Chapter 21

Words: 1267

You all walked towards the woods behind the botanical gardens. There were beautiful rays of sunlight peeking through the gaps of the multiple trees looming over you all.

Just as Trey said, the forest floor was filled with chestnuts. "Whoa! There really are a ton of chestnuts just layin' around! I'm gonna be livin' large on chestnut tarts! Mmm!" Grim happily ran towards a spot that contained more chestnuts then others.

"Let's get grabbin'-" He reached down to pick up a few of them. "Grim I wouldn't do-" You were interupted by a loud help of the cat.

Grim jumped up cluthing his paw. "YOWCH! Myah! The chestnut spines pricked my paws!" He ran over to you and held up his hurt paw as if you could do anything to magically make it dissappear. "Look!" The cat yelled at you.

"Yeah, I can see it Grim. I told you not to, didn't I?" You responded, and crouched down at his level. He only grumbled, and went to climb into your arms.

You snickered, and picked him up. The slight flick of your ears and the wagging a clear sign you didn't mind.

Deuce then spoke up. "I  don't think we can do this with our pare hands. And we need something to put them in, too."

Ace nodded and turned his head for the school grounds. "Maybe we can find some supplies in the botanical garden?"

Yuu looked at Ace with a surpirced expression. "Whoa. You actually said something smart for once."

"Let's go take a look." Deuce interupted before Ace could respond.

With that you all headed for the botanical garden.

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You opened the glass door, and headed inside. You looked around at the beautiful flowers scattered across the glass chamber.

Ace was looking around in amazement aswell. "Whoa, I didn't realize this place was so huge."

"If it's this large, it's got to have a groundskeeper. Let's split up and look." Deuce said while approaching a three way path.

"Sure, dibs on the right side." Ace said, heading over there already.

Deuce just went along with his antics. "Then how about me and Yuu got left, while Grim and his Housewarden go straight ahead?"

"I don't have a problem with that. See ya later." You nodded both of them off, and went straight ahead with a plain expression on your face.

'Papa would've loved this place.' You thought to yourself. You quickly waved the thought away and continued forth.

Grim jumped out of your arms, and walked towards a few trees with fruits hanging from them. "Hey, come take a look at this! There's a ton of fruit growing here! Smells like they're ripe, too!"

"Grim you better keep your dirty paws off that apple." You sneered, making the cat quickly retreat his paw.

"Ouch!"

A sudden yelp caught you off guard. You saw a tail slipping into some bushes, and you quickly realized you probably stepped onto it.

You winced. You knew how that felt, and it wasn't pleasant at all.

A tall guy stepped out of the bushes. It was the boy with long brown hair and braids from the orientation. He had slightly tan skin, bright green eyes, and a pair of lion ears sticking through his hair.

His tail was swishing angrily behind him, and he frowned upon seeing you. "Hey! You got some nerve steppin' on my tail and just walkin' away!"

Grim turned towards the guy. "Are you the groundskeeper? Not sure you ougtha be talkin' to students that way, pal."

"Grim, he's a student aswell. Can't you see? Also if he was staff, you shouldn't speak to him like that aswell." You scolded Grim, before turning to the tall man.

"I apologize for stepping on your tail. I was not looking where I was going, and I stepped on it. Sorry." You gave a quick bow with your head, but kept your expression calm.

"Ain't nothin' worse than bein' in the middle of a good nap and havin' some jerk step on your tail." He grumbled. He did not seem to accept your apologie.

"Believe me, I know. But your tail was on the path, so you also can't really blame me." You answered back.

"Hey wait a minute. You... I know you. You're that herbivore from orientation who can't use magic but still slammed that cat down."

You hummed. "Surprise sur-"

You were cut off by the lion suddenly sniffing you.

"Are you... smelling me?! What's  with that?" You took a step away from him.

He raised his eyebrows with a smirk. "Huh. It's true. You don't smell of magic at all. You've got a little spark tho. Well, can't say it'd be much fun to hurt someone so helpless. Still gonna do it, though."

"I dunno what's up with this guy, but when he looks at me, it makes every follicle of fur stand on end..." Grim mumbled nervously.

You leaned your head to the side. "We're fighting? Okay." You shrugged, and summoned your polearm.

The lion's eyes widened, and he gave you a slight side-eye before smirking. "No one gets to stomp on my tail and just walk away without payin' the price. I'm in a bad mood on account of bein' woken up from my nap, too. That's gonna cost you a tooth."

"You sure are alot of bark, huh?" You grumbled.

"Y/n! Cheese it! We needa get out fo here!" Grim stumbled behind you.

"Leona! There you are!" Another boy appeared. This one was  a bit shorter, with dirty blonde hair and droopy blue-greyish eyes. He had a pair of hyena ears, aswell as a tail swishing behing him.

Leona turned his head at the voice. "Eh?"

You pulled your polearm back, and watched the scene before you unfold. "I knew I'd find you here! We got after school classes today, remember?" The boy said while walking closer towards the lion.

The boy now identified as Leona groaned loudly. "Ugh... And now I've got this guy on my tail..."

The hyena continued. "Leona, you've already had to repeat one year. If you get held back again, we'll be in the same grade!"

"Oh, put a sock in it already. I'm tired fo all yer yappin', Ruggie."

Ruggie's ears drooped down. "You think I like always bein' on your case? C'mon man. You act like it'd be hard for you. You could skate through life fi you'd just TRY. Come on! Let's go already!"

Leona grumbled and turned to you one last time. "Hrmph... Next time you stink up my territory, there's gonna be a price to pay, herbivores!" He sneered.

"Sure. I'm not a herbivore tho." You hummed back in response, making Leona groan.

You watched Ruggie spare you a glance, and saw his eyes widen at the polearm you were carrying in your hands.

One look at you made the hyena quickly swing around on his heels and go the other way, pulling his 'friend' along with him.

Grim was still scared. "Myah! I don't like the sound of that! What's up with this nutso?"

"Yeah. Also, he's obviously not the groundskeeper. Where did you even get that idea? He wears the same uniform I do, and you're still like "Are you the groundskeeper?" No obviously he's not, Grim." You groaned.

The cat chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck.

Then Ace, Deuce and Yuu appeared again. "Yo, guys, we found baskets and tongs." Ace said, holding up the supplies with a smile.

You glare softened, and you smiled slightly. "That's great. Let's go.

Deuce stopped for a moment. "Wait. What in the hell happened to you?"

"Oh, right, the chestnuts! We gotta gather those chestnuts so I can get my tart on! We'll fill 'em in on the crazy lion man while we forage." Grim said to you before running to the glass door.

You sighed, but smiled to yourself. This was gonna be a long day.

✿༺ 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓈! ༻✿

✿༺ Deuce just wanted to gossip with Yuu for a moment.
✿༺ Leona finds you rather interesting.
✿༺ Ruggie was surprised to just see someone with a polearm randomly.

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A/n: Sorry for not posting! I had to put my laptop down stairs for the last two nights, so I couldn't write then. Have also had less time because I had to go to the doctors... Anyways, I speedrunned this real quick, so sorry for any spelling mistakes.
-Kitz/Yumeko