It was the middle of the night when Lotus felt a strange pulse and began to leak her energy out of her room and throughout the mansion before noticing the strange light in Yuu's and Grim's room. It was then that she saw something rather unusual.
A scenery appeared in the mirror hanging on the wall in Yuu's room. In it, two card figures with arms and legs were painting the white roses on a heart trimmed bush red while singing and rushing a loud how they had to finish painting the roses before the flower wilts. A blond hair girl with the bluest eyes and wore a blue dress and ribbon appeared at the entrance of what looked to be a garden the cards were working in.
"Why do you have to paint the white roses red?" The little girl asked innocently.
"Huh?" The spade card with the letter A on it looked to her in bewilderment.
"Why you ask?" The card with the number two answered, "The truth is we made a mistake and grew white ones."
The A card nodded, "The queen loves red. If she sees white she'll have our heads!"
"Really?" The girl says in disbelief.
"That's right." The clover card with the number three responded, "Therefore we're painting the roses."
Suddenly, the light faded from the mirror and Lotus saw that Yuu had already gotten up staring curiously at the mirror as if he had seen the mirror as well before they heard a knock. Quickly, Yuu retracted her energy back into her before getting up from her desk.
When she heard the sound of repeated knocks on the door of the dorm, she sent her energy once more to see that it was actually Ace! Curiously, she put down her book and began to look through her room. Everything was well and organized with the majority in her storage ring.
She then left the room and walked out into the halls to the Foyer. She saw Grim and Yuu already at the entrance as she walked over in her pajama consisting of a shirt and pants. Her hair was undone so it was just down to her waist in full black without her white ribbon.
"Who would come over this late?" Yuu questioned in confusion.
Lotus shook her head in bewilderment as well as she lied, "I don't know. I'll open it."
Without waiting for approval, she reached for the door as a familiar voice sounded out from behind, "It's me, Ace. Let me in."
"Ace?" Yuu raised a brow looking a little more awake with his eyes wide despite the disheveled hair.
Lotus opened the door to reveal that it was indeed Ace!
"Ace? What're you doing this late..." Grim looked up in confusion with sleepy eyes before they popped wide open in bewilderment, "Gehgeh! You have a collar!"
Sure enough, around Ace's neck was the same collar that had been used on Grim on the day of the orientation.
"I'm never going back to Heartslabyul." He growled in a rather upset manner, "Starting today I'm joining your dorm!"
"Come again?!" Grim shouted in bewilderment.
Yuu was also rather surprised to hear this and looked to Lotus who responded by shaking her head in confusion as well. Yuu sighed before he stated, "The place is still unorganized, but let's hear you out in the lounge first."
"Thanks..." Ace grumbled as he slouched into the building.
Lotus closed the door behind him and followed them into the lounge that wasn't far from the foyer. Once he entered, the young man stared around the place wordlessly in shock before he got into the lounge and seated himself onto one of the cleaner couches. Grim and Yuu did the same as Lotus sneaked out a cup of cold tea for each of them onto a table behind their backs pretending she was preparing them in the corner as she listened.
"That's the same collar that that red-haird upperclassmen put on me during the entrance ceremony." Grim pointed out in bewilderment, "Why do you have something like that on?"
"I ate a tart." Ace answered bluntly.
"A tart..." Lotus muttered in thought as she recalled having seen those pastry made of fruit.
It was only shortly after she had earned her first paycheck in the human town that she bought a large tart for her large family back in the forest. It was much like that of an eggtart, but rather than baking it with a sweet and smooth egg mixture in it. It was baked empty than filled with cream and topped with fruits or sweets. With there being so many fairies in the forest, Lotus only had a bit of the crust as fairies were a fan of sweet things and, like children, at the parts with the cream but left the crust. Lotus didn't say anything about it as it was cute how the fairies, though hostile towards humans, just loved sweets, much like children do.
"Huh? A tart?" Yuu noted in confusion.
"Yup, just that!" Ace stated with a scowl on his face, "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..."
Basically, after having found the tarts after returning to the dorm, Ace decided that he was going to have one. Just after he had it, Riddle caught him having it and got really upset saying that he broke one of the many laws in Heartslabyul dorm and used the spell on him.
Hearing his reason, Yuu and Grim stared at him almost in a deadpanned manner both unimpressed with nothing to say. Finally, Grim stated bluntly, "You're both in the wrong."
"Isn't sealing my magic for stealing a bit of tart going too far?!" Ace pointed out in bewilderment, "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 got to be a limit to how narrow-minded you can be!"
"Sealing your magic may have been too much but..." Lotus sighed as she brought out the tray of cold brew tea.
Yuu nodded his head in agreement, "Mmm... sure..."
"What's with those lukewarm reaction!" Ace pointed out bitterly.
Suddenly, Grim's eyes popped open with a thought, "Could they have, by chance... Three whole tarts could've been for some sort of party."
Lotus nodded her head, "Three is a bit much to prepare and preserve to be eaten at a single sitting. Grim might be right this time."
Grim nodded with a proud smile, "Like someone's birthday, or something. I'm too good at deduction!"
"Birthday?" Ace raised a brow.
