Maria P.O.V

"Eh! Dorm leader!" Ace shouted

"Oh my Riddle. You're super crazy cute today~" Cater-senpai said but I know he's feeling scared a bit

"Hmph, Cater. If you talk too much it's going to cost you your head." Riddle-senpai said

"Hey now, give me a break!" Cater-senpai said

"Ffgna! This is the guy who put that weird collar on me during the entrance exam!" Grim said

'He did...?' I thought

"You're the freshmen that caused all that fuss of expulsion yesterday. Will you knock it off, calling someone's unique magic a 'weird collar'? For goodness sake. The headmaster is soft, if you forgive rule breakers the whole system will collapse. All you have to do is cut the head off of those who don't follow the rules." Riddle-senpai said

"The things coming out from his mouth doesn't suit his looks..." Ace muttered

"The headmaster appears to have forgiven you but make no mistake the next time it happens, I will not." Riddle-senpai said

"...By the way dorm leader, is there any way... you could say remove this collar" Ace asked

"I was going to if you had learned your lesson but the way you were talking shows that you haven't at all. Keep it on for a while longer. Don't worry, as first years you'll only be learning fundamentals not actually using magic. You also won't be able to cause a scene like yesterday, isn't that great? Now don't just sit around chatting away, finish lunch and head to your next class. Laws of the Queen of Hearts No. 271: "One should eat lunch and leave their seat within 15 minutes" If you break the rules... I'm sure you understand" Riddle-senpai said

"Haah... Another weird rule" Ace sighed

"The answer is 'Yes dorm leader!' " Riddle-senpai said

"Yes dorm leader!" Both Ace and Deuce said

"Very good."

"I will look after them for you" Trey-senpai suggested to Riddle-senpai

"Hm. You're the vice dorm leader so I expect you not to act foolishly. Following the Law of the Queen of Hearts No. 339: After a meal, one must always drink lemon tea with two sugars. I must go buy sugar cubes from the school store, so I'll be on my way. Letting the sugar cubes run out is a huge offence I can't believe..." Riddle-senpai said

Drip Drop

'Huh? What was that...?' I thought to myself as I failed to notice Riddle-senpai walking towards me

"Excuse me Miss Maria" I jolted when I heard my name

"Yes?" I looked at Riddle-senpai

"I apologize for my dorm mate for causing you some trouble" Riddle-senpai apologized

"It's alright, I don't mind." I said with a smile

"Also, I wish to invite you to the Unbirthday Tea Party. I will like to know more about you" Riddle-senpai said

"Of course, I love to come to the tea party. It'll be an honor" I said with a smile

"Then I'll see you at the Unbirthday party Maria" Riddle-senpai said as he lifted my hand and placed a kiss on my knuckles and left

"Siiiigggghhhh..... That was close." Cater-senpai let out a breath

"That guy is so obnoxious" Grim said

'Isn't that kinda you Grim?' I thought to myself

"Woah! That's rude" Deuce said to Grim

"Did the dorm leader leave?" A Heartslabyul student asked as he was hiding under the table

"I broke the Laws of the Queen of Hearts, No. 186: One must never eat hamburger steak on Tuesday. I was terrified of what would happen if he found out I ate one." Another Heartslabyul student said as he shivered from fear

"Uuugh... At least let us eat whatever we want..."

"In his first week at school, Riddle took the seat of dorm leader. He speaks harshly but he's trying to make the dorm better, he doesn't have bad intentions" Trey-senapi said

"Someone with good intentions doesn't randomly collar people!" Grim said

"Actually he can if one of the students broke a rule, like you did from the opening ceremony and yesterday with the chandelier Grim" I said and that made Grim flinch

"Also I have a question, what's unique magic? I've been hearing about it but I don't know much about it" I said

"You mean Riddle's unique magic" Cater-senpai asked and I nodded

"Unique... means that it's magic that only he can use?" Deuce said but he sounded a bit unsure about his answer

"It's magic that's strictly limited to one person... Simply put, it's magic that reflects the character of the user that only they can use so "unique magic". You'll learn more about in class eventually." Trey-senpai said

"Riddle's unique magic lets him seal another person's magic for a fixed amount of time. It's called... OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" Cater-senpai said

"Hiiiiiii! Just the name is terrifying!" Grim said as he looked scared

"As a wizard, having your magic sealed hurts like losing your head. Therefore, you shouldn't break Riddle's rules inside the dorm" Cater-senpai said

"So in other words, he's not scary if you follow the rules?" I asked

"That's correct Maria-chan~" Cater-senpai said as he hugged me

"So what you're saying is I have to go buy a tart or Cater will kick me out again?" Ace asked

"That's right. As decided by the Laws of the Queen of Hearts No. 53.In particular, Riddle looks forward to eating the first piece of a whole tart so he won't forgive you unless it's whole." Cater-senpai said as he was still hugging me

"You said you want to be friends so you can't just overlook that! Also, let go of Maria!" Ace said as he tried to remove Cater-senpai but failed

"That is that, this is this" Cater-senpai said as he finally released me from his hug

"But aren't whole tarts pretty expensive?" Deuce asked

"I don't have that kind of money" Ace looked like he lost a fight

"Then how about making one? The other tarts were all made by Trey" Cater-senpai said and I looked at Trey-senpai with surprise look

"That's amazing! Maybe you can teach how to bake" I said with stars in my eyes which made Trey-senpai chuckle

"I don't mind, just let me know" Trey-senpai said and I nodded

"You made that Trey? Holy crap! If you told me they were bought from a patisserie, I'd believe you" Ace said with a surprised tone

