⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

"𝓕𝓲𝓻𝓼𝓽 𝓭𝓪𝔂, 𝓖𝓪𝓻𝓭𝓮𝓷, 𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓼"

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

ʚ Third Pov ɞ

After the whole expulsion redemption, Ayaka, Grim, and Yuno immediately fell asleep as soon as they arrived in their beds, incredibly exhausted. They feel like they really needed a week of rest, but at the same time it wasn't as bad. It was way more exhausting for them under their parents training.

As Ayaka was fast asleep, she was starting to have a strange dream. Although her eyes were closed, she can feel them opened while staring at the mirror in her room. She can feel her vision getting fuzzy, as she starts to go into the mirror in her dream.

Ayaka opens her eyes to see a scenario happening in front of her. She can see some card soldiers painting the white roses on the tree.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Hurry and paint the roses red!" One of the card soldiers said.

"Hurry before the flowers wither!" Another one said.

"Hurry! Hurry! We have to paint them all red!" The Ace of Clovers said.

Ayaka tilted her head in confusion from what she is seeing. "Paint... The roses red?"

Ayaka then sees a girl with blonde hair and a baby blue dress walk in and asked them. "Why do you have to paint the white roses red?"

The card soldiers turned to her and smiled. "Why you ask? The truth is we made a mistake and grew a white one." The two of clovers explained.

"The Queen loves red. If she sees white, she'll have our heads!" The Ace of clovers exclaimed.

"Really?" The blonde girl asked.

"That's right. Therefore we're painting the roses." The three of clovers said.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The dreamy scenario fades away as Ayaka starred in wonder, thinking about the dream. "Have their heads... I've heard someone say that at the entrance ceremony..." She murmured.

Her initial thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud bang at the dorm door. Ayaka slowly wakes up from her strange dream and was rubbing her eyes as she hears the banging some more.

"Weird dream... Hey Grim, did you hear a knock at the door?" Ayaka taps on Groms shoulder, waking him up. "What? Is it those ghosts again? They don't know when to quit." Grim groggily said.

Ayaka shook her head at that. "It can't be the ghosts since they know we're sleeping. It has to be someone else." She said. Ayaka kept hearing the loud knocks as she slid out of bed and put her slippers on, as she and Grim headed down stairs to the door.

"Who would come here at this hour? Who is it?" Ayaka yawned as she arrives at the door.

"... It's me, Ace. Let me in." Turned out to be Ace. Ayaka and Grim looked at each other in confusion, confused on why Ace suddenly arrives at their dorm this late at night.

Ayaka opened the door to see Ace with an angry look on his face. "Ace? What're you doing this late... Gehgeh! You have a collar!" Grim yelped, seeing the same collar that the Heartslabyul dorm leader put on him at the entrance ceremony.

Ayaka's eyes widen seeing this. Why the heck was Ace in a collar?

"I'm never going back to Heartslabyul. Starting today, I'm joining your dorm!" Ace declared.

Ayaka and Grim took about five seconds to process what he said, before screaming in unison. "Ehhhhh?! Nani?!"

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Ayaka brought Ace in and made some tea to help him calm his nerves, as they sat down on the couches in the living room, discussing the whole thing.

"That's the same collar that red-haired upperclassmen put on me during the entrance ceremony. Why do you have that on?" Grim asked, sitting on Ayaka's lap.

"I ate a tart." Ace answered in a grumpy tone.

Ayaka blinked at his answer. "Just by eating a tart?" She said. "Yup, just that! I was hungry when I got back to the dorm so I checked the fridge and there were tarts chilling inside. Three whole tarts! So..." Ace goes on explaining how the whole thing went.

------

Ace walled in the Heartslabyul kitchen, sighing in exhaustion.

"Huuuuhh, I'm exhausted on day one
And I missed out on dinner, so hungry." Ace sighed. Ace opened the fridge to see what was there. "In the fridge we have... Ah, tarts! These look good!" Ace smiled.

Ace then thought about it. "...Theres so much nobody's gonna notice one piece missing. Itadakimasu!" Ace took a bite of the tart, and smiled in delight.

"Wow! This is amazing!" Ace said utterly surprised.

"Of course it's delicious. Trey does not make tarts that are anything less than the best." Riddle said.

