"I am NEVER going back to Heartslabyul House. I'm joining YOUR dorm. For good."

Kat looked down at Grim.
He looked back at her with an expression that was just as confused as she felt.

The first brief moment of confusion passed pretty quickly. Then the exasperation that had been lingering since the first night-- god, was that really just yesterday night?- resurfaced.

"No," she said bluntly.

Blinking, Ace stared at her in a moment of stunned silence.

Then he shook his head.
"NO?!" He burst out incredulously.
"What kinda answer is that?!"

"The only one you're gonna get," she replied.
"First of all, you've been nothing but a jackass from the moment we met. The only reason I'm NOT currently homeless right now thanks to you is because we had to go to a haunted-ass mine and almost get killed by a gross fucking monster."

"But Grim--" Ace protested.
She held up a hand.

"I'm not done," she snapped.
"Yeah, Grim ran away, but YOU did that first. If you had just done the thing like you were supposed to, we wouldn't have had to go find you, and Grim wouldn't have had the chance to make a run for it."

"But I--" he tried again.

"Not. Done," Kat interrupted him, using a deep, icy tone that she'd picked up from her mom.

"And because of YOUR attempt to escape, Deuce, who was just trying to help, almost got expelled."

She took a breath.

"Even worse-- if we weren't there, and you hadn't decided to give it a fucking rest and cooperate for once in your fucking life, I firmly believe he would have tried to get the magic crystal by himself and gotten himself killed."

She paused.

"He would be dead. DEAD. A person would be dead. Because YOU didn't feel like washing windows."

This time, Ace didn't reply.
He stood still, arms slack by his sides. By the spotty moonlight streaming in through the cobwebbed windows, she could see that his face had gone pale.

She let the silence hang in the air for a second, then continued.

"And now, you show up at this godforsaken dorm at this godforsaken hour, and it wouldn't take a genius to see that you've caused, or at the very least participated in, another fucking problem. People who aren't in trouble don't come knocking on the door of a derelict building at whatever in the fuckin' A.M. and announce that they live there now."

She crossed her arms, shifting her weight.

"I've seriously had enough trouble in one-and-a-half days to last a lifetime. I don't want you here. I get that you're only sixteen and teenagers do dumb, impulsive shit and are generally little assholes, but we could have DIED."

Stepping around Grim, she walked back to the door, holding it open.

"So-- no thank you. You cannot join my dorm. Your application has been rejected. Please leave."

There were a few more seconds of silence as both Ace and Grim gaped at her, open-mouthed.

Then Ace shifted his weight, shuffling around awkwardly.

"I--" he began, then licked his lips.

"I-- yeah," he continued, in a voice that suddenly sounded very dry.

"Yeah, you're-- you're right. Sorry."

He brushed past her, moving out the door and pulling it closed listlessly behind him.

Kat turned, pushing her bangs back with a sigh, only to find Grim still staring at her with shock.
Now, however, he was joined by the trio of ghosts hovering just behind him.

The large, stocky one looked just as dumbfounded as Grim, and the small, round one actually seemed to be fighting back laughter. The long, skinny specter actually looked fairly impressed.

"Oh, jolly good, young lady!" He said, a note of genuine enthusiasm in his thin, creaky voice.
"You certainly gave him a piece of your mind-- and quite deservedly, I might add, by the sounds of it."

The small, round-bellied one burst into a fit of cackles, flailing around in midair like a toddler. "EEE-HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEEE-- I bet HE won't be bothering you anytime soon, huh?!"

Grim yelped and skittered behind Kat's leg.
"ACK! The ghosts are back!"

"Yeah, no shit," Kat muttered.
"What do you guys want now, huh?"

The skinny ghost floated forward a bit, removing his top hat and holding it against his chest.

"Oh, do excuse us, m'dear," he creaked. "We didn't mean to eavesdrop--"

"EAVESDROP?!" The small one shrieked, still laughing hysterically.
"She just about yelled the roof down! How were we supposed to NOT eavesdrop?!"

The largest ghost shook his head rapidly, blurring at the edges like dry ice fog.

"Wow," he said, a note of awe in his echoing voice.
"I-- I had no idea girls could talk like that! I--"

The skinny ghost smacked his arm lightly, chuckling.

