"Ehhhhh," Ace mused, smirking a little as he folded his arms. "I see, I see... Not bad, actually!"

"Well, yeah-- but I guess that's Housewarden Rosehearts for you," Deuce agreed.

"Yep, yep-- but don't forget Prefect-chan here, either!" Cater added, nodding at Kat with a grin. "That was a killer idea you had... How'd you come up with that, Kitty-Kat?"

"Oh! Uh..." Giving an awkward laugh, Kat brushed some hair back behind her ear. "W-Well... It's a little embarrassing, but there's this anime... It's kind of a long story, but I guess... I mean, how Ruggie managed to, like, pickpocket you guys without anybody noticing, it... Reminded me of one of my favorite characters from it? My brain works in weird ways sometimes, so it just kinda..."

She waved a hand vaguely in a circle near the side of her head. "...Kept going from there? I mean- guess I was a little primed for it already, with all this detective work..."

Spotting the blank looks she was getting, she shook her head. "Look-- n-nevermind. I know, I know, I'm a weeb... You don't gotta tell me twice, I already know."

"No kidding? Whew..." Shaking his head, Cater raised his eyebrows, whistling. "Guess we can't say watching anime's never helped anybody... But!"

Clapping briskly, he stepped back, pulling his phone out of his pocket again. "Looks like I've got a lotta' prep work to do before the big day... I'll get started on that ASAP, 'kay?"

"Yes, please do," Riddle agreed, folding his arms. "I'll leave it up to you then, Cater... But take care not to raise any suspicions."

"Right!" Cater agreed, nodding again. "Don't worry, don't worry-- leave it to Cay-kun here!"

Then he turned to the only full-sized person who hadn't said anything yet-- Jack. "Well? Now that you've heard what Riddle had to say, Jack-kun, whaddya' think? You in?"

Shifting his weight, the boy crossed his arms, ears swiveling a little. "M-Mmm," he grumbled, avoiding everyone's gazes. "Well- there's-- nothin' TOO underhanded about it, at least... An' it's not cowardly- I'll give you that."

Shaking his head, he cleared his throat, stepping back. "Just this once-- I guess teamin' up with you guys wouldn't be too bad... For now."

Kat thought she saw him blush a little bit, and his tail swished briefly.

She put the side of her fist to her mouth, turning away to conceal her smile. Looks like we've got another tsundere on our hands...

On her shoulder, Grim grumbled, crossing his front legs and huffing. "Man-- this guy," he muttered. "He's really gotta complain over every little thing..."

"Yeah, okay, okay... Good work an' whatever," Ace interjected, rolling his shoulders and wincing. "But how 'bout we call it a day and head back to the dorms? I'm freakin' tired from all that..."

"Yeah, an' I'm HUNGRY!" Grim added, jumping down off her shoulder and landing on the grass. He trailed after Ace, who had turned and started to wander in a general 'out of the courtyard' direction.

"Ah-- yes, that reminds me," Riddle's voice interrupted, with a faint but icy note. "You there... First-years."

Everybody- Jack included- froze, looking guilty.

"Since it yielded helpful information," Riddle continued. "I am willing to overlook your blatant violation of rule number 6: 'There is to be no fighting on a school campus'. However..."

His face darkened. "Next time I should discover you- ANY of you- engaging in a fight... Then it will be off with ALL your heads. Am I clear?"

The last three words were spoken with a menacing weight, and even Kat couldn't help but wince.

"Y-Yes," her trio of troublemakers muttered in unison, skewered on Riddle's meaningful glower. "Sorry, Housewarden."

He turned the glower on Jack, who actually stiffened, almost taking a step back. "...Right," he grunted after a second, rubbing the side of his head again.

"Hm," Riddle hummed. "Very well. Alright then. Let us return to our dorms... Good day to you all- and you as well, Kat."

Giving a small bow, he turned sharply and started striding off back towards the Hall of Mirrors. Cater trailed after him, busily tapping away on his phone.

Kat watched them leave for a second, then turned her attention back to the others. Ace, Deuce and Grim had recovered from the state of frozen compliance Riddle inflicted when he got like that...

Jack, however, still seemed a little shaken. He regained his senses as Ace approached, eyes flicking between him and the departing upperclassmen.

She couldn't hear all of what the pale-haired boy was muttering... Thanks to the distance, and her auditory processing disorder. She was still pretty sure she caught the words 'housewarden' and 'scary'.

When Ace interjected his agreement in a sharp hiss, nodding urgently, she could hear a little more this time... But it didn't seem to make much sense. Was he talking about... Hedgehogs? For some reason?

...Whatever.

