"So... how exactly do we get to Heartslabyul? Is there a directory or something?" Aria asked as she looked around the school campus. "Follow me." Deuce replied as he led the group towards the school and went to the Hall of Mirrors.

By now, the place was empty due to everyone heading to class, and that's when the four girls finally got a good look at the place: there were seven doorways, each one containing a mirror, and each mirror was decorated with intricate designs.

The girls all had mixed feelings about visiting one of the seven dorms. They had been in the Hall of Mirrors before, but this will be the very first time they would actually have the privilege to see one of the seven other dorms in person. The girls and Grim followed Ace and Deuce towards one of the mirrors and took in the details.

The one mirror the group was standing in front of had several mushrooms growing on both sides of the small staircase. On the top step of the staircase was a massive stone storybook, its pages wide open with pictures and incoherent writings. Metal playing cards and roses decorated the mirror's frame.

Above that was a heart-shaped emblem with the name "Heartslabyul" written on a banner, which held two lances in the shape of the spades suit behind it. On each side of the wall were two glowing crown-shaped lamps.

Ace and Deuce turned towards the girls and Grim. "Ready?" Deuce asked. The girls nodded a little hesitantly. This was their first time going through mirrors, after all. With that, Deuce approached the Heartslabyul mirror. As he did, the mirror began to flash a brilliant light as he walked through the glass.

Alice picked up Grim as she, her friends and Ace steadily walked through the mirror, engulfed by the bright light. Alice grunted as she phased through the mirror and came out on the other side with Grim.

Each of the girls shuddered as they felt chills running down their spines while Ace emerged from the mirror behind them. "You okay, girls?" Deuce asked. "Yeah." Kira replied. "It feels a bit weird. It's kinda like walking through thick water or something."

"Yeah, it does feel a bit weird, the first couple of times." Ace replied. "You get used to it before long, though." At that moment, the four girls and Grim looked up and gasped as they were greeted by an amazing sight.

A large beautifully structured building like a gleaming castle stood before them, painted red, black and white with heart-shaped decorations. Red heart-shaped rosebushes lined up the walkway and a fountain stood at the very center. A lamppost stood at the side with the Heartslabyul banner fluttering in the wind.

This was Ace and Deuce's dorm. The Heartslabyul Dorm, standing tall and proud in the name of the Queen of Hearts herself. "Whoa!" Kira whispered in utter astonishment. "Amazing!" Aria exclaimed.

"This is truly incredible...!" Alice gasped out. It truly was a wondrous sight to behold. If this is what one dorm looked like, then the other dorms might be just as marvelous. Grim stood beside them, gaping at the building. He was also amazed by the dorm of Heartslabyul's elegant, intricate structure. 

"Whoa~! This is gorgeous! It couldn't be more different from ours!" he exclaimed with astonishment. And just like that, the girls' amazement was shattered. "Hey, ours is still in development, Grim!" Aria said, glaring at Grim.

"Comparing like this makes it worse, so stop it." Jazmin added. "Yeah. Whatever." Grim said, shrugging. A while later, the four girls followed Ace and Deuce into the dorm's Rose Maze. Just like the dorm itself, it was beautiful and well-maintained, blooming with attractive red roses.

However, the roses somehow didn't look right. Actually, they look like they're...

Alice began to walk slowly through the maze as she took in her surroundings. This Rose Maze. These roses. They all seem so familiar. Where had she seen them before? "Crap. I've gotta hurry and get these roses painted." a voice suddenly said in a rushed tone. Alice stopped in her tracks. Get...these roses...painted?

Somehow, those words seemed to ring a bell. "Hey, someone's here." Grim said as he pointed over to an older teenage boy just a few feet away from them. He was sitting on a stepladder with a paintbrush in his hand and several cans of red paint below him.

He had carrot orange-colored hair, the top portion was tied back into a topknot while the rest hung straight and bright leaf green eyes. Underneath his right eye, he had a small red tattoo shaped like a diamond.

