Maria P.O.V
After some walking, Grim and I finally made back to our dorm
"*yawn* Today was exhausting... I think I'm gonna sleep like a log tonight." I said with Grim agreeing
"No kidding" Grim said and he looked like he was about to fall asleep
'I hope Headmaster put the coffin in my room like I asked him...' I thought to myself as I walked into my room and saw my coffin. I'll let Grim have the bed since I have my coffin now, I placed Grim on the bed and he was sleeping soundly, before I went to sleep, I went to the bathroom to change into my pajamas but before I button up my pajama shirt, I looked at my scar between my breasts
'I'm still wondering about this scar... Who or what gave me this scar...?' I thought to myself as I finished changing and I went to sleep in my coffin
Dream~
'Where... am I...?' I looked around and noticed that I was in a rose maze and I heard some voices that sounded that they're in a rush about something
"Hurry and paint the roses red. If we don't hurry, the flowers will wilt!" The card with hearts said
"Hurry, hurry! There are still some that aren't painted!" The card with aces said in rush tone
'Why do they need to paint them red...? They're beautiful no matter the color...' I thought to myself and I saw a little girl with blond hair and wearing a blue dress
"Why are you painting the white roses red?" The little girl asked
"Huh?" All the guard cards said in union as they looked at the little girl
"Why you ask? Well to tell you the truth, we made a mistake and accidently planted white roses instead of red roses" The card with two of clubs said
"The queen loves red and so if she sees white then it's off with your heads!" The card with ace of clubs said in a scared tone
"Is that so?" The little girl said
"Yes it is. That's exactly why we're painting them red" The card with three clubs said
'This is weird... I thought I was in my room sleeping but how did I end here?' I thought to myself and the next thing I knew, everything went dark
Ramshackle Dorm - Maria's room
I woke up and realized it was a dream
'So it was a dream... but why would I dream about a rose maze and talking cards...?' I thought to myself and I heard knocking coming from the front door which woke up Grim
"Mmmm.... Hey, Maria.... Someone's at the door... Who's at the door during this hour...?" Grim said and asked, so I decided to have a look.
The knocking continued as I walked down stairs while Grim is on my shoulder
"Who is it?" I asked
"It's me Ace... Can you let me in for a bit?" Ace asked
"Ace? Why is he here at this hour...?" Grim asked and I opened the door and I was in quite a surprise
"Geh! What's with the collar?!?!" Grim shouted making me fully awake now
"Geez! I'm never returning to Heartslabyul. I'm going to be a member of this dorm from here on!" Ace declared
"WHAT!?!?" Grim and I yelled
Ramshackle Lodge~
Ace took a seat on the couch while I made some tea, when I gave Ace his teacup, I took a seat on the couch
"That collar's the same kind as the one that red-haired upperclassman put on me during the opening ceremony. Why're you wearin' that?" Grim asked
"I am also curious about it" I said
"I ate a tart" Ace said and I did not see that coming
"That's it?" I asked with a deadpan look
"Exactly! Only that! I got hungry, so I went to the dorm's kitchen. The tart was just sittin' right there inside the fridge. And like, three whole ones! That's why..." Ace started his story
Flashback~ Heartslabyul Dorm - Kitchen
"Sigh... It's only the first day and I'm so tired... I missed dinner, so I'm very hungry. Wonder if there's anythin' in the fridge..." Ace opens the fridge door and he saw three whole strawberry tarts "Oh! Found a tart! Looks delish~! There's a lot, so I'm not sure if I can finish it all~" Ace cut himself a piece of the tart "Thanks for the food~" Then he took a bite of the tart "Whoa! What the heck?! It's so good!" Ace said in delight but didn't realize that someone was behind him
"Of course it would be delicious. After all, anything that Trey makes is bound to be exquisite" The male with red hair said
"Nah man, this is something else! It's better than the ones in shops..." Ace said as he turned around to see the Prefect, Riddle Rosehearts "Wha-! Prefect?!" Ace shouted
"Quite the boldness you have there for touching something that belongs to me. Queen of Hearts Rule #83: "You shall not eat tarts prepared for the Queen ahead of her" Larceny of the Queen's tarts is a capital crime! OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" Riddle said as he used magic on Ace and a heart-shaped lock appeared around Ace's neck
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ace shouted
Flashback end~
"And that's what happened" Ace said as he finished telling us the story but... Grim and I just gave him a blank look
"You've only got yourself to blame" Grim said and I nodded in agreement
"But ain't it overreacting to seal my magic just cause I ate his tart?! It's practically the same as tying my hands and feet! Plus, there were three whole ones! He can't possibly finish all of those! There's a limit to how heartless he can be!"
