Once lunch and classes were over, the quartet of students and their talking cat gremlin walked around the school and headed into the forest behind campus. Just as Trey had said, there were trees just practically brimming with chestnuts. Grim couldn't stop drooling at the sight of them.
With that many trees, it would be enough to cover the 300 tarts they needed to make for the Unbirthday Party. "Whoa! There really are chestnuts all over the place here! With this many, we could have all-you-can-eat Mont Blanc...Hehe!" Grim chuckled as he hurried over towards the tree that was closest to them.
He climbed up onto the branch and grinned at the nuts that have fallen on the ground. "Ah, wait, Grim! Be careful, chestnuts have-!" Alice tried to warn their feline friend, but she was too late. "Let's get picking—Oww!!" Grim exclaimed as he tried to pick up the chestnuts, only to yowl in agony.
Now his little paw pads were painfully stuck onto the spiky husks of the chestnuts. "Ffgna! The thorns pricked my paw!" he shouted as he shook the chestnuts off his paws.
"Oh, you poor thing." Alice said sympathetically as she cradled Grim's paws tenderly, causing him to wince. Alice then gently rubbed the sore paw pads before lightly kissing them, causing the little feline-like monster to blush slightly. "There. Does that feel any better?" she asked sweetly.
"Uh... y-yeah," Grim answered, a bit bashfully. "I mean, not that it hurt in the first place, y'know! It really didn't!" Ace and Kira both snickered at how flustered the little furball got, the former lightly nudging the latter in the side with his elbow.
"It doesn't seem like we can pick them up with our bare hands. It'd be handy to get a basket or something to put them in, as well." Deuce said. "Wouldn't the botanical garden have stuff like that?" Ace suggested. "Let's go take a look." Deuce replied.
The trip to the botanical garden was short, and as soon as they stepped through the glass doors of the domed building, the girls found themselves stunned by the appearance and the sheer, majestic size of the botanical garden.
The botanical garden was like an enormous jungle and was in the perfect temperature for all the plants and flowers. A small clear river flowed throughout the garden with several bridges left and right. All around them, there were tropical plants all over the place.
There were plenty of flowers and trees that the two girls had never even seen before. Some of them even looked like plants that didn't even exist in their world!
The sun washed the garden with a soft golden glow and all around the garden, there were a grove of large trees while colorful flowers of all kinds grew around or hung off the trees in hanging flowerpots. It was a truly beautiful garden, just as Alice believed it would be.
It was so peaceful and quiet; you could easily fall asleep inside if you wanted to. "Wow, it's bigger in here than I thought." Ace said, taking in the view. "Given the size, there must be a caretaker or two in charge of this place. Let's split up and see if we can find someone." Deuce said.
"I'll go right." Ace said, turning and walking in that direction. "And I'll head left. Would you three mind checking the back?" Deuce asked. "Not at all." Alice said with a nod. The group split up and went their separate ways to find gloves and buckets to collect the chestnuts from the forest.
Even though they had a job to do, it didn't hurt to admire the lovely scenery. Especially when they're surrounded by so many beautiful flowers and soothing smells. Alice smiled as she looked at some odd-looking flowers. "Oh, these are lovely. I've never seen these types of flowers before." Alice said, admiring the flowers.
As the two girls walked further into the garden, admiring the view, Grim suddenly let out a shout. "There's a bunch of fruit! They smell so good!" he said as he ran ahead, pointing up at a tree with sweet-looking pink fruit, practically drooling.
"Grim, you can't pick that fruit. Also, the last thing I wanna do is apologize to the groundskeeper for your gluttony." Kira said as she walked towards Grim. However, as she walked, Kira suddenly felt something soft underneath her foot. Whatever it was, it felt like a long hose or rope.
"Gh-ow!" a rough voice suddenly yelped. Both Kira and Alice paused when they heard that voice. "You hear that?" Alice asked. Kira nodded. "Yeah, I think I stepped on something...or someone." she said. The sudden sound of rustling bushes nearby caught their attention.
Alice, Kira and Grim all turned around... and came face to face with a young man who had emerged from the shrubbery. A rather handsome young man, at that. "Oi. You've got some nerve stepping on someone's tail without saying anything." the man curtly said, his voice so deep and smooth it could've been made out of velvet.