He wore the same standard-issue school uniform as Ace and Deuce, except that his tie was slightly loosened and the top buttons on his white shirt were undone, showing that he didn't wear a vest underneath. The bottoms of his pants were rolled up a bit and he wore light-grey slip-on shoes.

Whoever he was, he was too focused on painting the roses to notice that he had company. "Oops, nearly missed that. Leave even a bit of white and my head's gone." he said to himself with a nervous chuckle.

Alice felt herself stiffen at that phrase. Lose his head...? Somehow, she had heard that phrase before. She then turned and looked back at the maze. The roses. The cans of paint. The threat that if not a single white rose was painted red, then you're faced with the severe punishment of being beheaded where you stood.

It all felt too familiar. "Somehow, I feel like I've seen this before..."Alice thought to herself. But where and when? She had never actually been here before until now. So why would she...?

The older teen stopped his painting as he looked over his shoulder and saw the seven newcomers. He placed the paintbrush down in a red paint can and walked over to them with a cheerful and friendly smile. "...Hm? You guys need something?" the boy asked.

"What are you doing with that?" Ace asked, puzzled as to why he had cans of paint with him in a place like this. "This? Can't you see that I'm painting the roses red." the teenager asked, saying as if it was the most casual and obvious thing in the world.

That made the boys and girls even more confused. "Huh?! But why?" Deuce questioned. The orange-haired teen blinked at the baffled look on Deuce and Ace's faces and a bright smile spread across his face.

"Ahh, it's been a while since I've got to see such cute reactions like this~!" he said cheerfully. "Actually, aren't you the new kids that shattered that 10,000,000 Madol chandelier yesterday?" Ace and Deuce were absolutely dumbfounded when they heard him say that, but they then let out a dejected sigh and hung their heads.

"We're gonna hear about that chandelier until the day we graduate..." Ace said regretfully. "Actually, sir, the chandelier accident was our fault, really..." Alice mumbled softly to herself.

The older boy blinked in surprise when his eyes fell upon the petite honey-blonde girl. His leaf green eyes sparkled with delight as he practically rushed over towards her, leaned in close to her face and grasped her hands in his. Alice's cheeks blushed as red as the roses at how close the teen boy was to her.

"Wow! I've heard rumors about four cute new girls enrolling into this school, but you look way cuter in person! What's your name, missy?" the orange-haired teen asked, full of delight. "Well, um..." Alice said, a little too flustered to speak.

Even though they had their magic disguise bracelets on, the orange-haired boy could somehow tell that they were girls. He leaned in closer to hear Alice's answer, but then released her hands and took a step back when Ace and Deuce had suddenly stepped in between them, blocking his view of the blue-eyed girl.

"How about you give her some space?" Deuce asked. "Yeah, back off, man." Ace added. The orange-haired teen tilted his head as he looked at the young ginger-haired boy and chuckled when he recognized him.

"And you're the one who added on even more punishment by stealing the dorm leader's tart that very same night!" he said, much to Ace's chagrin.

"I feel so lucky getting to meet the notorious newcomers first thing in the morning~♪" the orange-haired boy cheerfully sang as he then pulled out his mobile phone and hauled the whole group into an embrace. "Hey, hey~! Let's take a selfie! Yaaay~!"

Before any of them could even react, the teen grinned, did a fun little pose as he held up his phone and took a group picture of all of them together. He began to laugh as he began to fiddle around with his phone.

"Can I put this on MagiCam? Tell me your namesso I can put you in the tags." he said. "I'm Deuce Spade." Deuce said,introducing himself. "Ace." Ace replied casually. The girls all bowedrespectfully before the teen. "It's very nice to meet you, sir. Our names are—"Alice began to say, but Grim cut her off.