"There's nothing better than this! Not even those sold in... Eh, dorm leader!?" Ace flinched, seeing his dorm leader in front of him.

"You sure have some nerve putting your hands on things that belong to me. Laws of the Queen of Hearts, No. 89: 'One shall not eat a tart without the Queens permission.' Tart theft is an unforgivable crime! [Off With Your Head!] " Riddle casted his spell on Ace, resulting him in a heart-shaped collar.

"Gyaaa!!"

-------

"... The end." Ace finished explaining his story. Ayaka and Grim stared at him in silence, processing his story. It was kinda of a bit of a foolish story.

"You're both in the wrong." Grim commented. "I gotta agree as well not gonna lie." Ayaka nodded her head in agreement.

"Isn't sealing my magic for stealing a bit of tart going too far?! For a wizard, it's like having your arms and legs chained up. And there were three whole tarts! There's no way he can eat them by himself! There's gotta be a limit to how narrow minded you can be!" Ace angrily exclaimed.

Ayaka then thought about that. It certainly is not good to eat whole desserts by yourself because it'll result you to get sick and a stomachache. And the Heartslabyul dorm leader doesn't seem stupid to know that. Probably for something else.

"I do agree with you on the sealing magic part. That definitely is too far just by eating a small piece of tart." Ayaka said.

"At least you somewhat get what I mean!" Ace exclaimed.

"It definitely wouldn't be for himself because three whole tarts eaten by one person will make you sick for days. Although... It is enough for lot of people." Ayaka stated.

"Could they have, by chance... Three whole tarts could've been for some sort of party. Someone's birthday or something. I'm too good at deduction!" Grim said.

"Oh yeah. You're right on that, Grim. Three whole tarts is enough for a party, so those tarts were probably for a party in your dorm. That definitely explains the Heartslabyul Dorm Leaders anger. But Ace, did you even apologize?" Ayaka asked.

"Uuuh... I totally thought you'd say he was being tyrannical, Ayaka-Chan." Ace sighed in defeat. "I do think what he did was tyrannical. But since you didn't know the tarts were for him, he'll most likely to forgive you if you apologize." Ayaka advised.

"You're at fault for stealing his tart in the first place." Grim frowned. "Yeah, so that's why you should apologize tomorrow." Ayaka stated.

"Grudges over food are the worst." Grim said as he realized something. "Ah! Wait a second, I never got my tuna cans from the Headmaster!"

Ayaka sweat dropped at him. "We can get some if we get the chance to go shopping..."

Ace sighed in defeat at their words
"Fine. Whatever. I just have to apologize, right? Since this is your idea, Ayaka-Chan, you have to come with me." Ace said.

Ayaka nodded her head. "Sure."

"So, where should I sleep tonight? And I just realized that this dorm look so much different than from what I heard from." Ace said, looking around the dorm.

"Ayaka used her magic to completely change the entire dorm from the inside to the outside. So everything should be cleaned by now." Grim explained.

"Grim shares the same room as me while Yuno-Nii is next door. There should be more rooms. I'll show you." Ayaka stood up and lead Ace to his own empty room while carrying Grim in her arms.

Ayaka opened the empty room and took Ace in. "Here. For the time being, this'll be your own room. If you need anything just tell me. I'll try to explain the whole thing to Yuno-Nii tomorrow morning. Night Ace." Ayaka left Ace by himself as she went back to her room to sleep.

Ace observed the room in amazement. He recalled when Ayaka used her magic to make everything back to normal in just the snap of her fingers. He really wonders what kind of rare magic she possess.

Ace layed down in his bed and tried to make himself fall asleep. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of Ayaka being considerate to him. Not a lot of girls treat him that way.

'Ayaka surely is incredible...'

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

The next morning, everyone was awake due to the sound of loud pounding at the door. Ayaka tiredly came out of her bed as she and Ace came out of their rooms at the same time. "Ugh... Who comes pounding at the door this early... " Ace says tiredly.

The pounding continued as Ayaka speed-walked to the door. "Coming! Who is it?" Ayaka quickly opened the door, only to see Deuce.

Deuce flinched at the sight of Ayaka being in her pajamas, as he lightly blushed. "M-Morning Ayaka." He greeted.

Ayaka lead him in as Ace walks over, seeing Deuce at the dorm. "So you did come here." Deuce crossed his arms at Ace. "Ugh. Deuce..." Ace murmured.

