ReLive: The Unreasonable Routes To Redeeming The Villainess (ch6)

EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL MY PATRONS!!

After a week break, we're back into it! Claudine has just accepted that she's going to have to do terrible things to her friends, mainly Karen, if she wants the ReLive to succeed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

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						Chapter 6. Acts Of Unkindness

It's a little over a week since classes at the Magic Academy began when the first major event of the play occurs.

By now, the friend group of nine have become close, save for Claudine who has made sure to keep her interactions rather minor and aggravated.

The eight of them have been all but dragged outside by Karen to enjoy lunchtime in the picnic area for once and soak in the nice weather. But before anyone can so much as take a seat, a loud boom reverberates around the campus, causing the ground underneath them to shudder.

Kaoruko yelps and clings onto Futaba, who draws her sword. Mahiru squeaks as well, and Karen does her best to reassure her. Hikari, Nana, Junna, and Maya all turn to the source of the sound, preparing for whatever might come their way.

But Claudine knows this isn't something any of them will be able to handle.

/So it's time…/

The loud booming sound comes again, and the earth shakes a second time.

"What is that-?" Junna swallows. "What's going on?"

"M-Maybe it's supposed to happen…?" Mahiru stutters.

"I don't think so..." Maya's eyes are focused over the roof of the building, and by now all the other dozens of students around them have begun to stand up and step back in fear.

There's a beat of total silence, when not even a single bird chirps.

And then, an earth-shattering explosion, so loud it causes everyone to shriek on instinct.

A massive red dragon heaves itself over the top of the building and raises its head high, letting out a deafening roar and a stream of flames. Chaos erupts down below as everyone begins running in a panic.

And even though Claudine knows this isn't 'real', per say, and she already knows exactly how this event will end, her heart still leaps halfway up her throat.

"A-A dragon-?!" Junna cries out. "What's that doing here?!"

"It must be one of the ones they keep in the barracks!" Nana yells. "It must've gotten loose!"

"Why is something so dangerous here?!" Kaoruko wails.

The dragon roars again, its claws sinking into the stone of the building and causing small pieces to crumble and break free. It opens its wings wide until they block out the sunlight.

"Holy-" Futaba chokes. "That thing's huge!"

"We must run," Maya demands. "The teachers will handle this. None of us have the proper skills-"

The dragon screeches again, beating its wings and stirring up a huge gust of wind. Chunks of rock and stone that have fallen from the building get caught up in the whirlwind and are tossed around haphazardly.

Maya shouts again.

"Run!"

Claudine watches as everyone begins to turn and flee. But she knows what has to happen here; the Village Girl has to jump into the fray for the sake of protecting her friends, and when this is all over, she, the Dame, and the Lady will all become much closer.

So Claudine knows what she has to do.

In order to let Karen shine in Maya's and everyone else's eyes.

In order to bring her closer to her future roommates.

And in order to begin Claudine's own path to becoming the villainess.

She must commit her first terrible deed here.

As they all turn and begin to flee from the dragon, Claudine grabs Hikari by the shoulder and thrusts her back, pushing her into Mahiru and causing them both to yelp and stumble.

Claudine had only intended to unbalance them, but she watches in shock as a shard of stone comes hurdling down, propelled by the strong winds. It collides with Hikari's chest, where she would've otherwise been out of range of the danger had it not been for Claudine pushing her back.

With a short cry of pain, Hikari crumples to the ground, and Mahiru falls with her, bashing her head against the concrete in the process.

Claudine can't let the horror of what she'd truly caused show on her face, but it constricts around her heart as if the dragon had pierced her with its claws.

Everyone gasps as they continue to run sheerly out of fear. But Karen skids to a halt and cries out.

"Hikari! Mahiru!"

She turns around and dashes back into the fray of strong cutting winds and flying rocks.

And though it had occurred in a much more violent way than Claudine had intended, all the necessary criteria are still met.

Karen throws herself in harm's way to protect her injured friends, raising her arms up to shield them with her own body.

"No!" she screams. "Don't hurt them!"

The dragon bellows, and there's a sudden flash of red light. A barrier appears around Karen, Hikari and Mahiru, protecting them from the wind and the flames. Without even realizing it, Karen has cast a very high-level spell, and she manages to maintain it against the forceful elements raging all around her.

