"Myah?!"
Grim was taken aback from Ace's sudden change in behavior as Ace laughed out loud, "Pfft... Ah ha ha! I can't hold it back anymore! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Come on, you're the ones who turned orientation into such a fiasco, right? The one summoned by the Dark Mirror who can't even use magic, and the monster no on summoned at all. It took everything I had not to burst into laughter right in the middle of the ceremony!"
Can't even use magic? She seemed to recall that her magic didn't have any form... Could she really not have any magic? But the headmage…
"H-hey! You don't gotta be a jerk about it!" Grim snarled at him angrily which snapped her attention back.
"So in the end, neither of you got admitted, and now you're janitors? Ah ha ha! SO lame!" Ace laughed.
"What did you just call me?!" Grim glared at him.
Hoshi noticed the hostility rising as she tried to grab a hold of Grim, "Grim, hold on-!"
"And you're both so clueless you don't even know who the Great Seven are. Not any one of them!" Ace sneered, "Maybe before you try getting into the academy again, you ought to take a second crack at kindergarten? Ah ha ha ha ha!"
"Grrrrr..."
Hoshi struggled to pull Grim back, "Okay, let's all just..."
However, she was pushed back angrily as Grim's focus was on Ace as Hoshi muttered nervously, "Uh-oh. This is not gonna end well."
"Anyway, just thought I'd tease you a bit. And man am I glad I did. It's been a blast! Unlike you, I actually have classes to get to, so I'll let you get back to picking up trash. Bye!" Ace laughed.
"Myuh-uh! You ain't walkin' away from me! It's too late for that!" Grim scowled angrily.
"Grim, no!" Hoshi tried to catch Grim hurriedly.
However, Grim had already began to blow out fire, "Myaaaaah!"
"Whoa!" Ace leapt back in bewilderment.
"No one makes fun of Grim, Master of Fire! I'm gonna make that explodey-head of yours explode all over again!" Grim declared as he got on all fours ready for a fight.
"Grim! Stop it!" Hoshi shouted but was pushed back by the heat of the blaze! The headmage had just told her to keep an eye on him!
"Explodey-head?!" Ace sneered as he gathered his magic, "You wanna throw down with me, shorty? You got some guts. You wanna talk hair, huh? I'm gonna shave you like a toy poodle!"
"Myaaaaah!"
Ace leapt aside and summoned a gale of wind magic at them, "Oh-ho! How do you like that?"
The wind blew away Grim's small fireballs as Grim complained, "H-hey! His magic winds are blowin' my fireballs off course! No fair!"
"What's going on over there? A fight?!"
Hoshi paused in surprise as she soon realized the once empty main street was no crowded with students! Since when?!
"Oh, sweet! Get 'em!"
Hoshi grimaced, "Guys! Let's take this down a notch!"
However, her voice was easily ignored by the two, "Awww... Can't hit me with your little fireballs?"
"Grrr... You better believe I'm about to!" Grim shouted back at him angrily.
"Take that!" Grim shot a large fireball at him.
"Grim, stop!" Hoshi shouted hurriedly but felt as though her hands were tied behind her back.
"Pfft. All it takes is a little gust to- Hah!" Ace laughed as he shot another powerful wind attack only for the two to suddenly mix into a large fire tornado and hit a nearby statue, "Oh no! Now the Queen of Hearts's statue looks like it's been flame-broiled!"
"That's your fault for tryin' to divert it! You shoulda just let it burn you to a crisp!" Grim scoffed at him.
"Who in their right mind would ever do that?!" Ace exclaimed in disbelief.
"What is going on here? Cease this at once!"
Hearing the familiar voice, everyone looked up in bewilderment while other students quickly ran for it. Some left as soon as the statue was hit by the fireball.
"Oh no! The headmage!" Ace hissed under his breath in horror.
"Not more lashings of love! We gotta get outta here!" Grim stammered in horror.
However, before they could escape, Crowley appeared and grasped Ace by the ear and the other by the scruff.
"OW!"
"Myaaaaah! And I'm still sore from yesterday, too!" Grim yelped.
"As if the likes of you could ever flee from me!" Crowley scolded the three of them in dismay, "Haaah... Did I not just warn you, "no more incidents"? And now you've charred one of my statues?! It's almost as though you WANT to be expelled!"
"No! Forgive me!" Ace begged pitifully.
"And you, Hoshi. You were specifically told to keep Grim under control!" Crowley scolded her.
"I'm sorry." Hoshi apologized regretfully, "I failed to stop him."
"This will not do." Crowley shook his head before glaring at Ace, "And you! State your name and grade."
