Chapter Text
“A commoner is sitting next to me? What is the world coming to?”
I lifted my head and opened my eyes. My head felt all groggy, I must have fallen asleep. I need to stay calm. Assess the situation and look up at the tall gorgeous girl to my left. She looked upset, but she was already moving on. Stacking her books onto the desk in what looked like a high school classroom. Give me a minute I need to retrace my steps.
My name is Claire Francois, I was an accountant in a country called the United States. I tended to prioritize cheap hobbies, as I’d been working a lot to try to move up the corporate ladder. One of those hobbies was playing video games. Dating sims weren’t usually my thing but I’d found one on sale and fallen in love with it.
And then I took a good look at the girl next to me.
“Rae?”
She flinched, unable to ignore me. “Please use my full title, commoner.”
That tsundere reaction, the chocolate brown hair “You’re Rae Taylor”
This time she turned to face me. Was it really her? Her eyes are as red as strawberries, and her voice was perfectly bitter. I felt my knees go weak as she simply looked in my direction. She’s so much more amazing in person “Enough! Commoners like you should use the full title when addressing a noble. You should know your place.”
“Miss Rae?”
Those words seemed to put her at ease. She was visibly relaxing even if not responding.
“Do you know who I am?”
She visibly sighed before answering. “You’re Claire Francois, one of the commoners attending here because of the new merit based admission system. Now can you please stop talking to me?”
She knew my name? She knew my name! Rae Taylor from Revolution knows my name!
“I love you.”
She visibly recoiled from that. She’s so cute when she gets flustered. It happens too rarely in the game.
“W-what did you just say?”
“I said I love you Miss Rae! And I don’t care who knows it!”
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“Claire, what are you thinking?”
A man with hair so blonde it could be mistaken for the sun approached me. Yu Bauer, an old childhood friend of mine and a fallen noble himself. We’d grown close over the years, but apparently not close enough for this. His hand rested on his forehead like he had a throbbing headache, and his eyes were forced shut as if he didn’t even want to look at me.
“You know who Miss Rae is right? The Taylors are one of the most powerful families in Jur! You can’t just go up to her and make fun of her like that!”
It made sense that he probably thought I was making fun of her. Rae was the game's villainess and the player’s main rival. No matter what happens you’ll both end up in conflict. The world of Revolution is an otome game, after all, and the main goal of the game is to romance one of the male characters. Not me though, I had an entire Tumblr page dedicated to Rae. This strong, short-haired tsundere. I could almost imagine her sweeping me off my feet and…… Yu is still looking at me.
“Claire, what on Earth were you thinking?”
Yu had, like myself, gotten in on a scholarship. He and his brothers had been determined to try to carve out a future for House Bauer. He was convinced he always knew what was best and what was going on around him, perhaps because he held the rare distinction of being both a noble and a commoner at different points in his life.
“What can I say, she’s just too pretty. I couldn’t help myself.”
Yu finally had it in him to look me in the eye
“She’s a stuck-up jerk and she probably hates you now. This is the first year scholarship students have been allowed into the academy, we can’t afford to make any enemies!”
That was Yu for you. Cautious above all else.
“It’ll be fine Yu, I know what I’m doing.”
He just looked me in the eye, he didn’t believe me in the slightest.
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“Good day to you, Miss Rae.”
“Good day is a parting term, peasant.” Ooh, so mean. Maybe she was finally showing her teeth.
“Where’s your book? Can you not afford one or something?”
Oh my, how attentive Miss Rae. No, you’ve just fallen into another one of my traps. History was one of the many classes we shared together, and I’d made sure to “accidentally” leave my history book in my dorm room. Catherine had tried to remind me of it before I left, if I had been a moment slower I would have had my plans all fall apart.
“Why, my book seems to have been stolen! I guess I’ll just have to use yours!”
I inched closer to her on the bench we shared, waiting for a reaction. I’d been toying with her for a few days now, and she never seemed to be ready for it. Had she never experienced this sort of flirtation? Maybe the nobles really were as stuck up as Yu thought.
“Wha - I - you….”
I heard no objections. Instead I just saw her struggling to comprehend what was going on. If she was really this easy to manipulate, this was going to be easy. I looked her in the eyes and smiled. Her hair looked a bit brighter in such a bright classroom, if she wasn’t struggling to string together a sentence she’d be the perfect example of nobility. Instead here she sat with a blush as red as the jackets that were a part of our uniforms.
