Gaze

Chapter 9: Its A Piece Of Cake To Bake A Pretty Cake- I Mean Tart

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If you do the cooking by the book... then you'll have a... tart!
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Rest in peace, Ace Trappola. You insulted your short and scary dormleader straight in front of his face without even knowing it. May you fly high into heaven or sink low into hell, whatever the judge in front of the pearly gates decides for you, or something.

I look at Grim, and he looks at me, sweating. Surely he doesn't know that we're the ones who snuck into Heartslabyul, right?? We come to an unspoken conclusion to our internal conversation; let's play it cool.

Their dorm leader, Riddle, crosses his arms over his chest, glaring at Ace. "Just how super insane would you say I am, hm?"

"Oh, Ridz~!" In comes Cay-Cay to save the day! "We were just talking about how super insanely adorable you're looking today~!"

Riddle is unaffected by Cay-Cay's compliments. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Cater. Keep running that mouth off and your head will roll."

"Woah, woah, gimme a break here!"

Riddle glares at Ace, Deuce, and Grim. "...You three were the ones who were pardoned from breaking that chandelier."

Damn, they really are going to be hearing about that till they graduate, huh?

"The headmaster is far too lenient. If he keeps overlooking disciplinary violations like this, the whole school will come crashing down eventually." Riddle fixes his glove. "If it were up to me..."

"...I'd deal with the issue and behead all those who defy me."

Heep, scary...

"His attitude definitely doesn't match his face... Freaky..." Ace mumbles to no avail, because it seems that Riddle heard him anyway.

He walks up to him and grabs him by the collar. "...I was planning on removing this after you've reflected on your actions. However, you don't seem to feel any remorse, so I'll have you stay like this a little longer. Don't worry, a first year's beginning semester classes are more lecture-oriented than practical, and with this, you won't be able to cause a stir."

Riddle lets go of Ace's collar. "Now, enough prattling. Hurry and get ready for your next class. By the Laws of the Queen of Hearts, Rule Number 271: "One must rise from the table within 15 minutes of eating". I trust you understand the consequences?"

Ace sighs at the mention of the laws. "Great, another weird rule..."

"Your answer should always be: Yes, dorm leader!"

"Yes, dorm leader!" Deuce and Ace stand up in unison. Riddle nods in approval. "Excellent."

"Now now, I'll be sure to keep an eye on them, dorm leader." Trey cuts in.

"I sure hope so. You are the vice dorm leader, I expect you not to act foolishly." Riddle huffs, and turns around. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be heading to the campus store. I must uphold Rule Number 339: "An after-meal drink must be lemon tea with 2 sugar cubes." Two minutes have gone by during our discussion, so make sure to rise from your seats in 13 minutes."

He walks past me as I look at him. He's so small... He isn't being starved for all his life because of those rules he follows, right? He locks eyes with me as he go towards the cafeteria's doors, his eyes signaling a warning- break the rules, and it's off with your head.

Not like it'll work on me, though...

And with that, he leaves. I sigh in relief- he didn't seem to know that Grim and I snuck in Heartslabyul the other day.