Royal Pride (Leona Kingscholar/Yuu)

10 ~ Freshman Nostalgia

"Riddle? What are you doing here? With... Kalim?" It was a strange duo, and while it wasn't strange to see Riddle in the library, the same couldn't be said of Kalim.

Yuu walked over to their table to see what they were studying. "Hey, Jamil and I were just reviewing this, too!"

Jamil took a look at Kalim's paper, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper as he scanned the paper. "As expected... I could teach you this, what are you bothering Riddle for?"

"It's actually an assignment of mine as well," Riddle explained. "We're supposed to teach one of our peers any subject for this assignment. It's meant to test our leadership skills."

Kalim let out a loud yawn. "I'm bored! Riddle's a great teacher 'n all, but all of this stuff is just not getting into my head. Ooh, I know! Let's have a picnic!"

"Kalim. You should learn your class material," Jamil began lecturing, but Kalim stood up with a big grin on his face. "Yeah, a picnic sounds great! We can use it as a study break!"

"We really ought to finish this up," Riddle said tersely, evidently annoyed that someone brushed off his help so casually. "We don't have time for a picnic."

Kalim strode towards Yuu. "Yuu! You're my buddy! C'mon, help me convince them to have a picnic!"

Yuu really didn't want to oppose Jamil or Riddle, but she was also extremely tired of studying. "Why don't you finish up the segment you're working on with Riddle and then we can study outside? Like a study picnic?"

Kalim gasped like it was the greatest, most original idea he'd ever heard. "Yuu, you're brilliant! I'll finish this up lickety-split so we can go outside!"

"You'll still be studying, regardless," Jamil said in an annoyed tone. Kalim ignored him and turned towards Riddle. "You'll join us, won't you?"

Riddle took a second to think. "Hmm... it doesn't seem that I'll be breaking any of the Queen of Hearts' rules. Very well, I will join you. But first, let's finish up these last few questions."

Kalim fist-pumped and sat down with way too much energy. With Jamil and Yuu there to help as well, they were able to finish up and move outside in just a little bit of time.

"Riddle, Yuu, will you two go to the school store and pick up some picnic items? You can charge it to Kalim," Jamil spoke, eventually having to raise his voice to be heard as Kalim started dragging him away.

Yuu turned to Riddle. "Hi!" She said in a saccharine tone. He made a face at her. "What?"

"I just said hi!"

"Hello...?"

"C'mon, didn't we used to be close last year?"

"You make it sound like we stopped being on friendly terms or something of the sort. I don't think there's been any change in our relationship since last year."

"Good to know! I haven't gotten to have a full talk with you in a while."

"You could always come visit Heartslabyul. Cater misses your company. Though, some of my underclassmen are extraordinarily troublesome... They don't even attempt to adhere to the Queen of Hearts' rules!"

Riddle's face began to flush red, the mere thought of the defiant freshmen angering him. Yuu thought it wise to steer the conversation away from topics that could set off Riddle. "How's Trey?"

"Trey's fine. He does a good job as Vice Housewarden." They stopped, finally reaching the school store. "What exactly are we meant to get here?"

Yuu stepped inside first, followed by Riddle. There were a few students, but it was pretty empty. "Picnic stuff, I guess. Have you ever been on a picnic before?"

"I've heard about them, but I've never partaken in one myself." Yuu let out a sigh. "Figures. Well, I think we should get a checkered blanket. It's a picnic trademark. Then... I guess, get whatever snacks you want? Grab whatever looks good."

Riddle seemed a little uncomfortable with the vague instructions. "Literally, dude, grab anything you want. I feel a little bad that it's all being charged to Kalim, but... he's fine with it (and he's rich) so it's fine! We're gonna have a great picnic!"

After a few minutes of perusing, they finally checked out and headed to where Kalim and Jamil were, under a large tree. "I got a checkered blanket~!" Yuu cheered. Kalim seemed to be the only one to match her excited energy, but at least the other two didn't seem irritated anymore.

The picnic reminded her of her first year—this year, she mainly hung out with Ruggie and Leona, but freshman year she spent hanging out with everyone at this picnic, Azul, and the tweels.

It was much more enjoyable and sentimental than she thought it would be, just sitting and chatting with her friends. However, when something good happens, it has to be balanced out with something unfortunate.

And the misfortune ended up being a 'stray' Spelldrive disc that came hurtling at speeds so fast that none of them could react, hitting Yuu in the face.