#poor trey

Once Trey and Jade graduated NRC, Trey decided to take over the Clover family bake shop, while Jade opted to open a branch of his own "family business"near the Queendom of Roses.

They still kept a cordial relationship and stayed in touch. When Trey learned that Jade was moving to the Queendom of Roses, he offered to talk over lunch.

One thing led to another, and now it was a daily routine for them to have lunch together, often in Jade's office.

However, every time Trey visited Jade to deliver lunch, he always wondered what was in the closet Jade kept in his office.

One day, Trey managed to work up the courage to ask.

"Oya? There are dead bodies in the closet."

"Wait, you're serious?" Trey's eyes widened in concern.

Jade gave him an unnerving smile. "Well, do you think I am?"

"With you, I never know," Trey shrugged.

The eel smirked. "Well, if it helps, to assuage your worries, there are no dead bodies in my closet, only spare jackets that Floyd bought me."

Some of the pressure on Trey's shoulders relaxed. "Well, at least I don't have a murderer for a friend."

The eel's grin widened, showing his teeth. "My, I never said that, did I?"

"I think that's my cue to leave. Have a good day, Jade."

"May you have a pleasant day as well."

Trey put the closet out of his mind, until a few months later, on an unusually sunny September day, he arrived early.

He had initially planned to leave after placing the sandwich and green tea cake slice, but the closet piqued his interest once again.

As stealthily and quietly as he could, he attempted to turn the knob to the closet (which, strangely had a mushroom with small little warts engraved on it.) The closet was locked, yet had no visible keyhole. Trey then concluded that it had an enchantment on it. He pulled his magestone, preparing to cast a spell…

"What are you doing?"

Trey let out a panicked noise, swiveled around and aimed a spell at source of the unknown voice, which turned out to be the eel that owned the office. Jade dodged the spell and calmly walked over to Trey, placing his suitcase down on the floor and flashing a strained smile, teeth showing.

"I'd like to ask you again, Trey. What are you doing?"

Trey took a deep breath. "Let me explain myself. I came here early and figured that you were busy. I just got curious about what was inside the closet."

Jade backed away, huffing. "I believe I told you already that the only thing inside my closet are spare jackets."

"Well, how am I to know if you're lying or not? You were in Octavinelle, after all."

Jade stayed silent for a minute, before smiling. "Heh. Trey Clover, you are far smarter than many people think you are."

Trey shrugged. "Not really. I'm just an average guy, running a bakery."

"That's what you'd like everyone to believe, Trey Clover."

Trey walked to the door. "Whatever you say, Jade Leech. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Leaving already? Safe travels."

As Trey walked back to the patisserie, he wondered why Jade had been so defensive over the closet. Maybe he's protective of his coats.

Or…maybe he's actually hiding something more.

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The next day, Trey decided to come early again, to see if Jade was in the office. Interestingly enough, he wasn't.

Trey found it strange that Jade wasn't in his office early, considering that he had attempted to break into his closet only a day earlier.

This time, Trey got straight to business, placing the food on Jade's desk and pulling out his ruby red magestone. Trey attempted to remember what he had learned in his practical magic class (along with some tutoring from Riddle) to form a spell to open the door. Trey closed his eyes and concentrated, aiming the spell at the closet. He cast the spell, and to his surprise, it worked, indicating by a small spark of magic.

You would think Jade would have a stronger spell in place…getting it on my first try was a miracle.

Trey then took a deep breath, and opened the doors to the closet…

to reveal a figure jumping out at him.

"SHIT!" Trey let out a scream, stumbling and falling on his back. Trey then heard some amused giggling, looking up to see heterochromatic eyes looking back at him.

"What the fuck," Trey said. He looked at what landed on him. He found a plastic skeleton, head on its side, on his chest.

"Did find what you were looking for?"

Trey sighed, taking the skeleton off of him and getting up, Jade helping him to his feet.

"I guess I did," Trey replied, looking down at the plastic skeleton. "You planned this, didn't you?"

"Quite perceptive, aren't you? I thought it would be funny."

"Nearly gave me a heart attack." Trey adjusted his glasses and let out a breath.

Jade simply laughed. "Well, now you can see what is inside my closet, then." He pushed the doors wider and lo and behold, the only items present were coats of different colors and fabrics. Trey scratched his head in embarrassment.

"It really was just some jackets, huh. Sorry for being so nosy, Jade. Guess my curiosity got the best of me."

Jade went to close the doors of the closet, locking it again with a spell. "Ah, no need to worry. I haven't been this entertained in a while."

"Of course this was just a game to you, you slimy eel." Jade shrugged, an amused smile still on his face.

"Now that I've had my fun, why don't we have some tea together? Azul imported some tea from the Scalding Sands recently and gave me some. I've heard it's quite aromatic."

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Jade peered at the body on the floor, letting out a sigh. Why couldn't someone pay back their debt for once? This was all too much work. Blood covered his white gloves, staining them red. Floyd whistled in the background, whistling some folk song from the Queendom of Roses.

Jade huffed and heaved the body over, Floyd moving to walk alongside him, still whistling.

"It was kiiinda unfortunate this lil shrimpy couldn't put up more of a fight. Like, what's the point if this ain't even enjoyable?"

"You know what Mother and Father will say if we don't do this, Floyd."

"Hmph." Floyd skipped ahead, spinning near one of the lamp lights. "Hopefully Goldfish isn't up late again. Wouldn't want him to learn 'bout this, ya know."