“I love you Miss Rae!”
__________________________________________________________________________________________
“Good afternoon Miss Rae”
I had chosen to skip lunch today, instead tracking down an opportunity to speak to her. She’d taken up a spot near the gazebo and was drinking some tea. She didn’t appear to have any maids with her so where did she get it from? Just another one of the many mysteries that make up my Miss Rae. Her hair fluttering in the light breeze, sitting prim and proper enough for a painting and -
“Would you leave me alone!” She shouted. She was fortunate no one else was here, such an action was so unladylike. I know she had something of a reputation but you’d expect the nobility to hold up better under pressure, we hadn’t even been here a week after all.
“What’s the matter, Miss Rae? Do you hate me? But I simply love you too much!”
She grabbed onto the table, whatever image of a defined noblewoman was long gone by now. I’d been toying with her for a few days by now and the look on her face made my heart flutter every time. She was trying to regain her composure and, much to my disappointment, succeeding. Unfortunate.
“Listen, what is it going to take for you to stop bothering me? Please. Just go anywhere else.”
“Well how about we have a competition?”
That got her attention. She visibly perked up at the proposal. Come on Claire, you got this.
“Tomorrow we have the first exams. So how about this. If you manage to beat me, I will leave this academy.”
“You don’t have to leave the academy, just leave me alone” She grumbled. “Fine. You, over there.”
Were we not alone, I whipped my head around and saw a figure just within earshot. I would recognize that blonde mop anywhere. Was Yu spying on me? I told him I had this under control. He hurried over to the gazebo, I hadn’t wanted to rope him into this but I guess there’s no real choice now.
“You will be our witness. If I defeat Claire at the exams tomorrow, she will go away. Agreed?”
I could only smile. “Of course Miss Rae. But if I win, I want you to do one thing of my choosing.”
She stared me in the eye, as if she were waiting to see if I would blink. But she could play whatever games she wanted, I knew exactly what her next words would be.
“Fine. I agree to those terms.”
We swore in the name of God, and I was off. I had the dumbest looking smile on my face when Yu finally spoke up.
“What were you thinking? All that work to get in here, and you’re just going to throw it all away? Claire, what has gotten into you!”
It’s true, swearing in the name of God was a big deal in this world. Commoner or noble, you would be looked down on if you didn’t go through with it. Not to mention that Rae Taylor is a noble. She’s had access to a better education than I did, and she has had far better etiquette training. Yu probably thinks I’ve just thrown away my chance to study at the academy.
“Seriously, this is such an unnecessary risk! We just got here! What are you -”
I wasn’t listening to a word he said. I just sat there and carried my smile to the end of the day.
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Charge, aim, and fire. Holding a wand felt like second nature, and since I had high attributes in Fire, I didn’t need to put much effort into my spells either. But of course, no one was paying attention to me.
“A dual caster? Here? Amazing! And she can’t miss the target if she tried!” Everyone was instead clamoring about the results of the nobles. I wasn’t paying attention to that right now, I just wanted to get a better grip on how magic actually worked. Yu made himself scarce since the tests have started. I was expecting he’d try to talk to me, but instead I’ve mostly been on my own today. He probably thinks I’m completely doomed.
“Attention students, the results have been posted!”
The students all started to crowd around the boards. Oh, there was Yu. He and his older brother seemed to be trying to talk to Miss Rae about something. She caught me in the corner of her eye and smirked at me.
“Oh there you are Claire, I was worried you wouldn’t show up for the moment of your defeat.”
“I’m so sorry Miss Rae, I was up a bit late last night trying to think up what I would have you do for me.”
That alone threw her off her guard, if only a little.
“Well why don’t we see for ourselves.”
Culture Results
Misha Jur - 100 points
Rae Taylor - 98 points
Lily Lilium - 98 points
Rod Bauer - 96 points
…
Yu Bauer - 90 points
…
Claire Francois - 83 points
Rae burst into a laugh. “What questions did I miss? I’m disappointed in myself.” She looks so excited! How cute.
Etiquette Results
Misha Jur - 100 points
Lily Lilium - 98 points
…
Rae Taylor - 90 points
Yu Bauer - 88 points
Rod Bauer - 88 points
Thane Bauer - 86 points
…
Claire Francois - 70 points
The etiquette stuff really threw me for a loop. And apparently Miss Rae struggled a bit with it too. I don’t know, I just couldn’t take my eyes off of Rae in that red dress she wore during the exam. So gorgeous. If that sight had been the last thing I saw I would have died happy.