The other students watch in amazement, and everyone sees for themselves just how incredibly selfless and pure the Village Girl truly is.

Karen holds her barrier until the teachers are able to subdue the dragon and get it back under control. At that point, she releases her barrier and whirls around, dropping to her knees beside her friends.

"Hikari! Mahiru!"

Mahiru has only just started to push herself up, and Karen helps her gently. There's blood dripping down the left side of Mahiru's head from where she'd hit the ground, and there are tears streaming down her face.

"K-Karen…" she sniffles. "You… You came back… you saved us…"

"Of course! I couldn't leave you like that! Are you okay?"

"I think so…" Mahiru puts a hand to her wound, but it isn't deep. Karen sighs in relief, but then turns her attention to Hikari, who still hasn't moved.

"Hikari…? Can you hear me…?"

Both she and Mahiru carefully turn her over from her side onto her back. Hikari's eyes flicker open in pain, and a meek little gasp bubbles up at her lips. Mahiru whimpers and rests a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"That rock hit her pretty hard… I think she's just lost her breath."

"Really-?" Karen cries. "Hikari, do you feel like anything's broken?"

Hikari gives a tiny shake of her head, and everyone sighs in relief.

"Thank goodness…"

Now, the others begin making their way forward to help the three. Junna casts a healing spell on Mahiru's injury, and Nana casts one on Hikari to make it less painful for her to breathe until she can finally manage to do so on her own.

"Wow," Futaba says to Karen. "That was gutsy, Karen."

"Even foolish," Maya says sternly. But then her eyes soften. "However, it was the most courageous act I have ever witnessed."

The others all agree and offer their praises.

Claudine watches it all from afar now, slowly distancing herself from the rest of them. It's all happening as it should to satisfy the play.

But even so, her heart is still pounding hard in terror for actually causing Hikari and Mahiru pain, even if she didn't truly mean for things to happen that way. Luckily, after Junna has patched her up, Mahiru seems completely fine, and after Nana checks Hikari over, she diagnoses the rock hadn't broken or fractured any of her ribs.

/Good. Then this will start things off. I've officially taken my first step to becoming the villainess. They'll all despise me now-/

"Claudy!"

She flinches when Karen calls out for her. Claudine turns slowly, mentally bracing herself for the hurt that will come with having her friends lash out and accuse her.

"What?" she snaps.

Karen gets to her feet now and begins making her way over.

Claudine stiffens.

/You're the villainess. Don't be so weak!/

But before she can steel herself for whatever hateful words that are to come, Claudine gasps as she feels a pair of arms wrapping her in a hug.

"Claudy!" Karen sighs. "Are you all right?"

"Eh…?" Claudine is so stunned she doesn't even push her off right away. "What are you saying? I'm the one who pushed Lady Kagura!"

"You were just scared," Mahiru says. "All of us were."

Hikari nods beside her.

"It's all right. I know you didn't mean it."

Claudine comes to her senses and shoves Karen off of herself.

"No, I-"

"It's all right," Junna interjects. "Don't blame yourself, Viscountess. It was an accident."

"No… I…" Claudine shakes her head rigorously as tears start rising up behind her eyes. They're tears of frustration for not pushing the play along in the right direction - because everyone is supposed to hate her right now, not feel sympathetic towards her.

But more than that… the tears are real.

Because she'd hurt her friends.

Because she had to do terrible things to them-

"No-!" She shakes her head again, wiping her eyes furiously. "I did it on purpose!"

But no one seems to hear her confession as Karen throws both arms around Claudine again.

"Claudy! I'm so glad you're okay!"

Claudine bites her lip. She can't be crying here. She's the villainess.

"Get off of me!" Claudine pushes Karen off again, and that stings a different corner of her heart.

At this point, Maya makes her way over and takes Karen by the hand.

"Miss Aijou? Let us give the Viscountess some space, shall we?"

"Okay."

Maya leads her away, but not without flashing Claudine a look of sympathy as well. Claudine growls under her breath, refusing to shed another tear.

