After returning back to Mr. Sam's shop again to get more eggs, they headed back to the kitchen with a new carton of eggs. However, Yuki had to pull Deuce along the way back, seeing that the male was in a depressing state to do anything at the point right after she told him the truth about the eggs and baby chicks. Yuki had to explain to Mr. Sam about the eggs and needed some more, which he agreed to and handed them another carton of eggs for free as a replacement. They soon returned back to the kitchen where the others were waiting for them. The patient group looked at them in question and wondered what happened, but Yuki decided to tell them later after they finished making the tarts.
"All right. Add the finishing touch of marron glacé and..." Trey instructed.
"Perfect!" the Shoshi Twins shouted, clapping their hands together.
"We're done~!!" Ace and Grim cheered.
"Hooray..." Deuce cheered in a depressing tone.
"Did something happen to this guy when you went shopping?" Ace asked Yuki.
"Let's let him be for a while." Yuki whispered to him.
"What in the world did I believe in for sixteen years...?" Deuce muttered in despair.
"Hm?" Yuri tilted her head in confusion and looked at her sister, who pointed at the eggshells in silence. "Oh."
"Who knew that making desserts would take this long?" Ace sighed out when he sat down on a chair and rolled his shoulder to ease the tension. "I'm so tired..."
"Nice work~ ♪" Cater's voice called out as he came in the kitchen. "Did you finish the tarts? The decoration looks so cute~! It's totally 'grammable! Let me take a pic~" he said happily and took out his cellphone to take pictures of them and the tarts.
"Well well, if it isn't Cater-Doll~" Vivid said, waving at the male.
Ace let out a short yelp, nearly falling off his seat and glared at the 3rd year student. "Where were you all this time?"
"I came to check on my cute little juniors 'cause you were doing your best~" Cater then noticed their tired expression and let out a laugh. "Ahaha, you look dead tired!"
"Why wouldn't we? We've been working on the tarts since we got here." Yuri said, glaring at the male as her sister nudged her.
"Doing things you're not used to can be tiring. In any case, sweets are the solution for a weary body." Trey said, as he cut up a slice of the tart for everyone. "Have some of our freshly made marron tart."
"Yay~!" Cater and Grim cheered as Trey handed each of them a slice.
"You only came here to help us with the tasting..." Ace asked with a deadpan look on his face when Cater got a hold of his plate.
"Let him be, we may need his opinion on the tart." Yuri said as she handed a slice to Kaen.
Ace grumbles under his breath as he uses his fork to take a piece off his slice and places it in his mouth, his eyes widened in shock. "Oh, damn...!"
"This is so good~!" Cater said when he took a bite of his.
Deuce's eyes widened when he took a bite. "Amazing...It's better than the ones in the store!"
"This is incredible!" Yuri said.
"So yummy!" Yuki cried out in delight.
"It's sweet, but it's not super overpowering." Grim said with a mouth full. "My mouth feels like it's in a field of chestnuts, yanno~!"
"Is that a compliment?" Trey asked nervously.
"Kon!/Kon Kon!" both Kaen and Shimo cried out, wagging their tails.
"So delicious!" Vivid said after taking a bite out of hers.
"Oh, yeah." Cater turned his attention to his fellow dorm mate. "Do that for them, Trey-kun."
"That?" Trey looked at him slightly confused before realizing what he meant. "Oh, you mean "that"."
Ace looked at them confused. "What's "that"?"
Trey didn't answer his question and looked at all them with a smile. "You guys, what are your favorite foods?"
Ace was a little confused as did the others, before answering. "Mine's...cherry pie and hamburger."
"Mine is canned tuna." Grim said as he continued on. "Oh, and cheesy omelet, grilled meat, pudding, and—"
"Mines are black cherries." Vivid said, scratching Grim's head to make him stop talking.
"I like spicy foods and vegetables." Yuri said.
"And I like ice cream and fruits." Yuki replied.
"If I were to choose, I'd probably pick omurice." Deuce calmly answered.
"Mine is grilled rum meat with diablo sauce." Cater said.
"Alright, here we go." Trey took out his magic pen from his shirt pocket and aimed it at tarts in their hands. "Doodle Suit!"
