Chapter 27- Five Second Rule - chapter 28- Final for Heartslabyul
“Welp, looks like we got some cleaning up to do. All that work making garden Magicam-worthy, and now it’s a total tire fire. Laaame.” Cater sighed.
“I’ll help out.” Trey stood up, ready to help, which was quickly shut down by Cater “no, why don’t you get Riddle to the nurse’s office. That was a full-blown case of overblot. We need to make absolutely sure he’s okay.” Cater shook his head.
“Mr. Diamond is correct. I will go along with you.” Crowley nodded “understood. Thank you, sir.” Trey nodded, helping Riddle up from the ground, he stumbled a bit.
“Man, am I STARVED after usin’ so much magic! Hmmm hey, check it out! That’s another black magestone, just like the one we found at the Dwarfs’ Mine!” Grim picked up the black stone.
“You’re right. Wonder where it came from?” Deuce asked. “Just don’t put it in your mouth this time.” Ace sighed.
“No way. After how great that last one tasted, I can’t get that thing in my mouth fast enough!” Before I could grab the stone from Grim he shoved it into his mouth “Aaaand there it goes.” Ace shook his head.
“Grim you’re gonna get sick if you keep eating rocks like that!” I groaned, I have a strange feeling that overblot and those stones are connected in some way.
“Oh, Grimmy… have some self-respect, honey! That was literally trash.” Cater walked over to us both, slightly petting Grim.
“Aaaaah! Rich and sweet, but with a complex hint of bitterness in the aftertaste. Equally delicious, but with quite a different mouthfeel from the last one I ate.” Grim grinned.
“I guess this is just a thing now?” I sighed, Ace walked up to me “as a monster, maybe his stomach works differently than ours?” Ace shrugged.
“Even still, eating trash can’t be good for anyone.” Deuce shook his head.
“Oooh! I just tried the grass, and the flavor was surprisingly pleasant! Crisp, even!” Grim was still grinning, “that’s our lawn! Don’t eat that!!” Deuce picked Grim up and handed him to me.
“Uh, A-F-K while I go throw up… but… seriously, guys. Thanks.” I heard Cater whisper a thanks, but no one else seemed to hear “did you just say something?” Ace asked, but Cater shook his head “hm? Nope. Not a thing.” Cater chuckled.
I smiled at Cater and mouthed a “no, thank you.” he blushed slightly.
It took three days, three days of cleaning and preparing for the unbirthday party. It was tiring but worth it, I began looking around. It was beautiful, if I hadn’t been here to see the overblot I wouldn’t believe this place was a wreck.
Me and Grim had dressed up in the unbirthday outfits we’d been given, we rushed and arrived just before Riddle did, that means we’re right on time, we rushed to sit down at a table where Riddle’s seat was, with Trey, Cater, Ace and Deuce.
I heard a horn being blown, everyone turned their heads “All hail our leader, the red sovereign himself… Housewarden Riddle!”
Every one stood up “We salute you, Housewarden Riddle!” and then we all sat down.
As Riddle walked over to his seat he spoke “hm. The garden roses are red, the tablecloths are white… this seems a proper unbrithday indeed.” Riddle paused as he reached his seat “is there a dormouse asleep in the teapo– er, well, I suppose it’s fine either way.” Riddle smiled.
“Not everything has to change completely, you know. Like, maybe spread the jam on your scones, instead of on the dormouse this time? Let’s try to set the bar at “it’s great if it’s this way,” not “it absolutely has to be this way.” Trey smiled and patted Riddle’s back a bit.
“Yes, that makes sense.” Riddle nodded.
Ace sighed “I can’t believe we got roped into cleathing up and prepping the garden again.”
“Well, at least the housewarden recovered from his overblot without any complications.” Deuce spoke to Ace.
“And the garden is Magicam-worthy once again! Hashtag #nofilter on this gorgerousness!” Cater gushed, “blah blah blah! Let’s just eat already!” Grim was jumping up and down in my lap, watching the desserts.
“Grim, be patient!” I help Grim still in my lap.
“Then eat we shall! I’ll get the—” Cater was cut off my Riddle “wait a minute! There’s a white rose…!” Riddle pointed at a white rose with a serious face.
Everyone stiffened up “we missed one?!” Ace whispered “Ace, Deuce, I told you to make sure to paint EVERY rose!” Cater whispered to them with fear. “Wait, this is our fault?!” Deuce snapped around.
