"Hello everyone. Welcome to your first day of magic school. As you all well know Lilia academy is a school for the magical arts. Using ones magic for performances and the lot. Thanks to our nations efforts and compromises with other nations, we are one of the only countries in the world that is able to use magic this way. In this school you all will learn how to refine your magic for beauty instead of just for fighting amongst ourselves." That's what our teacher said during introductions. The game was set in a magic universe only instead of all out fighting with magic this world, or at least in this country people use magic in many ways that's not limited to fighting. In this school Lilia Academy, the student here use magic to perform spectacular feats and in our first day coming here were supposed to put on a performance with our magic after the day was over.
"Now class the performances at the end of the day will either be by yourselves or with a partner. I want you all to show me and the school just how talented you all are. Please prepare something in the meantime. You're free to use the gym, the auditorium, the courtyard, anywhere you would like to practice. Until then please put on a good show for all of us please."
This is where is all starts. In the manga everyone starts flocking around Aston like flies wanting to partner up with him but he's disinterested in partnering up with anyone. He doesn't even practice before the showcase, thinking he's so above it all. He then goes traveling around the school and sees the heroine, me practicing and becomes entranced. After a brief moment he comes to a realization that there might actually be someone at this school whose better or at least on the same level as him and there begins the the rivalry of the heroine and Aston. To avoid that situation I have to either be like all of the other fangirls that are flocking around him or I make it very clear that I don't want to be rivals. The former sounds like it would be soul crushing so making friends with the brat is my only option. If I tried to avoid him then he might catch an interest in me. I don't want that. I can't ignore him. Confronting him in a non hostile manner is my only option. It's now or never I guess.
As I was walking towards his desk to introduce myself, I got bombarded by a herd of crazed fangirls. Desperation was as if it were leaking out of their bodies' and permeating the air. It was like being in a tiny room next to a giant dogs face while he was breathing onto your cheek; that's what the atmosphere was around him. I could just ignore him and not practice; then again with my type of personality and work ethic it goes against everything I stand for. I was a straight A student, on the honor roll taking college level classes by the time I was a sophomore. There's no way I couldn't practice it was against my very being. I have to get close to him somehow.
"Excuse me? Are you alright, you took quite a fall?" A hand reached out to me and it belonged to the most stunning little boy with short auburn colored hair and green eyes. It was almost like staring at the face of a celebrity he was so stunning.
"I'm alright." I said as I was trying to not to look like a complete idiot getting up from off the floor. "Thanks...."
"Xander, Xander Bowen." For some reason that name sparked something within me. Something inside of my head was screaming, GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!!! As I was wiping the dirt off from my uniform half of the flock of girls suddenly had their eyes on me, or rather the person next to me.
"Oh my god it's Xander Bowen from Bowen Trading!!" Half of the girls came running towards me in a stampede and I got trampled again. It hasn't even been an hour and I already feel like I'm Mufasa from The Lion King. A nineteen year old man gets tackled by a team of football players and dies but a little seven year old girl is just fine after being run over by 10 little girls twice in 5 minutes?? I guess that's shojou manga for you. This life is going to be fun.....
Getting a better look at the green eyed lad I figured out who he was. He's one of the other male protagonists and in classic harem manga fashion he's the rival character to Aston. Xander Bowen, heir to the Bowen Trading Company he's the direct opposite character to Aston. Aston is aloof, calm, and disinterested in most things that didn't concern him. Xander is happy cheerful and magnanimous. He and Aston are childhood friend thanks to their fathers knowing each other through business. They get along fairly well up until they meet me....
"Maybe I'll see you around later? Good luck on your performance!!" He said as I was crawling out the human stampede.
After I crawled out of the crowd and escaped the classroom with an inch of life I figured I might as well find a place to practice my performance in private. In the game the protagonist felt awkward around these aristocrats and higher up from society. Lilia Academy was an arts school for the rich and famous and woefully talented. A scholarship student like me didn't want to cause any sort of scene or be the center of attention. In the manga I remember the protagonist practicing in the old auditorium. Since they already built the new one the old one was going to be demolished and that's where we meet. I wanted a quiet place to practice and he wanted a quiet place to nap. If at all possible I want to avoid that, so I'll just head on over to the roof top instead. Students aren't allowed up there and it's kind of dirty since no one really cleans it that often. No way a spoiled aristocrat with a good family background would go up there, is what I thought.... then again what kind of shojou manga would this be if it weren't riddled with cliches? When I got up there first thing I saw was Aston staring out in the distance from the top of the school. What the hell? either this is some kind of divine intervention bullshit or this universe is screwing with me.