By now, the teachers have arrived to check over the students, but Claudine doesn't stay a second longer. She hurries back to her room, locks the door, and throws herself onto her bed, biting the blanket to keep herself from wailing.

She'd fulfilled most of the event. She'd created a situation where Hikari and Mahiru would be saved by Karen, and the whole school would witness and admire her bravery. But she hadn't gotten them to start hating the Viscountess yet.

/Damn it... I have to become the villainess or else this play won't end as it's supposed to, and then we'll never get out of here-/

Or worse, only Claudine will be expelled from the stage for failing to fulfill her role, and the others will remain trapped here forever, never knowing who they once were. And Claudine will return to Seishou with her memories of them erased-

/No. I won't let that happen. Never./

In order to prevent it, she'll just have to come up with even more despicable methods of bullying Karen's character to make everyone hate the Viscountess.

/Starting tomorrow,/ she decides. /Starting tomorrow, I'll become the true villainess of this play./

She tells herself as much, not knowing that long after she's fallen asleep that night, the tears still continue to slip down her cheeks.

. . .

Claudine's first act of bullying is simple.

She wakes early and gets herself ready before heading to Karen's dorm. After yesterday's events, Karen had put in the formal request to be roommates together with Hikari and Mahiru, but the three of them haven't moved in together yet. As such, Claudine doesn't have to worry about either of them.

/Only the Village Idiot…/

If she thinks about her in a cruel manner, she hopes it will help herself act out just as cruelly.

Claudine pauses outside of Karen's door and clears her throat before knocking. She hears a snore turn into a snort and then some scrambling about.

"Karen?" Claudine calls out. "It's me."

"Claudy?" There's some more fumbling noises, and a moment later Karen appears at the door, still dressed in her pajamas, which are a red t-shirt and shorts with star patterns all over them. Karen grins brightly at her. "Claudy! It's really you!"

"Of course it is. Are you daft?"

"Heehee, I'm not sure what that means, but I'm so glad to see you!" Karen throws her arms around Claudine again, and Claudine doesn't let herself enjoy it this time. She pushes Karen off with a huff.

"Enough! Anyway, I came by to tell you Mahiru wants to see you," she lies.

"Mahiru?" Karen parrots. "Right now? Oh! Maybe it's about our room change! Okay!" She quickly puts on a pair of slippers before scurrying back to the door. "Thanks, Claudy! I'll go see her right now!"

And with this, Karen darts off down the hallway.

Claudine puts her shoe in the doorway before the door can close completely.

"Pardon the intrusion~"

She slips her way into Karen's room, glancing around with mild interest.

Karen's character doesn't have a suite like Claudine's does. The room is probably only half the size, and it's already quite messy.

Claudine begins her first prank by hiding every last article of Karen's clothing. Rather, she casts a spell that makes them all invisible and intangible so Karen won't be able to find them until Claudine herself cancels the spell.

She ensures she's hidden them all before tip-toeing her way out of the room and closing the door behind herself.

She waits for Karen to come walking back in confusion after being met by a puzzled Mahiru who had never asked to see her in the first place.

But when Karen does return, she's skipping down the hallway with a grin on her face and a paper in her hands.

"Ah! Claudy!" she waves. "Thanks for telling me about Mahiru! She wanted to give me this!"

Claudine is the one who is puzzled now as she peers at the paper Karen presents to her.

"It's the official document for us and Hikari to get a suite together! We're gonna be roommates!"

"I see…" While Claudine is miffed by the fact that Mahiru had actually needed to see Karen somehow, it's good that things are still progressing as they should. "I'm so happy for you," Claudine says snobbishly.

But Karen doesn't even notice she's trying to be nasty.

"Thanks, Claudy! I'll see you at breakfast!" And with that, Karen turns to head back into her room.

Claudine scoffs as she turns and stalks away.

/No matter. She'll have nothing proper to wear to classes today. Then she'll be a laughing stock./

Claudine heads to the cafeteria herself and sits at a different table from where the nine of them typically sit together nowadays. The others file in in pairs - Nana and Junna, Futaba and Kaoruko, Mahiru and Hikari - and all get their food before sitting at the usual table. No one seems to notice Claudine isn't with them.

