These moments happened occasionally, especially when I traveled together with the Duke and Duchess. It felt nice at first, like a famous celebrity taking a walk in the city, but the novelty fell off after a while when the people kept bowing their heads instead of talking. Watching the back of her head, I felt nothing.

  “Why are you bowing to me? We’re at the academy.”

  “Please don’t cut off my head!”

  I almost laughed. “What? I wouldn’t be able to even if I wanted. Raise your head.” Trembling like a newborn fawn, she did as told. “You don’t need to greet me like that at the academy, we’re all equal here, I think.”

  “B-but you’re from the ducal house…”

  That sentence made we sit up. “I think you got me mixed up, my father is a count.”

  “Oh, is that so?” She let out a sigh of relief. “Wait! That doesn’t make it any better! Why are you here!” Very loud.

  “What do you mean, this is my room.”

  “Why am I sharing a room with a blue-blooded noble!” She fell to her knees with a thud.

  Doesn’t that hurt? “She’s really loud.”

  “Eek! I’m sorry!” Ah, my thoughts got mixed up.

  It took a while before she calmed herself and the room was quiet enough to rest in again. Prowling on my bed, I watched as she moved the things from her luggage to the wardrobe and drawer. She had some interesting things.

  Aside from the clothes, she had packed: books; one of them had a terrible ending, a picture frame of what I surmised was her family; she had a big family, and a bunch of polished round stones; no comment about them. She looked quite satisfied as she spread them all out on the floor in neat little piles.

  I spoke up from bed. “Why did you say that earlier, you don’t want to share a room with me?”

  Her shoulders jumped. “I thought I would be rooming with another commoner…”

  “I can ask to change rooms if you want.” I don’t know if such a thing was possible, but it was better to nip these kinds of things in the bud. Small conflicts often bred into larger ones if untouched.

  Despite its protest, I raised my body from the bed. Some of the piles toppled over as I went for the door with my briefcase.

  “Wait!” She had scrambled to her feet behind me.

  Because I held the briefcase in my usable hand, the only thing she could latch on was the other one. My right hand.

  ***

  Phila was on cloud nine today. Skipping and bouncing around the courtyard, she smelled the flowery flowers, felt the leafy leaves and rustled the bushy bushes. Why? Because she had passed the prestigious entrance test of course!

  She couldn’t believe her eyes when the letter with her name was sent to her uncle’s house. Actually, no one in her family could believe their eyes.

  Not wanting to be one sour uncle that didn’t celebrate his niece’s incredible achievement, one of a kind in the family, he held a banquet in her honor yesterday.

  Oh, the soft chicken! The incredible mashed potatoes and the sugary sweetness that was the cake from a real patisserie! Just thinking about what she had eaten made her mouth water.

  Phila, focus! You can’t behave like a silly country girl just because you are one! First impressions were really, really important. She pumped her fist in front of the dorm room.

  A pretty voice called out when she knocked. And a pretty girl she was. Even when lazing on the bed like a potato, it did not diminish her appearance at all.

  Silky hair that looked like threads of gold, purple eyes that were even more vibrant than the lavenders outside, and last but not least, her pretty dress! Was she some rich merchant’s daughter? For there was no way she would share a room with a noble.

  Ha ha, Phila was wrong. The girl was a noble, a Nikodemus at that. Ah, one of the Dukes in the kingdom. Phila was wrong again. Her father was a count, not a Duke. Right, one of the counts of the kingdom. That didn’t make it better at all!

  However, the noble girl was surprisingly calm even when she committed all the faux pas’ she could. Maybe she was friendlier than she looked? Her aloof stare was terrifying though. But not as terrifying as what happened next. She had grabbed the girls hand by reflex when she was about to leave.

  Phila attended a play once. A tragedy, something she didn’t particularly enjoy but her friend convinced her to go anyway.

  It was about a man that seemed to be the most unlucky person in the world. Everywhere he went, misfortune found him. At his home, in the streets, and finally in prison. Cursing at the Goddess, he was put to the guillotine for something he didn’t even do.