Magic Results
Rae Taylor - Immeasurable
Misha Jur - 99 points
…
Claire Francois - 91 points
…
Yu bauer - 82 points
“I-immeasurable?” Yu seemed stunned, like his mind was unable to comprehend how that was possible.
“It’s simple really,” another voice cut through the crowd, all of us turned to face it. “Rae here is a dual caster, with the highest possible attributes in both Water and Earth magic”
It was Princess Misha, dressed in her academy uniform she could almost go unnoticed compared to the elegant dresses she wore during public events. She seemed so down to earth here now. Like she didn’t have the future of the entire nation on her shoulders.
“Congrats Rae! What a show!”
Misha reached in for a hug, which Rae immediately obliged.
“Congrats Rae.We’ll have to have some duels where you can show it off”
“Oh I shudder to think what you can do with your wind magic, that’s the best one!”
“Oh nonsense, you-” they weren’t going to stop. That’s fine, we aren’t done here
Final Results
Misha Jur - 299 points
Lily Lilium -
None of this matters. Let’s just check the very bottom for one little thing
Disclaimer - due to Rae Taylor’s unprecedented results, she has not been scored. We will be reviewing how we judge Magic ability in the future
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“Good Afternoon Miss Rae!”
She seemed like she almost coughed up her drink just hearing my voice. She was at the gazebo again, this time with a girl I didn’t care to recognize. Probably another noble. Still it was good to have an extra witness.
“What are you doing here? I thought the terms of our agreement were clear! Have you forgotten that we swore in the name of God?!”
Ooh so feisty
“Breaking a vow in the name of God? How horrible, no one should ever do that. It’s so unkind to the spirits.”
The other girl spoke up. She had a somewhat timid appearance. Her eyes felt like they were staring into my soul. So were Rae’s, but she’s allowed to do that. I do love her after all.
“Why I merely came to collect on what I am owed, Miss Rae, or did you forget the terms of our agreement?”
“What are you talking about? I crushed you in all three categories. Or have they not taught the peasantry basic mathematics?”
Maybe it was her anger or the praise from how incredibly high she scored, but she seems to have forgotten the terms of our agreement.
“Why Miss Rae, you had to beat me on our tests today, but for some reason you were not scored in the final results. Therefore, I won.”
I watched the realization slowly sink in. Wave after wave of denial being pushed back by the reminder of her own words.
“I chose my words very carefully, Miss Rae. Now as per our agreement, you have to do something for me.”
“NO!” Oh that was unexpected. Was she actually afraid of me? That was new. “I won’t do it! I-”
“YOU MADE A PROMISE IN THE NAME OF GOD! YOU ARE BOUND TO UPHOLD IT!”
Where had that come from? The shy looking girl had seemingly been replaced with the loudest thing I had ever heard. I got a better look at the girl. She had long silver hair and red eyes like Rae's. Nothing about her would give off the impression that she could yell like that. How Rae wasn’t deaf is something I’ll never know.
Rae slowly sunk into her seat, accepting reality.
“What do you want?”
“Promise me to love yourself.”
Silence suddenly overtook the gazebo. It felt as if even the birds and the wind had stopped.
“Promise me that no matter what comes, to love yourself, and to love being yourself. Do that, and I’ll consider your debt paid.”
She seemed puzzled, but the girl next to her hadn’t dropped her intimidating aura. After what felt like minutes had past, she finally spoke again.
“Is that all?”
“Would you prefer there be more?”
“No no, it’s fine.” She stood up, She wasn’t much taller than me, but she felt like a giant, as if she were speaking to the entire world at once.
“I, Rae Taylor, promise that no matter the situation, to love myself and love being myself. I swear to God.”
“Thank you Rae.”
And suddenly the shy girl had returned. As long as it didn’t mess with this wonderful moment, I was fine with it though.
“Well Good Day to you, Miss Rae. I’ll see you next week.”
I walked back towards campus. It was getting late and I should retire to my dorm. I peeked back at Miss Rae, the sun was at her back as it began to set, painting the entire scene in an immaculate state.
“Oh and one more thing! I love you Miss Rae!”
“Well I hate you, Claire Francois!”