/Good. They'll stop seeing me as one of their friends./

Or so she'd hoped.

But as soon as the Duchess Tendo Maya walks in, her eyes travel immediately to Claudine, who freezes up and quickly looks away.

/Don't do it, you insufferable woman-!/

And yet, in spite of Claudine's silent pleas, Maya makes her way over to her anyway. She places her tray down on the table and sits across from Claudine as if she'd been cordially invited to do so.

"Viscountess Saijou," she says, dipping her head in greeting.

Claudine snarls in return.

"What are you doing?"

"Why, I'm sitting for breakfast with my friend," she replies.

"I'm not your friend," Claudine growls. "They are."

"Viscountess…" Maya lowers her voice now. She looks at Claudine with saddened eyes, and it sends a fresh sting through Claudine's heart. There's still no recognition in her gaze. These feelings Maya is experiencing are all for the character Claudine is playing, and not for Claudine herself. But still, it hurts.

"Get away from me," Claudine snaps. She begins getting up from her seat, but Maya reaches out to hold onto her wrist and stop her.

"You don't need to do this-"

"Let go of me!" Claudine tosses Maya's hand away, because she needs to act nasty towards her, and if Maya is being so gentle with her, Claudine's resolve might very well shatter. And none of them can afford that.

Maya recoils her hand and doesn't reach for her again.

"My apologies. But Viscountess… you must know that no one blames you for yesterday's events. We were all in a panic. We know you didn't intend to put Lady Kagura and Dame Tsuyuzaki in harm's way. It was an accident."

"No-" Claudine spits. "It wasn't! Why can't you morons understand that?" She uses harsh language and gives Maya a furious glare.

And yet, Maya only sighs and shakes her head.

"Please don't place any more blame on yourself, Viscountess."

"You're not listening to me!" Claudine stomps her foot to cause a disruptive scene, gaining peoples' attention. "You're all a bunch of idiots! Especially that Village Girl you're so fond of, Duchess."

"Miss Aijou?" Maya blinks.

"Yes, the Village Idiot! Just you wait, she'll make quite an entrance today, I'm certain."

Before Maya can respond, the cafeteria is filled with a murmur of laughter now. Both Maya and Claudine turn to look to where Karen has entered in her pajamas.

"Miss Aijou!" Junna shrieks. "What do you think you're wearing? Classes will be starting soon!"

"Aha, I'm sorry! I couldn't find any of my clothes!"

"Well you'd better find something else!" Junna says. "This must be breaking dress code-"

"Oh, what's the harm?" Kaoruko giggles. "I think it's quite fitting on her."

"And besides," Futaba adds. "After what she did yesterday, I'd say Aijou can wear whatever the hell she wants!"

"K-Karen!" Mahiru sighs. "Geez… once we become roommates I'll have to keep an eye on you!"

"Why can't you find your clothes?" Hikari wonders. "Did you lose them all?"

"I don't know!" Karen sighs. "They're just gone! I swear they were all there before…"

As everyone starts talking with Karen now, Maya looks back to Claudine, who grins in triumph.

"Viscountess," Maya murmurs. "You didn't-"

"As a matter of fact, I did," she snaps. "And this is only the beginning. Make no mistake about that. Just you wait until I'm finished with that girl."

With this, she stalks off without looking back.

Finally, it's working in her favor - at least in terms of the play.

/Now the Duchess is starting to dislike me, and she'll know to suspect me for any other misfortunes that befall the Village Girl./

And Claudine has quite a few other things planned. But for today, she simply wants to see how her morning prank will bear fruit.

Of course, Karen's closer friends won't laugh at her too much for wearing her pajamas to school, but surely everyone else and their teachers will make fun of and scold her.

But somehow, Claudine oversees the same thing in every class.

All the other students chuckle and say that Karen looks good in her pajamas, and even the teachers overlook her attire in lieu of what she'd done yesterday.

All in all, the Village Girl isn't scolded or embarrassed one single bit.

Which means Claudine's first effort to bully her had failed miserably.

By the end of the day her spell wears off, and Karen is able to find all of her clothes again.

As Claudine retreats to her room that evening, she's in a bit of a fluster.

