Chapter 16

Words 1290

"Time to paint these roses! Not pink! Not green! Not aquamarine! It's rose red or nothing!" Cater rhymed again as he took out his mage pen.

"I'm sure we can bang this out in no time flat, yeah?" Ace said as he scratched the back of his neck. He held up his paint and brush.

Deuce sighed slightly. "I don't know if I'm much of a painter, but I'll give it my best shot!"

Grim of course had to feed his own ego. "With me on the case, this'll be a piece of cake! You! No slacking off, okay?" He turned towards you and Yuu.

"Don't worry, I'll get this done in a jiff!" You smiled, and held up a brush aswell, while Yuu chuckled.

They all started painting one rose tree, while you headed for some a bit  farther away.

"Red... Red... BAM! Wh-whoa! It turned blue?!" Deuce yelled in shock as he tried painting the flowers.

Grim was chanting something that sounded demonic at another flower. "Change, o foul color! Change! AHA!"

The rose caught on fire.

"BWAH! The rose caught on fire!" Grim yelled as he jumped back.

"Wow, you're even less competent than I thought." Cater muttured to himself.

After a little while, and the boys having finished their first bush they headed to the next one.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this." Deuce said as he painted a rose red with his magic.

"Lookit me! I can get all of 'em at once! MYAAAAH!" Grim chanted at a different bush, with still all white roses.

The roses all turned pink, green and aquamarine.

"Myah...?" Grim looked saddend at his failure, and stared at the tree with hanging ears.

"Nope! Gotta do it more like this!" Cater showed up, and with a wave of his pen all Grim's oddly colored roses turned red.

Ace looked up from his paint bucket. "Nice one! Guess being a junior does count for something!"

Cater smiled at the compliment. "Thanks! Keep this up and we'll be done before you know it."

They continued until they finished bush number two and three.

Then you turned up again, empty paint bucket in hand. "You guys done? I finished the bushes over there."

"Oh you finsihed alread- YOU WHAT?" Cater's eyes widend at the like twenty rose bushes that were now painted.

"#WOW, I'm surprised you did that that quick. We'll just do this last one and then we're done.

"Yo, Cater, maybe you should just leave the roses white! They look perfectly pretty 'n stuff to me." Ace grumbled after having enough of painting already.

"It's a matter of tradition."  Cater started. "You can't have an unbirthday party without the roses being red. And you can't play croquet without seven-colored flamingos as mallets and a hedgehog for a ball. Oh, but of course, the roses need to be white when the garden flowers put on their spring concert. That's absolutely crucial?"

"Flowers can sing in this world....? What is going on...." You mumbled to yourself.

Grim huffed and crossed his arms. "All your rules are completely insane!"

"They say the Queen of Hearts made up these rules herself - she was one of the Great Seven, you know. And Riddle is all about tradition. Probably more than previous housewardens, T-B-H. I'll admit that he's, well... a bit extra." Cater twirled a small strand of his hair awkwardly.

"Yeah, no kidding." Ace sneered. "I sure don't have time for this nonsense. Is Riddle here? I gotta talk ot him."

Cater thought a moment before nodding. "Yeah, probably. But are you sure that's wise? Did you even bring an apology tart to replace the one you ate?"

Ace's expression twisted into a confused one. "Uh, no? I came here first thing in the morning!"

Cater shook his head with a dissappointed sigh. "Ah ah ah... That could be a problem. Have you forgotten rule 53? "Stolen items must be replaced." If you're not in complaince, I can't let you in."

Ace half stepped back in shock. "Are you serious?!"

"All dorm residents must obey the rules. If i let you slide, it owuld be off with my head next! I hate to say it, Ace, but I'm gonna need you to leave before Riddle spots you. Thanx."

"I.... think this guy is for real. You guys, do something!" Ace ran towards where you were standing, and hid behind you.

"Why should we do ANYTHING?" Deuce yelled in reply.

Ace clasped his hands together above his head as if praying. "C'mon, please! I can't use magic! Hurry, he's-"

Cater charged at Ace, but was stopped by your arm reaching in front of him.

When he tried to snoop past you, you pulled back your arm and punched the orange haired boy against his chest.

He flew off into a random path of the maze, and he quickly reappeared as if he didn't just get sent flying.

"Y/n?!" Yuu yelled out at your sudden action, and you seemed kind of surprised aswell.

You thought about how Ace was actually being quite the asshole, and how he didn't take responsibility for his actions.

You then just stepped to the side, taking place next to Yuu who was eating imaginary popcorn.

"What?! You're just gonna leave me like that?!" Ace screamed when he saw you getting out.

Yuu rolled on the ground of laughter, and Deuce was surpressing  a chuckle.

You blinked blankly. "You lowkey deserve a good beating." You stated the obvious and started cuddling Grim for entertainment.

You heard the ruckus of Cater and Ace's fight behind you, and the occasional snickers of your Ramshackle buddies and Deuce.

After a while, the frantic screaming of the Heartslabyul freshman died out, and you heard Cater speak up again, making you look up.

"Do make sure you bring that tart next time, m'kay? Buh-bye now!" He waved you off, and you started pulling Ace -who was laying face first in the grass- along with you to the exit of the dorm.

Ace recovered along the way to the exit, and stood up again. "Was that guy for real?!"

"We hit him over and over, but he just kept coming. Maybe he was using some kind of illusion magic?" Deuce suggested, thinking about how he appeared when you punched him, and how he came back when Deuce joined the fight for fun for a little.

Ace dusted off his messy uniform. "So lemme get this straight: we walked in there, totally tartless, but this dude still made us do that whole song and dance before throwing us out? He just wanted to make us paint his stupid roses!"

Grim crossed his arms. "We sure look like a bunch of chumps."

"I quite enjoyed painting the roses...?" You fiddled with your fingers, and Ace side-eyed you. Your ears tilted slightly backwards, and your tail stopped it's slow swishing.

Deuce smiled at you, before going back to the conversation. "I guess we'll  just have to get an apology tart and come back. Maybe after class, we can- Oh no!"

Deuce cut himself off, making Yuu turn towards him. "What's wrong?"

Deuce stared at his watch. "We already missed the first bell! We're gonna be late for class!"

"Myah! I don't wanna get a blemish on the first day of my glorious Night Raven education! Shake a leg, chumps! To the classroom, pronto!"

Ace piqued up at this. "Hey, so what class are you guys in, anyway? You're freshmen too, right?"

"The headmage said we're in Class 1-A!" Grim answered while rushing to the mirror, you and Yuu following closely behind.

This made Deuce smile. "Hey, that's the same one I'm in. We got Potionology for first period."

"Oh ho, yeah! That sounds awesome!" Grim jumped into your arms, since you were faster then him, and you all were right before the mirror now.

Ace scratched the back of his neck. "M-maybe I don't need magic for that?"

You chuckled, and then together with the rest of your new friends, you jumped through the mirror towards the school.

Time to learn some new things!

✿༺ 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓈! ༻✿
✿༺ Cater was really glad a clone got punched by you, and he didn't
✿༺ Yuu started crying from laughter when you stepped out of the fight.
✿༺ You still have no idea what magicam is.

·.★·.·'¯'·.·★.·

A/n: Uhm... I fell asleep...AGAIN. I'm sorry. My sleeping schedule is fucked, and I had work... Anyways, 3K YALL! 5K special soon if we manage to reach that, and maybe a look into the way the people in Sumeru are doing rn, when I am not close to sleeping again!
-Kitz/Yumeko