Leona and Ace

Ace does not seem to have the best opinion of Leona, accusing him of endangering Riddle with a spelldrive disc in an early vignette (“Who kicked him around as a cub?! It wouldn’t have killed him to say sorry!”), though Riddle reveals he was never at risk, which Leona knew.

When Silver compliments Leona for putting a lot of thought into the churro stand for his group during Port Fest Ace responds, “No, he didn’t! He literally said he took the easiest route!.”

During the Port Fest event the churro stands sells three different flavors, one for each of the three grades, and while characters like Ace and Kalim try to compete over who sells the most Leona has them sell packs with all three together starting from midday, which proves popular but also results in all three flavors selling out simultaneously (Leona: “That stupid competition didn’t even matter. It was way more important for us to sell out and close up shop”). 

Kalim says that it was the best possible outcome as it meant all three groups got first place and Silver says, “That must have been Leona’s plan from the start,” but Ace responds, “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.”

During Spectral Soiree Leona decides early on to leave Ace and Floyd to their own devices and Ace clings onto Leona, saying, “You can’t leave me!”

Ace is not impressed, however, when Leona assigns himself to the role of guard while the rest of their group searches for mirror fragments, saying that Leona “skipping out on the actual work” is “typical,” and, “Aren’t you supposed to be a housewarden? How about showin’ some leadership?”

Leona immediately proves his own point by frightening away a ghost that Ace hadn’t noticed (Ace: “Okay, I admit that’s helpful, but still…”).

After Floyd ties Epel to a headstone to attract ghosts Ace comments, “You know, you talk like you don’t care, but the first thing you did was untie Epel. You actually look out for your people, don’t you.”

Ace says that he had always thought the spelldrive club would be too tough for him but he doesn’t think it would be too bad if Leona would be his captain, and Leona says he would welcome him, as he can “appreciate a guy who’s got some cunning,” and revealing that he noticed Ace knew that Floyd was going to use someone as bait: “You made a calculate choice to abandon Epel to his fate and use me as a shield, That’s pretty shrewd.”

Ace says that he had some misconceptions about Leona as well, but “It’s you and me from now on!”

This new partnership is short-lived, as Ace soon reveals what he really thinks of Leona when they come across a possessed Idia. Idia asks, “I really WAS acting like Leona!?.” And Ace responds, “Yeah, it was awful! Believe me, we wanted you to stop that nonsense ASAP…”

Leona is not amused, saying, “From now on, you’re on your own. I don’t care who comes at you, or what happens to you.” Epel is delighted.

At the conclusion of the event Leona teases Ace about his battle cry against Malleus (“The Hallowenders aren’t gonna lose, period!”). Floyd says, “Crabby gets an attitude sometimes, but who knew he could be so adorable?,” and Leona agrees, saying, “I know just what you mean.”

(Ace: “I give up. I’m no match for either of these guys, no matter what I do…”)

Leona saves Ace from puppets at Playfulland, and Ace seems worried about Leona when he volunteers to stay behind and handle the increasing number of puppets that are in pursuit of their group. 

At the end of the event Ace says, “Leona actually complimented me,” sharing with Trey and Cater that Leona told him, “Huh, so the puppets were actually just pups. Real nice of you to throw ’em a toy,” after Ace told him about how he’d gotten rid of the puppets in the theater. (“That counts as a compliment, right?”)

In Book 7 Leona agrees with Silver’s suggestion that they leave Ace behind in his dream (“He wouldn’t bring much to the table, so it might be more efficient to let him go and move on”).

When Ace reveals his fear of having to risk his life to stand against Malleus, Leona explains that when people enroll at NRC–

“–the smart ones tend to be the quickest to pick up on the fact that there’s always a bigger fish than you—sometimes WAY bigger. And understanding that makes you realize just how insignificant you truly are. Learning your limits and stopping there. That’s the safest route, the one that’ll keep you from ever getting hurt. If that’s what Spikey chooses, isn’t it better that way? People who chicken out in the face of the enemy endanger the lives of their teammates. Better to let him sink into his dream with the darkness.” (Idia: “Uh… Leona, aren’t you projecting a bit there…?”)

(As of this post Leona has possibly never actually referred to Ace by his name.)

Upon waking up Ace is not pleased to learn what it is that Malleus has does and Leona agrees with him, only for Ace to respond, “Like you’ve got any room to talk. Not after all the trouble you caused for students AND spectators during the spelldrive tournament.”

When they arrive in Riddle’s dream Leona compliments Ace on his ability to catch Trey’s glasses in mid-air during transit, saying that Ace has “got good magic control” for a first-year student.