"Haha, thank you. It's true that I have all the seasonings and utensils that you would need, but... asking for my help won't come cheap" Trey-senpai said

'He's joking' I thought to myself

"Huh?! You're making me pay?!" Ace shouted

"Pfft! Don't lose your head now. I'm not gonna go around squeezing money out of the new kids. If we're going to make the tart Riddle wants to eat next, we need a lot of chestnuts. Could you gather them for me?" Trey-senpai asked

"Ugh, either way is a pain. Well, how many do you need?" Ace asked

"To make enough for the Unbirthday Party, we'll need about... two, three hundred I think" Trey-senpai said

"That many!?" Both Deuce and Grim shouted

"That's a lot" I said in a state of shock

"After that, I'll need you to roast, peel and puree them. I can do the rest after that." Trey-senpai said

"Can I go home?" Grim asked

"Me too" Deuce said

"Traitors! Maria, you'll help me right?" Ace asked

"Of course. I wouldn't leave all that work for you. So I'm happy to help you" I said and smiled

"M-Maria! Thank you!" Ace hugged me but failed to noticed the glares of the other males are giving Ace

"Come on now! Nothing tastes more delicious than food that you make together with your friends. You get to make some fun memories! Never know, might even be your debut as a food blogger." Cater-senpai said as he tried to remove Ace from me

"Don't tell the dorm leader, but Mont Blanc tastes most delicious when it's freshly-baked. Only the ones who baked the tart gets a piece of that" Trey-senpai said

Oooh ooh ooh! Let's get a move on! We're gonna pick chestnut after chestnut after chestnut!" Grim said in a motivated tone

'Grim sure changed his mind quick' I thought "So, where do we get the chestnuts?" I asked

"There should be plenty of chestnut trees in the forest behind the school's botanical garden" Trey-senpai said

"Then let's meet after class in front of the botanical garden" Ace said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders earning another glare from the other males

"Go! Go! Chestnut picking!" Grim chanted

After school - Woods Behind Campus~

After classes were done for the day, we started heading behind the school to pick chestnuts. When we got to the woods, there were so many trees with chestnuts

"Wow! There really are chestnuts all over the place here! With this many, we could have all-you-can-eat Mont Blanc... Hehe..." Grim muttered "Let's get picking!" Grim was about to pick a chestnut but I stopped him

"Grim, I highly recommend on not picking the chestnuts with your paws unless you want a thorn to prick you" I said

"It doesn't seem like we can pick them up with our bare hands. It'd be handy to get a basket or something to put them in as well" Deuce said

"Your right about that Deuce. How about we check the botanical garden if they have the things we need" I said and they nodded for agreement

"Let's go take a look" Deuce said as we started heading to the botanical garden

Botanical Garden - Temperate Zone~

We got the botanical garden and I was left in a awe state

"Wow, it's bigger in here than I thought" Ace said who was amazed like I was

"Given the size, there must be a caretaker or two in charge of this place. Let's split up and see if we can find someone" Deuce said

"I'll go right" Ace said

"And I'll head left. Maria, you and Grim mind checking the back?" Deuce asked

"Of course. Let's meet back here after awhile, okay?" I asked and they agreed, so we went our separate ways on finding the caretaker or some tools along with a basket

Grim went ahead of me, he was looking at the different fruits and I even noticed his drool

"There's a bunch of fruit! They smell so good!" Grim said excitedly

"Grim! Please slow down!" I said while chasing Grim, I stepped over something while trying to catch Grim when I heard a yawn. I turned around and saw a male with green eyes and animal ears

'He has animal ears... I want to touch them...' I thought while I felt myself blush

"I know you. Your the herbivore from the coffin and the first female to attend here" The lion man said while he leaned down to my neck and started to sniff

'Why is he sniffing me?'

"I smell some magic on you, a strong one too. You could be useful" The lion man said but his face turned into a pain one, I looked at his tail and saw that Grim has stepped on it

"Hey! Leave Maria alone!" Grim yelled

"You got some nerve for stepping on my tail" The lion man said now looking angry

"Grim, you shouldn't do that. I'm sorry about that, Grim can reckless" I apologized

"Well there's something you can do as a apology" The lion man said as he lifted up my chin "Become mine" The lion man said

"Eh?"

The lion man was about to say more, when suddenly someone called him

"Leona!"

"Huh?" The lion man named Leona looked in the direction for the source and I see another male with animal ears

'Cute'

"So you were hiding out here after all. It's time for your remedial lessons y'know" The hyena male said

"And now the annoying one's here" Leona-senpai said in a annoyed tone

"It's not like I enjoy having to nag at you all the time! Jeez, it's not like you're stupid. You could manage fine if you just tried. Whatever, let's go!" The hyena male said as he tried to pull Leona-senpai

"Tsk. Remember what I said herbivore" Leona-senpai said to me as he walked away

"Whew! I'm sweating bullets! Why would anyone hire someone so intimidating as caretaker?!" Grim shouted

"Grim... I don't think he's a caretaker" I said as we started heading back to meet up with Ace and Deuce

"We found a basket and some tongs over here! Ace shouted at us since we were a bit far from them and Deuce noticed Grim looking distress

"...Did something happen to you?" Deuce asked

"Ah! That's right! The chestnuts! Our part of the tart will get smaller if we don't get a bunch. We'll also talk about our encounter with the caretaker while we work" Grim said as we started picking the chestnuts and Grim telling the story of the encounter of the lion man

To be continued