/No matter. That prank was child's play anyway. This is a sign that I should step things up a bit./

Therefore, the following day, she begins spreading rumors.

"Didn't you hear?" she says loudly so as many people as possible can overhear. "Apparently the Village Girl would steal food and supplies from hardworking people because she didn't want to work on her own farm back home. I even heard she slept with anything that had eyes…"

She turns up the severity of things and subtly places the idea of stealing into people's minds for the event later in the play where the artifact will go missing and Claudine will blame it on Karen.

The random members of their class begin spreading the rumors around as planned for the next few days, until Claudine overhears the others talking to Karen about things.

"Karen?" Nana says to her. "There are a lot of terrible rumors about you going around lately…"

"They're awful!" Mahiru cries. "And I know they just aren't true!"

"Oh!" Karen grins. "Yeah I heard about those. And actually, they are kinda true. After all, I did sorta steal food when I was little… I'd take fruits off the wild apple trees without asking…"

"Hold up," Futaba says. "If they were wild apple trees, then you weren't stealin' nothing!"

"Huh… I guess you're right…" Karen mumbles. "B-But it is true I slept around a lot…"

"Eh-?!" Kaoruko shrieks, nearly choking, and most of them blush bright red.

Karen nods.

"Yeah… Some nights when my bed was too cold, I'd sleep out in the barn with the sheep. Their wool was so warm and fluffy!"

Everyone breathes a huge sigh of relief.

"Miss Aijou?" Maya smiles kindly. "That is not quite the same as what people are believing."

"It's not?" Karen blinks. "Oh, then I guess they're all just confused! I don't mind!"

And just like that, it's made clear to Claudine that the rumors didn't work either. She curses under her breath and stalks away from where she'd been eavesdropping.

/All right. I can still do more than this…/

So the following day, when everyone goes outside to have lunch at the picnic area, Claudine sits at a table by herself once more. Karen and the others walk out together, and as soon as Karen spots her, she rushes right over.

"Claudy! Let's sit together for lunch!"

Claudine crosses her arms and gives Karen the dirtiest glare she can muster.

"Absolutely not! You can't sit with me!"

Karen skids to a halt, and her smile fades.

"Eh? Why not?"

Claudine smirks.

"Because you're not allowed!" /You filthy commoner! You don't even deserve to breathe the same air as the all-powerful and noble Viscountess!/

That's the kind of insult she's going for. And as Karen's shoulders slump, Claudine takes pride in knowing she's finally succeeded in her first act of bullying, even though she takes no genuine joy in it. Especially not when Karen starts to sniffle.

"I'm… not allowed…?"

"Ah! Miss Aijou!" Junna hurries up to them now, putting a hand on Karen's shoulder. "I'm glad you didn't sit on that chair. It was just repainted and is still wet. I hadn't gotten to put up a notice yet." She draws a piece of paper from her pocket now and holds it up. Karen's frown slowly turns back up into a big grin.

"Oh!" she claps. "That's what you meant when you said I'm not allowed to sit here, Claudy!"

"Eh? No, I-"

"You just didn't want me to sit in wet paint!" she grins.

"Viscountess, you're so nice!" Nana smiles.

"You sure saved Karen from a lot of embarrassment," Mahiru chuckles.

"She really did!" Karen agrees. "Thanks, Claudy!"

Claudine is flabbergasted to find them all smiling at her now.

"Viscountess," Maya says. "That was rather considerate of you."

/Damn it! I should've let her sit there, in that case! Claudine groans and gets up from her seat before stalking away. She can hear the others behind her./

"Aw, did we embarrass her?" Futaba says sheepishly.

"She is very sensitive, it would seem," Kaoruko notes.

/Sensitive!/ Claudine huffs. /Sensitive is the last thing I should be right now! I need to be cruel! Heartless! I need to think of something better…/

So the next day she takes things up a notch. Instead of verbally abusing or spreading rumors about Karen, now she goes so far as to start causing her physical harm.

They have an outdoor class at the end of the day that's sort of like this world's gym class, where the students change into shorts and t-shirts to train their bodies - as a strong and able body makes for a strong and able mind when it comes to controlling magic.