"I do believe that binding your magic is a little over the top" I said
"Right?!" Ace shouted
"Ah! Wait a second... If there were three whole tarts, they might've been prepared for the party yanno? Like someone's birthday? Man I'm such a great detective huh!" Grim said as he started to do a self celebration
"Birthday?" Ace asked with a confused tone
"Well, I guess that makes sense. Looks like that explains why Rosehearts is upset, have you even apologized to him?" I said and asked
"Uh... I came here thinking that you'd agree with me about the Prefect being a tyrant..." Ace admitted. I sighed and I placed my hand on top of his hand
"Listen Ace, I'm sure he'll forgive you if you apologize" I said with a small smile and Ace's cheeks turned a bit red
"Grudges over food are scary. Ah! Speaking of which, I still haven't received my canned tuna from the Headmaster!" Grim said as I let out a breath
"Sigh... I get it. I just have to apologize right? You suggested it, so you better come with me Maria..." Ace said as he looked away from me
"I was planning on coming with you anyway" I said
"In the meantime, where can I sleep?" Ace asked
'Oh yeah, most of the rooms haven't cleaned out yet... Except my room...' I thought to myself
"You're serious about stayin' the night? The other rooms aside from ours are still full of dust. If you're going sleep here, you better clean it yourself" Grim said
"Ugh. I don't wanna clean it all." Ace said with a complaining tone then he looked at me with a smirk "Maria~ Let me stay in your room~ I'm pretty slim so I won't take up much room. Please~?" Ace asked as he leaned close to me
"Well I don't mind sharing a room with you, besides I have another bed that I'm already sleeping in. So you can use the bed for the night" I said and that surprised Ace
"What!?" Grim shouted
"R-really!? O-okay" Ace said and we went upstairs to go to my room. When we got to my room, Ace was shocked to see the coffin from the entrance ceremony
"W-why is there a coffin here!?" Ace asked in a shocked tone
"I asked Headmaster Crowley if he can send the coffin here since it feels weird sleeping in a wide space" I said
"I guess that makes sense, you've been in that coffin for who knows how long" Ace said
"Well, let's go to sleep now. We have school in the morning, so goodnight Ace" I said as I entered my coffin
"Night Maria" Ace said as he went to sleep on the bed while Grim grabbed a pillow and placed it my coffin and Grim fell asleep
Morning~
Morning came, I got up and went to the bathroom to get myself ready for school. Then I knocking sounds coming from downstairs but I couldn't answer it since I'm in the bathroom
Ace P.O.V
I was awoken by the sound knocking and dust falling on my face
"What the...? Who the hell's pounding the door so early in the morning?" I asked myself as more dust fell on my face "Ugh...! This dorm's seriously raining dust!" I wiped my face so I can get rid of the dust on my face and the pounding on the front door continued "Got it, got it! I'll open the door, so don't break it!" I yelled
Ramshackle Dorm - Foyer
I opened the door and Deuce was there
"I knew I'd find you here" Deuce said with a upset look
"D-Deuce..." I stuttered
"I heard about the situation from our dormmates. You ate the Prefect's tart, so now you've got that collar on haven't you? You an outright idiot" Deuce said and that made angry
"Shut it! I don't wanna hear that from you!" I yelled "So... Is the Prefect still mad at me...?" I asked
"Not completely. He's in an irritated mood and about three people who didn't follow the waking up routine suffered the same fate as you" Deuce said
" 'Not completely' my ass! He's totally mad!" I yelled
"Geez, you're really loud in the morning Ace. Oh Deuce, good morning" I heard Maria coming downstairs and when I turned around "Sorry bout that Mar-" my face turned completely red including Deuce's face when we saw Maria
"Are you guys feeling alright? Your faces are red" Maria said and asked
"O-Oh yeah! W-We're fine!" I shouted on accident
"Okay, so shall we head out?" Maria asked and we left the Ramshackle Dorm
Mainstreet~ Maria P.O.V
I was walking through Mainstreet with Ace, Deuce and Grim, while walking I noticed some stares towards me
"Hey isn't that the girl from the coffin that wouldn't open? She's a student here now!?" One student said with excitement
"Holy shit! She looks hot!" Another student said
"Now I'm excited to go to school now!" Another student said
'Boys will be boys I guess' I thought to myself while Grim is being a show-off
"Hey! Make way, make way! I, Grim a full-fledged Night Raven College student is passing through! Look at my collar! My collar is totally awesome compared to yours!" Grim shouted and he gave Ace a smug look "And you can't use your magic now, can you? Guess I can have you cleaning the school as part of your chores or something? Nyaha, this feels good!" Grim said and I slapped the side of his head
"Grim, be nice to Ace. I know he was rude to us yesterday but that doesn't mean you need to be rude to him back" I said