The spell hit the tarts in their hands, making the 1st years recoil back a little back a bit when it happened. They looked at the tarts in their hands realizing that they were sparkling a bit before it dissolved.
Deuce looks at his tart in confusion. "This is...?"
"What did you do?" Yuri asked as she looked at her tart in confusion.
"Take another bite of the marron tart, if you'd please." Trey said.
"Hm?" Ace looked a bit concerned and took the first bite, when he did his eyes widened in shock after tasting it again. "This is...It's a marron tart, but I can taste cherry pie!"
"Huh? No way!" Yuri said, not believing him.
Yuki looked at Ace and her tart before taking a bite out of hers, making her do a surprised noise. "Mine tastes like ice cream and fruit!"
"What!?" Yuri shouted and looked at her tart and took a bite, getting the same reaction as the other two when she tasted her favorite foods. "What the...how did it..."
"It's canned tuna flavor!" Grim said as he gobbled the rest of his tart "Now it's a cheesy omelet! Grilled chicken and then... Pudding!"
"Black cherries are the best~" Vivid said, eating her tart happily.
"Kon!/Kon~" Kaen and Shimo said, eating their tarts.
"It's interesting, right?!" Cater said as he happily ate his tart. "Don'tcha think this'll fly well if you do this at a tea party with girls~?"
"That is if they want to comply." Vivid said with a teasing smirk.
"Come on Vivi-chan, throw me a bone here..." Cater sighed before turning back to her with a frightened look. "Not literally!"
"It's amazing!" Deuce said as he ate his. "Is changing something's flavor your unique magic, Trey-senpai?"
"To be more precise, it's the ability to overwrite things with what you imagine. I can do it with color and smell, too, not just taste." Trey explained. "It's not a permanent effect so it's sort of like a sketch only. That's why I call this magic "doodle". It's merely sketching."
"So it's like fixing it but without going back to the very beginning." Yuri said as she finished eating her tart.
"Or a chameleon changing color to blend in." Yuki said, wiping her lips with a napkin.
"If we use your Doodle Suit magic, then having an eat-all-you-can canned tuna isn't just a dream now!" Grim thought and gave him a smile. "It's a lot more amazing compared to that bully Riddle's magic!"
"No... My magic is merely a toy when compared to the Prefect's magic." Trey answered as he looked away. "Our levels are just too different."
"Well..." Yuri started, giving a grin. "It sounds like that yours is more powerful than the Prefect's."
Trey and Cater were taken back by what Yuri said. Vivid peeked over as she ate her tart in silence, wondering if they were going to object to the statement, but seeing a certain look on their faces saying otherwise kept her silent with a quiet huff of satisfaction.
"...Alright! The night is deep. Let's give the tart to the Prefect tomorrow, okay?" Trey said, clapping his hands together. "Tomorrow is the Unbirthday Party. Don't be late, got it?"
"Hey, can we sleep over again~?" Ace asked the twins. "It seems like this bully senpai won't let me back in yet~"
"What, again?" Yuri groaned in irritation.
Cater placed a hand over his mouth pretending to look shocked. "Oh, my~ What passive-aggressive wording~"
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!!!!" both Ace and Yuri shouted, glaring at Cater.
"Hey, Ace. Don't rely on the girls too much." Deuce said, crossing his arms glaring at the red head.
"He's right!" Grim said, placing his paws on his hips. "You better pay rent if you're gonna stay with us again! Ten canned tunas!"
"Eh?! Am I supposed to sleep outside then?" Ace said to them with a pout.
"How about we have Deuce stay over in their dorm, too, to help keep an eye on Ace." Trey suggested getting looks from the others. "I'll give you permission as the vice head of the dorm."
"Aren't you being too soft on them, Trey-kun!?" Cater lightly scolded the green haired male and looked at the group. "How nice~ Hey, can I stay with you guys, too?"
Trey took a hold of the collar of the shirt and pulled him back. "You're not included."
"Stingy!" whined Cater.
"Then, I'm sorry for leaving our two boys in your care again. See you tomorrow."
"Nah, don't worry about it." Vivid shrugged off.
"We'll see you tomorrow." Yuki said, waving them a goodbye.
