A short while later, Ace and Grim sat in the Ramshackle Dorm lounge. Alice went into the kitchen and filled up a glass of water. Alice would have gladly provided some refreshments and tea for their guest, but this dorm was, well...scarce of any refreshments for the time being.

Alice then walked back to the lounge, set the glass of water near Ace and sat down next to him. "Um, so why do you want to become a member here? It's not that I don't appreciate your company, I'm just merely curious." Alice inquired.

"That's the same collar that that red-haired senior put on me during the entrance ceremony." Grim said, looking at Ace's collar. "What's it doing on you?" Ace folded his arms with an irritated pout on his face. "I ate a tart." he said simply.

Alice and Grim both stared at him in stunned silence, unsure of what to say at first. A tart? He got into trouble...for eating...a tart? It didn't make any sense. "Huh? A tart? That's it?" Alice asked curiously. "You heard me! Literally just that!" Ace said, nodding. 

"Got a bit peckish, so I wandered down to the dorm kitchen and found a whole tart just chillin' in the fridge. And then turns out there were three whole tarts! So..."

Ace could hear the loud ticking from the clock above his head as he crept downstairs towards his dorm's kitchen. It was the dead of night, and while he didn't want to disturb the other residents of their sleep, he also didn't want to get caught for what he was about to do.

He and Deuce had just arrived back, completely exhausted from today's events. Deuce had already gone to his room to get some sleep and Ace was planning to do the same when he suddenly heard his stomach growling.

"Ugh, I'm beat, and it's only day one. Missing out on dinner's got me seriously starving." Ace groaned. So he decided to stop by the kitchen to grab some snacks before going to bed. His growling stomach overruled any sensible reasoning to wait until tomorrow morning for breakfast.

When he arrived, the kitchen was void of any living beings, the perfect opportunity for a midnight snack. Ace then started to inch his way across the dark room towards the spot where he guessed the refrigerator was located at.

Using his fingers to guide him, Ace finally felt the hard surface of the fridge and moved his hand down until his fingers wrapped around the handle. "Inside the fridge, we haaaaave..." Ace said as he pulled the fridge door open, hoping that someone has left a chocolate pudding cup or maybe some fizzy drinks that wouldn't be missed.

Instead, he saw a plate of three beautiful, delicious-looking strawberry tarts chilling on the shelves. "Oh, hey, tarts! These look good." Ace said, his eyes wide with shock. Someone must've gone to the store and bought them.

Though why they wanted three whole tarts was quite strange. However, they wouldn't notice if he just took a tiny piece, right? "...There's so much here, surely no one's gonna notice one little missing piece. ♪" Ace said. Without thinking twice, he grabbed the nearest tart and set it down on the kitchen counter. "Bon appetit."

Rubbing his hands together gleefully, Ace abandoned all etiquette and took a large bite. As he chewed on the pastry filling and crunchy outer texture, his cherry red eyes immediately widened with shock. "...Whoa!" he exclaimed, unable to contain his amazement as he scarfed down another bite. "This is amazing! What the heck?!"

"Of course it does. Trey does not bake tarts that are anything less than exquisite." a stern voice said from the kitchen entryway. Ace shook his head. "Seriously, this tastes insane. It tastes even better than the stuff you get at..."

Ace nearly choked on the tart as the lights suddenly turned on. Standing right across from him was none other than the Dorm Leader of Heartslabyul...and he looked absolutely angry. "Holy crap, Dorm Leader...?!" Ace gasped in shock, quickly scrambling to his feet.

"You certainly are a brave one to even consider laying your hands on that which belongs to me." Riddle said, his slate gray eyes narrowing with disgust. "Queen of Hearts Law No. 89, "You shall not eat tarts prepared for the Queen ahead of her."" He then pointed his magical pen at the knave who dared to steal before him.

"Tart theft is an unforgivable crime! OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" Riddle shouted as he waved his pen towards Ace. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Ace screamed, almost getting choked as the collar magically locked itself around his neck.