"I heard what happened from the other residents. You got collared after you the dorm leaders tart... You are a complete idiot." Deuce sighed as he shrugged.

"Shut up! I don't wanna hear that from you! ... By the way, was he still mad?" Ace asked.

"Not really. He looked a little irritated at some guys who were late for morning roll call but... Three people met the same fate as you." Deuce explained.

Ayaka blinked at Deuce's explanation. Three people also got collared just for being late? Seriously?

"He hasn't calmed down at all! He's definitely pissed!" Ace exclaimed.

Yuno then came downstairs only to see Ayaka, Ace, and Deuce. "What the... Ace, Deuce, why are you both here?" Yuno asked skeptically.

Ayaka sheepishly scratched the back of her neck as she starts explaining the whole thing that happened. Surprisingly, Yuno was alright with Ace staying at the dorm since it was quite reasonable.

"Ayaka, you need to head to school early. Headmaster told me that you need to get your official uniform from one of the staff. So go get your uniform then we'll meet you when school starts. The nurse will eventually let you in." Yuno said.

Ayaka nodded her head in understanding, as she quickly rushed upstairs to change her clothes and immediately ran out of the dorm and headed for the school.

Ayaka sprinted to the school and managed to get in ten minutes early. She was told by the nurse that she needed to meet in the potions classroom for her outfit. Ayaka walked to the classroom, only to see a man with white hair on one side and black hair one the other side, who was wearing a black suit, with a black and white fur coat.

"Ah! You must be Ms. Ayaka Chouko! My my, you are such a beauty for a young girl like you. My name is Divus Crewel, to which, I'll be your potions teacher. I have prepared your uniform. Here you go." Crewel handed Ayaka her official uniform in a plastic packaging.

Ayaka looks at her uniform in amazement. "Wow! You made this and my previous one too?" She asked.

"Why yes! Fashion is my thing, so I make a lot of outfits. I'll be honest, making your was especially fun to make. I hope you come to liking it." Crewel smiled, as he patted her head.

Ayaka smiled brightly and bowed. "Arigato, Crewel-Sensei!" She then rushed out of the classroom and headed to the nurses office to change into her new official uniform.

She started to change her clothes as she checked the body mirror on how she looked. And man, did she love the uniform a lot.

Ayaka then heard a buzz sound, and checked to see her phone buzzing. She saw that she got some messages from Yuno. Saying that they plan to go visit the Heartslabyul Dormitory, and he was telling her to meet him and the others there. Ayaka texted back, telling him that she'll be there shortly.

Ayaka headed to the Hall of Mirrors to meet with her brother, the Heartslabyul boys, and Grim.

As soon as she arrives, she can see the four of them talking near the Heartslabyul mirror gate. "I'm here!" Ayaka shouted, gaining their attention.

Ace and Deuce blushed a lot, seeing Ayaka in her new Night Raven uniform. And damn did she look good in it.

"Looks like you enjoy your new uniform, Aya. Look good." Yuno said, giving a thumbs up.

"Y-Yeah, he's right." Deuce stuttered in agreement. "Well then, let's head to Heartslabyul. I wanna see it!" Ayaka said in excitement.

The five headed into the gate to Heartslabyul, as they immediately stepped out of the gate, only to see the Heartslabyul dormitory in front of them.

"Wahh! This is Heartslabyul? It's beautiful!" Ayaka praises.

"Howoah! This is gorgeous! It couldn't be more different from ours!" Grim said in excitement.

The five students headed into the rose maze and saw a orange-haired student with a small diamond on his right cheek painting some roses.

"Crap, Crap. I've gotta get these roses painted." The orange-haired student said in a slightly panicked tone.

"Oh, somebody is here." Grim said. "Oh, watch out. Any paint splatters and my head is gone." The orange-haired student said.

Ayaka's eyes slightly widen at this. This was literally what happened in her strange dream. 'Both of these are the same yet very different. There has to be some sort of gap between the two...'

The orange-haired student turns around to notices the five. "Hm? Do you all need something?" He asked, with his smile still in place.

"What are you doing with that?" Ace asked. "This? As you can see, I'm painting the roses red." The orange-haired student answered.

"Eh? Why would you?" Deuce asked, in utter disbelief. "Hmm, your fresh reaction is so cute! Now that I take a good look at you, you're the freshman that busted the billion madol chandelier yesterday." He said.

