"Alright." Trey closed the box where he had placed their mont blanc. "You can give the tart to the prefect tomorrow." He picked up the box and gave it to Ace. "Don't be late for the Unbirthday Party tomorrow, 'kay?"

"And..." Cater added. "Unfortunately I can't let you go back to the dorm yet. So, you need to sleep somewhere else."

Ace's jaw dropped. "What?! Are you telling me to sleep outside?!"

Trey chuckled as he picked up a tissue to wipe his hands. "Well, why don't you guys have a sleepover at Ramschackle Dorm?"

"Eh?" Came from the first-years.

"Deuce can join in too to help keep an eye on Ace," Trey added again. "As vice prefect, I give you permission."

Cater raised an eyebrow at him. "Trey, you're spoiling them!" He turned to Jonah with a lopsided smile. "Jonah..." He gave the smaller boy a one-sided hug. "Can I join you too?"

Trey laughed at him and rolled his eyes. "You're not allowed."

"Yeah!" Grim suddenly appeared between Jonah and Cater, pushing the senior's face away from the freshman. He stood on Jonah's head, paws crossed in front of his puffed-up chest. "You have to pay to stay! 10 cans of tuna!"

Cater pouted. "Tch. Bringn' me down like that..."

Trey turned to Jonah. "Then, I'm sorry for leaving our two boys in your care again, Jonah."

Jonah shrugged with a smile on his face. "No worries. Maybe this is my job to babysit them from now on." He offered his hand and Trey took it, shaking their hand in agreement.

"I'll go back to the dorm first to get some clean clothes for tomorrow," Deuce said. "I'll see you at the dorm."

Jonah nodded. "Alright." He turned to the seniors and gave them a nod. "Well, see you tomorrow."

"Captain! Why you don't have any snacks here?"

Jonah glanced into the hallway toward the Ramshackle Dorm's kitchen. He pulled down his eye-patch after rubbing his itch away and got off from the couch. He walked toward the kitchen to meet up with Ace. Just like the rest of the dorm, the kitchen looks brand new. The counter is squeaky white without any stain on them. The new electric stove hadn't been used yet. Various pan and knives lined up on the wall. Even the fridge was filled with cooking ingredients.

He really needs to meet Senior Azul as soon as possible…

"I've been only living here for one night Ace," Jonah said as he walked toward Ace who was kneeling in front of the fridge. "You think I would care anything about food?"

Ace looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean? Your fridge is already stocked up, but you have to cook all of these."

"Then why don't you cook them if you're so hungry?" Jonah asked back.

Before Ace could answer, Grim flew toward them, holding a Styrofoam cup of instant noodle. "Jonah! That Azul kid didn't buy any tuna can!"

Jonah lowered the cup noodle from his face. "We don't need tuna cans!"

"Not fair!" Grim yelled, shaking the cup noodle in his hand. "How come you have your cup noodles but The Great Me don't get my tuna cat?"

"Can I have one of those?" Ace perked up from behind Grimm.

Jonah put his hands on his hips. "Are you two really that hungry?" Ace and Grimm nodded their head, making Jonah sighed. "Ugh, fine. I'll make you something."

"Thank you, Captain~" Ace and Grim cheered, and Jonah tried his best not to smile. He still likes being called the 'captain'. When Ace and Grim left the kitchen, Jonah took out four cups of noodles from the cupboard. Deuce should be arriving soon and he would probably be hungry too.

A few minutes later, as he was cutting up some scallions, he looked up when someone called his name. Deuce stood at the doorway to the kitchen with a bag slung over his shoulder. "Sorry for the intrusion."

Jonah smiled at him. "It's alright. Ace can show you your room."

"Hey, this is a sleepover." Ace suddenly popped up from behind Deuce. "Can't we just sleep on the lounge instead of our room?"

Jonah looked up again. "The floor is hard."

"Then we'll take the mattress here too," said Ace, slinging his arm over Deuce's shoulder. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"What kind of fun?" Jonah asked again as he turned to turn off the stove with boiling water.

"I have some UNO," Deuce said. When Jonah looked at him confusedly, he continued, "It's a card game."

Ace grinned. "Perfect!"

Jonah glanced at the, "I don't know how to play-"

"We'll teach you!" Ace cut him from his sentences. "Come on, I don't want to die by boredom! This will be a fun game!"

Jonah sighed again. "Fine." He turned to the stove again, flipping strips of bacon on the pan. "You guys prepared the bed. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"I brought this too." Deuce put a bag of marshmallows in the middle of the group. There were four beds in the lounge now, all occupied by the three boys and a cat, each with their own cup noodle with bacon and scallions.

"Finally, a snack!" Ace reached out and popped a marshmallow into his mouth.