"...The end." Ace said, finishing his story. Grim and Alice were both silent throughout the entire story. Alice became more uncertain as to what to say about this. While she understood Ace's frustration, she could also see why his dorm leader would also put that collar on him.

Still, she could say that they were both wrong. "You're both in the wrong here, yanno." Grim then said, looking at Ace. Ace glared at Grim indignantly. "Don't you think it's a little much to seal my magic just because I took a tiny bit of tart?!" he protested, defending himself.

"I'm a mage! This is basically like having my arms and legs all chained up. And anyway, there were three whole tarts in there! There's no way he could eat them all by himself! How narrow-minded can one guy be?!"

Ace let out an irritated huff as he fell back against the sofa. Alice nodded. "I agree, sealing your magic away may have been a bit much, but..." she said before pausing. "Yeah, see?" Ace said. "Alice-chan here agrees with me!" Grim then gasped as a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

"Ah! Hang on..." he said. Ace and Alice both turned their heads towards him. "If there were that many tarts, they could've been for some party or something." Grim explained. "Y'know, like a birthday party."

He then grinned. "I'm a master of deduction, I tell ya!" he said, becoming proud of his detective work. "A birthday party?" Ace asked. Alice patted Grim's head. "If that's the case, then that would certainly explain his anger." she said, turning to Ace. "You did apologize for it, didn't you?"

Ace then became a little flustered and stammered in his response. Then he sighed. "Ugh... Isn't this the part where you say that you totally think that he's being too much of a power freak, Alice-chan?" he groaned.

"I'm really sorry, Ace-kun. I do understand your trouble, but you must know, it's obviously wrong to steal and eat other people's food." Alice gently said. "Even though I haven't gotten the chance to get to know your dorm leader better, I couldn't really say anything like that. It's not really fair."

Alice hoped that she was doing the right thing by saying all of this. She was going to stand by him because that's what friends do. Even so, she also had to consider the feelings of the other party on this one.

"Ugh. Sure, take his side." Ace sighed as he sank back into his seat. He was the one who got collared in the first place, but for some reason, he also has to be the one to apologize. Then again, now that he thought about it, Ace should've expected Alice to say something like that.

After all, she was the same girl who had tried to take the blame for breaking that chandelier just so she could save him and Deuce from getting expelled. Alice reached over and held his hand, giving a light squeeze. Ace turned towards her.

"I'm sure he'll forgive you if you properly apologize." she said gently. "Why don't we go apologize to him tomorrow? Sounds good?" Ace blushed a bit and turned away from her to hide it. Grim crossed his paws and shook his head, sighing. "Don't underestimate grudges over food, Alice." he said. Then he realized something.

"Hey, hold on! I never got my tuna cans from the headmaster!" he exclaimed. Ace sighed and turned to face Alice, his face still red. "Fine. Whatever. I just have to apologize, right? ...This is your idea, Alice-chan, so you better come with me." he said firmly.

Alice nodded and smiled at him. "Of course I'll come. I'll be right beside you." Ace then looked down and saw that Alice was still holding his hand. His cheeks turned beet red, and he quickly yanked himself away from her.

Ace then cleared his throat, trying to hide his blush. "So, where should I sleep for the night?" he asked. "What, you were being serious?" Grim questioned as he crossed his paws and turned his head towards the stairs. "All the rooms aside from the girls' are still a mess. Better get scrubbing."

Ace scrunched up his nose. "Bleh, I am not cleaning up." he said. He then looked over at Alice and an idea popped into his head. Flashing a charming smile, he got in close to Alice and took her hands in his, bringing her close to him.

"Alice-chan~! Lemme stay in your room~! I'm practically a noodle, so I won't take up much space! Please~?" he asked in a sweet, singsong tone. Alice blinked a few times before her face blushed a bright red. "Oh!" she said, feeling flustered. "W-Well, I-I..."

