Ramshackle Dorm
Ace's POV
It's early morning, suddenly a pounding wakes me up.
'Sleeping on the couch wouldn't be bad if I didn't have this collar on me.'
I sat up, stretched my body and began to walk towards the door.
''Ugh... Who comes pounding at the door this early...'' I yawned.
I opened the door, only to reveal Deuce standing outside... At least it was not the dorm leader...
''Ugh... Deuce.''
''Good morning.'' a familiar voice said behind me.
''WOOF'' the black dog greeted.
''Good morning, Yuu and Grim.'' Deuce spoke. ''So you came here last night. I heard what happened. Getting collared by the dorm leader serves you right.''
''Shut up! I don't want to hear it from you! Anyway, is the dorm leader still mad?'' I asked hoping for a satisfying answer.
''Not really... He seemed calm when he returned from a meeting with the headmaster.'' Deuce started. ''But when three students didn't get up in time, he seemed a little irritated. And the students suffered the same fate as you.''
'' 'Not really', you say! He's furious!'' I exclaimed. ''It sounds like he's in a bad mood, so I'll better wait until-''
''You won't solve your problems that way'' Yuu interrupted. ''You said, you would apologize. We still have some time until class starts.''
Yuu gripped my wrist and began to drag me out of the entrance. The black dog started to follow us.
''I'm sorry, you'll have to stay here and take care of the dorm until we get back.'' Yuu said to the dog making it lower its head.
It made me wonder why they haven't named it yet since its obviously living here with Ari, Yuu and Grim...
Time skip
We are close to the Hall of Mirrors; I spotted a certain girl looking at the said building.
''Ari~ '' Grim called after her happily, catching her attention.
As she turned around, he jumped into her arms. She greeted Grim with a smile and a pat on the head.
''Grim seems fond of Ari.'' Deuce remarked.
''Yeah. According to Grim, he fells some kind of comfort around her.'' Yuu explained.
''Are you sure that's the case. I bet he just want to butter up to her since she is the headmaster's secretary.'' I joked.
''Butter up to who? ~''
''Geh! Ari! I was just joking.'' I reasoned while waving my hands frantically.
''Haha, I'm just making fun of you.'' she said with a grin.
''Hmm. Ace does have a point though. I mean if you look at it, you are a staff member. It means you are in position to lecture students who makes trouble or tell the teachers.'' Deuce deduced.
''Maybe that will help Ace and Grim to stay out of trouble.'' Yuu added.
''Fgna! On whose side are you on?! As my henchman you're supposed to speak highly of me!'' Grim growled.
''If you don't make trouble, I'm happy.'' Ari said, making Grim lower his ears.
''We should get to the dorm before class start.'' Deuce spoke.
''Let's go and watch Ace apologize!'' Grim exclaimed making him hit my nerve.
''This isn't a show!''
Yuu's POV
On the way, Ari briefly told us about the meeting and that she got a phone.
She also mentioned that she put in a good word for Ace. She hoped that his dorm leader would calm down and take off the collar.
We entered the Hall of Mirrors, and faced seven mirrors with each of their respective design according to the dorm.
''What are these mirrors?'' Grim asked curiously.
''They're doors that lead to each dorm.'' Deuce answered him while walking towards a certain mirror. ''This is the mirror connected to the Hearslabyul dorm.''
''Are you guys ready?''
We stepped inside the mirror and were met by a big castle. We looked at it with awe.
''So, this is... Heartslabyul... The dor-'' I said.
''So beautiful!'' Ari interrupted with a big smile on her face.
''Whooa! It's fancy!'' Grim added. ''It's not like our worn put dorm at all!''
''Ours is still in development.'' Ari pouted making me chuckle at their interaction.
As we continued towards the dorm, we entered the Rose Maze of Heartslabyul assuming we were the only ones around.
''Crap, crap! I've gotta get these roses painted! If I leave any of them unpainted, I'll lose my head!'' a boy with light-orange hair panicked. He also had a diamond-shaped marking on his right cheek. Unlike Ace and Deuce, he had a uniform matching the Heartslabyul colors.
