Savanaclaw

It was their first time heading to forest as they soon came across trees with a lot of chestnuts hiding in the green spiky covering on the ground. Grim awed on the product to which he said with a wide smile, "Wahhh! There's so many chestnuts all over the place! It's a forest of all you can eat mont blanc-! Guh! It's get picking! Owww!"

As he reached for the one in the trees, his paw accidentally touched the spikes to which he quickly drew back in pain, "Fgnaa! The thorns pricked my paw!"

"I see that..." Lotus sighed in exasperation as Yuu hurried in to help the cat.

Deuce shook his head, "We can't pick them up with bare hands. It'll also be good to get a basket or something to put them all in."

"The botanical garden probably has whatever we need inside." Ace noted with a wide smile.

Duece nodded, "Let's go take a look."

Inside the botanical garden was full of tropical plants that bloomed in bright colors. Many of which Peony find to be very nostalgic. Normally, the plants should be thriving in a rainforest type of environment, but here it wouldn't matter where they are brought to as long as they have the correct temperature and humidity to thrive in. With the correct care, these plants could thrive without facing harsh conditions.

"Wow, it's bigger in here than I thought." Ace noted curiously as he looked around the place.

Deuce nodded and said, "There should be a caretaker of this place. We should split up and find them."

"I'll go right." Ace stated with a smile.

"And I'll head left." Deuce nodded, "Grim and supervisor, you guys can go straight to the back with Lotus."

They headed their different path without much more and it wasn't long before Grim was already distracted as he called out to them pointing to the small purple fruits hanging from the trees, "Hey, hey! Look at this! There's a bunch of fruit! They smell so good!"

Lotus glanced over at them and smiled when she saw the familiar fruits, "Ah, those are rouge fruits."

"Rouge?" Yuu looked to her curiously, "As in the makeup that those girls like to put on?"

Lotus nodded, "Because of their red color is so similar to the blush cosmetics woman in the past used, they were called rouge fruits after the cosmetic. You should be careful. They could dye your fur with their intense red juice. It's also sour but can be used to make jam and fruit wine, or you can eat it as is."

"Heh..."

"There's a bunch of fruits I've never seen before." Yuu noted curiously as he looked around curiously.

"Oof!"

Surprised by the sound of the other person sleeping amongst on the steps of one of the small bridges over the aqueducts. Lotus quickly looked away from Grim to see that Yuu had indeed stepped on the tail of the guy she had seen back at the ceremonial event. It was the guy with the brown hair and green eyes, but this time, there was no hood and the guy was in his yellow uniform without the coat.

"Did I step on something?" Yuu looked down in confusion to see that it was a long tail.

Lotus pursed her lips knowing that Yuu had just encountered one of the dorm leaders. She frowned and hurried over as the guy looked up with an apparent scar on his left eye, "Hey. You've got some nerve stepping on someone's tail without saying anything."

"Are you the caretaker here?" Grim looked to him in confusion, "You seem like an impolite guy..."

"It doesn't seem to be so, Grim." Lotus said with a sigh and hurried over next to Yuu.

"I was right in the middle of a nice nap, then you go and walk all over my tail." The tanned guy glared at them with a scowl on his face, "This sucks."

"Waah!" Yuu's eyes widen in bewilderment, "I'm so sorry!"

"You..." the guy suddenly smirked when he got up and saw them clearly as he looked down at them, "Aren't you the herbivore that the mirror said can't use magic? Hmm..."

He bent over and sniffed them to which surprised Yuu as the human yelped in bewilderment, "Eek... H-he's smelling me!"

Lotus sighed in exasperation, "Relax... He hasn't clawed at you yet. I doubt he would anyway."

"Oh..."

"...Ha." The guy laughed, "I really don't smell a speck of magic on you. I don't feel like taking on an opponent that can't resist."

Grim was shivering with his legs barely holding himself up, "Man, being scrutinized by this guy is making my fur stand on end."

"You on the other hand..."

The guy with the lion ears and tail turned to her with a curious look to which Lotus batted back with an easy smile, "Yes, sir?"

The guy announced with a firm frown, "I, Leona, can't just let you just walk away after stepping on my tail? I was having such a lovely nap and now I'm just pissed. I'm gonna take a tooth."

"Whhhaaat?!" Yuu screamed in shock when he heard this coming from the guy.