"Don't be like that, Eddie," he scolded lightheartedly.
"Why, if I hadn't already been dead thirty years, I'd have surely died of shock when hearing how the young ladies spoke back when you were a student-- and that was nearly sixty years ago! Jolly good, I say! If a lady wants to speak her mind, then not a force in the world ought to stop her!"

"Yeah, yeah," Kat interrupted. She walked forward, grabbing the battered broom leaning against the wall.

"Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss and all that-- get outta here, you fucking weirdos."

She waved the broom through them like they were cobwebs she was trying to get rid of.
With one final cackle, the little ghost faded out of existence, followed by the big one, staring off into space as if in deep contemplation.
Replacing his hat, the skinny one winked, touching the brim and disappearing.

Putting the broom back down, Kat crossed her arms. She stood there for a second, jaw clenched and brow furrowed indecisively.

After another moment, she sighed in defeat, turning around and flinging the door back open.

"Waaaaait," she called loudly into the night. "If you're still out here, you can come back-- I'm not gonna go looking for you, though."

A rustling sound made her jump.
Blinking, she looked over as Ace's head popped up out of one of the unkempt bushes next to the house, shaking leaves and twigs out of his hair.

"What-- the hell are you doing?" She demanded.
"You know there are probably spiders in there, judging by how many webs there are in here, right?"

"Well--"
Extricating himself from the bush at last, Ace stumbled over, combing his hands through his hair.

"I-- I mean-- look, I'm serious about not going back to Heartslabyul, but..."

Hesitating on the threshold, he glanced at her, then looked down, one hand on the back of his head.

"Look, Prefect-- Kat-- I..."

Raising an eyebrow, she glanced down at Grim, then crossed her arms, leaning against the doorframe.

"Yes?" She asked.

"You're right," he muttered, shoulders slumping as his hand fell back to his side.
"You're right about Deuce-- if I'd left him, he'd have gone back and-- well..."

He looked down at his feet, fists clenching and unclenching awkwardly.

"...I didn't care," he admitted through gritted teeth.
"I didn't care about what would've happened to him, o-or to you, either, Kat."

"Hey, what about--" Grim began. Kat knocked her ankle lightly into his side, sending him staggering sideways with a quiet yowl.

"Mm-hmm?" She asked, eyebrows raising even higher.

"I... Look, I'm really not a-- I don't really care about what other people think about me. A-And I really don't care about other people's problems as long as they don't cause problems for me, but..."

Rubbing his arm, he looked at her guiltily.

"I-- I don't want anybody dead," he finished lamely.
"Like, I- I wasn't thinking about it back then. I was just mad, and I know it was stupid of me now because you were right, you guys-- no, ALL of us could've died or gotten really hurt, but..."

He paused, looking around and trying to find the right words.

"It's hard to explain to somebody without magic, but... When you're a kid, and you start being able to use it-- you feel... Unstoppable. Like, even though you're bad at it, and you're not even really using spells, you're just doing it by instinct, you feel like... Like a superhero or something, you know? And with the magic classes you get in elementary and middle school, they still hype you up by saying how special your magical abilities are..."

He looked back down again, licking his lips, then cleared his throat.

"I always felt like-- like I was on top of the world, you know? Nothing bad could ever happen to me. Even when the black carriage showed up, I never really thought about actually going to a real magic school. I was just so excited, and my brother would never stop talking about how amazing NRC is, and, like a dumbass, I never even considered the possibility-- the fact-- that there are people- and things- better... Stronger... than I am."

"Okay," Kat replied, nodding slowly.
"I think I get it... Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Ace shuffled his feet nervously.

" 'Msorrh," he mumbled.

Kat cocked her head.

"Huh? Sorry, can you say that again?"

" 'Msorr," he mumbled again, a bit louder this time.

"Look, I- I'm not being sarcastic here, but you're actually gonna have to speak up-- I have an auditory processing disorder."

