"AAAAAAA!"

Jonah tiredly opened his eyes. He glanced at the source of the sound. It was Grim, already out from his bed and growling to the air.

"Urgh…" Ace groaned, pulling his blanket over his head. "It's too early for screaming…"

Deuce lifted himself with his elbow, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. "What's wrong, Grim?" he asked between his yawn.

"The ghost!" Grim yelled, still looking at every corner of the room. "The ghost is back!"

"Ghost?!" Ace immediately stood up, holding his pillow like a baseball bat. "Where are they?! I'll kick them in them tities!"

Deuce immediately went red in the face. "Ace, language!"

Jonah let out a chuckle as he laid down on his back again. He could see Lou, Soo, and Barret up there, floating upside down as half of their body went through the ceiling. He gave them a wave, in which they replied with snickers before going through the ceiling.

He sighed. He rolled his eyes upward, looking at the other in upside-down vision. "Does anyone know when is your dorm party is?"

The two Heartslabyul students went silent. They looked at each other before turning back to Jonah, shaking their head. Jonah groaned, running his hand at his face. "Guys… Seriously…"

There was a cheerful knock on the door.

"Hold up!" Jonah yelled as he ran down the stairs while trying to wear his blazer with Grim sitting on top of his head. When he opened, the familiar orange-haired senior was already standing there.

"Good morning~!" Diamond waved his hand. Jonah could hear footsteps behind him. Ace and Deuce probably just finished putting back their mattress. "Did you enjoy yesterday's sleepover~? Was it a night of pillow fights and card games~?"

Ace yawned. "Well, we did play some UNO…" Jonah turned his head toward him, smirking, which made Ace pouted, probably still sour from his losses. Beside him, Deuce rolled his eyes while smiling. Grim on top of his head was also pouting, knowing he lost more than Ace.

"Then, shall we hurry and bring the tarts we made to apologize to Riddle? Oh!" Cater clapped his hand. "I almost forgot!" He took out his magical pen and waved it as he chanted "[Multicorfors]!" A magic circle appeared underneath the boys' shoes, slowly ascending to their upper body and disappeared when it passed their heads. When they looked down, they gasped at their new outfit.

They were now wearing a white shirt, with a diamond-patterned vest covering it. Over the vest, they wore the classic Heartslabyul blazer. They wore a black and yellow ribbon around their waist, high-tops shoes, and white trousers. The differences between the three were the colors of the vest and shoes: Ace had a red vest and red-and-white shoes, Deuce had a black vest and black-and-white shoes, while Jonah had a light blue vest and all-black shoes. Other differences were for Ace and Deuce, they had a card clipped on their blazer; Ace of Heart for Ace, and Two of Spade for Deuce, while Jonah had none. Even Grim got a Heartslabyul theme bow.

"Whoa…!" Deuce looked down, tapping his toes to make sure that what he was wearing was real.

Ace laughed, spinning around to look all over his body. "Dude, this is totally stylish!"

Grim puffed his bow. "Nyaha! I look so cool!"

"I know right." Cater made a peace sign. "It's totally fashionable and very 'grammable~!"

Jonah looked at Ace. "Got the tart?" Ace lifted the white box he was holding, grinning at Jonah.

Cater gave them a thumbs up. "Alright, off to the party!"

This was the first time Jonah ever stepped into a dorm other than the Ramshackle Dorm. The Heartslabyul Dorm was filled with rose bushes trimmed into a heart-shape. The dorm itself looks like a small red castle. He had to admit, compared to this, Ramshackle Dorm was nothing.

"Alright," Ace said to himself, looking at the box filled with mont blanc. "I'll head-on and bring the tart to the prefect so I can apologize…"

"Hey, you're finally here~!" The first-years looked toward the dorm when they saw… Diamond? In his PE uniform? Waving at them?! "What took you so long, me?"

The Diamond that was with them, the one in the regular school uniform, waved back. "I'm home~! Sorry for the wait, me~"

Deuce looked at the two seniors back-to-back. "Th-there are two Senior Diamond…!?"

"Twin?!" Ace yelled in confusion.

The Diamond that was with them laugh. "Oh, no. I'm the only son. This is my unique magic, Split Card. I can make clones of myself using magic~!"

Right at that moment, another Diamond, this time in his lab coat, appeared. "Welcome back~"

Behind him, another Diamond appeared in his ceremonial robe. "Welcome, everyone~"

Ace screamed, nearly dropping the box. "There are more of him!"

Diamond in the PE outfit laughed. "By the way, the real Cater is me~" He rubbed behind his neck. "Cloning myself is pretty tiring. Just finished the last minute's preparation." He took out his magical pen. "But it's almost time. Me army, we're done for the day~!"

