As they arrived at a door on the first floor, Grim kicked it open forcibly. The classroom was rather spacious and more like a lecture room than a regular classroom. Yet, it was also empty. Grim shouted arrogantly, "Hey! Ace! Get over here! Try to hide from me, will ya! Huh... Maybe there's really no one here?"
Suddenly, a nearby painting of a person on the wall spoke up, "Oh, I wouldn't say that, I'm here."
"Bwaaah! That painting just talked!" Grim jumped up in shock with the fur on his back standing.
"Yes, and...? Is a talking painting really such an oddity at this school?" The paintings frowned in confusion, "The lady in the portrait on that wall talks too. As does the gentleman in the portrait on this one. As long as a painting has a mouth, why wouldn't it be able to talk? Is that really so strange?"
"Hm... I know for a fact that paintings don't talk from what I can remember. Perhaps it's normal here because this is a magic school? I apologize if I sound rude. Everything here is very new to me. I'm Hoshi and this is Grim. Please forgive for his lack of manners. He hasn't been around others very often and is still learning. I'm also rather new here too. We were hired as new janitors starting today. " Hoshi explained calmly with an utmost manners she felt compelled to show, "Are you with those ghosts from yesterday?"
"Well, your "usual" and my "usual" clearly differ. Shall we agree to disagree on the matter? You are rather unusual. It's rare to see a young one who knows their manners around elders. As for those 'ghosts'... Unlike those restless spirits, always wandering hither and thither, I've been contentedly hanging on this wall for over fifty years." The painting replied with a sense of pride before glancing over to them, "Now, you seem to be searching for someone."
"We're lookin' for this guy called Ace. He's got messy hair and a heart drawn on his face." Grim explained.
"Ah, I know the one. A new student, I believe? Today was his first day at school. I think he went back to his dorm a while ago." The painting replied.
"Seriously?" Hoshi muttered in shock, "I didn't think he'd be willing to ignore the headmage's words..."
"Myaaah! So it's true! He's tryin' to ditch us! Do you know which way he went?" Grim cried out angrily.
"The door to the dorms is in the eastern building."
"Let's chase after him, Hoshi!" Grim shouted and pulled her along.
She was shocked by his strength as she struggled to look back and shouted, "Th-Thank you!"
As the painting watched the two run off, he muttered in confusion, "What a strange duo..."
.....
Turns out, the dorms was actually on the same path towards their dorm only it was much closer to the school building. The building was circular with a dome top. Without a moment hesitation, Grim quickly rushed in with Hoshi running after him. Grim looked around the confused students as he grumbled, "Dang it! There's too many people and scents! Where is he? Where is he..."
As he said this, Hoshi looked around hurriedly. With so many people, finding one person is like finding a needle in a haystack! She looked around nervously as she thought about what to do when a thought hit her!
She took a deep breath. She can't just look for someone with a befuddled mind. Rather than finding someone in a short time frame like that, it would work better if she cleared it and focused on her senses. She looked around carefully as she remained deep in thought. She doesn't have a strong sense of smell like Grim, but she still has eyes and ears. In deep concentration, she finally heard a familiar voice from afar! She spun her head hurriedly and saw the familiar orange hair figure, "Grim, there!"
Ace was hurrying towards the mirror with roses and cards as he grumbled in disdain, "Yeah right, like I'm gonna wash a hundred windows. I'm just gonna go back and—"
"AHA! GOTCHA, PUNK!"
Stunned, Ace spun around in horror as he saw Grim and Hoshi running at him, "Oh no! They saw me!"
As expected, Grim's voice startled him as he turned around and began running towards the mirror at top speed. Despite this, Grim shouted as he continued dashing on all four, "Stop right there, pal! No fair gettin' a head start! Wait!"
"Who in their right mind would ever wait?! Seeya!" Ace stuck out his tongue at him.
"No way are you gettin' out of this! You think I WANNA wash windows?" Grim hollered at him.
It was then Hoshi noticed someone was walking out of the mirror much to her surprise! She shouted, "Watch out!"
"...Hm?"
He looked up as Ace roughly pushed him aside.
"Outta my way!" Ace shouted.
"Hey! What gives?!" The boy shouted at him with a scowl.
"Please, stop him!" Hoshi called out to the boy desperately, "He's shirking his cleaning responsibilities!"
"What? That's not right! But how to stop him?" The boy exclaimed in shock before being puzzled and panicked as the time ticks by, "You want me to cast a spell to stop him? Like, freeze his legs? Or bind them with a rope? Or maybe I could... Hmm... No..."
"I don't care how! Just do something! Anything!" Grim blurted out angrily.
"Anything?! Anything, huh..." He stammered nervously before shouting in frustration, "All right! Here goes anything! I summon thee... S-s-something heavy!"
Suddenly, a large cauldron appeared out of nowhere and falls down on top of Ace squashing him onto the ground, "Bwaaah?! Wha?! A pot?!"