"I'm sorry!" He burst out, gesturing furiously with his arms.
"I'm really sorry, okay?! I was a fucking idiot! I hate getting wrapped up in other people's problems, but I did the exact same thing to you-- dragged you into my mess when you didn't deserve it! If I mess up and get kicked out, I can just go home, but you literally don't have that choice-- a-and you definitely wouldn't have had a choice if you were dead! You or Deuce, o-or even that little tanuki-- if you died, it would've been because of me, and I--"

His shoulders slumped again.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

Shifting her weight, Kat looked back down at Grim, who seemed just as stunned at that as he was at her own outburst.

"...Okay," she said, stepping back.

Ace perked up.
"You mean I can stay?"

"Hey, slow your roll there, buddy-- I didn't say that," she replied, holding up a hand.
"You get to come in, sit down, maybe have a glass of water-- and tell us why you're not going back to your own dorm. If the reason is good enough, you can stay for the rest of the night. And I will CONSIDER letting you stay longer if-- hey, what the fuck--"

Grinning, Ace pushed past her and into the hallway before she'd even finished speaking.

"Oh, don't you worry, Prefect," he called over his shoulder as he ran into the living room.
"You're not gonna believe what happened to me!"

Stunned, she looked down at Grim again, who shrugged.

"He sure seems confident about gettin' to stay," he commented.

"Guess so," she replied, shaking her head. She closed the door, which needed a bit of effort to jam it back into place.
"Brief moment of introspection over, I guess... C'mon."

Bending down, she extended her arms, and Grim jumped into them happily.

"Let's go hear our unexpected guest's sob story."

************************************

Placing a chipped glass of water into Ace's hands, Kat moved across the room and sat gingerly on the sofa.

"Thanks," Ace muttered, looking blankly down at his lap for a second.

He was seated across from the sofa on the only functional chair in the room.
He took a cautious sip, then, apparently satisfied with its quality, a full mouthful. He swallowed it with a sigh, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

Grim jumped up on the sofa next to Kat, sitting down 'like a people', as the internet-- at least, Kat's internet... Affectionately called it. His hind legs stuck straight out while he crossed the front ones over his chest.
"Anyway-- I'd recognize that collar anywhere!" he exclaimed. "It's the same one that psycho little redhead stuck on me at orientation! What'd you do to get shackled with that, huh?"

Ace grunted, shifting in his seat.

Kat thought back to orientation-- or at least tried to.
Honestly, most of it was still a blur-- she remembered the important beats, the general shape of events, but specific details were.. Well, fuzzy, to put it nicely. She'd kind of been in the midst of a part-anxiety, part-panic, part-sensory overload, and, honestly, part-sheer, giddy excitement at the time..

She couldn't help but grimace at the memory, like it was from middle school and not the day before yesterday.
What a dumbass..
Like she would actually get to use magic or do something actually cool and interesting!
As if the universe would actually give you what you wanted, even if you've been hopelessly pining for it your whole life...

Shooing the thought out of her head, she tried to remember the aforementioned collarer.

Yeah-- everybody was wearing those robes, but he was small-- very small, actually.
Ace and Deuce were the same height as her, give or take a couple inches, so that was about...
Five-eight? Five-nine?
But the red-headed boy was seriously tiny.... Maybe about five-two, with a cherubic face and the grayest eyes she'd ever seen.

He also had red hair, obviously-- not Ace's red hair, which was the norm for 'red' hair back home, but could probably more easily be called orange or ginger.
His, however, was a brilliant crimson.
Was it dyed...?

Honestly, she couldn't tell. Ace had ginger hair, sure, which was normal enough, but his eyes were cherry red. While Deuce's bright blue-green eyes could theoretically occur naturally back in her world, his hair was blue... Such a dark blue that it could almost be mistaken for black, but blue nonetheless.

Wait--

"Oh, god dammit," she said out loud, slapping her hands on her knees.

Ace and Grim looked at her, startled.
"What's the matter?" Ace asked.

"I'm in a fucking anime," she blurted out, throwing up her hands.
"Unless you wear colored contacts twenty-four-seven, your fucking eyes would not be that color if you were from my world, and people have blue hair... A-And all the 'san's and the 'sama's and the... Honestly, why am I  surprised at this? There are a whole bunch of fucking-- Hot Topic kemonomimi furries here, too! Son of a..."

She looked back at Ace, whose expression was seriously disturbed.

"...Look, nevermind," she mumbled, slumping back in her seat. "I'll explain later. So-- what DID you do, anyway?"

