Azul wasn't the only one staring as a literal queen waltzed into the cafeteria looking beyond irate at the ghost princess. Next to him, he could sense the twin's open interest in the young queen.
Leona's attention to her was rather telling as well. He held himself differently, despite being as paralyzed as the rest of them.
It took Azul a few seconds to realize that one, the girl looked ridiculously familiar. Two, Cater and Trey were behaving very oddly to her presence. Three, she had Ace and Deuce walking behind her as some sort of odd guard.
Either way there was no doubting she was a Royal, not with that attitude or bearing.
Jade had a really odd grin on his face, and Floyd was paying far too close attention to her every move.
"Why does she look so familiar?" said Idia to himself.
Vil had a wicked grin on his face.
"I'm more surprised you don't recognize her. Alyssa-hime has been trending quite a bit recently, especially online."
"Wait, that's the huge net idol?" said Idia.
He was enjoying the show as Alyssa-hime ripped the princess a new one, particularly about the fact she had forcibly kidnapped two of her royal guards over her delusional fantasy of a 'perfect husband'.
Cater silently whistled.
"Man, Alyssa-hime is pissed."
Trey was snickering at him.
"Cater, rule 703."
Cater blinked and managed to partially turn to look at him.
"Whoever comes in second in the croquet tournament has to serve the Queen tea the next day."
Cater ran that through his head, before his face became incredulous.
"Wait, seriously?" he said in disbelief. If Trey could have, he would have nodded. "So the main reason she stormed in here as Alyssa and not..."
"Well, Crowley's half-ass plan clearly wasn't working..." said Trey.
"I must admit, Alyssa certainly made a perfect entrance," said Vil appreciatively. He'd give it a nine out of ten.
Seeing the ghost guards come at her for giving their princess an overdue reality check, Ace and Deuce took a defensive stance. Vil could see Cater and Trey attempting to move, in defense of their Queen.
None of them expected Alyssa to take out a rose from under her hair...and turned it into a long, thorny whip.
What happened next was something of a one-sided fight...for their team. Alyssa's whip was able to do more damage to the ghosts than they expected. Azul eyed his friends for a moment.
"What has gotten into you two? Do you have a Heartsabyl fetish or something?" said Azul.
"Nah, Goldfishie is being extra interestin' today," said Floyd cheerfully.
Leona stared at them.
"Goldfishie. Wait, that's Riddle?" he said in disbelief.
That had damn near everyone staring at Alyssa fighting off ghosts with surprising competence using a whip.
Vil was thoroughly enjoying their expressions as they began to compare the teapot tyrant to the absolute Queen before them, before error messages began to show on their faces.
Idia was the worst off, as he was staring at Alyssa with utter confusion.
One week later...
Riddle found his fellow housewardens giving him slightly odd looks after the ghost bride incident. Well, everyone except Vil that is.
"So...you're really a girl?" said Idia through his tablet.
Riddle knew that they were unlikely to get anything done, so he decided to keep the explanation short and simple.
"My previous guardian felt so threatened by my actual gender and the attention I got as a female that she forced me to behave and act as a male," said Riddle tiredly. "Due to my unique nature, that meant I physically took the form of a male as well, however she was never fully able to suppress my actual gender."
"So why did everyone call you 'Alyssa'?" asked Azul, pushing up his glasses.
"According to my actual mother, that is my real name. I was named after the Alyssum flower," explained Riddle.
Cater had asked Kurama why Riddle's female side called herself Alyssa, and was very surprised that she had apparently remembered the actual name her mother had given her. He had named his daughter that for two reasons...one, when she was born it was near a thicket that had an unusual amount of them. The other reason was that in the language of flowers, 'Alyssum' was known for it's "worth beyond beauty", something that appealed to Kurama greatly.
Leona smirked at him.
"I'm surprised Crowley let you stay."
Riddle rolled his eyes.
"Kitsune are gender neutral. So long as I attend classes as a male, the headmage won't say a thing if Alyssa happens to wander the halls."
"So does this mean Alyssa will be joining me on more photo shoots later?" asked Vil.
Riddle thought back to the surprisingly high amount Alyssa had earned from her last stint as a perfume model. Law school was expensive, and the jobs available to a fresh college graduate were too low to be worth it.
"So long as it doesn't interfere with school or go against the Queen's rules, I don't see why not."
Better to build up a nest egg so he could focus on school than have to worry about budgeting.
Riddle had to shiver when he left the meeting room. He had been feeling warmer than usual lately, and it wasn't a fever because nothing he took helped.
He nearly collapsed once he was in his room as his body began to burn from some internal heat that he couldn't explain. Alyssa took over, but immediately shifted into her kitsune form.
Cater found her within five minutes, and carried her off to Yukina-sensei.
Yukina took one look and winced.
"I was afraid of this. Kurama warned me that it was likely to hit and hit hard now that she's allowed to be herself rather than repress it," said Yukina.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Trey.
"She's in heat," said Yukina simply. "Kitsune don't have periods like humans, but a regular heat cycle. Alyssa has spent so much time as Riddle that she never had a proper heat cycle."
Cater and Trey both winced at the implication.
"How long is this going to last?"