He was a tall, lean and muscular young man with tanned brown skin. He had a mane of thick, long, and messy chocolate brown hair with twin braids hanging from either side and piercing, smoldering summer green cat-like eyes.
He also had a variety of lion-like features, such as light brown lion ears on his head and a long, thin tail. His uniform was very casual in appearance. He didn't wear a blazer or a tie, just a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up slightly and a few buttons on the top left undone, revealing a bit of his muscular chest.
He also wore a golden yellow vest, black leather gloves, two beaded bracelets and a golden bracelet on his left wrist. His dorm's emblem armband was tied to his belt and instead of shoes, he wore a pair of sandals on his feet.
However, the one feature he had that stood out most of all was the jagged scar that crossed over his left eye. Alice and Grim's eyes widened at the sight of him. Even Kira was so stunned by the lion man's attractive appearance that all that came out of her mouth was a soft, shuddering breath.
She saw how his tousled, silky brown locks gleamed in the sunlight around his finely chiseled face and his eyes shone like finely polished emeralds. Every part of him was so princely, handsome enough to make her heart melt at the sight of him.
"Wow! He's totally gorgeous!" Kira thought, instantly enamored by his looks. She then caught herself and furiously shook her head, trying to drive that embarrassing thought out of her mind as her cheeks reddened. "Jeez, are you kidding me?!" Kira scolded herself mentally. "How could I ever think of something like that?!"
It was true, though. He was handsome enough to make any woman swoon, but he also possessed an intimidating side that made Kira shudder. Even Alice trembled under the lion man's menacing stare as she fearfully clung onto Kira's arm. Grim ran over to Kira, climbed up her back and hopped onto her shoulder.
"Are you the caretaker here?" Grim asked, addressing the lion man. "You seem a bit vulgar for that..." The lion man glared at them. "I was right in the middle of a nice nap, then you go and walk all over my tail. This sucks." he said quite irately.
"Oh!" Kira exclaimed, remembering what she had done to make him act that way. "Yeah, about that. I'm really sorry, sir." she said, bowing apologetically to him. "It was an accident. We really didn't mean to wake you from your nap, Mr. Lion." Alice added meekly. "We're truly sorry for disturbing you. Please excuse us."
Before the girls could even turn around and leave, the young lion man suddenly raised his arm and slammed his palm against a tree at Kira's left side. She then realized that he had them trapped for he was blocking their only way out.
Soon, the trio found themselves staring into the eyes of the beast that towered over them. Alice felt her heart quiver under his piercing gaze. "You... Aren't you two of those herbivores that the mirror said can't use magic?" the lion man asked curiously as he looked down at Alice and Kira. "Hmmm..."
A sly and dangerous smirk crept on his lips as he began to eye the girls up and down, silently judging them. That was when the two girls' eyes widened when they realized that he was the very same guy they saw during the entrance ceremony.
They didn't even realize that he was a lion beastman. Kira didn't like the way he looked at them. His menacing green eyes bore into them as if he was looking directly into their very souls, like a hungry predator eyeing his prey. She quickly held out a protective arm in front of Alice and Grim, shielding them.
Then, much to the trio's utter surprise, the lion man suddenly lowered himself close to their necks and began sniffing them. "Eh?! Hey! What are you doing?!" Kira exclaimed, her cheeks turning a bright red.
Behind her, Alice trembled as she clung on to her arm. "Eeek... H-He's smelling us!" she squeaked, her face completely red. The lion man blinked before he grinned, revealing a set of sharp pearly-white fangs behind his lips. "Ha. I can smell a speck of magic on you guys. But it's not your magic." he drawled.
He still kept up his haughty smirk as he stared down at the trio. "It's not really my style taking on opponents that can't defend themselves properly, but..." He then paused, enjoying the looks of terror on Alice and Grim's faces.
Now Alice's heart was pounding for a different reason as a chill raced down her spine. On her shoulder, Grim trembled anxiously. Even though the young lion man spoke very calmly, there was a haughtiness and murderous tone in his voice that even a lazy cat gremlin like him could sense.
"I dunno why but being scrutinized by this guy is making my fur stand on end!" Grim said shakily. The young lion man's smile then dropped, and he looked absolutely irritated about having his nap being interrupted by the three interlopers.