Grim cried out in shock, "Hurry, let's get outta here!"

Lotus smirked when she saw the two's reaction with her arms folded in exasperation. However, before he could get them, Lotus could feel a small presence as she looked down the path instead and saw boy slightly taller than Yuu running down the road. Seeing the tail and large ears, Lotus raised a brow, "Is that your friend, there?"

The Lion guy stopped in his tracks and turned to the sound of the boy calling out when he saw them, "Leona!!!"

Reaching to them, the hyena boy sighed, "Ah, there you are. It's time for your remedial lessons, y'know."

Leona groaned, "The annoying one's here."

The hyena boy smirked, "It's cause you keep failing, Leona. If you keep getting held back we're gonna be classmates."

As Lotus picked up the trembling Grim under her arms, Leona pressed his temple with how black-gloved fingers and complained, "Knock it off already. I don't need lectures from you, Ruggie."

"I don't enjoy nagging you." Ruggies responded with flat ears and a raised brow as he scowled in annoyance, "You'd have no problem if you just tried. Whatever, let's go!"

The lion guy scowled and clicked his tongue before glaring in their direction again, "Watch out next time you come onto my terf. Herbivores."

Pushed away from the back, the lion was pushed out of the greenhouse leaving Lotus with the two. Finally, the two let out a sigh of relief as Grim was the first to speak, "Fggnaaa! I'm sweating bullets! What's with that intimidating caretaker?!"

"I don't think he's the caretaker..." Yuu pointed out with a frown, "He was like a lion."

Lotus frowned as she stared down that guy's direction, "He has the characteristics of a lion, so I'd say that's not wrong. But he's definitely not the caretaker."

"We found a basket and tongs over there!"

Lotus looked away and saw Ace and Deuce return with a large basket and tongs in hand.

She sighed in relief and said, "You're finally back."

Deuce raised a brow when he heard her words, "Did something happen to you too?"

"Ah, that's right!" Grim spoke up in shock, "The chestnuts! Out tart will get smaller if we don't get a bunch. We'll talk about our encounter with the caretaker while we work."

So they returned to the forest where the started gathering chestnuts and Lotus and Yuu continued to pick up chestnuts from the side with Yuu occasionally interrupting for his part when possible, clarifying that he was at fault for stepping on the tail.

"So, that's what happened." Grim finished.

Ace grimaced nervously, "There is absolutely no way that was the caretaker."

"I was thinking back now that I've calmed down that guy was wearing a yellow best so he must be from the Banana's Dorm." Grim stated.

"Savanaclaw." Lotus corrected.

"So Savanaclaw..." Deuce noted with a frown.

"Is it just me or are there a lot of delinquents at Night Raven College?" Deuce stated nervously.

"All right!" Ace nodded after looking upon the piles of chestnut in their basket, "Our chestnut pile is pretty big. Let's get them back to Trey!"

Grim cheered, "Nyaha! This tart is gonna be awesome!"

After having picked up quite a lot of chestnuts, they returned to the cafeteria and into the kitchen where Trey was awaiting them. Trey smiled when he saw them, "Welcome back."

His eyes soon rested on the basket they've placed on the table noting in surprise, "You've picked quite a bit."

"With this we can make a huge tart!" Grim pointed out excitedly.

Trey picked on up testing the feel in his hands before saying, "Peeling all this is going to be a challenge but... let's get to it."

"All of this..."Deuce muttered nervously, "There's no end in sight..."

"Making sweets is all about preparation." Trey lectured him with a wide grin.

"Yeah, yeah!" Ace called out cutting the conversation short, "we get it! I'm so ready to get this over with!"

Lotus struggled a smile and began helping them cook and peel.

An hour went by when they were finished peeling that Ace finally learned back on a wooden chair and gasped for air, "Puuuahhh! We're finally done with the peeling!"

"My arms hurt..." Deuce stated with a sigh of relief.

Trey chuckled, "Haha. Good job. Your hard work will make it tastier."

"I'm full with just the smell." Grim muttered as he lay collapsed on the kitchen table.

"Next we mix butter and sugar into the chestnut paste then add oyster sauce as the secret ingredient." Trey said with a smirk.

"Oyster sauce?!"

"Yep." Trey nodded with a wide smile, "The savoriness of oysters adds depth and richness to the cream."