"Ah ha ha ha ha! Look, Hoshi, look!" Grim called out as he made it over and stood over Ace with a smug smile on his face, "That Ace guy got crushed beneath a giant cauldron! It squashed him flat! Aha ha ha! That's what you get!"
"A cauldron?! I wasn't expecting that. I may have overdone it this time..." The guy muttered nervously.
"No, it's good." Hoshi muttered calmly as he walked past the guy towards Ace.
"Owwww! What are you bothering me for? You guys coulda just banged out the work yourself!" Ace grumbled as the guy erased the cauldron.
"There's no 'banging out' a hundred windows!" She scolded him angrily.
"W-woah!" Ace was taken aback as she did so.
He had thought she was a lax person who was weak to the authority of others and a pushover as well. However, he never thought that she would be so relentless and be able to catch up to him! Now here she was yelling at him!
"You have to wash a hundred windows as punishment? What the heck did you do?!" The boy exclaimed in bewilderment.
"Urgh..." Ace grumbled nervously before replying as he sat up, "I was just screwing with that furball a little. ...Okay, and the statue of the Queen of Hearts got a teeny bit charred. Sue me."
"You damaged a statue of the Great Seven?! No wonder he flew off the handle at you! After you managed to get into THIS school, how could you get in trouble on the very first day?!" The boy scolded him.
"Oh, shut up. Who are you, anyway?" Ace scowled angrily.
"My name is Deuce. Deuce Spade. Don't you remember your own classmate?" Deuce frowned in disappointment.
"Hm?" Hoshi noted
"You don't remember my name either, do you?" Ace pointed out in annoyance.
Seeing Deuce's shocked expression, it was clear that he hit the nail on the head. However, he didn't give in and reminded him sternly, "That's not the point! You shouldn't try to shirk an order from the headmage!"
"Yeah, yeah, message received... Fine, let's bang out the windows already." Ace grumbled irritatingly.
With the matter sorted, Hoshi was relieved when she felt something was amiss with a bad premonition and paused in bewilderment, "Huh... Wait... Grim sure has been quiet."
Upon realization, Ace looked around and exclaimed in horror, "The furball! He's gone!"
Ace rushed to the window and noticed Grim running to the school building with a victorious smile on his face as he laughed, "Ah ha ha ha! I'll let you two handle the rest! See ya, suckers!"
Flabberghasted, Ace shouted angrily, "You caught me so YOU could run away yourself?"
He then turned around hurriedly and called out to Deuce, "Hey! You there! Uh... Juice?"
"My name isn't "Juice". It's Deuce! With a D!" Deuce corrected him in annoyance.
"Whatever! This is partially your responsibility, you know! So help me catch that little furball!" Ace stated as he pulled Deuce along past Hoshi.
"How is this my responsibility?!" Deuce exclaimed in bewilderment.
"Grim's useless janitor friend can't use magic." Ace pointed out irritatingly with a scowl only to be given a glare by her much to his shock as he stammered, "A-A-Anyway! That means this is up to you and me!"
Hoshi frowned but didn't complain as she grumbled, "We should hurry."
"Ah! Hey! Wait up!"
.....
The three of them raced after Grim at top speed for a while as Ace and Deuce struggled to catch Grim. However, as Grim was a cat, he was very flexible and fast on all fours. Though clumsy, he managed to dodge all of the two boy's magic attack, including a large black cauldron Deuce created. Each time they thought they had him cornered, he would find another way to escape whether it was through his physical skills or his wits. Finally, after a long while they arrived back at the cafeteria where Grim somehow managed to jump up onto a large and pretty chandelier! Frustrated and worn out by this point, Ace stomped his foot angrily and scowlded him, "Argh! Stop jumping around like that!"
"Heh heh heh! Catch me if you can!" Grim sneered at them as he swung the chandelier.
"No fair climbing up onto the chandelier, you coward!" Deuce shouted at him.
"Damn it." Hoshi muttered, "He probably won't come down at all, if it means he'll be caught."
"I haven't really learned flight magic yet..." Deuce muttered nervously, "What could I summon to hold onto him...? Hmmm... Oh! That's it!"
"Did you come up with somethi- Oh, hey!" Ace cried out raising both hands in surrendering, "Stop! What are you doing?! Why are you pointing your pen at me?!"
"Because I'm going to launch you." Deuce announced his idea.
"Whaaat?!" Hoshi's eyes widen in disbelief, "No way does this end well… Right?"
"Hell no! Are you kidding me?! Bwaaah!" Ace shouted before he began to float in midair much to his horror, "Put me down! Seriously, do not launch me! Abort! ABORT!"
"Just make sure to grab him tight." Deuce reminded him having ignored the pleas, "I've got him in my sights, and... Go!"
Hoshi hurriedly grabbed his shoulder "Deuce, wait! Stop!"
However, he was too late.
"BWAAAAAAAH!"