Jonah looked at him in disgust. "Pick one food and finish it before eating another one." He stuck out his tongue. "Yuck!"

Ace grinned at him. "Mind your own food, Captain."

Grim was slurping the broth loudly, finishing it with an 'ah~'. "Another one, please!" he said, raising his cup.

"No," Jonah answered briefly.

Grim pouted. "Boo~ You're no fun~" He threw the empty cup to the side and reached out for two marshmallows, stuffing them into his mouth.

Ace put down his cup and picked up the card between his and Deuce's bed. "Alright, Captain. Listen up!" When Jonah looked up from slurping his noodle, Ace continued, "Here's how the game work: All you have to do is match the color or the number. If you put out a '7' you have to trade cards with one of the players. If you put out a '0', all players must swap cards with the person next to them according to the order of play. Understand?"

Jonah shook his head.

Ace sighed but still smiling as he started to shuffle the deck of cards. "You'll learn quickly. This will be fun!"

"This is not fun at all…" Jonah looked up from his card to the grumbling Ace who was glaring at his hand. "I can't believe we nearly lost to Grim…"

"Nyehehe." Grim was fanning the last card in his hand. All of them had changed into their pajamas, or in Grim's case, he was no longer wearing his bow. The cat was sitting on his pillow so that he had equal height as the other three. Both Jonah and Deuce were sitting cross-legged on their mattress, Jonah had a blanket slung over his shoulders, while Ace was laying on his stomach, arms and chin propped up on his pillow.

"You guys better prepare to buy me a lot of tuna can as my winning prize," said Grim smugly. "And I choose, blue!"

Deuce took out his own wild-card. "Now, I choose red!"

Ace took out a 3-red while Jonah took out 5-red. All of them stared at Grim, wondering what the cat had planned.

And he took out a 2-red.

"NO!" Ace screamed throwing his cards in the air as Grim was laughing in his face.

Ace took out a 6-yellow, followed by Jonah's 6-green.

"I'm going to have to stop you there, Deuce!" Grim took out a stop-green.

"Aw come on!" Deuce yelled at the smug-looking cat. "Let me play!" He had the most cards between them after all.

Ace took out a wild-card. "What color do you want, Captain?"

Jonah looked at his cards. "Hmm… I'll take blue."

Ace looked up to the ceiling. "Nah. I'll choose red."

Jonah gave him a sideways glance. "Okay then." He took out a 7-red. "Give me your cards."

Ace was screaming while Deuce and Grim laughed at him. It was Grim's turn again and he took out a +4.

"Why?!" Deuce yelled again, knowing that he couldn't fight it.

Grim just grinned. "This game is based on skill~ And I choose blue!"

Ace was grinning after Deuce took out a 8-blue. "You know what?" He took out a 7-blue. "Give me back my cards!" He and Jonah switched cards again. But then, Ace jumped in, taking out another 7-blue. "You know what? I don't like these. You can have them."

"That is not sanitary at all," Grim muttered.

Jonah looked at him weirdly. "You have no right to say what's sanitary or not." He took out a 1-blue, followed by Grim with his +2-blue.

"What do you have against me?!" Poor Deuce already had 13 cards in his hand, and now, he still needed to add two more.

Ace took out a 1-green. Unfortunately for Jonah, he didn't have any green card, only red and yellow. He picked up a card from the stacks until he had six cards in his hand. He drew again and finally found a reverse-green, he immediately took it out and making the turn go counter-clockwise.

"Lucky that I don't have to get drunk from cards," Jonah said.

Grim took out a reverse-blue, changing the order to clockwise again.

Back to Jonah who didn't have any blue.

He started picking up a card from the stack. No blue… Another one… No blue… And another… Still no blue!

"Geez, Captain~" Ace laughed when Jonah already 10 cards in the hand from previously 4. "Are you sure you're not drunk?"

"Shut up…" Jonah growled. He kept on drawing cards until finally drew a 2-blue. Ending up with him having 20 cards in his hand.

Ace took out 7-blue, switching with Deuce. Deuce took out a stop-blue, skipping Grim. And Jonah still didn't have any blue cards.

"DAMMIT YOU GUYS!" The others were laughing at him as he started drawing again. Just three more cards until he got a 1-blue. Ace took out a 6-blue, then Deuce with a 0-blue, which meant-

"No way!" Ace screamed. Jonah was laughing hard as he received Grim's four cards. He waved his stacks of 22 cards in front of Ace's face.

"Come on~" Jonah was grinning from ear to ear. "Take the cards like a good boy~"

"Hey, Deuce." Ace took out stop-red.

Deuce groaned. But Ace didn't stop grinning. After a 5-red from Grim and 9-red from Jonah, Ace pulled out his card. "Hey, Deuce." He threw another stop-red.