When class is over, Claudine uses a spell to change hurriedly back into her dress and rush back inside the building. Overhead, there are several fire sprinklers on the ceiling. She casts a spell on the one nearest to the door.

The second Karen walks in, the sprinkler explodes and begins pouring water down onto her.

"Gyaaaah!" Karen wails. "I-It's so cold!"

"Hah!" Claudine smirks. "You look like a wet dog! How does it feel-"

"This feels so niiiiiiice~!" Karen sighs blissfully.

Claudine sputters.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah!" Karen opens her arms and spins around as the water continues pouring on her. "I was all gross and sweaty after all those exercises! This feels so nice!"

By now the others have hurried in behind her, avoiding the spray.

"Karen!" Mahiru frets. "Just use the actual showers for that!"

"I'll go call a teacher," Junna offers and hurries off.

"That sprinkler was really rusted anyway," Nana says. "It's no wonder it finally burst."

"And it couldn't have happened at a better time, it would appear," Maya smiles. "Had it been anyone else that got sprayed, they surely would've been upset. But Miss Aijou actually enjoyed it."

Claudine can't believe this. As the others all start to laugh and talk and help Karen dry off, Claudine whirls around and hurries away from them.

/It's still not enough! I've got to do worse things! Or else the stage will deem me an unfit villainess and I'll be expelled-/

Every time she considers that possibility, it makes her physically sick to her stomach. She has to hurt her friends or else she'll never get to see them again. Either way, she loses, but in one of those scenarios she loses more than the other.

So she has no choice but to put her heart into hurting them, all for the sake of not losing them forever.

The next day in their potions class, they are mixing food flavors to see who can create the best-tasting concoction. Claudine distracts Karen with a simple lie about a bird outside the window and, when she isn't looking, casts a spell on Karen's potion.

Moments later, when they are invited to drink their potions and report the flavors, a pink cloud of smoke suddenly envelopes Karen, and she vanishes. Everyone gasps in horror-

-until they realize she's still there. Just not quite the same.

A tiny brown hamster is sitting in the fabrics of Karen's red dress now, looking up at all her classmates.

Claudine laughs.

"A rodent. Serves you right-!"

But no one hears her awful comment, because so many girls burst out squealing in delight.

"Wow!" Nana cheers. "Karen, how did you do that?"

"That's not what we were supposed to be doing," Junna says. "But it's a very high-level technique."

"My, how cute!" Kaoruko sighs. "Futaba? Can we keep her?"

"Hell no! She's Mahiru's and Kagura's problem!"

"K-Karen-!" Mahiru kneels down and scoops Karen into her arms. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah!" Karen squeaks. "Can you guys understand me?"

"Yes. Thank goodness." Mahiru transfers Karen into Hikari's care for the moment and bends down to gather Karen's clothes up. The teacher walks over to see what happened, and Karen explains.

"I'm not sure! I just drank my potion and- poof! I'm a hamster!"

"I see." Their professor nods, but she doesn't seem upset at all. "I must say I'm rather impressed, Miss Aijou. In all my years teaching here I haven't seen many students who could cast such a well-done transformation skill if they tried, let alone by accident."

"Really? Ehehe~"

"It should wear off within the hour."

The class resumes, though now Mahiru and Hikari take turns cradling a hamster in their arms.

Claudine is so frustrated she nearly starts pulling her own hair out.

/How?! How could this happen-? Why is everything working out in her favor-?/

"Viscountess?"

Claudine feels a jolt go up her spine as Maya whispers to her from the table behind her. Claudine whirls around to glare daggers.

"What do you want, you insufferable Duchess?"

Maya merely smiles at her.

"Don't think your kind deeds are going unnoticed."

Claudine scoffs.

"What balderdash are you spouting?"

"You cast that spell on Miss Aijou's potion, didn't you?" Maya says. "You know she is always worrying about being insufficient at this school since she is of humble birth. So you helped her to cast such an impressive spell just now to boost her confidence."

"As if!" Claudine hisses. "That's the last thing I wanted to do! I wanted to turn her into a mouse and squash her with my heel!" Of course, Claudine didn't really want to do that, but she has to make herself the villainess here somehow.

But Maya only chuckles at her threat.

"Viscountess, you certainly show your affections in the strangest of ways."