Seeing Riddle and Cater vanishing around a corner, she wandered over to the others, with a small detour to scoop up Grim. Deuce did the same, and pretty soon they were standing in another small group, just under the apple tree.

"So, um," Kat began. "Should we-- oh- hang on..." Blinking, she looked at Jack. "I just realized... We haven't actually introduced ourselves to you, have we? Officially, I mean?"

"Oh-- I think you're right, Prefect," Deuce said, a little sheepishly. "I totally forgot about that..."

Turning to Jack, he lowered his head in a small bow. "My name's Deuce Spade... But just Deuce is fine."

"I'm Ace Trappola," Ace piped up.

"An' I'm Grim!" Grim added from Kat's shoulder. "But you can call me Grim-sama! And this's my hench-human, Kat."

Kat shot him a sideways look, which he ignored. Then she turned back to face Jack. "Like he said, I'm Kat-- Prefect of the Ramshackle dorm," she explained. "Just Kat is fine, though... Um, is Jack okay? To call you, I mean?"

Jack looked at her, seeming a little surprised. Then he shook his head, giving another quiet, doglike snort. "Yeah- just Jack's fine," he said flatly.

Kat nodded. "Sorry for yelling at you earlier," she continued. "And- thanks for agreeing to help us with..." She gestured vaguely. "All this."

Jack blinked, glancing briefly at Ace and Deuce... The former of whom, Kat noticed out of the corner of her eye, was smirking a little. "Look, it's-- it's not a big deal," he grumbled, still not looking directly at her. "I just really, REALLY gotta stop Leona-senpai- and all my other dorm-mates, too. And this plan of yours... So far, it seems like the best shot I've got. Okay?"

His tail swished behind him again, and he was definitely blushing now... Kat had to bite down on her bottom lip to stop smiling. Geez, she thought. At this rate, she was gonna end up mentally adopting the entire school...

"Well--" Shaking her head again, she stepped back, playfully elbowing Ace and Deuce, on either side of her. "I guess we should probably get going... Can't stand around under this tree all day, right? Plus, tomorrow's the big day..."

A thrill of anxiety rippled down her spine at those last words. Oh, crap-- she hadn't really realized until just now, but... God, this was all happening so fast.

Shaking the thought away for now, she continued. "We should probably-- y'know, rest up or... Get prepared or whatever... Right? Whadd'you guys think?"

"Yeah-- right!" Deuce agreed. "Cater-senpai and the housewarden might need help... Come on, Ace!"

With one last head-bobbing bow, he turned, starting to head out of the courtyard.

"Wh..." Ace looked back and forth between the retreating Deuce and Kat, Grim and Jack. "Hey, hang on!" He objected, scowling. "Slow down, Loosey-Deucey... And you're not the freakin' boss of me, remember?!"

Still complaining, he jogged after Deuce, leaving Kat and Grim alone with Jack.

They looked awkwardly at each other for a second, before she decided to try and say something.

"So, um," she began. "I--"

Grim put his paws on the side of her head, shaking her urgently. "Hey, Kat-- C'MON!" He insisted. "Didn't ya hear me before? I'm HUNGRY! We didn't have any breakfast, remember?!"

"Hey-- knock it OFF!" She scolded, reaching up and pulling him off her shoulder, tucking him under her arm. "You're gonna give me a tension headache... Alright, alright, let's go."

Rolling her eyes, she turned, starting to wander out of the courtyard as well. Then she paused right at the edge, glancing back. Jack was still standing under the apple tree, watching her.

"See you tomorrow?" She called, in a tone of voice that was about halfway to a question.

She saw Jack's pointy ears swivel, then he gave a curt nod.

Stifling another smile, she turned away, wandering back towards the cafeteria.

Author's Notes:

*Detective Conan theme intensifies*

...I wish the game was a little clearer as to when exactly things were taking place, in relation to the school day.

I thought MC and Grim met Cater and Riddle on Main Street before class, then went straight over to the cafeteria to talk to JamiKali, then the Ruggie chase sequence... But apparently the Ruggie chase sequence was at lunch/noon?

But ADeuce were still gone-- how long can it take to feed flamingos?

And Cater and Riddle were still with MC and Grim, and the fight with Jack took place right after that-- or at least, that's what I thought. But now they're going back to the dorms, not back to class...

I just... *?????????*

So I went back and retconned it into a half-day with a timeskip. Yay!

Say what you will about HP/its author (and I do. And will!) but... At least you knew when things were happening. At the VERY least, you knew this was still a school, and school things happened.

I'm laughing at Ace saying 'cool beans' in the EN subtitles tho LMAO, give the localizers a raise Michael they deserve it