "Wishy-washy jerks, all of them. Lame."
"In the year that I've been dorm head, there hasn't been a single student in Heartslaybul who's been held back or expelled," Riddle said. "Only Heartslaybul can claim that. And within this dorm, I have the highest marks and the strongest magic. That makes me correct in all things! So all you have to do is follow my rules without talking back!"
"That's..." Deuce struggled to come up with a retort.
"I'm not cutting off your heads because I want to," Riddle continued. "You keep breaking the rules, and so I have no choice. If you won't obey me, it's off with all your heads!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Rory spotted Trey. He looked visibly unnerved by what Riddle was saying, but didn't seem to want to do anything to stop him.
Cater gulped. "Now...everyone just say 'yes, Dorm Leader', alright?"
"I can't do that," Deuce said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, I can't either," Rory agreed. "As I've stated repeatedly, I'm neither in your dorm nor able to be affected by your main means of punishment. Why should I care about what a cowardly tyrant thinks?"
"Yeah!" Ace added. "This selfish tyrant, I reject him!"
...what did you just say?" Riddle asked. His voice was dangerously quiet.
"We're saying you're a hot-headed tyrant who wastes food for selfish reasons!" Grim chimed in.
Deuce, seemingly realizing how pissed Riddle was getting, shrank back a bit. "Well, w-we didn't quite phrase it like that..." he said quickly.
Riddle, now fully enraged, aimed his pen at Deuce and Grim. "OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!!"
In a flash, the two had collars around their necks. As they yelped and tried to pull them off, Rory turned to glare at Riddle. "Seriously?! All this bullshit just because we tried to apologize to you! And besides, Grim's in my dorm – if he actually deserved to be punished, I would have done it myself!"
"You?!" Riddle growled. "You're not even a dorm leader! You're just a little punk the headmaster took off the streets; your very presence is against the rules! And you've been doing nothing but aggravating me ever since!"
Rory curled her hands into fists. "Oh, you really wanna go down that road, jackass?! Then it's on!"
She reared back her fist to punch him, but before she could, someone grabbed her wrist. She turned to see who it was...and she came face to face with Trey, looking far angrier than she'd ever seen him previously.
"Don't you dare," he growled.
"Trey, Cater, throw them out!" Riddle ordered.
Before either the first years or Trey could do anything rash, Cater hastily stepped up. "I-I'll escort them out!" he said quickly. "Trey, you just, ah, help our dorm leader de-stress."
Riddle narrowed his eyes at Cater, but nodded. "Very well."
Cater quickly cast Split Card, and he and his clone grabbed the first years and started ushering them out, ignoring their protests. Rory turned back and shot one last glare at Riddle and Trey.
00000
Once they entered the Mirror Room, Cater and his clone released their grips on the first years. As he made his clone disappear, he just sighed. "I'm so sorry about this...I'll try and calm the two of them down so you can at least attempt to apologize again."
"Bullshit!" Ace roared. "I'm never apologizing to that tyrant!"
"I'm with him on this," Rory growled. "Why the hell hasn't anyone stopped him yet?! Yeah, he's good with magic, but he doesn't look like he could take a punch! Hell, why haven't you or Trey stopped him?!"
"Easy," Cater replied. "Riddle wouldn't listen to me even though he trusts me, and Trey refuses to scold him for reasons he refuses to elaborate on besides 'it's complicated'. Not to mention he's completely overprotective of Riddle – but then again, you saw that firsthand."
"Is he really alright with all of this?" Deuce asked.
Cater shook his head. "He isn't. He just doesn't want to do anything about it." He sighed. "I'll send your stuff over to Rory's dorm, alright? After today, I wouldn't blame you if you just decided to switch dorms."
With that, he re-entered the mirror to Heartslaybul.
00000
The mood between the four first years as they headed back to Rory's dorm was sour, to say the least.
"Aaaah, I'm so pissed!" Ace ranted. "Screw that tiny red tyrant! Does he think he's the real Queen of Hearts or something?!"
Deuce sighed. "I disobeyed the dorm leader and got kicked out...I'm even further from being an honors student..."
"I'm pretty sure your mother will forgive you when she finds out how much of a jackass the dorm leader in question is," Rory snapped.
Grim groaned. "This collar is heavy, and it hurts..."
"You all look so stylish with your meowtching collars~"
The four of them turned towards the source of the voice and were met with a peculiar sight: the floating head of what appeared to be a grinning, purple-haired catboy.
"Whaaa?!" they all yelped.
"Nyaaa! A floating head!" Grim cried out.
The head smirked. "Oops. I fur-got to bring out my body."
With that, a body materialized to match the head – the body of a second-year boy in a hastily-done white button-up over a purple striped shirt.
"Wh-who are you?" Deuce asked.
"I'm Alchemi Alchemevich Pinka," the catboy introduced himself. "But you can call me Che'nya. I'm an enigma with magic who's part human and part cat!~"
He grinned. "Or, at the very least, I'm on a different level than the guys who just kicked you out."
"Which dorm are you from?" Rory asked.
"Why don't you guess for yourself?"
Ace snarled. "Listen, I'm in a bad mood thanks to that tyrant. Just get out of our way."
"Riddle, a tyrant..." Che'nya mused. "Hehe, mew're not incorrect. He's been a serious one since he was little."
"Do you know something about him?" Deuce asked.
"If you think I know, then I know. If you think I don't know, then I don't."
"Which is it?" Grim asked.
"You wanna know all about Riddle, huh?" Che'nya asked, smirking again.
"Yeah, I do!" Ace replied. "What kind of upbringing turns you into a tyrant?!"
"You should ask your glasses fur-end all about it," Che'nya said.
"Glasses...you mean Clover?" Deuce asked.
Rory narrowed her eyes. "He's not our friend."
"Well, he's known Riddle since he was a wee little thing," Che'nya explained. "If mew wanna learn more about Riddle, he's the one to talk to."
"Them being childhood friends would at least explain some of Trey's actions..." Deuce mused.
Che'nya grinned. "If mew think so, then it must be so. So there's nothing for mew to talk to me about meow, is there? See mew later!"
With a Cheshire Cat grin, Che'nya started disappearing, his grinning face being the last thing to go.
"He has a weird cat-titude," Grim complained. He then blanched. "Ah! I'm talking like him!"
"If we keep these collars on, there's no way we'll be able to take part in class," Deuce sighed. "Let's go see what Clover has to say. And..."
"I'm not gonna apologize, so don't even say it!" Ace protested.
Rory thought for a moment. "Since we're obviously not gonna be able to head back to Heartslaybul...I know that cookbook he used making the mont blanc was a library book. We can probably ambush him when he goes to return it."
Deuce nodded. "Sounds like a plan."