'He is painting the rose bushes?!'
''Haven't I seen this before...?'' I muttered to myself. What I didn't notice was Ari staring at me with a puzzled look.
''Heeey! What are you doing over there?'' Grim said and jumped down from Ari's shoulder, gaining the boys attention.
''Painting the roses red, obviously.'' the orange haired answered.
''Eh? Why would you do that?'' Deuce asked. Both he and Ace were confused.
''What a cute and innocent reaction!'' he answered looking closer at us.
''Now that I look at you properly, you lot are the first years that got in trouble for burning the statue of the Queen of Hearts.'' he said outright, and began to point at Ace. ''And you are the one that stole the dorm leader's tart and made him even more angry!''
''We will never hear the end of it.'' Ace sighed in defeat.
''You can say that again.'' Ari added.
The boy suddenly started to assess us too. ''And you three are the ones who crashed the ceremony and accomplices to the statue incident.''
''Hey! It was all Ace's fault!'' Grim defended himself.
''Why you little!'' Ace started to get angry.
''Hey! Stop it! Or I'll make sure you get a good lecture this time!'' Ari glared at them, making them sweatdrop*
''S-sorry!''
''She's already taking her job seriously.'' Deuce muttered nervously.
''A-anyway, how do you know all of that?'' Ace trailed of.
''Rumors flies all over our dorm... I feel so lucky to have met the infamous newcomers~'' he beamed. He feels like Grim when he's too energetic. ''Hey, hey, hey, let's take a selfie. Yaay!''
He grabbed Ari's wrist and pulled her beside him. The rest of us stood behind them with Grim on my shoulder.
''Can I put this to Magicam? Give me your names so I can tag you.''
''Deuce Spade.''
''... Ace.''
''Grim and underlings!''
''Underling...?''
''This is Yuu and I'm Alerie.'' she corrected.
''There. And posted~ ''
''Anyway, so you are the headmaster's secretary. Riddle mentioned it to us over tea this morning.''
She nodded.
''You're cute!'' he took her hands in his. ''Maybe we could go on a date? What do you say?''
''Uh... Uhm... I-I'm probably going to be busy with work.'' she said blushing, with a sheepish smile.
''Aahh, too bad... Let me know if you change your mind.'' he whined. ''By the way I'm a third year. The name's Cater Diamond!''
''It's nice to meet you. Call me Yuu.'' I introduced myself.
''So, you are the prefect of Ramshackle Dorm.'' he said full of energy.
Suddenly Cater flinched. ''This is bad! I don't have time for chit-chat. The party is in two days... and I don't want to lose my head for being late.''
He looked at us with pleading eyes. ''Hey, will you guys help with painting the roses?''
''Why are you doing something that weird?'' Ace asked.
''Red roses are the most photogenic ones at parties! I've also got to change the flamingos' colors for the croquet match.'' Cater informed us. ''I'm busy with all this work.''
''So, the tart that Ace ate was for someone's birthday party?'' Yuu asked.
''Nope, that's not the case. Tomorrow we're holding our dorm's traditional ''Unbirthday Party''. It's a tea party made on a day that isn't on anyone's birthday.''
''Seriously!? What the heck does that mean?!'' Deuce asked shocked.
''We'll worry about that later! All that matters right now is painting those roses red!'' Cater exclaimed brushing off Ace's question. ''Deuce and Grim can paint them with magic. Ace, Yuu and Alerie-chan can't use magic, so here is your paint!''
Cater gave us each a bucket with red paint and paint brush. Deuce seemed nervous about using magic on the roses, so Cater showed him how he was supposed to do it. He took his magic pen and demonstrated.
The three of us quietly painted the roses, but the same couldn't be said for Deuce or Grim. Deuce repeatedly turned color of the roses in any other than red and Grim...
''Gyaaa! The roses are on fire!''
Word count: 1397
To be continued - Please leave a like and comment 😄
* Glare