  The actor playing him was incredible, and made the scariest expressions she had ever seen in her life. Phila felt her breath seize up when he attacked the audience with his gaze that landed straight into her very own eyes.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Sharp as knives, full of hatred and anger. The spotlight accented his pulsating neck veins as he spat profanities after profanity at the Goddess. A demon. That was what her friend had said afterwards. But even that paled in comparison to this girl in front of her.

  If the actor was a demon, then she must be the devil herself.

  “Unhand me!” She yanked back her hand.

  Phila staggered back a step, it was terrifying. Her teeth were showing, all four canines clenched together. Sharp enough to kill.

  Her eyebrows were crushed together like the jagged mountains in the West. And her eyes. Purple and cold like the tundra in the North. It made her freeze up. No one had ever shown such apparent hostility at her before. Phila never did anything to warrant it either.

  Her mother had repeatedly warned her to be mindful of nobles. Make sure not to cross them in any way, she said. One wrong move and your future would be full of hardship. And she listened. Throughout her short life, she had avoided them like the plague. Yet here she was, on her first day, already making an enemy of one.

  Clenching her hand unconsciously, Phila felt something soft. She had thought it was quite fashionable that the noble girl wore gloves even in this weather, she actually wanted to ask her about it. The glove now in her hand was delicate and luxurious, beautiful stitches that cleanly separated the back and front-side of the clean fabric. A stark contrast to that girl’s now exposed hand.

  She let out a gasp upon seeing it, involuntarily of course. She didn’t do it because she wanted to, but because she had to. It was horrible. The word terrible and even the word disgusting surfaced to her mind before she could stop it. It looked like a dog had chewed on it, a dog that hadn’t eaten for two weeks. Yet even that description did not accurately convey what she saw.

  The gasp made the girl quickly hide her hand behind her back. Then she went to escape through the door. A booming slam in Phila’s face as a parting gift.

  She stood still for a while staring at the closed door. Then she looked down at the glove in her hand.

  A single tear rolled down the glasses-wearing girl’s cheek as she slumped to her knees for the second time that day.

  “I want to go home!” A pityful cry.

  ***

  “My lady, did something happen?” The carriage rustled as Melissa and I were on the way to pick up the finished uniform.

  “I met my roommate.”

  “Nothing else happened?” I stayed silent. “Did you forget your other glove?”

  “You’re asking an awful lot of questions today.” I ripped it off, letting it slam to the carriage floor. “There, now stop asking.”

  Melissa picked it up and gave it a few pats before laying it on her lap.

  “My lady…” What was she going to ask now? “Do you want some candy?”

  She pulled out a wrapped ball from her dress-pocket. It was apple-flavored this time. A bit sour.

  The soft clang of a bell announced our arrival in the boutique.

  “Oh my, welcome welcome! You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this day to come!” The seamstress dragged me to the dressing room before I could even greet them.

  With a trained hand, she stripped me clean in a matter of seconds. Her assistant folded my clothes in square piles each time she caught another piece of my garments thrown at her. I was then dressed with a speed that rivaled even the seasoned maids at the estate. She did it alone at that.

  “A masterpiece! Don’t you agree, assistant?” Her assistant nodded furiously.

  Taking a turn in the mirror, my skirt flowed nicely. Pleated and black in color, it shone under the warm boutique light. It’s length was modest enough cutting off around my knees. The white inner shirt wrapped around my body perfectly, and contrasted pleasantly with the brown blazer that was more breathable than it looked. A crest of a book and a sword laid atop another, was embroidered above the breast pocket, above where my heart was beating.

  It looked suspiciously like school uniforms of my past life. Something I did not mind.

  Putting all the poems I’ve read and studied together, I wanted to reach into my heart and compliment the pair of experts that waited for me to speak.

  “It’s pretty.” A simple single word often conveyed more than many, I think.