"Grim and my henchmen, Alice, Kira, Aria and Jazmin." he said with a wide grin. Alice cleared her throat. "Y-Yes." she kindly said with a small nod. Kira scoffed. "I just told you, we're not your henchmen, tuna breath." she muttered. The orange-haired teen chuckled as he fiddled with his phone until it made a "ding" sound.

"Boop! And up it goes~" he sang as he then turned his attention towards the others. "Oh right, name's Cater Diamond, I'm a third-year. You can call me Cater. Caycay is fine, too~♡ Nice to meetcha~." he said cheerfully.

Alice smiled and let out a small giggle. What an easy-going and peppy person Cater was. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Cater-senpai." she said as she gave him a respectable bow. Cater smiled as he walked over to her.

"Miss Alice-chan, I hear that you're one of the students that became the prefects for Ramshackle Dorm that everyone's been talking about. Surprised you're chill with living there! It's super dark, I can't even imagine any part of it being Magicammable~. I feel for ya, girl~." he said with a flirtatious smile.

"Man, this guy really doesn't know when to shut up, does he?" Grim grumbled as he crossed his paws in annoyance. Alice patted his little head. "Oh, Grim, don't say that. It's not really that bad once you get used to it." she said. Cater let out another laugh before he cut himself off and his eyes went wide.

"What am I doing? I don't have time to just stand around and talk! The party is tomorrow. I don't wanna lose my head for being late." he said a bit frantically as he headed back to the rosebush he was working on earlier.

"A party?" Alice asked curiously. Aria turned to Ace. "By the way, what exactly is this 'MagiCam'?" she asked curiously. "It's the social media of Twisted Wonderland." Ace explained. "It's accessible through phones, computers, TV, you name it." The girls all nodded in understanding.

"Oh, I see! So it's like the Internet back home!" Kira exclaimed. "The Internet?" Deuce asked curiously. "Hey, you guys mind helping paint the roses?" Cater asked with a pleading look on his face, even though he still held up his bright smile. "But why are you doing something so weird in the first place?" Ace asked.

"Because red roses at a party are the most photogenic~! I guess? I've also gotta color in the flamingos for the croquet match, so my hands are extra full right now~." Cater replied.

"Huh?!" the girls all asked in unison, perplexed by his statement. "You have to color in flamingos, too?! Your chores are so weird." Grim stated. "Yeah. Tell me about it." Kira added. "So, the tart that Ace ate was to be used for the Dorm Leader's birthday party? No wonder he was so mad..." Deuce mused.

"So that was the reason why Ace was punished that way." he thought. The three tarts were for the dorm leader's birthday and for someone to come in and eat something that specifically made for you, it's obvious you would get really upset.

"Uh, no? That's not it." Cater then said, surprising his young juniors. "It's not?! Then whose birthday is it?" Ace asked. "No one's. Tomorrow is our dorm's traditional "Unbirthday Party"." Cater explained.

"The Dorm Leader chooses a random day that isn't anyone's birthday, and we have a tea party." Ace, Deuce, Grim and the girls were even more perplexed when they heard that. Exactly what kind of party is an "Unbirthday Party"? "Oh, they have tea parties here?" Alice asked with a glimmer in her eyes and a small smile on her lips.

"Having a tea party sounds absolutely fun!" she thought. She used to have them with her dolls back in her old world and they were always enjoyable... if not lonely. Alice wondered how this world handled tea parties. Would they be just as fun as the pretend ones? Would she be able to enjoy an actual tea party with real company?

"The heck kind of tradition is that?!" Ace shouted in confusion. "Listen, you can worry about that later! Just focus on making the roses red. Deuce, Grim, you two can do it with magic, yeah?" Cater said as he pointed towards some unpainted rosebushes. He then turned towards Ace and the four girls.

"Ace, ladies, since neither of you can use magic right now, here's some paint." he said as he happily handed Ace and Alice each a can of red paint and paintbrush, much to their surprise. "W-We can change the colors with magic?" Deuce asked. "I've never done anything like that." Grim deadpanned as he crossed his paws, already starting to hate this.