“R-Riddle, listen…” Trey stammered.
“Please, try to understand! It was a mistake!” I pleaded.
Riddle chuckled “well… I suppose I can overlook one or two missed roses.”
“R-really?! That’s so generous of you, Riddle!” Cater sighed a breath of relief.
“If we work together, we should be able to get them painted in no time.” Riddle stood up.
“What? They still gotta be painted?!” Ace groaned.
“Even so… I’m impressed. You’ve changed, Riddle.” Trey smiled brightly at Riddle.
“I’m starvin’ here! Let’s just get these stupid roses painted or whatever!” Grim whined.
“All right, is everyone ready?” Riddle smiled
“When’s the last time you did the painting, Riddle?” Trey asked Riddle, as they walked over to a bush with a couple white roses. “Hard to say. I’ve let the dorm members handle it since I became housewarden.” Riddle answered.
“It’s kinda fun once in a while. Well, less so with a bunch of clueless freshmen.” Cater remarked towards Ace and Deuce.
“Hey! Do you mean us?!” Ace shouted “after all the painting I’ve had to do, I’m about to wipe the floor with Riddle!” Grim laughed.
“Heh. we’ll see about that.” Riddle laughed at Grim.
After turning most of the white roses red, Riddle paused and pointed at the newly painted roses “that coat of paint is much too thin! Make it thicker—and don’t miss anything!” Riddle spoke in a strict tone.
“Y-yes, sir!” Deuce stammered and quickly fixed his mistake “you’re still so demanding! I thought you were finally gonna chill out some.” Ace groaned.
“He might chill out a little, but he wouldn’t be Riddle if he weren’t a perfectionist.” Cater laughed “Like I always say: if you’re going to do something, do it perfectly. I want the very best party! And that means no cutting corners!” Riddle demanded with a smile.
Suddenly without warning Riddle raised his staff/wand and then all the white roses had been turning into a deep red “...and that’s how it’s done.” Riddle laughed.
“Geez louise! You finished those roses before I could even raise my pen!” Ace jumped back “you’ve certainly proven you can lead by example.” Deuce laughed.
“Applied magic is Riddle’s super-special specialty!” Cater stated “they look great, Riddle.” Trey smiled.
“That ought to do. And now… let the unbirthday party begin!” Riddle grinned.
We returned to our seats, just as we all sat down Ace paused and looked at Riddle “So what happened to that tart, Housewarden?”
“I made it for you, as I promised I would. Here: one strawberry tart, crafter by yours truly.” Riddle picked up a tart off his side of the table and placed it in front of us “Nice! The shape’s a little off, but I can tell you put a lot of work into that glaze. A fine job indeed, especially considering it was your first!” Trey gushed.
“Oh, puh-leeze. How about we actually TRY it before you start fawning all oer him, Trey?” Ace groaned and reached for the tart before getting slapped away by Cater “hold it! Don’t you start cutting that before I get my Magicam snap!” a flash came from Cater’s phone “....okay, got it!”
Trey cut the tart and put a slice on all of our plates as Riddle watched for our reactions, it seemed like he was sitting on the edge of his seat.
“Tch. I see Cater hasn’t changed a bit either. All right, let’s dig in!” Ace took a bite from his tart, as did the rest of us.
“Hmmm..?” Deuce hummed.
“This is kinda…” Trey and Cater spoke in unison.
“Salty!” Everyone shouted, but I was trying to stay strong and eat it.
“Whaaat?!” Riddle seemed surprised.
“Eer? This isn’t KINDA salty—it’s a full-on salt lick! What did you put in this?!” Ace spit out the tart in his mouth and choked down some water.
“But I followed the rules exactly, and measured everything precisely! Unless… Oh! Could it be…from the oyster sauce?” Riddle asked quietly.
Deuce was chugging down some water before pulling the cup from his mouth and sputtering a bit “Wait…did you actually use that walrus-brand oyster sauce Trey jokes about?”
“But Trey said that oyster sauce is an unlisted secret ingredient in all tarts! He said all the finest bakers use it…” Riddle spoke as if he was just betrayed.
“And you actually believed him?! How could you not tell that he was joking?!” Ace shouted “You fell for it too, Ace!” I hit the back of Ace’s head.
