By some miracle, the group made it to their class just as soon as the final bell rang. By that time, they were already out of breath as they quickly filed in behind several other first-year students, just as their teacher walked into the room.

The girls, along with the boys, took off their blazers and they each dressed themselves in a long white lab coat, black gloves with a dull grey mirror logo printed on the left side of the sleeve and donned on a pair of grey-colored goggles over their eyes.

The room they were in was some type of wizard's laboratory with an abundance of beakers, vials, glass containers, and books lining the shelves. Just by seeing the supplies and lab coats already reminded the girls of a chemistry class, so it made all of them feel a bit better for their first class.

Alice stood in between Ace and Deuce with Grim on her head in front of a large bubbling cauldron, as most of the students were paired in groups. She, Aria and Jazmin were braiding their long hair into ponytails when their alchemy teacher strolled into the laboratory.

Though she shouldn't think about a teacher this way, Alice had to admit that he was very youthful and handsome for his age, like one of those fashion models she would see on TV back at home. His hair was parted at the side, with the longer section colored snowy white and the shorter section ebony black.

He had narrow silvery-blue eyes and wore silver studs on his ears. Beneath a thick, black-and-white furry coat, he wore a tuxedo, consisting of a black dress shirt, a red tie, and black-and-white vest. On his hands, he wore red gloves.

His furry coat had several tail-like appendages hanging from the bottom and was carrying a black teaching pointer with a red studded chained collar and a jeweled lock charm attached to the end. He certainly was quite a looker.

"So you're all the fresh new faces starting my class today." the teacher said as his silver eyes surveyed the sea of new students, taking note of each unique characteristics and features they all had. "Hmmm, there are some rare hair colors in the bunch. Not bad. Make sure to take proper care of it."

"Who is this weirdo?" Ace asked softly. "Shh!" Deuce shushed. The teacher then cleared his throat. "My name is Divus Crewel. You may feel free to call me Master Crewel." he said, introducing himself.

"Before we begin, I'd like to address these five new individuals here." He nodded towards the four girls and Grim. The girls all looked up at Crewel nervously. "Uhh... hi, Crewel-sensei...?" Aria greeted sheepishly as everyone turned their attention to her and Grim.

Crewel leaned toward the girls. "Now, darlings," he began to whisper, "it is my understanding that you four are all girls and that none of you have any magic since the headmaster informed me... but rest assured. Seeing as how you all are a fresh litter of first-years, there will be no magic needed... at least, not yet."

"Phew...!" all the girls sighed in relief. "Aww, are you kiddin' me?" Grim grumbled in disappointment. "However!" Crewel suddenly barked, causing all five of them to stand up straight. "Don't expect any special treatment just because you're all girls. I intend to teach each and every one of you puppies discipline. Am I clear?"

"Y-Yes, sir! We understand!" Alice shouted while some nearby students snickered quietly. "Good girl." Crewel praised before he turned around, flourishing his coat as he went. "Now, hurry up and take your seats. It's time for class to begin."

The students then took their seats and listened attentively. "Let's start with the basics. I'm going to hammer the names and appearances of 100 different kinds of both medicinal and poisonous herbs into your tiny little brains." Professor Crewel instructed as he firmly slapped the pointer into his hand.

Alice gulped silently. "I sure hope he means that figuratively." she thought worriedly. "Fungi will come at a later time. Memorize these so that you don't go poisoning yourselves with random things lying on the ground." Crewel continued as he walked a few steps around the classroom.

He then turned to his desk and picked up a large stack of paper. "Dogs really do eat whatever is lying around. So that not a single puppy gets anything near a failing mark, your training will be harsh and strict." He then cracked his pointer to emphasize his point, making everyone jump at that.

"Dogs?" Alice thought in confusion. Crewel handed the stack of papers to another student and one by one, each student received a copy of the sheet. Alice had a notebook and pencil out and began to write out which types of potions were poisonous and which ones were safe. She also used the page she got as a reference.

"I see. ...By the way, what's a "fungi"?" Deuce questioned, holding an odd-shaped fungus in his hand. "Blegh, this is gonna suck. My memory's a pile of dirt." Ace groaned out, rubbing his head.

"All the matters when it comes to grass is whether or not it tastes good, y'know." Grim said, already getting bored with the lesson. "Seriously? Can't you think of anything else besides food?" Kira asked in an annoyed tone. "I'm sure we'll be able to do it." Alice encouraged, trying to ease the tension between them.

Soon, their second class of Magical History had started less than 2 hours later, and everyone was sitting in the classroom. A tall, elderly man with small grey eyes and greying, neatly combed-back hair with white streaks stood behind his desk.

He wore a standard dark grey suit beneath long maroon robes and white gloves. Attached to his collar was a white jabot which was tied with an ornate turquoise brooch. His very appearance was stern-looking and unapproachable, but the girls perceived him as the stern grandfatherly type.

