Grim marched down the path of the courtyard. There was just no way he was ever going back to those boring classes again! Who needs them anyway? He can become a powerful wizard by himself!
"Grim, it'd be better for you if you just take your classes without complaining, y'know?" he suddenly heard Ace's voice yell behind him. Grim stopped and turned to see Ace, Deuce and the four girls coming towards him. "Funya?! Why did you guys come to bring me back?!" he exclaimed in shock.
"To enrich my lunch, I guess." Deuce replied with a determined smirk. But Grim scowled at the boys indignantly. "That makes no sense! I ain't going back to those boring classes!" he yelled before he ran off. And so, the chase began.
As Grim ran amok in the courtyard, Deuce wielded his magic pen and Ace grabbed a giant net from the nearby storage room as they chased after him. Some students who were passing by the courtyard stopped and watched as the six teens chased and yelled after Grim, doing everything they could to catch him.
While the girls fanned out across the courtyard to prevent Grim from making an escape, the boys chased him all over the courtyard, trying their best to catch him. Ace kept swinging his giant net at Grim, but he was too fast to be caught.
"Oh, please come back to us, Grim! We'll be in terrible trouble if you run off like that!" Alice pleaded. "Don't be so unreasonable, Grim!" Jazmin added. But Grim gave them a defiant glare. "No way! I'm never going back, and you can't make me!" he screeched as he continued running. "Jeez, he's so stubborn." Ace groaned.
Grim nimbly dodged the boys' attacks as he ran, but it wasn't long before he found himself face-to-face with a wall. Ace and Deuce saw their chance and managed to corner Grim, trapping him.
"Grrrrrrrr...!" Grim growled furiously, trying to look menacing. But Ace just smirked at Grim while Deuce gave him a stern glare. "Are you finally ready to return to the Prefects?" Deuce asked as he crossed his arms. But Grim obstinately shook his head. "I already told ya, I don't wanna~~~~!!" he yowled.
Then, without warning, Grim suddenly took a deep breath and spewed out an enormous jet of blue flames towards Ace and Deuce. "Uwa, watch out!" Ace screamed as the two boys quickly jumped away to avoid getting themselves burnt.
Taking advantage of catching them off guard, Grim quickly made his escape. Once Deuce saw that Grim had managed to give them the slip, he let out a frustrated sigh. "I knew it, he really doesn't know how to admit defeat at all...!" he groaned as the two boys resumed their pursuit.
"Grim, we don't have time for this foolishness!" Jazmin called to Grim sternly. "You get back here right now!" But Grim just turned around and stuck his tongue out at her in derision. "Bleh! Make me!" he said before he resumed running.
Kira gritted her teeth, irritated. She was getting tired of that cocky little cat gremlin's shenanigans. "Ooh, that does it!" she snarled as she cracked her knuckles. "He's asking for it! Once I get my hands on that little bastard, I'm gonna wring his scrawny neck!" Before anyone knew it, she started running towards Grim in a flash.
"GGRRRRIIIIMMMM!!!" Kira roared as she charged towards Grim at full speed. Grim heard his name being called and when he turned around, he saw an enraged lioness charging towards him, her carnelian-red eyes burning with unbridled fury.
"FFFGGYYYAAAA?!" Grim exclaimed with wide, frightened eyes before he scrambled off as fast as his little legs could carry him. It was such a comical sight to see Grim running around the courtyard in a panic with an incensed lioness following close behind him.
With his small stature and nimble body, Grim managed to maneuver through every nook and cranny in the courtyard. But no matter how hard he tried to shake her off, Kira was able to leap over every obstacle, relentless in pursuing her prey.
There was just nothing that could stop her when she's livid. As Grim quickly turned right, he suddenly crashed into Ace who raised his net over his head. "Hiyah!" Ace yelled as he brought the net down on Grim, but Grim quickly jumped back and tried to run the opposite way.
Seeing an opportunity to catch Grim, the peacock green-eyed boy held his magic pen towards him. "Cauldron, drop!!" he chanted, calling forth his trusty cauldron. The cauldron magically appeared and landed right on top of Grim. "Funyaa?!" Grim screamed as he felt the cauldron squash him.
Ace and Alice then walked up towards the trapped cat gremlin as he began to whine and complain, thrashing around under the cauldron like a toddler. "Alright! We're gonna get treated to lunch~!" Ace cheered as Alice got Grim out from under the pot, holding him in her arms.
"Okay, Grim. You're gonna come and take classes without any more trouble." Deuce said as he sternly pointed at Grim. Grim continued to complain. "How are you guys in sync only when it comes to things like this~...?" he whined.
"Now, Grim, please. Listen to Deuce-kun and let's head on back to class." Alice said kindly as the six began to walk away, with Grim continuing to whine. At the end of the hall, the winged shadowy figure watched them leave before she gave a sweet smile, happy to see that they were able to work together as a team.
"I wish you great prosperity, girls." she said softly to herself as she watched the six teens and cat walk through the courtyard until they were out of her sight. She bowed her head and with a gentle smile on her face, vanished into a speck of light.
"Noooo, lemme gooo! I don't wanna go back to boring classes!" Grim whined as he struggled to get out of Alice's hold. Kira then turned her head sharply towards Grim, completely fed up with his whining. "You won't be a great mage if you don't! So shut your mouth, tuna breath!" she snapped, making Grim flinch.
"Geez! Why are you being so strict today?!" Grim sighed as he just slumped in Alice's hold and pouted as the group entered the cafeteria, which was packed with students. Hanging above them was the recently repaired chandelier, which looked as if it hadn't even been broken in the first place.
There was a long line of students in front of a selection of different foods, all of them being served by ghosts similar to the ones in the Ramshackle Dorm. When Grim caught the fresh scent of delicious food, his sour mood began to completely disappear.