"What are you doing? You aren't allowed up here I'll have you know." Neither are you genius. What you think that you're so self important that the rules don't apply to you. That might work with 99 percent of the people in this school but not me. Of course if I wanted to get on his better side I couldn't exclaim all of that out loud.
"Um, I'm sorry I'll try and be more careful next time." Before I could escape from him, he suddenly recognizes who I was and pulls my arm back before I could go down the stairs; which by the way, may seem romantic and assertive and cool but in reality, OOOWWW!! I'm lucky he didn't pull my arm off!!
"I know you, you're the infamous transfer student. They say that your pretty good when it comes to dancing. Were you about to practice by yourself up here before the showcase?" It was clear that from the slight condescending tone of his voice and smirk on his smug little face that he was intrigued. What did I want to do in this situation play koi and pretend to be all bashful? The thought of me playing cute to a 7 year old made me want to throw up my breakfast. Then again from the manga he wasn't the type to accepted the word no. Typical behavior of a snobby rich kid.
"You should be grateful. I'm offering you a chance of me witnessing your practice performance. I'll judge whether or not your good enough to stay here, miss commoner." This kid really pisses me off....
Obviously he wasn't going to go away until I showed him something. Thing was I just didn't know what to do. In the manga it said I did some sort of ballet dance with water and light. My other problem was that magic in this universe was quite vague. It was a shojou manga after all they don't focus on the action it's all about the romance. Did it just come out when I dance or do I have to imagine something or focus on something? What was it?
"I'm waiting commoner. Or perhaps your too awestruck by my presence that your frozen in place?" At first he was just a brat but now his just being an ass. Fine then, even if I don't completely understand everything about this world I can at least make him shut up with my beautiful performance. I walked where he could see me dance front and center and began performing.
I calm myself and focus. Luckily for me I still have some memories of this life and the talent that the original Elizabeth is instilled in me. As I was calming my mind immediately I felt something emanating from inside of my stomach. It was cool, it almost felt like the feeling of dipping your toes into a gentle river stream. As I began to move I notice that the energy from inside of me began to move as well. The more I focused on my hands or feet the more that energy started flowing in that area. I began to realize that this power was my magic and thought that maybe if I could imagine what I wanted my magic to look like or do when I start to move maybe I could let it flow out of my body into something more tangible.
The image of water flowing in a stream. Gently and elegantly. I became like water and as my mind and my body connected with that thought, magic started flowing out of my hands and feet. Every movement of my wrists, every step I took; it was like I was dancing on the surface of a serene pond just splashing about. As I finished my dance I realized I was so engrossed by my own performance that I had completely forgot about the fact that I was performing right in front of a potential love target for the future and the most troublesome one at that.
I looked out to him and I saw this look on his face was neither a face of disappointment, nor fascination. For a little boy he was quite the critic. Guess performing professionally for most of your life makes you a little unimpressionable. At least say something. What it good? Bad? Say something? Aston then walks forward to me and grabs my hand and surprisingly or unsurprisingly says,
"You're not so bad for a commoner, how about being my partner for the showcase?" His eyes said that he was neither enthuses nor was he actually interested in actually making me look good. In the manga he was intrigued by my dance and thought that it would compliment a song he was working on. Once I out shined him during our duet he declares me as his rival and then it time-skips to my next encounter with the remaining love targets.
"Uh, I'm afraid that I'll have to decline." I said while pulling my hand back. I knew it wasn't going to do much good to refuse him. He wasn't the type to let someone say no. He tries to grab my hand again but I just keep batting it away.
"How odd? Most girls would jump at the chance to perform a number with me." That's only because they don't think of the repercussions later. Do you want me to send me to my social death sentence? QUIET LIFE FOR THE WIN!! Before he could ask again I ran down the stairs as fast as I could. Now I know what your thinking and you're right. This would be the cliche scene where I would trip and he grabs me in a dramatic fashion and start to fall in love. This isn't that type of story. Well at least from the female perspective. Apparently the janitor on duty this morning forgot to put up a wet floor sign at the top of the stairs since for one nobody really went up here and two for the convenience of the plot. Luckily I noticed the wet floor when I came up the stairs. Aston however didn't.
"Hey wait a minute come back here!!" Aston falls forward in the most cliche fashion ever. His mouth was open his arm was reaching out for something to grab on to his ankle shifted to the left a bit and I catch him at the first flight down as if he was the princess. What the hell was happening?