"No worries, it's fine! Just relax~! We'll figure it out! We better hurry if we don't wanna lose our heads, though~." Cater said as he quickly ushered them to a white rose bush and strongly urged them to get to painting.

Without having much of a choice, the group of seven split up and began to paint the roses. "Okay, now hurry and paint the roses~! It can't be pink or green or blue. Make sure it's a beautiful red!" Cater said as he started painting a white rose red. "Man, fine..." Ace said as he pouted sourly. "Let's just bang it out and get it over with."

"I don't know if I'll be able to do it well, but I'll put my all into it!" Deuce said determinedly as he pulled out his magic pen. "If you leave it all to me, it'll be done in a snap, y'know! You girls better not slack off either!" Grim said to the girls as he went over to the rosebushes and used his magic gem to turn them red.

"Okay, girls! Let's paint the roses red!" Aria said enthusiastically as she grabbed a paintbrush and a can of paint. "Gee, you're quite eager." Kira said as she and Jazmin followed her as they started to paint one of the rosebushes.

Deuce and Cater waved their magic pens while Grim used his magic gem pendant at the roses, turning them from a snowy white to a ruby red. All the while, Ace and the four girls used their paintbrushes and cans of paint. After a few minutes, Deuce had managed to turn a quarter of the rosebushes red.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it." Deuce said with a bright smile. "Hah, I'm gonna paint them all at once! Funyaa~!" Grim cheered as he launched his magic on the white roses. But his magic had turned them into shades of blue, pink and green.

"...Eh?" Grim gasped, feeling embarrassed. That wasn't how his magic was supposed to go! Cater looked at the pink, blue and green roses and he just chuckled. "This is how you do it, hiyah!" Cater said as he waved his magic pen at the roses. In an instant, the pink, blue and green roses turned into a bright shade of red.

Ace, Deuce and the other girls were impressed by his feat. "Yo! That's a third year for you!" Ace cheered. Cater nodded with a happy smile. "Mmkay, let's pull ourselves together and keep going!~♪" he sang merrily.

Ten minutes had barely passed by, and Ace was already close to calling it quits. He kept muttering about how stupid this whole thing was and how Grim, Cater and Deuce were having it much easier since they can still use magic to turn the roses red.

"Look, I changed it to red in one shot this time!" Grim yelled triumphantly. "Me too!" Deuce said. Cater looked at their handiwork and smiled. "Amaaazing~! Just a little more good work and we'll be done~♪" he said, impressed. "It'll work better if you imagine the red roses in your head before casting the magic."

Deuce nodded. "Got it. Red roses, red roses..." he muttered as he turned towards the next rosebush. Ace sighed as he glared at them with envy. "Haaah~! I want to use magic too~!!" he whined, stomping his foot with a pout.

Alice couldn't help but feel bad for him. Having one's magic sealed away cannot be very easy to handle. "Hmm, maybe I should give him a different perspective." she thought. Alice tapped Ace's shoulder, getting his attention and she smiled sweetly at him.

"I know this isn't exactly what you thought you'd do, but why not try thinking of it as a game of sorts?" Alice suggested. "A game?" Ace asked, raising a brow. Alice nodded. "Uh-huh. A fun game. Whoever paints the most roses without making a mistake wins." she said with a smile.

Ace was a little uncertain about it, but when he saw how fast Alice was painting the roses, a competitive streak sparked inside him and he gripped his paintbrush.

"Ok, you're on, girl!" Ace said as he dipped his brush into the paint can and began to rapidly paint the roses, making sure he didn't miss a single one or leave any splatters on the grass.

Alice smiled as she painted the roses at a calmer pace but pretended to go fast to keep up with Ace. In all honesty, Alice was having fun. Sure, it was a little weird, but painting the roses was somewhat relaxing. It was like decorating a rose-shaped canvas. It just felt so satisfying, even though it also felt pretty strange.