He pulls out a glass bottle of black oyster sauce as he said, "Here's young oyster sauce with the walrus' seal of excellence."

"Famous patisserie all use this in their tarts." Trey points out much to Lotus's amusement.

She stifled back her laughter and just watched the four's reaction before her.

"Seriously..." Deuce muttered in bewilderment, "That's a pretty salty sauce."

"Even chocolate gets put in curry all the time..." Ace noted curiously, "It might be good."

Lotus shook her head with a sigh and gave the two a light smack on the head, "You guys... I had no idea your thought process was this weak..."

"Huh?!"

Suddenly, Trey began laughing aloud as he watched the two stare back at him in bewilderment.

"It's a joke! Oyster sauce does not belong in sweets." Trey confessed with a wide smile as he could barely speak right.

"Screw you!" Ace exclaimed pretty much pissed, "You said it with a straight face too!"

"Haha! If you took a second to think about it, like Lotus had, you'd figure it out." Trey pointed out with a wide smile, "Don't just accept things without a healthy amount of skepticism. Better study up."

Grim whispered to Yuu quietly, "This guy looks nice but is pretty good at lying..."

"Here you go, Lotus." Trey handed her the leftover chestnuts that he could incorporate into other sweets as he continued to mix the chestnut paste in on mixing bowl, "Next is the whip cream... Ah!"

His eyes widen in bewilderment as he froze.

"What's the matter?" Ace called out curiously.

"You all gathered so many chestnuts that I got ahead of myself and made too much marron paste." Trey explained, "We don't have enough whip cream to mix into it."

"I can go out and buy some." Deuce responded, "Is it sold at the school store?"

"Ah." Trey nodded, "You can find anything at that place so it should be there. Could I ask you to pick up a few other things?"

As he began listing off the items onto a piece of paper, Deuce spoke up, "I don't think I can carry all that alone. Supervisor, do you mind coming with me?"

"Sure." Yuu nodded, "It's my first time going to the school store."

"I think I'll come along." Lotus spoke up with a yawn after secretly putting away the chestnuts into her ring.

"I'm going too!" Grim called out, "I'm tired of mixing flour endlessly.

Grim quickly hopped off the table and chased after them as they left through the door.

As they walked, Deuce questioned her curiously, "You're not going to stay with them?"

Lotus shook her head, "What I'm making can wait."

That and she thought that having Ace stay with their Vice Dorm Leader was a good idea to learn from the guy. In truth, Ace is still no different like a child similar to Riddle who could at childish at times without knowing it. Perhaps, having him hang around with Trey for a little bit could help.

The School store was in a separate building away from the school's main building. it looked like an old shack that had been remodeled and painted in purple with decent wood walls and tiles.

When they entered, the interior was filled with many antiques and the like to which Lotus could also see a piano and a strange crystal skull.

"Pardon us." Deuce called out following after her and frozed in surprise and the things around them, "Wow, this place is amazing. There's a crystal skull, grimoires..."

He looked up to a strange creature hanging from the wall on a wooden frame, "What kind of taxidermy is this?"

"Taxidermy?" Lotus said curiously before seeing someone walk out from the back.

The man inside was a lean man with tan skin, dark hair curled and frizzy under a purple top hat and white skeleton tattoo on his skin and face. He was busy with something and stopped to clear put away some stuff.

"Woah." Grim eyed everything around them in bewilderment, "Do they really sell whip cream here?"

Lotus raised a brow and looked to Grim curiously before shutting her mouth and looked to the humans, "What's a 'taxidermy'?"

"You seriously don't know?" Deuce looked to her in bewilderment, "It's when you take and animals skin and carcass before, um..."

"I'll explain to him." Yuu stated before explaining it to her much to her disgust upon discovery.

So it was basically the preservation of an animal or living being!

The thought of it disgusted her that she frowned before looking up at the strange creature pitifully.

"Hey! My lost little demons, how goes it?" The man with the tattoo called out to them after having finished whatever it was that he was doing.

The guy's theme was pretty much a bunch of purple with a bone necklace and a strange skull on his purple top hat. After straightening out his purple coat, he grinned with a wave and wink, "Welcome to Mr. S's Mystery Shop. What can I do for you today? A charm for uncharted lands? Mummy of an ancient king? Or how about some cursed tart cards?"

Grim froze, "Ffgna! You scared me!"