Twisted-Wonderland: Heart of the Night

Episode 1-7: Rigorous Tradition!

As the fight was seeming to be over, I was able to grap a table available enough for the four of us.

"You're better than expected...", student A.  "My pasta's getting soggy so I'll let you off easy!", student B declared.

"Hmph!!  Those guys were all talk!  And never come back!", Grim hollered as they went their way.  "They're the ones who had a problem...  And I'm glad it's done and over with.", I sighed with relief as I took my seat.

"Whatever, let's just eat.  After missing breakfast I'm so hungry I'm gonna pass out...", Ace groaned when he took his seat across from me.  "We really have no luck.  There are so many people trying to get into this prestigious school but they let in guys like that...", says Deuce as he takes his seat next to Ace.

After hearing their words, I decided to pass along what they ordered from me to them.  "Cheer up, your luck is not as bad as mine, someone who can't use magic period and has to supervise a bratty raccoon.", I smile to them hoping to give them reassurance.  I could feel Grim giving me the stink eye when I mentioned "raccoon".

"Che, back to the task at hand!  Let's eat!  Om nom nom! Delicious!", Grim started devouring the meal in front of him as soon as I handed it to him.  After I looked to Grim, both Ace and Deuce just stared at me in silence.  It was silent, and I didn't know if my words affected them in a bad or good way.

"The egg around the omurice is light, fluffy and the center is filled with gooey cheese!  Om nom nom!  So we saw your guys' dorm this morning but what are the other dorm's like?", Grim's new conversation topic broke the silence as if it wasn't included.

"You know about the Great Seven Statues displayed on Main Street, right?  There's seven of them so there are seven dorms.", a familiar voice just stepped into the conversation.

"Geh!  You're the guy from this morning!", Ace was startled.  "You tricked us into painting those roses for you!", Grim pointed out to the person known as Cater.  He came unnoticed and next thing I know he's by my side standing.

"Saying I tricked you is so mean.  I wasn't doing it because I wanted to.  It's just how things are done in our dorm.", Cater says so casually.

"You were grinning all the while...", Deuce added.

"Now, now, Deuce-chan.  Those rules are only for inside the dorm so now I'm just your kind upperclassman.", Cater replied.  "D-drop the "chan"!", Deuce showed a little red on his cheek with that mention to his name.

*(!) Aw but he's kinda cute with that expression (!)*

I had to hold my chuckle in for him not to notice.

"That's just how Cater shows affection.", I heard a voice come from behind me.  I turned around to see a guy with green hair with hazel yellow eyes and with glasses.  He gave me a smile as a greeting.  But something felt familiar about this guy...

*(!) Does he...  nah, just seeing things again (!)*

"Who's that guy next to you?", Ace asked Cater.

"Oh, my bad.  I'm Trey.  Trey Clover.  I'm a third year in Heartslabyul like Cater.  And you're the freshman put in charge of that ramsh- cough, unused dorm, right?  I heard from Cater.  Sorry about all the trouble these guys from our dorm have caused you.", Trey said to me.  "It's fine, really....", sure they make trouble, but overall there not so bad all the time.

"I'm sitting right here...", Ace.

"We should put that aside and make up.  We're in the same dorm after all.  Let's all exchange numbers!", Cater suggested.

"I don't have a phone.", Kalin.  "You don't have a phone!?  That's crazy!  You're like an endangered species.  I know a place to get the newest models for cheap~  How about we go on a date to choose one?", Cater suggests as he sits next to me and groups me in close to him with his arm around my shoulder.  The sudden action caught me off guard...  I could feel my face heating up a little.  "Umm...", I couldn't think of what to say.

*(!) Too close, too close! (!)*

"Cater.  Look at this freshman, hold back a bit.", Trey taps Cater's shoulder.  "Ahaha, sorry sorry!  We were talking about the dorms?", Cater moves back a bit but he still chose to sit next to me, giving a friendly smile.  I smiled back at him.  

*(!) That was TOO close, he might've find out. *(!)

"Sounds good, a fresh convo!  We'll tell you anything you wanna know.", Cater.

"First I want you to tell us about our own dorm.  The hell is up with those crazy "Laws of the Queen of Hearts"?", Ace.  

"You know all about the legend of the Queen of Hearts, right?  She created a wonderland of madness built on strict adherence to her rules.", Trey explained.  "Out of respect for the Queen of Hearts, those of us in Heartslabyul traditionally wear red and black arm bands, just like her dress, and uphold the laws that she made.", Cater added.

"Sounds like a stiff place!", Grim commented.

"How strict we follow the rules depends on the dorm leader, last year's was pretty chill about it all.", Cater explained.  "Riddle is the serious among the serious of all dorm leaders.  So he follows the rules to the max.", Trey.

"Bleeeh.  What a pain...", Ace.  "What are the other dorms like?", Grim asked.

We'll to be honest, I was also curious about the rest of the seven and how the dorms responded to it since hearing the legends from Ace.  It was then Trey sat next to my other side, making me between Trey and Cater, about to explain the rest of the dormitories.