  “It is isn’t it? Only the best fabrics and materials were used. Cotton from the South, mixed with wool from the East—” She went to describe each little minute detail. The weaving and dying process. The cutting and stitching process. She even went on a tangent and mentioned a delicious sounding dessert-cafe.

  “What’s the price?” I asked.

  “Oh it’s already paid for, the Count said to not worry about the cost.” I hummed while giving myself a last look. It wasn’t the uniform’s price I asked about. Well, no matter.

  “Oh heavens, assistant, bring out the thing!”

  The assistant handed me a small and plain square case. There was a pair of gloves inside. At first glance, they looked to have been cut in half, the lower part missing. Someone not knowing what they were, would definitely think of it as a lousy gift. A glove that only covered the knuckled and fingers? Absurd. But it was exactly what I asked for.

  The dark stretchy material in the same shade as my skirt fit snugly on my hand like a glove, or like the stockings I currently wore. My scars were well-covered and the dark color capturing the light even hid some of the bumps that protruded. Best of all, my palm didn’t feel clammy anymore.

  “We had to use a new material from a monster, as cotton and wool threads don’t have enough spring to them to suitably prevent it from slipping off. How is it?”

  “It’s perfect.” I had only said the idea on impulse last time, but they delivered something far better than what I imagined.

  “Oh. My. Goddess. Assistant, we finally get to witness her beautiful smile! Look at that!” They looked like two children jumping and hugging each other. Such a silly pair. Although, was it really such an achievement to celebrate?

  The glove didn’t snag at all as I stretched my fingers to the fullest. I could even play an instrument with these if I wanted.

  “Which monster was it?” I asked.

  “Assistant!” Out of nowhere a drawing of an animal appeared before me. “Experimenting with the skin of a bi-horned frog, we managed to weave a fabric a dozen times stretchier than the stretchiest thread in the kingdom!” She clenched her fist to the air.

  It was a frog with two horns, actually, it was antlers. Two deer antlers on a frog. Right, how silly of me to imagine a big spider or something similar.

  We went back to the old lodging for the night and with a new day beginning, it was finally time to move to the dormitory proper. Circumstance had made me take another night outside the dormitory, to which my maid smiled at me when I decided that for some reason.

  Melissa did my hair again today, letting it flow straight with a braid on the back as an accent. Doing this hairstyle by myself in the dorms? No chance, so I gave her my appreciation. She nearly teared up at that.

  Back at the academy, greetings and chuckles coming from the students, now clad in uniform, made the hallways feel cozy. The majority of them had red ribbons, representing us new first-years. Even when class didn’t start for another day, all of them wore it with satisfied faces. The reflection of myself in the window to my side did too.

  Arriving at the door to my room again, I stopped for a moment. Would Phila still be there? What should I say? I may have overreacted a bit yesterday as it didn’t actually hurt, just surprised me is all. Still, she saw it didn’t she?

  A sigh fell out of my mouth as I reached for the door handle. It opened inwards before I could turn it.

  “O-oh, good morning…” She stood still like a log.

  “Good morning.” Her uniform seemed to fit her better than yesterday’s clothes. It suited her.

  “Have you eaten yet?” She asked.

  I replied with a no.

  Pushing the bottom of her glasses, she adjusted them with a finger. “Do you, uhm, want to eat together?”

  ? Overpowers: Magical Girl Crossover [Grimlight Psychological/Genre based Power System] ?

  by Moawar

  He, Life, had a simple job.

  His responsibility as an Overpower was to make sure that fiction stories and the characters in them follow their dictated path. He always did his job well enough, not more or less than was needed.

  His latest assignment, however, would, in retrospect, prove to be his most challenging one of all.

  He would find himself in a unfamiliar world. There he'll have to quickly adapt to guide Nozomi.

  The strongest magical girl with the potential to accidentally destroy those she seeks to protect in her fight against evil.

  What to Expect:

  -If you like the psychological aspects of Madoka Magica and the mixing of different genres a crossover story brings then this story is for you