"No way!" Grim shouted, quickly stepping in between them. He narrowed his blue eyes at Ace and firmly pointed towards the couch. "You're welcome to sleep on our perfectly serviceable sofa. But you're not going anywhere near our bedroom, got it?!" Grim shouted. He looked down and quickly swatted Ace's hands off Alice's.

"Tsk. Stingy." Ace said, pouting. Then he sighed as he rolled his eyes and leaned back on the couch. "That's fine, I guess. I'll go sleep all by my lonesome on the lounge's sofa. Good night!" he said.

"Good night!" Grim replied as he and Alice headed back up to their room. But then, Alice paused and looked back at Ace. She felt terrible for leaving him all alone in the lounge, especially since the sofa wasn't made into a makeshift bed for him.

Back at their room, Kira was still asleep. Grim had collapsed on his pillow and was immediately snoring away. But Alice couldn't sleep, not yet. She walked over towards the closet and searched for anything that might make Ace more comfortable while he stayed in their dorm.

Eventually, she found an extra blanket and went back downstairs. Seeing that Ace was already fast asleep and snoring away on the couch, Alice giggled softly as she gently placed the blanket over Ace's sleeping form. Then she went upstairs to bed.

The next morning, as the dawn broke in the sky, the girls and Grim were all still in their beds sleeping peacefully. Even Ace was snoring blissfully on the sofa downstairs with a thin sliver of drool on his chin, despite the collar around his neck restricting some of his movements.

BAM-BAM-BAM!

The whole dorm seemed to shake violently over the force of the harsh pounding on the doors. It was so loud and so sudden that it stirred Ace awake. Helet out a big yawn, seeing how he was so rudely brought out from his sleep.

"Ugh... Who's pounding at the door this early...?" he grumbled to himself as he tried to sink back into his sleep, clutching the blanket close to him. Wait a second. A blanket? Ace opened his eyes and saw that a blanket had been placed on him.

Who put this on me? Ace wondered where that blanket had come from but as soon as he did, the answer almost immediately came to him. Alice. She must've brought this down to him sometime during the night. She brought it for him...to keep him warm. Ace began to blush a bit. Then he smiled.

"Heh. That girl." he chuckled softly to himself. But then, another heavy knocking sound interrupted his thought and heavy layers of dust fell on him. "Oh, blech! This place is so rundown, all it takes is a small shake and the dust starts flying!" Ace said as he shook off the dust from his hair.

BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!! Another round of heavy knocks echoed through the halls. "All right, I hear you! I'm coming already, so stop knocking the door so hard!" Ace called out to whoever was at the door. He wrapped the blanket around his shoulders as he got up from the sofa and headed down the hallway to the foyer.

In their rooms, the girls were starting to wake up, obviously awakened by the loud knocking. Alice opened her eyes and she let out a soft yawn as she stretched her arms in the air. Kira also stretched and yawned. "So, who was at our door last night?" she asked, half-asleep.

"It was Trappola-kun. Something happened at his dorm, and he decided to spend the night here." Alice explained. "Wait, what?!" Kira suddenly gasped as she stared at Alice with wide eyes. "You're telling me that Ace-kun actually spent the night here?!" Oh, please don't tell her he actually...! Alice nodded. 

"But that's okay. Grim and I let him sleep on the sofa in the lounge." she said. "Oh. Okay." Kira said, relieved to hear that that's not what really happened. "Come on, let's get ready for classes." Alice said as she got out of bed, eager to start her day.

Ace headed towards the front doors and opened the left one, planning to greet the person behind it. But his expression instantly turned sour when he saw who it was. "So you did come here." Deuce said as he stepped inside the dorm, crossing his arms as he looked at Ace with a disappointed stare.

"Ugh. Deuce..." Ace groaned. "I heard what happened from the other residents. You really got collared because you stole the Dorm Leader's tart." Deuce said sternly. "You are a complete idiot."