"Affections-? What nonsense-"

But when the teacher calls for silence, Claudine's natural reflex is to turn back around and bow her head in apology, where any good villainess would have continued talking uncaringly and disrupted the entire class.

/Damn it… It still isn't enough…/

About an hour later, Mahiru and Hikari bring Karen and her clothes to the restroom, where she turns back into her proper form and puts her dress back on.

For the rest of the day, the entire school is buzzing about Karen's impressive spell.

And even after all of Claudine's pranks, no harm has come to Karen, so therefore no one is labeling Claudine as the villainess.

She isn't fulfilling her role. At this point, the stage is going to expel her soon, and all will be lost.

She's done playing around.

That night, she decides on tomorrow's crime. And it has to be one that actually hurts Karen.

So Claudine pulls out a black journal she keeps in her desk drawer, one that's locked with magic. She casts the spell to open it, a spell only the Viscountess knows.

Inside this journal are forbidden spells of black magic, things the Viscountess had kept and studied in order to commit her crimes throughout the play. Claudine knew she'd have to read and use them eventually, and she's become desperate now. She has no idea how much longer the stage will let her stay if she is turning out to be such a pathetic villainess.

/The giraffe warned me. The stage doesn't deserve an actress who isn't fully committed to their role…/

She reads the spells over for a while that night before deciding on a plan. She closes the journal and locks it away again before laying down in bed.

And as she thinks of what she's going to do tomorrow, Claudine makes sure not to shed a single tear.

---------

Claudine wakes with a heavy and ugly resolve settled in her heart. She repeats the spell of black magic she intends to use today as she goes about her morning.

She still acts coldly toward Karen and the others at breakfast and in classes, but they all just assume she's playing hard-to-get as always and don't take any of her nasty glares or comments to heart.

She wonders if it might be best to give them all the cold shoulder and isolate herself that way, but with how unsure she is about how much time the stage is giving her to prove herself as a proper villainess, Claudine would rather keep using quick, sharp words and actions.

They have broom-flying lessons outside today in the afternoon, and that is where Claudine enacts her plan.

She waits until they are all in the air and the professor gives them free rein to practice their skills on their own. Nana and Junna decide to have a race, while Futaba is doing her best to impress Kaoruko with some elaborate stunts, and Hikari is helping Mahiru with her balance and poise. Maya is flying on her own near Karen, who is focusing on not wobbling and trying to hover steadily.

Claudine makes her move now. She flies easily up to Karen, wearing a fake smile.

"My, Karen~ You're quite skilled on the broom, aren't you?"

"Aw shucks! You think so, Claudy?"

"Definitely! In fact, why don't you and I have a little race?"

"A race? Sure! That sounds like fun!"

"Splendid. Let's start here and race to the end of the courtyard and back. What do you think?"

"Sounds good!" Karen flies up to hover beside her and looks straight ahead. "Okay, Claudy! I'm ready!"

"Set…" Claudine grips her broom tightly. "Go!"

They both take off at the same moment, streaking through the air at impressive speeds. If not for the classes they'd taken in the weeks leading up to this that had gotten her desensitized to the movements, Claudine probably would've gotten ill.

She'd considered enacting her plan once she and Karen were at the end of the courtyard, far away from the others. But she didn't want to risk no one witnessing her misdeed; after all, she needed people to know she was committing these horrible acts so that she could be rightfully marked as the villainess.

So as she and Karen reach the courtyard, Claudine holds back from casting her spell just yet. This little race of theirs has caught everyone's attention by now, so when they get back to the others, all eyes will be on Claudine and Karen.

Claudine has to admit she's impressed Karen can keep up with her in the race, which just goes to show the Village Girl really does harbor great magical energy.

The two of them reach the edge of the courtyard at the same time and then arc around to turn and head back the way they'd come.

Claudine waits as she flies straight ahead. Her heart is pounding, and it's less from the adrenaline of the race and more from dismayed anticipation for what she's about to do.

/No! I can't have any regrets! I want to do this! I'm the villainess!/

As they near the rest of the class, Claudine flashes out her hand and aims her fingertips at Karen, then shouts out a warped spell for all to hear.