"That would certainly explain his anger." Lotus nodded in agreement.
"Did you apologize?" Yuu questioned curiously.
Ace muttered slightly nervously as he said, "I totally though you'd say he was being tyrannical, Supervisor.
"You're right he was being a tyrant, but..." Yuu responded hesitantly.
"You're at fault for stealing his tart in the first place." Grim pointed out with a scowl.
"He'll probably forgive you if you apologize." Lotus responded as she picked up her ceramic cup of tea and drank it.
Yuu nodded in agreement, "Go apologize tomorrow."
"Grudges over food are the worst." Grim stated before his eyes widen in bewilderment, "Wait a second, I never got my tuna cans from the headmaster!"
Ace sighed shaking his head, "Whatever, I just have to apologize, right?"
He then stared harshly at them and muttered, "This is your idea, Supervisor, so you have to come with me."
"Got it." Yuu nodded simply as he picked up the teacup before raising a brow and turning to Lotus in confusion.
She smiled, "This is from my hometown. I brewed this tea myself. Go ahead and have some. It's not chamomile tea or will keep you awake. It should cool your head a bit."
"But it's cold?" Ace pointed out.
Yuu however already went in and was caught in surprise, "It's sweet!"
Ace raised a brow and picked up the teacup for a sip. He stared at it in bewilderment, "It's actually really sweet! But, it's cold?"
"Though it's okay to have it warm, Chrysansumth tea is meant to be drank cold." Yuu responded with a nod, "It's a summer drink, after all. I just had some flowers left from the season and made a few jugs of it chilling right now. Now that you've had it, why not think of the next step."
"Right." Ace nodded, "Where should I sleep for tonight?"
Grim groaned, "You're seriously staying the night? All the rooms but ours are still a mess. Clean a room for yourself."
Ace stuck out his tongue, "I am not cleaning. Supervisor~ Let me stay in your room. I'm slim so I won't take a lot of space. 'kay."
"Now, now..." Yuu answered in bewilderment trying to push back his persistence.
Ace scowled, "Tsk. Stingy. That's fine, I guess. I'll go sleep all by my lonesome on the lounge sofa. Good night!"
Just as Ace was about to lie down on the sofa he was sitting on, Lotus sighed, "Actually, I'm not going to be using my bed tonight. You can use it."
"Huh?" Ace looked to her in bewilderment, "Really?! Is it okay?"
Lotus nodded to which Ace cheered, "All right!"
Hearing her answer, Yuu looked to her in bewilderment, "Is that really all right?"
Lotus nodded, "I'll be doing some reading on my desk anyway."
"The curfew..." Yuu began.
Lotus smirked at him, "Since I won today's bet, I don't have to worry about curfews while I'm here."
"Huh? A bet?" Grim looked to her in confusion to which Lotus smiled mischievously.
"That's right. I made a bet with the headmaster yesterday that you and Grim would become students within three days." Lotus answered, "So, since I won, he's letting me stay up late as long as I don't let this affect our grade, so you better not mess things up, Grim, or you can wait and see what your late-night snack is."
"Geh!" The cat's eyes widen in horror, "I-I understand, sir."
"Haha. So that's what the deal was?" Ace laughed when he heard her words, "I can't believe the headmaster went along with it! Looks like, Lotus has believed in your abilities from the very beginning, Yuu."
Hearing his words made the young student feel slightly nervous as he stated in embarrassment, "I don't know about that, but thank you for believing in me."
Lotus shrugged, "I don't know about that. It's not that I believe or don't believe in you. I just knew that, with the headmaster's sight, he'd be able to recognize your ability as a beast tamer right away. All he needed was a confirmation. With such abilities, why would he let you stay as a handyman."
"So, that's what you mean when you said Innate talent." Grim stated when he heard this.
Lotus shrugged, "With Yuu's ability, it's not something that can be seen or proven by the naked eye. You need to see them act to know if they have any innate talent or not. I didn't know what ability it was that Yuu had until the headmaster pointed it out."
Ace muttered curiously, "Then, maybe your weak presence..."
"Nah!" She denied it quickly, "If that was my ability, I wouldn't be able to speak without being heard, right? I just have a weak presence."
"Oh..."
She then cleaned up the table and guided the young man to her room with Grim in tow after having promised Yuu that he'd keep watch over him and gave him a bead that repelled those ghosts from coming close to him. It was only for the night anyway.
Having thrown the cat onto her bed, she returned to her desk with the lit candle and plopped herself right back down to continue reading.
Seeing that the young man was really going to study with a pile of books stacked on the table, Ace stared at her in bewilderment when he noticed the strange bindings of the books, "What are you reading?"
Lotus smiled at him, "Curious?"
"Those bindings are a little weird." He pointed out without hesitation.
"Of course." Lotus responded, "They're books from my hometown, you could say."
Seeing him raised a brow, Lotus smiled and went back to read when Ace asked suddenly noticed the strange writing on the books, "That..."
"Hm?"
Lotus looked up again to which she saw the boy shake his head before going to the bed as he struggled to sleep while Grim kept trying to climb onto the pillow.
Seeing the two, Lotus shrugged and returned back to reading her book on poison and things related to acupuncture points.