After Crowley had made his punishment known, he immediately sent Ace on his way to class and was sure to remind the girls and Grim about their other jobs, much to Grim's utter dismay.
The day went by pretty slowly. After the girls and Grim cleaned off the statue of the Queen of Hearts, they went around fixing any repairs that needed to be done, taking out the trash from the different classrooms, as well as sweeping up any fallen leaves around the courtyard.
All the while, Grim kept on whining and grumbling in anger over Ace's mockery. Kira nearly threw him across the school grounds, mainly out of annoyance by his constant whining. She even had to retrain herself from strangling him.
By the time they were done, the girls and Grim were exhausted and hungry. So when lunchtime came around, the five of them went to the cafeteria to get some food to eat. Good thing was that they had gotten Crowley's permission beforehand. Still, their work wasn't over yet.
They still had to pull out the weeds from the courtyard, wipe down the cafeteria tables, mop the hallways, and lastly, wash those one hundred windows as punishment for scorching the Queen of Hearts statue.
The four girls did think that was a lot of work, but they wanted to at least earn their keep. They only hoped that it would be worth it. By the time lunch was over, Grim stayed behind while the girls went off to collect some buckets of water, a couple of window cleaners, sponges and cloths needed for their next cleaning duty.
Even when he saw the cleaning supplies, Grim became even more exhausted. "I'm already beat from cleaning all day... Now we have to wipe a hundred windows, too...?" he whined as he lay on one of the tables in the cafeteria.
"Quit your complaining. We're not fond of doing this either, you know." Kira snipped. She was just as sore as the other girls were about having to wash one hundred windows right after spending a good half of the day doing their chores, plus having to deal with the arrogant students that populated Night Raven College.
"Besides, it's your own fault you've got us into this mess. I hope you've learned your lesson with this and behave yourself." Jazmin said sternly. "Jazmin-chan's right, Grim. We've got no other choice in the matter." Alice added as she set down the supplies. "And if we don't do this, Headmaster Crowley will scold us again."
"If you're over it, just get it done." Kira muttered, trying hard not to snap at him. None of them would be punished at all if Grim had only just behaved. However, it was their fault that he acted out in the first place, as much as they hated to admit it.
They did promise that they would keep an eye on him, but they failed to do such a simple task. No way they would let it happen a second time. "That Ace guy is sure taking his sweet time. Who does he think he is, making me wait! I'm ticked off!" Grim said as he sat down with his paws crossed.
Aria sat by him and patted his back. "Hey now, it'll be okay. I'm sure he's on his way here." she said, trying to calm him down. And so, they waited. They waited for about five minutes, but Ace didn't show up.
"He's probably being held back by a teacher." Alice said. Then ten minutes passed. Ace still didn't come. "Um, m-maybe he's caught up on something?" Aria asked. Fifteen minutes passed by. Ace was still a no-show and Grim's patience had finally snapped.
"I don't care what happened, he's taking way too long!!" he shouted angrily. He then blinked in confusion before he realized something, the tone in his voice still angry. "Wait, don't tell me he bailed out on us!" he snapped.
Kira also grew angry at that thought. "That rat! If he really ditched out on us, I swear I'm gonna rip his guts out once I find him!" she snarled, her carnelian red eyes blazing with fury as she cracked her knuckles. "How dare he do this to us?!" Alice and Aria both patted her shoulders, trying to console her.
"N-Now, wait a minute, let's not jump to any false conclusions. Wh-Why don't we try and find him first?" Aria asked. That may sound like wishful thinking, but the Headmaster can be pretty scary. And knowing that he was expecting all six of them, there was no way Ace would be bold enough to skip out on his punishment.
"I'm not gonna let him get away with putting all the punishment on us!" Grim shouted as he started to leave. "Let's go, henchmen! We're gonna catch Ace and make him do all the window washing!"
"I don't think that sounds very fa—" Alice started to say before Kira cut her off. "Hey, stop calling us that! We're not your henchman, tuna breath!" she yelled as she started to follow him. "...H-H-Hey, wait! Grim, wait for us!" Alice called out.
The four girls quickly chased after the cat gremlin as he stormed through the halls in search for the terracotta-haired teen, trying not to make eye contact with the few students that passed by them.
Eventually, the five ran into an empty classroom. However, Grim was too furious to realize it at first. "Orraaaa! Where's Ace! You'll pay for hiding!" he screeched. He then blinked in surprise when he finally noticed that there was no one in the classroom.
".....Ah, there's nobody here?!" he questioned. "M-Maybe, the class just ended for him?" Alice asked. "No, I'm here." a new voice suddenly said. The five were left in utter puzzlement at who could suddenly say that.
They looked around but they saw no one else in the classroom. "Up here." the voice called out again. They all looked up and saw a painting of an elderly bearded man on the wall, staring at them. Safe to say, it spooked them a bit.
"Whoa!" Kira, Aria and Jazmin all gasped in surprise. "Oh, my goodness!" Alice exclaimed. "Fffgyyyaaaaaaaaa!!!! The picture talked!!" Grim screamed as he clung onto Aria when the painting began to speak.
"What now? Talking portraits are not a rare sight in this school, no?" the man in the painting said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Everyone here can speak, including the Lady on the wall over there, and the Gentleman on the wall over here. Portraits have mouths, so of course we can talk. Isn't that normal?"
"W-W-Well, normally, paintings don't speak where we come from." Alice said. "I've been hanging on this wall perfectly for over 50 years now, unlike those folks who lightly and restlessly float about." the Wall Portrait said.
"Your definition of "normal" and my definition of "normal" are different. It's all about respecting each other's individualities. Am I wrong?" The girls all looked at each other before shaking their heads hesitantly. "Yes, I...I suppose you're right about that." Alice said.
They all mentally kicked themselves for not even suspecting that this magic-filled world would have talking and moving paintings. This shouldn't come as a surprise. The Wall Portrait then turned to face Grim.
"That aside, who are you looking for?" he asked. "A guy named Ace. He's got a heart mark on his face and hair that sticks up." Grim replied. The Wall Portrait nodded. "Ah yes, I know him. He's one of the freshmen that started today. He went back to his dormitory not too long ago..." he said.
"Waaaaahaaaat!" Grim shouted, his. anger rising up again. "So he did try to get away! Which way did he go?'' The Wall Portrait turned his eyes towards the door. "The entryways leading to the dormitories are in the inner part of the East Wing." he replied.
"Thank you very much for your help, kind sir." Alice said politely. She was then taken aback when Grim tugged at her hand and began to pull her towards the door. "Hey! We're going after him." he said impatiently.
After thanking the man in the painting once more, the four girls and Grim left the classroom and ran after Ace. Hopefully they could resolve this without any problems. Hopefully...