Ace and Deuce slumped at that. "We're gonna hear about the chandelier until the day we graduate..." Ace murmured.

"And you're the one who added on more punishment by stealing the dorm leaders tart last night!" The orange-haired boy said, directly towards Ace. "I feel so lucky getting to meet the notorious newcomers first thing in the morning."

He then takes a few steps closer towards the students. "Hey, Hey, Hey, let's take a selfie! Yay!" And too late, he already takes the selfie.

"Can I put this on Magicam? Tell me your names so I can put you in the tags." He asked, while typing on his phone.

"I'm Deuce Spade." Deuce introduced.

"Ace." Ace simply said.

"Grim. Along with my--"

"Call us henchmen and I'll show you what your henchmen is capable of. *sigh* I'm Yuno Chouko." Yuno cutted Grim off.

"I-I'm A-Ayaka Chouko." Ayaka stuttered, feeling nervous already.

"Ah, I'm your senpai, third year, Cater Diamond. Call me Cater. Cay is fine too. Nice to meetcha!" Cater introduced himself.

Ayaka formed a small smile and slightly bowed to him. "Nice to meet you, Cater-Senpai."

Cater turns his attention onto Ayaka, as his smile widens more. "Ah, you're the Prefect from the Ramshackle Dorm I heard about. So it's true that a girl was attending this academy. And a really cute one too! Well, good on you and your brother living in a place like that. It's super dark and you can't get a good Magicam in there. You have my sympathy." Cater said.

Ayaka pouted at the last part of his sentence. "Cater-Senpai, now that I've became the Prefect. I renamed the old Ramshackle dorm. It is now called the Meraki Dorm. So keep that in mind." She stated.

"Ohh. So you renamed it? How cool that you chose to use a Greek Name. Nice, I wanna see what it looks like one day." Cater was so busy running his mouth that he just realized was he was doing.

"Ah, I don't have any time for small talk! The party is in two days. I don't wanna lose my head for being late! Hey, you guys, will you help with painting the roses?" Cater requested.

"But why are you doing something so weird?" Ace asked. "Red roses at a party are the most photogenic! I guess? I've also got to change the flamingos colors for the croquet match. So I'm busy with all this work." Cater reasoned.

"You're changing the flamingos colors? Your chores are so weird." Grim commented.

"So the tart the Ace ate was going to be used for the Dorm Leaders birthday party. That's why he was so mad..." Deuce said.

"Nope. That's not it." Cater denied. "It's not?! Then who's birthday is it?" Ace asked.

"It's not anyone's birthday. The day after tomorrow is our dorms traditional 'Unbirthday Party'. The dorm leader chooses a random day that isn't anyone's birthday and we have a tea party." Cater explained.

"The heck is that?!" Ace exclaimed. "That is certainly a tradition I would not keep up with." Yuno sighed.

"Later, worry about the reason later! All you have to do is make the roses red! Deuce, Grim, Aya-Chan, Yuno-kun, you four can do it with magic. Ace, since you can't use magic, here's some paint." Cater said, handing Ace a paint brush with red paint on it.

"We can change the color with magic..." Deuce said surprised. "I've never done anything like that before." Grim dead panned.

"I mean, I can change things with my magic in general, but I honestly wanna try with my magic pen." Ayaka smiled.

"Okay, if it's fine, just relax! We'll figure it out! We better hurry if we don't wanna lose our heads to the dorm leader~" Cater chimed as he continues to paint the roses.

Everyone got started on painting the roses in their own ways. Deuce was struggling a lot with changing the color, when he tried to make it red, it turned out blue instead. And when Grim tries to change it as well, he ended up setting it on fire.

"You guys are more terrible at this than I could've imagined." Cater sweat dropped at Deuce and Grim.

Cater lands his eyes on the Chouko twins, seeing them not struggling in the slightest. Ayaka took out her magical pen and concentrated, and swung her arm gently across the rose bushes, as the entire roses turned red.

Everyone but Yuno was amazed by this. "Woah! You managed to get the entire bushes to be red. Sugoi Aya-Chan!" Cater praised in admiration.

"In one try too..." Ace muttered in amazement.

"Doing spells like this is child's play for Ayaka. It's not much of my forte to use my magic on stuff like this." Yuno said, as he turned more rose bushes to be red.