Deuce slammed his mattress. "I hate you guys!"

Deuce threw a 3-blue. Leaving him with only one card in his hand!

Jonah quickly raised his hand. "UNO!"

"DAMMIT!" Deuce screamed. The other three laughed as Deuce drew two more cards.

Ace threw out a 3-blue.

It was Jonah's turn and he quickly put out a reverse-blue as he said, "Uno!" The game flowed counter-clockwise, back to Ace again. Deuce looked at his cards. He had a 7-blue and stop-yellow. He looked up at his opponents. Grim was frowning and Ace looked frustrated. Both of them had four cards in their hand, compare to Jonah's one and Deuce's two. This had been a long journey with a lot of screaming and betrayal, but he had a very good time. Their marshmallow was gone, mostly eaten by Grim. If this went well, he could trade his card with Jonah and-

Johan threw his last card: another reverse-blue.

"Are you kidding me?!" Ace threw his cards to the pile, not carrying whether they were scattered or not. "Are you serious?!"

"Jonah! You're trolling us!" Grim immediately tackled Jonah who was still laughing. Deuce couldn't help but smile even though he lost. He had never had fun like this. Being the only son of his family and with all his delinquent youth, Deuce never really had any real friends. But seeing these guys, with Ace giving Jonah a nuggie and Grim laughing with him, Deuce didn't mind that he lost this round, compared to him in the past who will never accept defeat.

He likes this…

He gathered the card, stacking them again, and shuffling them. "Anyone up for another round?"

The three of them looked at him, each with their bright smile.

"I'm calling it!" Ace yelled letting go of Jonah. "I'm going to win this time!"

Jonah fixed his pajamas "Oh? You dare to challenge the captain?"

"Yes! And The Great Me will win this game!" Grim declared pointing at Jonah.

Deuce laughed and he put the stacked and shuffled cards in the center of their small circle. "Alright. Let's get our game on."

It was already past midnight when Jonah decided to turn off the light of the lounge. Jonah turned to look at the beds in the middle of the room, smiling softly at his sleeping friends. He had lost count of how many turns they had played before one by one they had fallen asleep. First, Ace, then Grim. Deuce managed to stay awake long enough to help him clean the card and empty noodle cups.

He had fun. This was the most fun he had since arriving in this strange school. After those stressful first days, who knew that baking and card games can help him relax a bit?

Jonah yawned. Okay, maybe it's time to go to sleep too-

...een! The Qu...!

"Huh?" Jonah looked around. Who said that? He looked at his friends. It couldn't be them. Sure, Grim was snoring loudly and Ace was drooling, they didn't mumble in their sleep.

Cards, halt!

There was it again! Jonah looked up. It came from upstairs. Looking back at his friends, making sure they weren't awake, Jonah quietly tip-toed upstairs.

Count off!

Jonah turned to the door of his room. Could it be...? When he opened it, nobody was there. But he wasn't really looking for anyone. His eyes stare straight at the bronze orb that he put on his nightstand. As he walked in and grabbed in, he could still hear voices coming out from the orb.

...imperial highness... grace... excellency... royal majesty... Hearts!

Everything glowed in a green light when Jonah turned the orb and once again his surroundings melted away, transporting him back to the rose garden. However this time he saw someone familiar...

"How dare you defile my roses! You better prepare yourselves!"

It was the lady similar to the statue that Ace and Grim had burnt a few days ago. She looked really angry, holding up a rose bush like a baseball bat. She glared toward the individuals at the ground: the same three cards and the little girl in a blue dress.

The Three of Clubs lifted his body, kneeling before the queen.

"Oh no! Your Majesty Please, it's all his fault!"

The Three of Clubs swung his paintbrush to the Two of Clubs' face. The Two of Clubs then pointed at the Ace of Clubs who was wearing the bucket of red paint on his head.

"Not me your grace! The Ace! The Ace!"

"No! It was Two!"

"That's enough!"

All of the cards stopped their arguing, staring at the queen with fear and she yelled in a booming voice.

"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"

Instead of pleading or waves of anger, all of the rest of the card soldiers were cheering as the three clubs card were being dragged away. The little girl was still on the ground watching the scene with fear.

"They're going to lose their heads, for painting the roses red~"

"It serves them right, they planted white, and roses should be red~"

"Oh, they're going to lose their heads~"

"SILENCE!"

As the card tumbled over because of the queen's booming voice, so was the scenery. Like a glass cracked into pieces, Jonah needed to protect his face with his arms as the green light burst out. When the light disappeared, he finally lowered his arms. He stared at the orb that had fallen next to his feet, his mind was still thinking about the strange vision he just head saw.

'Off with their head'? He could've sworn he had heard that before…