"Tomorrow is the Unbirthday Party." Ace said as he tugged on his collar. "This damn collar is definitely coming off! Just you watch, Riddle!"
The only one who was quiet was Yuri, who held a troubled look on her face as she calmly petted Kaen's head to calm her nerves. She had a feeling that it would only get much worse if they continued on with this, but she didn't have the heart to either stop or tell them. Letting out a quiet strained sigh, she and the others headed back to their Dorms to rest and wait for tomorrow.
●・○・●・○・● Heartslabyul - Lounge ●・○・●・○・●
It was already night time outside when they got out, as the 1st years headed back to the Ramshackle Dorm, Cater and Trey headed back to the Heartslabyul Dorm. Once the two reached the lounge they spotted some of the Heartslabyul students there, one was pacing around the room with a nervous look on his face while muttering quietly to himself, while the others, some wore collars and some weren't, sat in chairs that were there holding different emotions than the rest.
The student finally noticed the two there and rushed over towards them. "Trey-senpai, Cater-senpai! I'm so glad you're finally back...!"
"Did something happen?" Trey asked him.
"According to Rule #256 by the Queen of Hearts, "One should not drink lemonade with honey when it's past 8 in the evening." Some students disobeyed the rule and the Dorm Head put collars on all of them..." the student said as the others nodded their heads in agreement.
The two stayed silent after hearing this, holding a shocked look on their faces. Trey lightly clutched his hand into a fist and calmly released his muscles as if he was squeezing an invisible stress toy.
"I don't want to live this kind of life anymore! He keeps enforcing unreasonable rules...I want to transfer to another dorm!" the student cried out as he crouched to the floor, clutching his head, shaking in fear as tears were rolling down his cheeks.
"It's going to be okay." Trey said when he walked over to the crying student, placing a hand on his shoulder in comfort. "I'll go talk with the Prefect. You guys go back to your room."
"Then, I'll go make some tea to help calm our queen down." Cater said and walked to where the kitchen is located.
"Sorry about this, Cater. Oh yeah, can you make some herbal tea instead of red tea?" Trey said, stopping the orange haired male. "If I remember correctly, Rule #153 states that herb tea is the only one allowed at night..."
Cater looked back at Trey before doing a silent sigh and gave him a smile. "You got it." he said before walking to the kitchen while Trey went to Riddle's bedroom to talk to him.
Unknowing to them that a certain female was standing behind the doorway, overhearing everything that happened. Elizabeth's face casted down to look at the ground as her eyes glossed with tears that were begging to come out. No matter how much she wanted to try to talk to Riddle, a certain memory kept stopping her from doing so as she remembered a very furious look on the person's eyes and the stinging feeling on the side of her face when she was young. Clutching tightly on her skirt, her shoulders shaking as tears rolled down on her face as she quietly wept from her hiding spot while Trey and Cater went their separate ways.
●・○・●・○・● Ramshackle - Lounge ●・○・●・○・●
The group made it back to the Ramshackle Dorm, holding tired expressions on their faces as they were on the verge of collapse right on the furniture. However, the thought of sleeping didn't seem to help them as they gathered some pillows and blankets from both the beds and closets and brought them to the lounge. Ace had a deck of cards with him so that they could play some card games, which was Old Maid.
After a while, everyone went to sleep on the floor, laying their heads on the pillows with the blankets covering their bodies for warmth. The Soshi Twins cuddled with their Familiars, enjoying the warmth and cooling connection from their bodies. The only sounds that you hear were the sounds of Grim's sleep talking, Ace's light snoring, and Deuce lightly grinding his teeth for a few minutes or so as the females only let out soft snores. In the Twins' bedroom, the mirror began to glow again, taking Yuri into another dreamscape once again.
●・○・●・○・● Dream ●・○・●・○・●
Yuri stirred in her sleep as the sound of trumpets as she opened her eyes, seeing that she was in another black and white dreamscape again as it continued on from the previous one. Yuri noticed that the three cards held frightened looks on their faces as they ran around in panic before bowing down on the ground and the girl followed along.
"Another weird dream?" Yuri said, watching the scene play out.