The other Diamonds saluted him. "Aye, aye, me~!" Then they disappeared with a puff of smoke. When the smoke disappeared, only one Diamond stood there, in a similar outfit like Ace, but with a Four of Diamond on his blazer.

Diamond motioning them to follow them. "Let's get going, guys~"

Riddle stood in front of the door toward the Tea Garden, fixing his cape one last time, waiting for his cue. He took a deep breath. The first Unbirthday Party of the semester. It had to be perfect. If not… Someone will lose their head.

"Everything okay, Riddle?" Riddle looked up to his vice prefect who stood behind him, making sure there wasn't any wrinkle on his cape.

Riddle nodded. "Of course." Trey nodded back without saying anything. Riddle once again looked down at himself for some final checks. He was wearing the prefect version of Heartslabyul's dorm uniform; a small crown leaning on the right side of his head, a white and red coat dress with the bottom being lined with a gold-colored fabric. The inside of the coat dress was entirely red and has a pattern consisting of tiny hearts, spades, diamonds, clovers, and crowns, also white trousers. Perfect.

Just then, from the outside, the double door was opened along with the sound of the trumpet and the announcer's voice. "Make way for our leader, the Crimson Ruler: Prefect Riddle!"

Riddle took a deep breath and let it out from his mouth before stepping into the garden, toward the long table at the most front. "Three cheers for Prefect Riddle!"

Riddle stopped when he finally reached his chair. His grey eyes darted everywhere. The roses were red and the tablecloths were white. He turned to Trey who positioning himself on the chair to his right. "The Dormouse is sleeping inside the teapot just as planned, correct?"

Trey nodded at him. "Of course. The jam to put on one's nose is ready, should the need arise, too."

Riddle nodded, satisfied. A truly perfect Unbirthday Party. He sat down on his chair followed by the rest of the students. Taking his teacup, he said to the students. "Does anyone have their teacups already?" He saw everyone was holding their cup. He nodded. "A toast to the Unbirthday Party. Cheers."

"Cheers!"

The party went on smoothly. Everyone was talking in order and no chaos. Riddle took a bite from Trey's strawberry tart, sighing happily when he tasted the sweetness on his tongue. It was perfect as usual. Though he can't eat this too much. It's not good for his health and body as his mother would say.

"Um, Prefect."

Riddle put down his fork and looked to his left. Oh, it was the ginger-haired kid who ate his tart.

"Um…" His fingers were drumming the side of the box he was holding. "I was thinking of apologizing for what I did, so I uh…" He shrugged, giving him a small smile. "I made a new tart for you."

Riddle blinked in confusion. He didn't realize behind him Trey was giving Cater, who sat on the nearest table with Deuce, Jonah, and the cat, a nod, while Cater smiled back. Riddle stood up from his seat, facing toward Ace.

"Why, thank you," Riddle accepted the box. Maybe this kid had learned his lesson. He should reward him. Yes. Good boys always get their reward. "Can I ask what kind of tart you made?" he asked as he opened the box-

Wait.

This is…

"Thank you for asking!" Ace said in that disgusting cheerful voice. "This is a special-made mont blanc, stuffed to the brim with fresh chestnuts!"

*splat*

Everything went silent. Riddle stared at the fallen box on the floor, bangs covering his eyes. How dare he… How dare he brought mont blanc to the Unbirthday Party…

How dare he broke another rule!

"Laws of the Queen of Hearts Number #562," he said with a low voice. "'One shall refrain from bringing mont blanc for the Unbirthday Party'." He slammed his hand to the table, screaming at Ace's face. "How could you do something like that?! You ruined this party!"

From Ace's table, the cat shot up. "Eek?! How many rules are there?!"

Riddle stepped forward, crushing the tart underneath his boot. "There are a total of 810 rules and I've memorized all of them. And I expect you to do that too!"

"Wait a sec!" Ace screamed back. "As if I'll follow a ridiculous rule like that!"

Riddle glared at him, growling under his breath. Another troublemaker…

"Prefect!" He heard a screech behind him when Trey stood up from his seat. "My deepest apologies. I was the one who suggested making the mont blanc."

"Exactly!" Cater spoke up too, running toward the main table with Deuce and Jonah behind him. "We didn't think that there'd be a rule against it."

"The fact that you made them isn't a problem! My issue is the fact that you brought them here!" Riddle spat, not even bother looking at his seniors. Ace continued to glare at him, now with Deuce and Jonah standing just a few feet behind him. "As Heartslabyul's prefect, I cannot simply turn a blind eye towards this appalling rule-breaking."