"You step on the great Leona's tail, and you expect to walk away scot free? I was having such a lovely nap, and now I'm just miffed." he said as he cracked his knuckles. He clenched his fists so tightly, the two girls and Grim could hear his bones crack.
Alice wanted to scream for help, but her vocal cords were frozen with fear. "Hope you're ready to leave behind a tooth." he snarled, glaring at them. Alice went pale as she clung onto Kira's arm tightly, frozen in fear like a fawn in headlights.
"P-Pl-Please! D-Don't hit us!" Alice squeaked, starting to panic. "Hurry, let's get outta here!" Grim shouted nervously as he pulled on Kira's other arm, pleading for her to run away. But Kira stood her ground. "Are you kidding? There's no way I'm running. I'm not scared of him." she said boldly, glaring at the lion man.
The lion man paused and raised an eyebrow, amused by her audacity to stand up to him. "Oh? Plucky little herbivore, aren't you?" he asked, his annoyingly smug smirk reappearing on his lips. "How interesting." Kira glared at the lion man.
"I don't know who you are, but nobody threatens my friends. Not even you." Kira said, cracking her own knuckles. "I'll be the one taking your teeth, buster! You wanna fight? I'll take you on, one on one!" She got into a stance and held her fists at him, ready to fight. The lion man chuckled darkly, becoming even more amused.
This kid was certainly interesting. Nobody had the backbone to stand up to him before, not even a freshman. "All right, herbivore. Be prepared." he said. He took a step towards Kira and swiftly raised his right leg towards her, ready to kick her in the face when all of a sudden...
"Leona-san~!" a voice called out. The young lion man instantly stopped, his right foot just an inch away from Kira's face. "Huh?" Leona, the lion man grumbled as he lowered his foot. He looked annoyed of having his fight interrupted as he stepped away from the girls and turned towards the owner of the voice.
The two girls and Grim also turned and saw a young teenager walking down the path towards them with a large smile on his face. He had short biscuit brown-colored hair, bluish-gray eyes and fair skin. He also had a bit of a scrawny figure to him, judging by how loose his uniform looked on him.
His uniform looked more like it would fit on Leona than it would on him for the sleeves on his jacket had to be rolled back several times as well as the ends of his pants. His most distinguishing features, though, were the large hyena-like ears on his head and short hyena tail. On his feet, he wore tan-colored converse sneakers.
"So you were hiding out here, after all. It's time for your remedial lessons, y'know." the teenage hyena boy said, walking up to him. "And now the annoying one's here." Leona sighed, holding his hand to his head in irritation.
"It's cause you keep failing, Leona-san." the hyena boy said with a teasing smile. "If you get held back another year, we're gonna end up classmates." For some reason, the two girls got the impression that he wanted to see that for his own amusement.
"Oh, just lay off already. I don't need lectures from you, Ruggie." Leona snarled. "It's not like I enjoy having to nag you all the time!" Ruggie, the hyena boy retorted irately as his ears faltered down. He then sighed.
"Jeez, it's not like you're stupid. You could manage fine if you just tried. Whatever, let's go." he said as he started to leave. Leona rolled his eyes. "Tch..." he scoffed, knowing full well that Ruggie was never going to shut his mouth unless he gets his tail over to class. He then turned to face the two girls and Grim.
"Better watch out next time you even think about entering my turf, herbivores." he sneered. Kira just glared at Leona as he and Ruggie sauntered past the trio. The hyena-eared boy glanced over his shoulder to look at the two girls and Grim before they left the garden. Alice sighed as she released Kira's arm.
Grim let out a deep exhale as he slumped over Kira's shoulder. "Whew! I'm sweating bullets! Why would you hire someone so intimidating as a caretaker?!" he exclaimed. "I don't think he's the caretaker, Grim." Alice said nervously.
"Tch! Can you believe that guy?! Who does he think he is?!" Kira huffed. "He could have at least accepted our apology!" She glared down the path where Leona and Ruggie disappeared. "Forget gorgeous! That guy's a total jerk!" she thought to herself.
"Hey, girls!" they suddenly heard Ace shout out to them. They turned around and saw him and Deuce walking over to them with a basket and three sets of tongs in hand. "We found a basket and some tongs over there!" Ace called out.