"Anywhere from a few days to a week, minimum. At the very least she won't be in any condition to act as housewarden or do homework," said Yukina firmly. "She'll also have to be isolated until this settles down and she learns what signs she needs to look for."
Poor Alyssa was downright miserable, and became a limpet on Yukina's lap. With how...volatile...a kitsune's heat could be, she was kept separate from the rest of the students, especially the beast kin who would be extra sensitive.
It took two full weeks before she could safely leave the room, and even then Riddle made a point to be extra thorough with his morning showers.
In the Monstro Lounge
It was the first time since her unexpected heat that Alyssa dared to come out. To be fair, neither she or Riddle liked the way some of the more...predatory...beast kin had been watching them lately.
So far no one had attempted to harass them after the example the card soldiers had made of the last idiot, but she didn't want to rely on such protection. Besides, they would be of no help outside school grounds.
The lounge had a strawberry special for the week, and she wanted a minor treat to cool her nerves after all the stress she had been under.
She was halfway through her cake when she felt it. And her face went red.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Floyd Leech suddenly take a whiff of the air, and his eyes locked onto her.
She didn't need to be a mind reader, and was openly glad that she had opted for a private booth rather than out in the open. There was no telling what sort of headaches this would cause otherwise.
Alyssa finished her cake and discreetly made her way towards the mirror hall. Thanks to the seeds she always carried these days, the scent of flowers was mostly covering the rising scent she was giving off.
She had almost made it to the mirror when she was busted by Floyd.
He had a calm, if predatory look on his face. It took her a few seconds to register Jade scaring off a few Savanaclaw students who had caught her scent and were coming to investigate.
"Goldfishie is smelling really good right now. Do you think you could make it to your dorm?" he asked.
Alyssa wanted to respond, but her hormones were completely out of whack right now. It was starting to take everything she had to walk and not collapse.
Yukina had warned her that her cycle would be abnormal until her body became used to having the proper hormones to go with it. It was a consequence of being Riddle for so long instead of her original gender, and not allowing her body to develop naturally.
It would eventually even out, giving her a more normal cycle she could plan around, but for now she was stuck having it pop up at random.
Floyd said nothing, and scooped her up before she had a chance to protest.
She found herself in the twin's room again, dropped gently by a very intent Floyd.
Jade entered soon after, as Floyd cheerfully cuddled with her which seemed to help a bit. Just having physical contact with someone who she didn't consider a brother or family of sorts was helping a lot.
Jade had a dark smirk on his face when he zeroed in on Alyssa's tail.
She was going to be in for a long night.
In Heartsabyl...
Cater was in full frenzy mode, as he had gotten reports from the card soldiers that Alyssa had been acting off and cornered by the Leech twins again. Considering what Yukina-sensei had told them, it was likely her cycle was acting up again and she was stuck.
Yukina, when informed of what had happened, merely sighed in exasperation.
"I had a feeling this might happen. Which is why I had a...chat... with those two regarding Alyssa."
"A...chat?" said Trey.
"I told them rather firmly that if they wore protection and were respectful of her consent on the matter, then I would have no problem with them being with Alyssa. However if they failed to be careful they'd have less than a minute's head start before I turned them into ice statues before alerting Kurama about the matter."
Trey and Cater looked at her in disbelief.
Both of them mentally prepared to deal with the fallout from this mess.
~*~*~~*
Floyd had a wicked smile on his face, pinning his goldfishie down to his own bed. By mutual agreement, Floyd would have first dibs on Alyssa as he had been interested in Riddle the longest. Jade didn't mind, as he was a bit of a voyeur and enjoyed the show. Besides, it was so fascinating to hear the lovely sounds Alyssa made.
Bearing in mind what Yukina-sensei had said (more like subtly threatened), they were more than content to simply wait for Alyssa to be in her right mind before sealing the deal.
That didn't stop them from having a little...fun...with her and letting her see exactly what was waiting for her. Azul was firm about staying out of it, as he didn't want to get caught in Heartsabyl's retribution.
Alyssa let out a low moan...Floyd's tongue was ridiculously long and he knew how to use it. The moan grew deeper with the bite Jade gave to her shoulder.
She...really didn't want them to stop. Something in her eyes conveyed that because Floyd's grin became even more wicked in a way that sent pleasurable shivers down her spine.
The air became even more charged, as Jade distracted her while Floyd went to get something.
Alyssa knew with the way Floyd positioned himself that there was no going back. But honestly, she was done playing the 'good girl' and wanted to be selfish for once. Besides, it felt so good she could barely think, much less notice any pain.
Those feelings doubled when Jade became a more...active participant.
By the time she returned to her dorm, her heat thoroughly subsided, she found Cater waiting for her.
He said nothing, merely scooped up his housewarden and bundled her off to her room so she wouldn't be seen doing what many of her classmates called the 'walk of shame'. She really didn't know why they called it that...she felt no shame for what she had done, more like relief.
She found it strange how little things had changed. But she felt like something had settled in her, and a large source of stress seemed to melt away once she woke up.
Either way, Cater and Trey were extra leery of the twins for a solid two weeks because of it. Even if Riddle tentatively sought them out a few days later for a repeat.