"Damn it!" Ace screamed. "I've had enough of hearing all those ridiculous rules. Aren't you being kinda an idiot?"

He thought he heard someone gasped as everything suddenly froze and the atmosphere went down.

Idiot…

He just called him an idiot…

"Hey, stop! That's an absolute taboo word…!" Cater hissed at the troublemakers, before turning to him with a softer voice. "Also, Riddle, these guys are just some freshies who got accepted to the school."

"Nah, I'm gonna say it." Ace crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Only an idiot would listen to a rule about tarts. Don't mess with me."

"I agree with Ace," Deuce added, waling in so he stood next to Ace. Also, the cat that once on Jonah's head flew next to Ace too, looking pissed as well. "Of course, I admit that breaking the rules is not a good thing, but… This is too much already."

"All the other guys, too!" shouted Ace, pointing at the rest of the student still in the garden. "They're just scared that they're gonna get collars so they're not saying anything, but I'm sure they're thinking the same thing!"

The students immediately froze, some were fidgeting. "No, we're…"

Riddle gave them a terrifying sideways glance. "Heh, is that so?"

Immediately, they straighten up. "N-no, it's not true, Prefect! We do all we can to follow what you say, Prefect!"

The cat stared at them in disbelieved. "No way…!"

Ace clicked his tongue. "Tsk. Wishy-washy jerks. Lame."

These children…

How dare they fight his order…

"Listen here, Ace Trappola." Riddle took another step making them only a few inches apart. He wasn't afraid that he was shorter than him. He was the one holding the reign here. "Ever since I became the prefect last year, not one student from Heartslabyul has ever repeated a year nor was anyone expelled. And that's counting all the dorms in this school. That means that I am the most exceptional and the strongest! That is why I am the only one who's always right! There is nothing wrong with following what I say!"

"That's just…!" He heard Deuce said, but he didn't care as he continued.

"It's not like I'm doing this because I enjoy it. Aren't you the ones at fault for breaking the rules? If you're not going to obey me, then it's off with your heads!"

Deuce managed to find his composure again. This time, spoken like a true stupid-boy, "I will not."

Ace nodded. "I've had enough playing along with this selfish tyrant!"

"Say that again!" Riddle spat. "I dare you!"

"He said that you're an irritable and selfish little tyrant who's unreasonable with trivial things like food!" the cat said so smugly, think as if he just won this conversation.

But he didn't.

He just made Riddle, even more, fueled up.

"H-hey! He didn't go that far…!"

Deuce didn't get to finish his sentences. Riddle didn't bother changing his magical pen into his staff. In his blind anger, he pointed at the three rule-breakers in front of him. "[OFF WITH YOUR HEAD]!" Summoning his magic circle around Deuce and the cat's neck, his collars snapping in place.

"AHHHHH!" Both Deuce and the cat screamed as they tried to pull the collar off them.

Riddle turned toward his seniors. "Trey! Cater! Throw them out of here!"

Trey and Cater looked at each other worriedly. Before finally gave him a nod. "… Yes, Prefect."

Deuce looked at his seniors in disbelieved. "G-Guys…?!"

"I'm sorry~" Cater took out his magical pen, did a spin in his hand before holding it in a firm grip. "We can't go against the Prefect~"

Trey made his way in front of Riddle, shielding him and ready to attack. "I'm sorry…"

"Oh, is that so?!" Ace cracked his knuckle. "I'll take you on!"

"There is no need."

All of them, including Riddle, turned toward the owner of the voice. Ace and Deuce moved a bit to make way for Jonah. When he stood face to face, Riddle noticed that he was slightly shorter than him, but the calm look on his face told him as if he could take control of the situation.

"My apologize if we messed with your tea party, Mister Rosehearts," Jonah said in a low voice. "We didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"It had happened," Riddle replied, glaring at him. "And I suggest you and your troublemaking-friends step out of my tea party at once."

Riddle started into the boy's black eye, trying to fight some sort of spark. But he didn't. Jonah just sighed and gave him a small bow. "We will, Prefect." He then turned around started to walk away. "Let's go, guys."

"But Captain-!"

There was a dangerous glint on Jonah's eye when he glared at Ace, succeeding in shutting him up. "I said: we're leaving." Ace, Deuce, and the cat looked at each other before begrudgingly followed Jonah.

Before the door to the garden finally locked them out, Jonah turned his head, giving Riddle a sideways glance, and spoke something that will echo in Riddle's mind for the longest time.

"Down with the bloody red queen."