"It's finally lunch time~! Wow, everything always looks so good here~!" Grim said as his big blue eyes hungrily scanned through the array of food presented on the table bar for the students to get what they wanted. The girls were impressed by the numerous plates of food, drinks and desserts all lined up at the bar.
Everything looked so good, and the smell was divine. The food served back at the four girls' dormitory could never compare itself to this stuff. Then again, their school food wasn't always that good. "Oh, my! It's almost like a high-class buffet!" Alice said in amazement as they got in line with Ace and Deuce.
"Yeah! So many goods you can stuff yourself with!" Kira exclaimed. "Pretty fancy that they do it buffet-style." Aria added. "Man, I am starved." Ace said as he picked up a Salisbury steak and a side of cherry-flavored jelly, as well as a small carton of milk to drink.
Meanwhile, Grim was zooming about, ogling at all the delectable dishes with wide eyes. "Fluffy omelette! Grilled chicken and bacon-egg tarts!" he shouted pretty loudly as he zipped around from one tray to the next. Ace then grabbed one of his fiery ears and gave the active cat gremlin a very annoyed expression.
"Shut up! You're so loud! Try being this excited during more than just lunch..." he said. Grim then leapt up and tugged at Alice's arm as his eyes caught sight of a very delicious plate of grilled chicken. "Hey, hey! I want some grilled chicken!" he shouted as he quickly picked up the plate of grilled chicken.
"Oh, oh, and the omelette! Bread and jam, too! Just take a bunch of everything!" Grim shouted as he dragged Alice along to the buffet, picking out various plates along the way. "Hey! Quit dragging her around, Grim!" Kira shouted after him.
The whole scenario would've been amusing if it wasn't so embarrassing, for several students were staring at them and giggling. Poor Alice was blushing red with utter embarrassment as she tried to calm Grim down.
"Grim, please try to stay quiet." she whispered softly. "I'll bring you whatever you want, but please, keep your voice—Ah!" She suddenly cried out as she and Grim found themselves accidentally bumping into one of the students, followed by the loud sound of something cracking.
Alice pulled Grim into her arms and was about to apologize to the student she had bumped into when his harsh voice caused her to back away in fear. "Noooooo! Oi, watch it! 'Cause of you, the egg in my pasta broke!" the brash-looking student shouted in anger and he and his friend glared irately at the young girl and her cat.
"Woah, woah, woah~! Breaking the gooey egg is, like, the best part of eating carbonara, you know?" his friend, a silver-haired boy said before he got into Alice's face and screamed at her. "How you gonna pay us back for that, huh?!"
"I-I'm sorry...! I'm so terribly s-sorry... It-It was an accident..." Alice's whole body trembled as she stuttered out her apology. She had her head down as she was too terrified to look at them in the eye. Grim looked up at her with an unreadable expression as the cerise-haired upperclassman began to laugh at her.
"Hand over that grilled chicken as compensation, otherwise we can't call this even." he said as he grinned cruelly. "What?" Alice asked as Grim held a protective paw over the plate of grilled chicken and glared up at him.
"Ffgna?! Heck no! This is my chicken!" he shouted, going behind the blonde-haired girl. Alice's sky-blue eyes widened and her body shook uncontrollably as she took a small step back when the two students stomped their way closer towards them, glaring at her and Grim.
Alice was going to apologize again and offer to buy them another carbonara when the cerise-haired upperclassman suddenly gazed at her. "Hey, wait a minute." he said, looking at Alice closely. His eyes then widened in recognition.
"I know you... you're one of those guys from the orientation ceremony!" Alice's eyes widened as she suddenly found herself as the center of attention...and the two upperclassmen suddenly advanced toward her with malicious grins. "So you have no magic at all, huh? How sad." the first student said tauntingly.
"Magicless guys like you belong in the trash!" his silver-haired friend added. "How are you gonna pay any respect to your elders like this? We oughta teach you a lesson!" the cerise-haired student said he roughly knocked Alice down to the floor.
"Oww!" Alice yelped as she fell on her side. The moment she fell down, everyone in the vicinity suddenly burst out laughing while Grim, Ace, Deuce and the other girls glared at the cerise-haired boy for his actions. "Hey, Alice-chan, you okay?! Are you hurt?" Ace asked as he ran to Alice's side and helped her stand up.
Alice shook her head. "No... I'm alright." she said as she gingerly stood up on her feet. "Hahahahaha!" the student who tripped her laughed. "Hey! Lying down in the dirt's a good look for you! Magicless dirt like you don't belong here!"
"Hey, why don't you and your friends go back to wearing those janitor outfits of yours?" his silver-haired friend taunted. "It suits you guys way better than those uniforms!" He and his friend laughed even more, and soon the other students joined in, but some of them looked on disapprovingly.
Ace glared at them furiously while Deuce and Kira immediately stepped in between Alice and the two bullies, shielding her behind them. "Hey, you low-down punks! That wasn't cool! Leave him alone!" Kira snarled ferociously.
"H-Hey, settling personal squabbles with magic is prohibited..." Deuce said, trying to defuse the situation as pacifically as he could. "Squabble? This is just seniors teaching their juniors proper behavior!" the cerise-haired delinquent snarled.
"Better prepare yourself!" his silver-haired friend shouted as they took out their magic pens and placed their food to the side. Deuce narrowed his eyes at the two and motioned for Alice and Kira to stay back for their own safety while he took care of them.
Though Kira wanted to fight for how they treated Alice, they both listened and backed away from the fight, even though Alice wanted to stop him from doing so.
However, the look in Deuce's peacock green eyes as he glared at the delinquent students made her think otherwise. Ace pulled the girls back further as they watched Deuce take out his magic pen and charge towards their two seniors.