"Ace Trappola..." Ace responded nervously, "Freshman."
Ace Trappola? Where had she heard that before?
"Then listen well, Trappola. You too, Grim and Hoshi." Crowley pointed at them, "As punishment for today's infractions, you are hereby ordered to wash a hundred windows!"
"Myah?!" Grim screamed in horror before scolding Ace, "That's what you get for makin' fun of me! This is all your fault!"
"Grim!" Hoshi whispered to him with a frown, "Let's talk about this later."
"Whaaat? I have to do it too?!" Ace exclaimed in disblief.
"Of course you do. You will meet in the cafeteria after class. Are we clear?" Crowley glared at the three.
Hoshi nodded regretfully, "Understood."
"Yes sir." Ace muttered in disappointment.
"Ugh, I just can't catch a break!" Grim grumbled in dismay.
.....
After finishing the rest of their chores, Hoshi finds herself sitting on a bench amongst the empty seats having finished their late lunch which was a simple sandwich much to Grim's displeasure. The bell rang and she stretched her arms and legs as best as she could before the next exercise while Grim was busy in grief over their predicament, "I'm already exhausted from a full day of cleanin'. I can't believe we still gotta wash a hundred windows!"
"We just gotta suck it up and do it." Hoshi replied with a sigh, "Let's try and learn from this experience."
"Why are you so calm about all this?" Grim huffed in dismay as he crossed his arms, "He clearly poked fun at us first and you just accept it so calmly? Hmph! I don't get what you are thinking..."
"If you let that bug you in the first place, you won't be able to understand what the other person wants by trying to bug you." Hoshi explained calmly, "From the looks of it, Ace is new here and there are no major classes today, so he is probably so bored that he wants to push around others like this for fun. If not, there are multiple other reasons. When you know the reason, it doesn't look as impressive as we thought it was sometimes or it could be rather concerning."
"What's buggin' me is, Ace ain't even here yet! To make us wait, after what he did... Grrr!" He growled angrily as though every word she had said went out his other ear.
"Calm down, Grim. It's only been five minutes. Let's wait a little before jumping to conclusions"
Seeing this, Hoshi shook her head and gave a dry smile. However, another five minutes passed as Grim kicked up another fuss, "... And now he's super late! I bet he up and bailed on us!"
"That's possible." Hoshi nodded with a frown as she pondered what Ace was doing right about now, "We should look for him."
As they left the cafeteria, Grim hissed angrily as he swore, "Ain't no way am I doin' his punishment for him! C'mon, Hoshi, I don't care if we gotta drag him kickin' and screamin', he's washin' those windows!"
As Hoshi asked around, she noticed the other students' reluctance to speak with her. Not to mention, there was a few who were also talking behind her back. She was able to understand that it was about her peculiar situation, but she can't mind something like this even if she did want to scold at them. However, even though she had magic, she doesn't know how to properly use them. Thankfully, not all of them are as unwilling as the others. She eventually found someone in the library who overheard her asking around. A person approached her, "I heard you are looking around for information?"
"Huh? Y-Yeah?"
"You won't get much anywhere asking information for free." He replied, "Since you've lost your memories, you probably don't know, but Night Raven College has a lot of ambitious students. However, we are said to be as aggressive as we are ambitious. So, you won't get anything asking us from help, especially since you are the first magicless person that had been brought to a private arcane school. That said, I am also new here. So, I don't really have a place at the moment either. I also don't enjoy giving out information for free… unless its an obvious one… Maybe I can be of help?"
Looking at his demeanor, Hoshi could already get the feeling that he was someone from a well off background and decided to see what he plans to do. "I'm looking for a freshman."
"A freshman?" The guy replied in surprise, "Then you should go check out the classrooms from the first floor. All freshmen classes attend class on the first floor. We rarely move between classes. Lucky for you, we don't see our teachers till tomorrow. So, he should still be there if you hurry right now."
"I see. Thank you for your information. It should be obvious, but I don't really have anything with me to repay you-"
The student shook his head, "It's fine. This is something everyone here knows. I suggest being more careful when interacting with other students. As the only magicless person here, you will definitely run into a number of problems if you aren't careful and act naively. It would be in bad taste if my older sisters discovered I tried to take advantage of a naive magicless person. They are very tough."
"Oh, thank you! I'll take your advice to heart-!"
Wait, sisters?
"Hey! Henchman! We're leaving!" Grim cried out from afar.
"Why am I your henchman?" She turned back to say good bye to the boy only to find that he was no longer around, "Huh? He's gone?"
"Hurry up!" Grim shouted.
"C-Coming!" Hoshi hurried after the cat after really seeing that the boy was not around.