What happened the previous year at NRC?

We get more information about what happened in 7-10, with Floyd having grabbed Riddle’s hair to say, “It’s red, but it ain’t hot,” resulting in Riddle’s violent reaction.

Jamil explains:

“I doubt anyone in the sophomore class could forget the scene from that day. Riddle, furiously trying to chase after you while the faculty desperately held him back…Jade, laughing so loudly it echoed through the whole Mirror Chamber…and Azul, acting like he’d never seen you before in his life.”

Trey says that Riddle was not like that at all when they first met, and seeing him send Floyd flying during their orientation almost made him question if it wasn’t someone else with the same name. Trey says that, looking back on it now, he was acting just like his mother, raging and yelling while the teachers held him back.

Cater says that Trey talked with everyone when he saw Riddle at orientation, so happy that an old friend had enrolled at the school and vouching for him to the other students. But, Cater explains, “Riddle acted all formal with Trey, like he’d forgotten everything they’d shared as kids.”

Cater says that the day after orientation, Riddle marched up to Trey in the dorm hallway and asked about the paperwork required in order to challenge the housewarden to a duel.

Trey says that, as neither he nor Cater were familiar with the formal procedures, all three of them went to the headmage’s office together to find out what needed to be done. 

A week into enrolling, Riddle defeated the previous Housewarden became Housewarden of Heartslabyul himself, as he disagreed with how the dorm was being run.

As Riddle would behead people for the slightest rule infraction no one volunteered to be his vice-Housewarden, and so Riddle put the position up to a dorm vote, which Trey won.

While not confirmed if it happened in Riddle’s first year, Cater says that he will never forget the day that Trey broke the rules and was hit with Riddle’s unique magic for the first time, which likely wore on him mentally.

Trey says that the first thing Riddle did after becoming housewarden was to thoroughly fix up the rose maze of Heartslabyul.

Leona and Idia explain that Heartslabyul changed dramatically with Riddle and it was formerly “pure anarchy,” with the grounds neglected and the walls covered in graffiti. Leona says, “Not even a week after the first housewarden meeting that school year, the original Heartslabyul guy was gone and Riddle came to greet us as the dorm’s new housewarden, looking like a kid straight out of elementary school. 

Cater says that after Riddle became Housewarden and the rules kept getting more restrictive, the atmosphere in the dorm grew more strained and even those who had been happy when Riddle took over started complaining about how stifling things had become.

Silver says that, in his first year, Riddle seemed constantly on edge and struggled to bond with the horse that he was assigned in the Equestrian Club. 

We see a flashback of Riddle after attending what may have been his first Housewarden meeting, complaining about the length and “people pushing work off on each other.”

Trey encourages him to “dial it back a little” and Riddle responds “YOU’RE SOFT” and declares that he will be laying down the law.

Riddle gets a blister from wearing heels, to which he is unaccustomed. Vil sees him in the hall and provides him with a bandage.

2nd-year Vil observes, “That boy is a disaster waiting to happen.” Riddle seeks Vil out the next day to compensate him for the bandage he’d received.

Early in the school year Jade taught Riddle how to tell the difference between himself and Floyd depending upon whether or not his hair forms a “J” from the viewer’s perspective. Jade explains, a highlight on your right makes a J for Jade.

It was also during Riddle’s first year as Housewarden that he, Leona and the other Housewardens experimented with a variety of ways to get Malleus to attend their meetings, to no avail.

Six months into Riddle’s first year he got caught in the rain and went to Octavinelle to dry off by running laps around a table in the lounge for six hours. Jade says, “Floyd tried to capture it on video, even though he was laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe. He must have been highly impressed.”

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Year-Two Trey and Cater

Trey and Cater roomed together alone in their second year (assuming that the “first-year students are 4-in-a-room, second-year students are 2-in-a-room” situation is not new and it has been so at the school since they enrolled).

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Year-One Azul

Azul did not have a very successful Beanfest in his first year and vowed to get ahold of a Field Scanner in year-2, which he achieved through a combination of interviewing upperclassmen such as Leona, Vil and Malleus, and blackmailing each member of the event committee in order to learn where the various supply crates would be set.

While Idia says that Azul “laid the groundwork” to acquire the position of Housewarden and Azul himself says that it took him “a while,” we do not have any additional information (as of this writing) concerning the timeline or what exactly he did.

As he was already housewarden as of the opening ceremonies in his 2nd year, it might possibly be safe to assume that that groundwork was laid in his first year, though this is unconfirmed.

It was also during Azul’s first year at NRC that he distributed various study guides in exchange for talents from his fellow students, similarly to the events of Book 3, but Crowley explains, “the commotion was much more contained” because “his study guides didn’t have quite the reputation they carry this year.”

It was also as a first-year student that Azul returned the talents that he’d taken in an arrangement with Crowley, where he was granted permission to launch Mostro Lounge (in exchange for 10% of his proceeds).

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Year-One Floyd

In his first year Floyd was blasted through the air during his orientation, by Riddle, for grabbing his hair.

Floyd says that he was on the Farmer team for Beanfest in his first year. First-year Floyd also “nose-dived right into a bush” during flight class, which inspired him to watch videos and try new things until he was finally able to fly, adapting faster than any mermaid in history, according to Vargas.

It was also in Floyd’s first year when he snuck into the gym at night to practice slam dunks, broke two hoops in an all-night practice and was punished by Crowley with a week of gym-cleaning duty.

While removed from Jamil’s dialogue on EN, in the original game he specifies that this happened the previous year.

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Year-Two Rook

During their second year at NRC Vil and Rook were both on the farmer team during Beanfest, while Leona and Malleus were together on the monster team.

Rook tells a story of taking them both on during the event and losing, despite how Leona and Malleus “were engaged in some manner of quarrel” at the time.

Rook’s second year is also when he gave Trey his nickname of “Chevalier des Roses.” Trey says that Rook did not call him that in their first year, but it is not specified if Rook had a different nickname for him that he changed or if he didn’t have a nickname for Trey at all until Riddle enrolled.

Spring of his second year at NRC is when Rook dubbed Ruggie with his nickname of “Monsieur Dent-de-Lion” after seeing him picking dandelions to eat.

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Year-Two Ortho

While now enrolled as a first-year student, Ortho has actually been at NRC for as long as Idia.

Ortho’s first and second years were spent attending Idia’s classes with him, except on test days when he would take walks on campus, chat with others, and visit with Trein.

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Year-One Silver

Riddle describes Sebek as having a “well-mannered facade belies (his) supercilious nature,” saying that such is true of all Diasomnia students, and that even Silver was “rather aloof” when he first enrolled. Silver insists that he “wasn’t that bad.”

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Previous Year: General Information 

・Heartslabyul dressed up as pirates for Halloween 

・Savanaclaw was eliminated in the first round of the inter-dorm spelldrive tournament after being matched against Diasomnia 

・Scarabia was “neck-and-neck in the academic rankings” with Octavinelle