Draining the glass, Ace put it down on the floor, crossing his arms.

"I ate a tart."

Kat blinked.
Was her auditory processing disorder acting up again? She was pretty tired, but...

"You... Ate a tart?" She repeated back cautiously.

"Yeah, seriously! That's it-- that's all I did!"

Jumping up out of his seat, Ace gestured furiously.
"Can you believe it?!"

Kat looked at Grim, who shrugged, spreading his front legs in a gesture of 'hey, don't look at me'.
"Sit down," she said exhaustedly, rubbing her temples with one hand.
"Look, can you-- elaborate further? Is there some context that I'm missing, or...?"

Sitting back down, Ace crossed his arms again, scowling.
"Okay, look, here's what happened-- I was a little hungry, so I went down to the dorm kitchen and found some tarts in the fridge. Three whole tarts! Big ones, too!"
He threw his hands up again, indicating the size of the aforementioned tarts.
"So I..."

As Ace's story unfolded, Kat leaned forward, elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands.
She was understanding everything he was saying, sure, but...

Honestly, it was ridiculous. Too ridiculous to even laugh at-- or maybe she was just too tired.

For some reason, though...

Snatches of a rhyme drifted through the back of her mind, whispering quietly, but slipping away when she tried to grab them.

...Of Hearts, she
.....tarts, all on a summer's....

"Ah!"

A sharp pain blossomed behind her eyes. She cried out, burying her face in her hands.

"Wh-- hey!" She heard Grim yelp, and the sound of Ace's chair legs scooting violently across the ground, like he'd just jumped up again. They sounded muffled and far away, almost drowned out by the staticky, throbbing ringing in her ears.
Her consciousness swam in and out of focus, and she might have blacked out for a second-- she wasn't sure.

When she came to, she was still on the couch. Ace's hands were on her shoulders supporting her, like he'd caught her as she was falling forward. Grim was up on his hind legs next to her, pawing at her arm insistently.

"--Fect? Prefect! You okay, Kat? What happened?!" Ace demanded, shaking her shoulders.

She squeezed her eyes shut, then reopened them, shaking her head as her vision came back into focus.

"What-- what happened?" She asked muzzily, pushing Ace away and grabbing the arm of the sofa.

Ace took a few steps back, hands still outstretched slightly.

"Wh-- I should be asking that! What the hell happened?!"

Kat gave him an exhausted look.

"Bitch," she said flatly.
"I don't know either. That's why I am asking you. Was that not obvious?"

"You--" Ace began, but Grim interrupted him, still standing with his paws on her arm.
"All of a sudden, you went like 'AH!' And put your face in your hands. Then you, like-- I-I think you tried to stand up, but your face went all white, then all green, a-and you almost fell...!"

Kat blinked.

"Huh," she mused aloud, tilting her head this way and that.

She was actually already feeling better. There was still a faint ringing in her ears-- like her head was a gong or a large bell, vibrating into silence.

"...Where are my glasses?"

Grim jumped down off the sofa, then back up. He was holding her glasses in his mouth gingerly by the bridge of the nose.

"Here," he said muffledly, dropping them into her lap.
"Be thankful the tart thief over here didn't step on 'em."

"Oh, EX-CUSE ME for not wanting her to crack her head open on the floor," Ace retorted. "That's the last time I try and be a gentleman, huh! Maybe next time YOU can try and catch her, with those tiny-ass paws of--"

"Shut up," Kat ordered, putting her glasses back on and sitting up.

"Look, guys, I'm fine-- Ace, thank you for catching me; Grim, thank you for giving me my glasses. I'm probably just tired, or have low blood pressure right now, or something-- I actually used to faint sometimes back when I was in the early years of high school. I'm fine. Seriously."

She slapped her cheeks lightly a few times.

"Okay, Ace-- you ate a tart, and you got beheaded. What next?"

"That's it," Ace replied, sitting back down with a scowl at Grim.
"I left Heartslabyul, and.... Here I am."

There was a brief silence.
Kat looked down at Grim.
Grim looked up at her.
Then they both looked at Ace in unison.

"So..." Grim said flatly. "What you're saying is-- you both suck?"

"HUH?!"