Ace glared at Deuce. "Shut it! I don't wanna hear that from you!" he snapped at him. Then, his expression changed. "...By the way, was he still mad?" Ace asked, his tone levelled down a bit.

Deuce shook his head. "Not really. He looked a little irritated at these three guys who missed morning roll call... The most that happened is they met the same fate as you." he said. Ace gaped at him, not believing what he was hearing. "That's your definition of "not really"?!" he shouted. "He's mad, no matter what way you toss it!"

"Ace-kun, you're still here. And Deuce-kun, too! Good morning!" a cheerful, sweet voice then said. "Jeez, you guys are totally noisy." a grumpy feminine voice followed. The two boys turned towards the owners of the voices...and they suddenly froze.

"...Whoa...!" Deuce whispered in awe as they both looked at the girls. The four girls were no longer wearing those shabby janitor outfits. They were now wearing the standard school uniforms as the other students of Night Raven College.

They each had on the black jacket with the golden embroidery and black slacks. While the girls wore their black-and-white striped ties formally, Alice's tie had been fashioned more into a bowtie.

On their feet were dress shoes and tied around each of their left biceps was a simple black-and-white ribbon, similar to the one Grim was wearing around his neck. The boys just couldn't help staring. Those outfits looked rather cute on the girls, especially with the way it accentuated each of their curves.

Ace casually held up his hand to hide the blush on his face as he smiled at the girls. Deuce also greeted the girls with a friendly smile of his own. "Good morning, ladies. I hope this idiot hadn't caused you any trouble." he said, gesturing to Ace.

"Hey!" he protested, glaring at Deuce. "Oh, no. Not at all. He was just fine." Alice said cheerfully. "Now then, let's be off to school, shall we?" Today was going to be a good one, she could feel it. Before long, the seven students were walking down Main Street with their fellow peers.

As they walked, the other students looked at Ace, pointing fingers and whispering as they noticed the collar around his neck. Some of them even laughed and jeered at Ace, causing him to groan in silent embarrassment.

All the while, Grim skipped around the venue with a smug, arrogant smile on his face. "Hey, hey! Outta my way~! The almighty Grim is passing through on his way to begin life as a student of Night Raven College!" he crowed proudly, showing off his new collar with the lavender magic gem.

He then spread a sly smirk as he turned his attention towards Ace. "Look at my collar! Unlike that lame thing around your neck, mine is fabulous. On top of that, you can't use your magic right now, yeah?" Grim taunted.

"You'd make a really good janitor today. Nyaha! I feel good!" Kira gave Grim a good smack on the head. "Ow!" Grim yelped, rubbing his sore head. "Shut up, Grim." she said. Ace glared at the cat gremlin irately and let out a growl. Alice just shook her head at Grim and sighed.

"He really won't let anything from yesterday go." she said. Honestly, Grim had no right to say that as he himself was caught in that very same collar from day one. She gave Ace a sympathetic expression as she patted his back to help cheer him up.

"Grrnnrrgh! Just you wait until I get my magic back!" Ace grumbled, grabbing at the collar around his neck. "The headmaster literally just told us yesterday to not make another scene..." Deuce said, reminding him of that chandelier fiasco yesterday.

"Anyway, you're going to have problems in class with your magic sealed. Have you thought about apologizing to Dorm Leader Rosehearts and having him remove it?" Alice smiled. "Rosehearts. What a charming, lovely name." she thought to herself.

"I hate this so much. Why am I be the one apologizing?!" Ace exclaimed, already hating the idea of apologizing to his tyrannical dorm leader. "We've still got time before class, and I'm curious about the other dorms." Grim said with a bright smile.

"Let's go on a wander while we go watch Ace's apology." Alice and the other girls weren't sure about that last part, but they were also curious about what the other dorms looked like in this school.

"This isn't a show! Screw this!" Ace shouted at him. With an angry huff, Ace was pulled away by the others towards the Hall of Mirrors, explaining that the sooner he apologizes, the sooner Dorm Leader Rosehearts can get that blasted collar off his neck.