In his arms was a chubby, black long-haired cat with a white muzzle and golden eyes. He had white patches of fur on his chest and at the tip of his tail and ears. The way the old man's eyes scanned the room was almost like he was already judging the entire classroom.

"My name is Trein, and this is my familiar, Lucius. I'll be in charge of your history lessons. In this class, you will learn about the history of magic, and how it brought prosperity to the world." the teacher, Mozus Trein said in a gravely strict voice. "Mrooooaaaaawwwwwr." Lucius meowed.

"Your grade will be determined not solely on your coursework, but on participation and behavior in class, as well. Sleeping is absolutely forbidden. Open your textbooks to page 15." Professor Trein instructed.

All the students turned their textbooks to the required page number. "We will begin with the discovery of Magic Gems in the Dwarfs' Mine during what had been a routine excavation of gemstones." Trein explained as he opened up a textbook himself. Lucius leapt from his master's arms and landed on his desk.

"Knowledge of magical energy spread throughout the world after this discovery of the century, leading to that year being named the First Year of the Magic Age." All the while, Lucius meowed along with his master's words.

Alice was meticulously taking notes while catching important details that Prof. Trein was giving out and highlighting crucial points. Deuce was fascinated by the information on the textbook while Grim, who was sitting on Alice's lap, was slumped on the desk, looking as bored as he could be.

As for Ace, he was on the verge of falling asleep as he out a tired yawn. "Mrooaaah~. At Dwarfs' Mines... Mrooaaah~. Magical energy..." Deuce said, intrigued as he read through the book and mimicked Lucius's meows.

The girls all looked at him, their eyes lit up with fascination as they watched Deuce trying to interpret Lucius's meows and read through their textbooks. "Ooh. Very interesting." Alice murmured as she jotted down her notes. Grim sighed with boredom.

"Mmgh, I want a more exciting class that lets us use magic like BANG!" Grim whined, only to be shushed by Alice. "Aren't you here to learn?" she asked. "How can I learn anything that's so dull and boring?" Grim whined. Kira just silently rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to scold Grim.

Third period is Physical Education. Everyone lined up out on the sports field and were dressed in their P.E. uniforms. For the girls, their uniforms were a bit more modified. Professor Crewel had the incredible foresight to make gym uniforms for them in advance.

Since Ramshackle was an unofficial dorm, the color of their shirts were the lightest shade of gray, almost completely white from a glance. As for their jackets and pants, they were all black like the others with light grey stripes on the shoulders, at the end of the short sleeves and above the knees.

Each of them had a grey mirror-shaped patch on their right breast pockets and a mirror emblem on their left sleeves. Alice, Aria and Jazmin each tied their long hair back into ponytails while Kira kept her jacket tied around her waist.

The weather felt a bit too warm for an autumn day. "Name's Vargas, I'm in charge of training you bean sprouts up." their P.E. instructor, Ashton Vargas, said in a loud, boisterous voice. Strong and burly, Ashton was a tall and very broad-shouldered man with a thick neck and chest.

He had dark brown hair styled in a pompadour and small but piercing blue eyes. He also had a thin beard framing his square-jawed face. As the school's P.E. teacher, he wore a gold whistle around his neck.

He wore athletic black pants and a red track jacket with gold stripes. A golden stag's head was pictured on the right side of his chest. Around his left wrist was a golden curled arrow-shaped bracelet which had a blood-red jewel for the arrowhead.

"Becoming a great mage starts with your body! Just look at the muscles you can get from eating raw eggs every day!" he said as he did some rather awkward poses, showing off his muscular physique to his students. However, they were already feeling awkward just by watching him flex his muscles.

"You can't be a great mage if you don't have the stamina for it! Start with 20 laps around the track, then 100 pushups!" Vargas barked. Some of the students groaned, not wanting to tire themselves out.

"Ugh... I don't dislike exercise, but I can't stand this type of teacher." Ace said, getting weirded out by Vargas. "Well, he does seem a little.... eccentric." Alice said as she stretched her arms. Deuce had a smirk on his face as he also stretched his arms. "I have confidence in my stamina." he said positively.

Kira was equally as confident as Deuce. "Me, too!" she said proudly. "What's so fun about running in circles?! I'm not a freaking hamster, y'know!" Grim shouted in irritation. Vargas loudly blew his whistle at them, and the students immediately got to work in doing their exercises.

Even though a couple of students were complaining about the tasks they were given, the girls couldn't fault them for it. Running 20 laps and doing 100 push-ups were a bit much. Even in their old world, the teachers wouldn't go that far.

But at the very least, Ace and Deuce didn't have any problem with running laps, especially the navy blue-haired boy. Though she wasn't an athletic girl in the world like her friend Kira, Alice found running and some sports quite enjoyable. Finally, the students were done with running laps.