As they got closer, the two boys quickly noticed how scared Alice and Grim appeared and they picked up the pace. "...Did something happen to you three?" Deuce asked. Kira opened her mouth, but Alice beat her to the punch. "...We're alright. Don't worry." she said assuredly.
"Ah, that's right! The chestnuts! Our part of the tart will get smaller if we don't get a bunch!" Grim exclaimed, remembering why they were here in the first place. He then leaned towards Alice and Kira's ears. "We'll talk about our encounter with the caretaker while we work." he whispered. "Alright." Alice replied.
Later, back in the forest, the group had collected more than enough chestnuts as their baskets were filled to the brim. Seeing that they've gotten what they needed, the first-year teens picked up their respective baskets and headed back to campus.
The whole time they got to work collecting the chestnuts, Alice had explained everything to her friends about what had happened upon meeting the young lion man. Though they haven't even met him yet, Ace and Deuce were still angry at the fact that this dude had actually threatened to hurt the girls.
Though thankfully, the girls appeared to be alright. "...That's what happened." Grim said, finishing his tale. "There is absolutely no way that was the caretaker." Ace said. "Thinking back now that I've calmed down, that guy was wearing a yellow vest, so he must be from that Banana Dorm." Grim said, remembering Leona's vest color.
Kira stifled a giggle when he completely mispronounced the name. "Banana... Does he mean Savanaclaw?" Deuce asked. His peacock green eyes then became a little clouded with thought as he gazed down the grassy pathway. "Is it just me or are there a lot of delinquents at Night Raven College...?" he muttered.
A group of delinquents. Running around wildly... causing others pain, laughing at their misery... Alice looked over at Deuce and took in the unreadable expression on his face. She couldn't read his mind, and she didn't know what was going through his thoughts, but Alice knew that something was bothering him.
"I can handle delinquents. Heck, I was a delinquent myself back in my days." Kira said confidently. "Of course, I wouldn't outright hurt anyone. Unless I'm forced to do so." Deuce gaped at her. "Eh?! You were a delinquent too, Kira-chan?!" he asked.
"Yeah, I was. I sometimes got into some fights, but I also know who I'm dealing with to avoid any trouble." she said as she picked off some chestnuts with her tongs. "Alrighty, our chestnut pile is pretty big. Let's get them back to Trey-senpai!" Ace exclaimed as he hauled up his basket of chestnuts.
"Nyaha! This tart is gonna be awesome~!" Grim happily laughed as he threw a paw into the air. "Baking them together will be lots of fun! Right, Deuce-kun?" Alice asked as she reached over to hook her arm around his.
That caused Deuce to blush and stammer as he looked at her pretty face and soft blue eyes. "U-Uh, w-well...yeah. Definitely." he said as he gave her a small shy smile. He then noticed Ace giving him a dirty look. The boys kept glaring at each other, even as they walked all the way back to the school's cafeteria kitchen.
"Welcome back. I see you picked quite a bit." Trey greeted the group as they entered the cafeteria kitchen. While they were out collecting the nuts, he had been gathering all the supplies needed to bake the tarts for the Unbirthday Party.
As they said, they couldn't bake the tarts at Heartslabyul, so to make them in the cafeteria kitchen was a better option for them as they would get no interruptions. "With this, we can make a huge tart!" Grim said excitedly as the four teens placed their baskets down.
"Thanks to that, peeling all of this is going to be a bit of a challenge, no doubt. Better get to work, you five." Trey encouraged with a smile. "All of this... there is no end in sight..." Deuce concluded, already feeling exhausted as he looked at the many ingredients, nuts and tubs of whipped cream that filled the two prep tables.
Judging by that, it looks like they'll be here for half the night. "Proper preparation is key to successful baking." Trey said. "Baking is surprisingly difficult, Deuce-kun, but it's quite easy once you get the hang of it." Alice said as she took off her blazer, rolled up her sleeves and tied her long hair into a ponytail.
"Yeah, yeah, we heckin' get it already! I'm so ready to get it over with!" Ace yelled, already wanting to get this over with and get that blasted collar off his neck. The group then gathered around the chestnuts and Trey provided four large bowls for each of them as they started to peel the chestnuts.