"You better remember this, when I get my magic back!" Ace declared
"The Headmaster just scolded you for a ruckus you caused yesterday remember? In any case, you won't be able to attend classes since your magic has been sealed. How about you go and apologize to Prefect Rosehearts so he can take that off?" Deuce said
"Damn it...! I still ain't convinced...!" Ace said with anger
"We still have time before the next class. Plus, I'm interested in the other dorms. Let's go observe while we watch Ace apologize" Grim said which made Ace angry again
"I'm not some kinda exhibit! Damn it!" Ace yelled
Mirror Chamber~
We entered the Mirror Chamber that leads to different dorms and we headed to Heartslabyul mirror, we passed through the mirror and made it to Heartslabyul dorm
'Wow! This dorm is amazing! So many beautiful roses!' I thought to myself
"Whoa! This is super fancy! It's completely different from our dorm!" Grim said
"It's still under development Grim. The dorm would look nice if you helped me do the cleaning" I said while sighing and we went to look for the Prefect but ended up in a Rose maze for some reason
Rose Maze~
"Oh no. I gotta hurry and paint these roses red." We heard someone say
"Oh, someone's over there." Grim pointed out and we saw a boy with orange hair, green eyes and a diamond mark under his eye
"Whoa there. If there are some left unpainted, then it's off with my head" The orange haired male said
'Weird... Why do I feel like I've heard that saying before?' I thought to myself
"Hm? Did you guys need something?" The orange haired male asked
"What're you doin?" Ace asked
"This? As you can see, I'm painting the roses red" The orange haired male said
"Eh?! Why do such a thing?" Deuce asked in a surprised tone
"Hm~ Your reactions are so fresh it's kinda cute~! Now that I look at you closely, you guys are the freshies who totally wrecked the 10 million chandelier and caused a ruckus yesterday." The orange haired male said which made all of us flinch
"I feel like they won't let that chandelier thing go until we graduate..." Ace said with a depressed tone
"And you're the super sinful kid who stole the Prefect's tart! I'm so lucky to meet the rumored freshies so early in the morning~ Hey, hey! Let's take pic together! Yay~!" The orange haired male flashed something at us and it made me jump "Hey, can I upload this? I wanna put hashtags so tell me your names." The orange haired male said and asked
'What's... A hashtag...?' I thought to myself
"I'm Deuce Spade"
"Ace"
"I'm Grim and this is my human"
"I'm Maria"
"Alright, upload done~ Oh, I'm Cater Diamond, a 3rd year. That makes me your senior~ Call me Cater-kun okay? Cay-kun's fine too~ Heya, heya~" Cater introduced himself
"A pleasure to meet you Cater senpai" I said with a small smile on my face
"Oh! Your the new Prefect for Ramshackle dorm! Wow! I didn't know you'll be such a beauty and a cutie all at once! I can't believe you're living in a run-down building like that! It's so dark and I feel like something's gonna pop out~ I feel for ya~" Cater senpai said
"This guy's being pretty rude" Grim said
"I don't think he really means it" I said to Grim
"Oh, I shouldn't be standing here and talking! The party's the day after tomorrow. It's off with my head if I'm late. Hey, hey freshies~ Can you help me with painting the roses?" Cater senpai asked us
"Why're you doing somethin' so strange?" Ace asked
"I mean, won't it be more photogenic if the roses were red for the party~? I'm really busy because I'm also in charge of coloring the flamingos for the croquet match~" Cater senpai said
"Dyeing the flamingos?! That's a pretty weird job" Grim said
"But wouldn't it be bad for the flamingos?" I asked
"Don't worry, the dye doesn't harm them" Cater senpai said and I felt a little calm
"So, the tarts that Ace ate were to be used for the Prefect's birthday party? I see now. So that's why he was so mad..." Deuce said
"What? That's not it" Cater senpai said and made all of us confused
"It ain't?! Then whose birthday is it?" Ace asked
"It's no one's birthday. The day after tomorrow is our Dorm's legendary Unbirthday Party. It's a tea party that the Prefect felt like doing, so he chose a day that doesn't fall on anyone's birthday" Cater senpai explained to us
"The hell's that!?" Ace asked with a confused tone
"In any case, the reasons can wait! You just have to help me paint the roses! Deuce-chan and Grim-chan can magic right? Ace-chan and Maria-chan can't use magic, so here's paintbrush~" Cater senpai said as he gave me and Ace a paintbrush
'But I do have magic, but then again... I don't fully know how to use them. So I guess the paintbrush will be fine' I thought to myself
"Ch-change the colors with magic, you mean...?" Deuce said
"I haven't done anything like that before yanno." Grim admitted
"It's okay, relax~ We'll manage! We better hurry before the Prefect punishes us~" Cater senpai said as he started pushing us towards the white rose bushes
To be continued