Soon after, a bunch of card soldiers appeared, holding jousting lances with hearts at the end. A small white rabbit wearing a suit, which made Yuri think of Elizabeth for a moment, appeared blowing a trumpet in a hurried pace before stopping, taking a couple of breaths and announced the Queen of Hearts arrival, showing the color red on her dress, which made all the soldiers cheer when she appeared in an elegant way. Behind her was a small man, who appears to be the King, tapped the rabbit to introduce him as well, but the rabbit did it in an uninterested tone.
The Queen of Hearts soon came to a stop when she spotted one of her rose bushes that had a mix of red and white rose on them with some of the red still dripping with the paint can and paintbrush still on the ground leaving a paint trail around the rose bush. The Queen marched forward with a frown on her face, but was replaced with a big grin. Yuri moved out of the way as the Queen inspected the roses as she touched the white one that was still dripping with red paint, leaving her fingers covered in paint.
"How dare you defile my roses!" the Queen shouted as she ripped out the rose bush off the ground, waving it around in furious anger as the red paint flew about. "You better prepare yourselves!"
"Oh, please spare me, my Queen!" cried the Three of Clubs before pointing at the Two. "The one to blame is him!"
"It is not my fault, it's Ace's fault!" the Two of Clubs shouted, pointing at the Ace of Clubs.
"Was it you?" the Queen questioned.
"No, my Queen! It was Two!" the Ace of Clubs shouted, pointing at the one to blame.
"So, is it Deuce's doing?" the Queen said, looking at Two with a wicked grin.
"It is not me, I swear! It's Three!" the Two cried out, pointing at Three, who panicked.
"Enough!" the Queen of Hearts shouted, as she had enough of their foolishness. "Off with your heads, the three of you!" Yuri let out a gasp in shock while the soldiers cheered as the Queen of Hearts fixed herself as if she wasn't angry at all. Yuri and the girl watched as the three card men were being dragged away by the other card men.
"We have no other choice because you got the colors of the roses wrong." the Two of Diamonds said, dragging one of them away. For a moment, Yuri thought that the card men were switched from them to Cater dragging Deuce before reverting back to the card men.
"Mistaking white for red was a foolish mistake." the Three of Spades said as his form switched to Trey, dragging Ace while holding a sad forgiving look on his face, before the image went back to normal.
"Is it okay to punish them just because they got the color of the roses wrong?" Yuri questioned as everything started to fade, meaning that she was waking up from her slumber. "Why does no one stop the Queen?"
Yuri groaned a little as she was woken up by someone lightly shaking her from her shoulder. She opens her eyes a bit, trying to get focus from the now morning light that was coming from the windows. Yuri slightly turned her head to see who was waking her up and to see that it was Deuce, who was fully awake. The others were awake with the slight of tiredness, picking up their pillows and blankets from the floor after stretching their limbs from stiffness.
"Wake up, Ri. Today is the Unbirthday Party, remember?" Deuce said, lightly shaking Yuri to wake her up. He got up when Yuri rose herself up in a sitting position. "It's off with our heads if we're late."
"Kon?" Kaen looked at his master in curiosity and nudged her arm to get her attention. In response, Yuri gently rubbed the fire fox's head, who purred at the sudden affection.
"Another weird dream?" Yuki asked in a whisper when Deuce walked away with Shimo in her arms.
"Yeah...I feel like something bad is going to happen..." Yuri replied, holding a worried look on her face. She soon turned her attention to the doorway, where they heard someone knocking.
"Hm? It looks like someone's here." Deuce said, collecting the blankets in his arms while Yuki gathered the pillows.
"I'll go see who it is." Vivid said, walking away to answer the door, when she came back Cater appeared behind her, waving at the group.
"Good morning~! How was yesterday's sleepover~?" Cater greeted them. "Did you experience youth fully by playing cards and other games~?"
"Good morning, Cater-senpai. Yeah, we played some cards." Ace yawned as he collected the cards that were scattered on the floor. "Grim didn't know the rules so he kept picking old maid."
"Damn it! I couldn't win at all!!" Grim huffed.
"Grim, you can't even keep a straight face." Yuri bluntly said.