"But aren't the roses fine being white? They're pretty." Ace said. Ayaka turned her head towards them. "I agree. I think the roses are perfect staying white. I personally think white roses are the prettiest roses." Ayaka said.

"This is our tradition. Roses are red for the Unbirthday Party. And we use flamingos in seven different colors for croquet with hedgehogs as the balls. But y'know, the spring Garden concert if flowers uses white roses. That's an important point, too." Cater explained.

"Those are all strange rules!" Grim commented.

"They say these rules were all decided by the Queen of Hearts from the Great Seven. Riddle is particularly passionate about following the rules, even compared to other strict dorm leaders. I won't deny he goes too far sometimes though..." Cater stated.

"That's right. I don't have time for this. I want to speak to the dorm leader, is he inside?" Ace asked Cater.

"Hm? I think there's still time before he leaves... By the way, Ace the tart thief, did you bring a tart of apology?" Cater asked Ace.

"Ah? No, I came first thing so I'm empty handed..." Ace answered.

"Aaah no. That's too bad. Since you're going against Laws of the Queen of Hearts, No. 53: 'One must always return what they stole', I can't let you in the dorm." Cater stated, surprising everyone, mostly Ace.

"Has? The hell is that?!" Ace exclaimed in disbelief.

"I'll lose my head too if I knowingly let you in while you're not obeying the rules. I feel bad but you need to leave before Riddle notices." Cater says, looking a bit more serious.

"Woah, his face got serious! Guys, help me out!" Ace panicked, backing up back to his friends.

"Why us exactly?" Yuno scoffed. "Please! I can't use magic right now... Wah, here he comes!" Ace begged, as he starts panicking when Cater charged at them.

Yuno sighed and quickly used his magic to send Cater back.

"Let's just make a run for it." Yuno said, before the five of them rushed out of the Rose Maze and made it out back.

Cater quickly ran to the entrance and smiled at them. "Now, go get a tart then try again! Bye bye!" Cater winked at them.

The five made it to the front of the Heartslabyul dorm, frowning from what happened. "What's his problem?" Ace grumbled.

"It really looked like Cater was gonna go at us. But luckily Yuno quickly used his magic to send him back." Deuce said.

"On top of that, we get turned away at the gate without a tart? We didn't have anything to begin with. He just wanted us to paint the damn roses!" Ace said irritably.

Ayaka pondered a bit, thinking back to what Cater said. "Although, he does have a point with the whole returning what you stole thing. If you end up taking something from someone and their not pleased with it, it's always best to return it, or make something of it in return." Ayaka stated.

"He's a shrewd one." Grim commented, crossing his arms. "He's also a weird one too." Yuno shrugged.

"Then we just have to bring a tart and try again. We can go after.... Uh!!! Crap!!!" Deuce started yelling in panic, making everyone confused.

"Ah! Whats wrong, Deuce?!" Ayaka frantically asked. "This is bad, the warning bell already rang! We're gonna be late!" Deuce panicked.

"Ffgna! My shining school life is going to be tarnished on day one! Let's get a move on!" Grim joined in on the panicking.

"What class are you three in? We are first years." Ace asked. "The headmaster told Me and Ayaka are class 1-A!" Grim said. "And I'm in class B. I suggest we get a move on." Yuno said.

"Wow, you and Ayaka are in the same class as us. First period is Potions." Deuce said.

"Wooooooh! Sounds like fun!" Grim cheered in excitement. Ayaka nodding her head in agreement.

"I can't use magic so I wonder how this'll go..." Ace said to himself in concern.

"Anyway, we better get a move on! I met our potions sensei earlier and I can definitely tell he won't be pleased with us being late. Let's go!" Ayaka said in a panicked tone, as everyone rushed back to the school.

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

𝕌𝕡𝕝𝕠𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕕: 𝟝-𝟚𝟙-𝟚𝟚

◌⑅⃝●♡⋆♡ 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝(𝚜) ♡⋆♡●⑅⃝◌

❧ 𝙲𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝙰𝚢𝚊𝚔𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎. 𝙷𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗.

❧ 𝙰𝚢𝚊𝚔𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚜. 𝙷𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎, 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎.

❧ 𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙰𝚢𝚊𝚔𝚊'𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚗𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚏𝚒𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍.