Maria P.O.V

After finishing sweeping the ground on Main Street, I put the broom and dust pan away and decided to head to the library to do some research about myself or where I came from or if I have any magic. I gave Grim a book about magic to keep him entertained while I look for some books. While looking at the shelves, one book caught my attention

'I wonder... does this book have any information about me or where I came from...?' I thought to myself, I tried to grab the book but... it's on a higher shelf, I was standing on my tippy toes to reach it when somebody grabbed the book. When I turned around to see who grabbed the book, it was a tall boy with teal colored hair and miss-matched eyes of yellow and gray

"It looked like you were having trouble reaching for this book, so I decided to help a young lady in need of help" He said as he handed me the book

"Thank you... Um...?"

He chuckled at my confusion "Jade Leech, I'm a 2nd year student" Jade told me his name

"I'm Maria" I told Jade my name

"I see, your the girl from the unopen coffin that the headmaster wasn't able to open. It's a pleasure to meet you" Jade said as he grabbed my hand and kissed my knuckles which made me blush and I think Jade found my reaction amusing

"I'll leave for now but I hope you will stop by to Mostro Lounge someday. We'll give you the best service for your first visit" Jade said as he walked away

Jade P.O.V

When I left the library, the girl Maria, it seems she's stuck in my mind now especially that pendant of hers. She's very interesting, I should tell Azul about my encounter with Maria. While walking, I heard my twin brother Floyd heading my way

"Jade! I was looking for you" Floyd said as he wrapped his arms around me

"Why were you looking for me Floyd?" I asked

"Just wondering where you went" Floyd said

"I went to the library and I met the coffin girl from the entrance ceremony" I said which made Floyd excited

"Really?! Lucky! Where did you see her?" Floyd asked with excitement in his voice

"I saw her in the library but I think she already left" I told Floyd and he looked upset

"No fair... I wanted to meet her too" Floyd said in a upset tone

"I should tell Azul about my encounter with her" I said and Floyd agreed as we headed back to Azul

'I wonder... How Azul will react if I told him about that mysterious pendant of hers?' I thought while grinning

Maria P.O.V

When school finished for the day, Grim and I headed to the cafeteria and waited for Ace

"I'm already beat from cleaning all day... Now we have to wash a hundred windows too..." Grim complained

"Well we would've been at home right now if you haven't caused any trouble" I said

"That Ace guy is sure taking his sweet time. Who does he think he is, making me wait!" Grim yelled

"Calm down Grim, he'll show up" I said

Couple of minutes later~

"There's no way he's this late! Wait, he wouldn't just skip out right!?" Grim asked

I sighed "Let's go find him" I said

"Let's go Maria! We're gonna catch Ace and make him do all the window washing!" Grim exclaimed

"Wouldn't that make him run away more?" I said as we began to walk towards Ace's classroom

Classroom~

When we got to the classroom, it was empty 'Guess he did ditched us to skip cleaning the windows' I thought to myself while sighing

"Where's Ace!? We're not gonna let you hide away!" Grim yelled and realized that Ace isn't here

"Ah. There's nobody here!?" Grim yelled again

"No. I'm here." We heard a voice and we freaked out

"Fffgyyaaaaaaaa!!!! The picture talked!" Grim said

"Actually Grim, this is a portrait not a picture" I told Grim

"Thank you for telling him young lady. Now how can I help you both today?" The portrait asked

"We're looking for a boy named Ace, he was supposed to meet us in the cafeteria to clean the windows as punishment. Do you know where he is?" I tasked the portrait

"Ah, I know him. He's one of the freshmen that started today. He went back to his dorm not too long ago." The portrait answered

Waaaaahaaaaaat! So he did try to get away! Which way did he do!?" Grim demanded

"The entrance is behind the East building" The portrait answered

"We're going after him! Let's go Mira!" Grim said

"Thank you for helping us" I said to the portrait and left to find Ace

Hall of Mirrors~ No one' P.O.V

"No way I'm washing a 100 windows. Gonna head home..." Ace said 'Though that would mean leaving Mira with that raccoon cat. Now I feel bad...' Ace thought to himself

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyy yoooooooooouuuuuuuu!!!!!" Grim yelled at Ace

"Geh! They found me!" Ace said as he ran away

"Jeeeeerrrrrrk!! Hold up! I won't let you be the only one to escape!" Grim shouted

"I'm not just going to wait around for you! I'm outta here!" Ace said as he continued to run

"It's not fair that only you gets to get out of it! I want to skip it too!" Grim said and Maria sighed

We were running after Ace and Maria notice a male with a spade mark on the right part of his eye

"Huh?" He notice us running

"Outta my way! Outta my way!" Ace yelled

"Eh...? O-oh!" The male moved aside and Maria stopped by him to catch her breath

"E-excuse m-me... I'm sorry... I'm trying to catch my breath... But can you please help us catch Ace with your magic? He's trying to skip out on cleaning" Maria said to the male who was blushing madly

"M-magic to c-capture someone!? I could freeze their legs, no... how about restraining them...? Or I could...." The male was saying to himself out loud

"Any way! I don't care how, just hit him with something hard! Hurry!" Grim yelled

"Any way!? Any way... AH! Come on! Something heavy!" The male shouted as a giant pot appeared and fell on Ace

"GueeeeeH! What the heck! A pot!?" Ace shouted due to having a heavy pot on him

"Gyahahahaha! Check it out! Ace is as flat as a pancake under that cauldron! So lame!" Grim was laughing

"I didn't think I'd get a cauldron. Did I overdo it?" The male asked as Maria helped Ace getting up

"Man... this hurts... You should be fine, those 100 windows should be clean in a flash." Ace said

"But Ace... I want you to help us... Since you look so strong but I guess I was wrong..." Maria said in sad tone

"Geh! Had I known you felt that way... I would've definitely accept the punishment!" Ace exclaimed

"Washing 100 windows as punishment... What in the world did you do?" The male asked

"I got into it a bit with the furball and we almost charred the Queen of Hearts' statue but Maria here stopped the attack with her metal claws!" Ace said

"You almost damaged one of the Great Seven statues!? That's definitely something people would get angry with. You get into a prestigious school then do something like that on the first day..." The male said in a disappointed tone

"Shuddup. And who are you?" Ace asked 'I was also curious about his name' Maria thought to herself

"I'm Deuce. Deuce Spade. Would it hurt to remember your classmates' faces at least? Ummm...." Deuce said as he forgot Ace's name

"You haven't memorized them either" Ace said

"A-anyway! If you were ordered by the headmaster, that means you take it seriously" Deuce said

"Yeah, yeah. Understood... Then let's get it done and over with." Ace said and Maria realized that Grim has been quiet, too quiet

"Grim? You've been really quiet" Maria said she turned around and noticed Grim had left

"Ah! The furball's gone!" Ace shouted and we looked outside

"He heh! I leave it to you all! Bye-bye!" Grim shouted

"Dumb cat! He made me take his place! Hey ummm... Juice?" Ace said as he forgot Deuce's name already

"I'm not Juice. Deuce! Deuce!" Deuce said in an upset tone

"You're partly responsible so help us catch that furball!" Ace said

"Why me?" Deuce asked

"Well it'll be quicker if you helped us. So can you please help us?" Maria pleaded to Deuce

"Ack! O-okay..." Deuce said as his face was turning red and we began to chase Grim

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Maria P.O.V Cafeteria~

We chased Grim all the way to the cafeteria but he wasn't giving up

"Darn it! He's darting around everywhere!" Ace said

"Hehehe! Catch me if you can suckers!" Grim said as if he won because he was on the chandelier

"Sucker am I? Grim when I get my hands on you...!" I said as I felt an aura surrounding which scared Grim, Ace and Deuce.

Ace tried to calm me down while Deuce was thinking on how to catch Grim

"Kuh. Getting on the chandelier is an underhanded move! We haven't learned the magic to fly yet... We need something to get up there and also catch him... Ah! I got it!" I heard Deuce say while Ace was calming me down

"We need to think of an idea... Whoa, whoa! Wait a sec! Why are you pointing your pen at me?!" Ace shouted at Deuce

"I'll just throw you" Deuce said

"Don't do that! I don't think that's a wise idea Deuce!" I said but I don't think he heard me

"You're joking?! Wooaaaahaaa! Don't me float! You're really going to throw me!? Knock it off!" Ace demanded

"Catch him ya hear. Take aim... Fire!" Deuce threw Ace but... Deuce forgot that Grim was on the chandelier

"AHHHHHHHH!" Ace screamed

"Ffnnghaaaaaaaaa!?!?" Grim looked surprised

Ace crashed into the chandelier which resulted destroying the chandelier. I fell on my knees due to shock

"N-no... The chandelier..." I said

" 'Cough! Cough!' I can't believe it!" Ace said while Grim was unconscious

"I-I screwed up! I didn't think about the landing!" Deuce said in a shocked tone

"Are you... AN IDIOT!? We caught Grim but if the headmaster finds out we busted the chandelier..." Ace said when suddenly

"If I find out what?" The headmaster said behind us

"Just... what... exactly... ARE YOU ALL DOING!?" The headmaster yelled

"Ffnyaa~ The room is spinning..." Grim said in his unconscious state

"You weren't satisified with damaging the statue, so you decided to destroy the chandelier!? This is the last straw, I will have all of you expelled!" The headmaster said which shocked both Ace and Deuce

"Please! Anything about that! I have something that I want to do at this school!" Deuce said

"You have nothing to blame but your own idiocy..." The headmaster said

"I will pay for all the damages if I have to!" Deuce said

"This is no normal chandelier, this is a magical chandelier that uses candles that will burn for all eternity. It is a masterpiece made by a legendary master of magical tools. It has been entrusted to the school since its very foundation... Taking it into consideration its historical value, it would cost no less than a billion Madol. Can you pay for those damages?" The headmaster asked and my mouth dropped about the cost for repairing it

"A b-billion Madol!?" Deuce said in a shocked tone

"But teacher... can't you just fix it up with magic...?" Ace asked

"Magic is not all powerful. More importantly, the magic crystal, what we call the Heart of any magical tool was shattered. No two magic crystals are the same, the chandelier will never be lit again." The headmaster said in a sad tone

"How can that..." Ace was lost for words

"Crap... What am I gonna do? What am I going to tell mom?" Deuce said to himself

But... there is one way, there might be one way to fix the chandelier" The headmaster said giving some hope

"How!?" Ace and Deuce said

"The magic crystal for this chandelier was mined in the Dwarf's Mine. If we have a magic crystal of the same kind as the original, repairs might be possible." The headmaster said

"I will go find the magic crystal! Please allow me to go!" Deuce volunteered

"However, I have no guarantee that there any left in the mine. The mine has been closed for a while and it's very possible it is exhausted of crystals" The headmaster told us

"I'll do anything if it means not to get expelled!" Deuce said

"...Fine. I shall give you one night. Come to me with the magic crystal by tomorrow morning or face expulsion" The headmaster warned us

"Yes! Thank you very much!" Deuce said

"Uuuahh, I suppose. Let's go get that magic crystal and be done with it" Ace said

"Use the Gate in the Mirror Chamber to go directly to the Dwarf's Mine" The headmaster instructed us

"Yes sir!" Deuce said as he ran to the Mirror Chamber and I noticed Grim is started to wake up

"Wha? What exactly did I...?" Grim asked in a confused tone

"Let's just say you would've wished you stayed unconscious and also no tuna for 3 days" I said to Grim in a strict tone

"Nnnnoooo!!" Grim cried

Mirror Chamber~

"Aaaah... Why did it turn into something like this? Today is really not my day..." Ace complained

"Now isn't the time for mumbling! Let's go! Mirror, mirror on the wall! Light our way to the Dwarf's Mine!" Deuce said as the mirror glowed

"Alright, let's go you guys!" I said to the guys as our mission for the magic crystal has begun

To be continued~