"Your face completely shows when you get the joker card, you know?" Deuce said, earning a glare from Grim.
"Then, shall we hurry and bring the tarts we made to apologize to Riddle?" Cater said, but he then remembered something and looked at them with an apology look on his face. "Oh, actually, I want you to hurry and come with me because we're lacking man-power for the party."
"Man-power?" Ace questioned.
"It's nothing, I was talking to myself~ Let's hurry and go to the Unbirthday Party, boys~!"
"Ahem!" Vivid cleared her throat, making Cater flinched, feeling the glares from the females.
"A-and girl! I didn't forget to say girls!"
'Yeah right...' the group thought in their heads.
●・○・●・○・● Heartslabyul ●・○・●・○・●
The group made it to the Heartslabyul Dorm after they got everything up and got dressed in their school uniform. Yuri and Yuki held their foxes in their arms as comfort, mostly Yuri who was still holding an uneasy look on her face as she held Kaen close to her chest to ease her worry from the dream she had last night. But it only did so little as the dream kept replaying over and over in her head. Noticing her twins' discomfort, Yuki quietly placed her hand onto her sister's, making her relax even more. Yuri looked at her sister, who smiled softly and smiled back as a thank you.
Ace walked ahead, holding a box that held the tart inside for Riddle as he grumbled. "Alright, I'll head on and bring the tart to the Dorm Head so I can apologize..."
"Hey, you're finally here~!" Cater's voice said by the entrance, waving at them. To their surprise of seeing another Cater, who was wearing his gym uniform. "What took you so long, me?"
"I'm home~! Sorry for the wait, me~" Cater in the group said sheepishly.
Everyone, minus Vivid looked at the two of them in shock, seeing them having a conversation with each other. Vivid quietly giggled, turning her back to the group as she tried to hide her laughter from their reaction. The Soshi Twins were so shocked at this that they nearly dropped Kaen and Shimo. Ace on the other hand almost dropped the box that he was holding, but regained it after he felt the box slide from his fingers.
"Th-there are two Diamond-senpais!?" Deuce stutters, pointing at the two of them.
"You were a twin!?" Ace shouted, pointing at them and then at the Soshi Twins. "Like these two!?"
"Oh, no. I'm the only male sibling." Cater replied, shaking his head. "This is my unique magic, Split Card. I can make clones of myself using magic~!"
"So this is the reason why we couldn't beat him at all yesterday..." Deuce said with a sigh.
"Welcome back~" another Cater appeared, greeting them, wearing his lab uniform.
"Welcome, Yu-1 and Yu-2~ ♪" a ceremonial wearing Cater said, waving at the twins.
"Yu-1 and Yu-2?" the Soshi Twins said, tilting their heads to the side in confusion.
"Those are nicknames I thought of for the two of you. Since you're twins and your names have the same 'Yu', I thought of putting a number at the end of them. Yuri-chan is Yu-1 and Yuki-chan is Yu-2." Cater explained, pointing at the twins with a smile.
"It was so difficult~ You made me wait so long~" gym Cater whined, rubbing his shoulder to ease the pain.
"There's more of him!!" Ace shouted, moving back.
"By the way, the real Cater is me~ Cloning myself is pretty tiring, so I don't want to prolong this." the original Cater, wearing the gym uniform said. "In any case, it's off with our heads if we're late. Come on and give us a hand, please~ I'll take you to Riddle after we're done."
"You're gonna make us paint roses again?" Grim groaned, slumping on the ground.
"You're a really carefree guy, huh~!" Ace shouted, glare at clones, who shrugged it off, like it was no big deal.
"At least we got extra help this time..." Yuri muttered quietly, watching the clones going to different rose bushes.
"Alright, let's get started~!" Cater shouted and everyone started painting the roses red.
To Be Continued...
AN:
Hello everyone, sorry that this took so long, but now Chapter 5 has finally arrived!!!! We are getting close to the end of "The Crimson Tyrant" Arc and close to "The Rebel of the Savanna".
I feel like that this one is going to take me longer cause of how differently I'm doing this story than the other one, cause of this is following both the game and manga, but I think I can manage. I hope you guys luv the new chapter! Leave a comment and tell me what you guys think!!