Some of them, as expected, were weary and worn-out. Though Deuce held a bit more stamina than them, he was still out of breath. Kira, on the other hand, looked confident and energetic. She didn't seem tired, even after running 20 laps. "Whoo! What a rush!" she exclaimed with delight.

Later, the group was in the hallway during break time. "Let's see, the next class is..." Deuce wondered out loud as they walked down the halls of the school. Ace let out a yawn and folded his arms behind his head.

"What was our next class again...? For being a so-called magic school, sure is barely different to a regular old school." he said casually. "It's kinda boring. Real plain. Not being able to use magic hasn't really affected me, at all." Alice let out a small sigh and smiled.

"I kind of like it. I didn't know what to really expect from this school, but I can say that I'm very satisfied." she said. "Me too!" Aria added enthusiastically. "I had no idea that there'd be so many wonderful, interesting things to learn here."

Ace smiled at her enthusiasm. "Heh, you would be. But you might have a point there. How about you, Grim?" he asked, addressing Grim. But he was only met with silence. He paused when he didn't hear a snarky response from the blue-eyed cat gremlin.

"Huh? Grim?" Kira asked curiously. "Grim? Did you hear him?" Alice politely asked as they all stopped to turn to him, thinking he was lagging behind them. But all they found was an empty space.

Everyone tensed uneasily when they saw that Grim had vanished, especially the girls. Alice's face started to ashen and her sky-blue eyes widened when a dreaded thought crossed her mind. "Oh, no! Oh, please, no....!" she silently begged, already getting a bad feeling about what would happen next.

Deuce looked to the side of the window and let out a gasp. "Look out the window! That furball's making a beeline through the courtyard...!" he shouted as he pointed out the window. The four girls and Ace quickly ran over and looked out the window. Just as Deuce said, Grim was running through the courtyard.

"Grim!" Alice called out frantically. "Grim, no! Stop! Please come back!" The cat creature stopped running and turned to see them staring at him with wide-eyed expressions. A wide smirk spread on Grim's face as he turned haughty.

"I'm not sitting through those boring classes all day! I'm a genius! Even if I don't take any classes, I can still swoop in with all this big, powerful magic right when I'm needed!" he shouted up at them before running away again. "Grim, stop!" Aria cried out.

"You idiot! Come back here!" Kira snarled harshly. She then let out a frustrated groan. "Oh, my goodness!" Alice exclaimed. "He couldn't even last a day~?!" Kira just scoffed with disdain.

"If the Headmaster hears about this, he's gonna pop a vein." she sighed. "We all can't just stand here! We have to do something about this!" Jazmin exclaimed. "Making a break for it already... He never learns, does he?" Deuce asked with a disappointed shake of his head. Ace struggled, and failed, to stifle in a laugh.

"Pfft! Your first day as prefects, and you already have to be reported for negligence of your duties." he laughed. All four girls glared at Ace. "Ace-kun! This isn't funny!" Jazmin said angrily. Ace stopped laughing and composed himself. "So, you girls want help catching Grim?" he asked with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Oh, Ace-kun, Deuce-kun, would you two please kindly lend a hand?" Alice begged him as she held up her hands, pleading for them to help her. Ace's grin widened and he let out another laugh. "Heck yeah! I want a chocolate croissant!" he suddenly demanded. Kira gaped at him. "Huh?! What?!" she asked indignantly.

Deuce spread a smile and looked down at the young blonde girl. "If you get me an iced latte from the cafeteria, we have a deal." he said. Kira snarled. How dare they command Alice to buy lunch for them in exchange for helping her catch Grim!

It seemed absolutely unfair! "Oh, no! No way! Grrr...!" she growled. Ace's smug smirk never left his face as he turned towards Kira. "You better watch out, Grim's getting away! You okay with that?" he asked. "You little—!" Kira was about to scream at them when both Aria and Jazmin stopped her by covering her mouth.

"It's okay, Kira-chan. Just watch." Aria said. At that point, Alice was willing to do anything to get Grim back. She gave a bow to them. "Oh, yes! As you wish! It's a deal! Thank you!" she cried out gratefully.

She then heard Ace laughing and when she looked up, Alice nearly flinched when she felt him place his arm on her shoulders. "It's a deal! Now then, Deuce-kun, shall we go clean up after our hopeless lady prefects here~?" Ace asked.

"Sure thing, Ace-kun. I'm looking forward to lunch." Deuce said as he lightly pinched Alice's cheek, making her blush. "Ugh! You guys are hopeless!" Kira groaned as she rolled her eyes. And so, the sextet of teens quickly ran out of the hall to try to catch up with the blue-eyed cat creature.

Whilst they were rushing out, a lone shadowy figure stood at the end of the hall. She had heard everything that was happening. She stepped into the hall and positioned herself just near the window so that no one would see her. She watched as the six teens ran after Grim, determined to catch him.