“Even if you believed the joke, it was only supposed to be a splash. How much did you put in?” Cater questioned Riddle.
“It’s an unlisted ingredient! How could I measure it if he wouldn’t tell me how much to put in?!” Riddle spoke in a quiet tone, and looked like a puppy who was getting scolded.
“Pfft… Ah ha ha ha ha! I can’t believe someone actually fell for the ol’ oyster sauce prank!” Trey burst into laughter “ha ha ha…yes. Quite humorous indeed. I truely am a fool.” Riddle chuckled.
“Ha ha! It really is so disgusting that it’s actually kind of funny!” Deuce laughed out “yeah, what else can we do but laugh?” Ace grinned.
“You know, in its own weird way, I think it’s actually kinda good!” Grim muttered before taking another bite.
“Right? It really isn’t half as bad as you’d think.” Cater hummed.
“Seriously? You’re agreeing with Grim, Cater? He literally eats garbage off the ground.” Deuce looked shocked.
“Look, I’m not saying it’s amazing or anything!” Cater defended himself “but you like it because it’s not sweet, right? You’ve never really liked sweet things, right?” Trey smiled at Cater.
“Seriously? Not at all?” I turned to face Cater.
“Yeah, you got me. But how did you figure it out? I’ve never told anyone that.” Cater mumbled out with a surprised look on his face.
“Because you casually bring up my Paint the Roses spell every time we’re eating sweets. You hide it pretty well, but that was a giveaway.” Trey leaded a bit on the table with a grin.
“Ack! My secret is out! This is so so embarrassing! Especially after what happened to you and Riddle. I should have learned by now that keeping your feelings on the DL is not a great idea.” Cater mumbled.
“How about I cook up a quiche for the next unbirthday party?” Trey smiled at Cater and slightly nudged him.
“That sounds totes amazing to me. Just make sure it’s as photogenic as the tarts!” Cater smiled.
I stood up from my seat and grabbed a dozen cookies for me and Grim before sitting back down “mm mm mmm! Your baked goods are always so delightful, Trey.” I heard from behind me causing me to jolt around, just to see Chenya munching away on some goods.
“Chenya?! What are you doing here?!” Riddle jumped a bit with a surprised look on his face “hm? I came to celebrate my unbirthday with all of you. A very merry unbirthday to you, Riddle.” Chenya grinned.
“The unbirthday party is a Heartslabyul House tradition. It does not pertain to you.” Riddle stated, Chenya looked at me and Grim “and those two? What about them?” Chenya pointed at us.
“Technically you can’t prove i'm not from Heartslabyul, since I don’t have magic to be put into a dorm.” I joked. “Hey! You’re that weird semi-invisible cat guy from before! So you never told us—what dorm are you from?” Grim questioned him.
“Chenya isn’t even a Night Raven student. He’s a student at our long-time rival school, the Royal Sword Academy.” Trey sighed.
“Whaaaat? you go to a different school?” Deuce asked as if he wasn’t just told “the frickin’ Royal Sword Academy, no less?!” Ace shouted out
“Ace just say fuckin’, anyway, Wow, that school has a really cool name!” I smiled as Chenya as his hand rested on my shoulder, I could feel Ace glaring at me.
“Did that guy just say the “Royal Sword Academy”?!”
“He’s one of those pompous jerk-faces?!”
“What?! Who’s from Royal Sword? We gotta run ‘em outta here!”
Students shouted and looked around at Chenya.
“Well, now that I've tasted some tart, perhaps I should see myself out.” Chenya disappeared “bye Chenya!” I shouted.
“He’s running for it!”
“After him! Don’t let him get away!”
The students began chasing after wherever Chenya went.
Grim jumped onto my lap and clung to me “whoa, everyone turned bloodthirsty real quick.” Grim mumbles.
“The vasy majority of Night Raven College students perceive the Royal Sword Academy as the enemy.” Riddle shook his head “no surprise, given that they’ve kicked out butts every year for a hundred years straight…” Trey sighed.
“Hey, stop harshin’ the vibe! This is supposed to be a day of celebration. Can’t we all just enjoy our unbirthdays?” Cater huffed “myah! Merry unbirthday or whatever! I’m gonna eat till my stomach explodes!” Grim shouted and began stuffing his mouth.
Just then I felt a shiver down my spine, I felt as if something bad was going to happen, what could it possibly be?