"Entrex, collixum!"

And she knows she's succeeded, because she hears several gasps from her classmates.

"What's she doing-?!"

"Isn't that dark magic-?!"

Claudine smirks, telling herself to enjoy this wickedness. She hardens her heart and takes control of Karen's broom, manipulating it to her own will. It begins jerking around and moving in accordance to her wishes, not Karen's.

"Whoa-!" Karen yelps as she loses control, but her speed doesn't slow down at all. With a yank of her hand, Claudine pulls Karen's broom out from under her at seventy feet in the air.

Everyone shrieks as they watch her plummet helplessly.

Claudine relinquishes her spell and lets Karen's broom drop as well. She watches with a smug grin as Karen falls toward the concrete pathway below.

This is good.

This is what she should have been doing all along.

As the villainess.

But in her heart of hearts, Claudine is in terrible pain at having done this to her friend. She knows Karen will be very badly injured because of this fall. And maybe the Viscountess doesn't care about that. But Saijou Claudine does.

/No-! I have to play that role or else the ReLive won't end-!/

She tries to stop herself and let Karen hit the ground, but she doesn't even realize her hand is lifting itself up to cast a spell that sprouts a large bed of flowers below Karen that will soften and break her fall.

But just before Karen makes contact, a flash of white cuts through the air more quickly than anyone can react. A second later, Karen finds herself safely in Maya's arms.

"D-Duchess Tendo!"

There's a collective cry of relief from everyone around them. Even Claudine remembers to breathe, but then she quickly cancels her spell of flowers.

Maya lands with Karen, and everyone else quickly does the same, hurrying toward them in a fluster.

"Karen-!" Mahiru and Hikari both race forward to throw their arms around her. "Thank goodness!"

"I'm all right!" Karen grins. "Thanks, Duchess Tendo!"

"There is no need to thank me," Maya says. "I am merely relieved I made it to your aid on time."

"That was some fast reaction!" Nana sighs. "No one else could've moved that quickly but you, Duchess."

"The heck happened?" Futaba asks. "One second you were totally fine and the next you were falling!"

"Oh!" Karen says. "Well, Claudy and I were having a race!"

Claudine perks up at the sound of her name.

/Good. Expose me. They heard my spell anyway./

She lingers at the back of the group to listen as Karen goes on.

"Right toward the end, my broom suddenly started acting all weird! Like I couldn't even control it!"

"That's no surprise." Junna turns to Claudine now with a hard, suspicious glare. "After all, I'm pretty sure I heard her cast dark magic on you, Miss Aijou."

Claudine trembles just a little as the others all turn to her in disbelief and outrage. This is how it's supposed to be - the first time they're actually treating her like the terrible person she's supposed to be playing.

But even so, that terrible person isn't who she truly is. So to see all of that hatred in their eyes hurts Claudine like arrows through her chest.

"Dark magic…?" Karouko utters. "The Viscountess did…?"

"N-No way-" Mahiru gasps. "Sh-She would never-!"

"It's taboo," Hikari says. "That's not allowed at our school, or anywhere in the country."

Everyone begins to mutter amongst themselves and step away from her. But Claudine plays her part and puffs out her chest.

"That's right. I-"

"No way!" Karen suddenly interrupts her yet again. She rushes from the crowd and instead throws herself in front of Claudine, facing off against the others defensively. "That's not it! There's no way Claudy cast dark magic on me! She's my friend!"

The other girls' expressions soften just a little.

"I mean…" Junna sighs. "I thought I heard her cast it… but come to think of it, it could've been the counter-spell. They sound very similar…"

"So the Viscountess was trying to help Karen…?" Mahiru asks.

"That would make sense," Kaoruko nods. "After all, they've been quite chummy since the beginning."

Claudine's jaw hangs open in utter shock as everyone suddenly seems to believe Karen and ignore her own terrible act.

"No!" she cries, pushing Karen aside. "It was me, you imbeciles! I did it! I wanted her to fall!"

But the others all shake their heads.

"No way!" Futaba laughs.

"You may be good, Viscountess," Kaoruko giggles. "But not even you could manage such a complex dark spell."

"And besides…" Maya looks up at her now with clarity and calmness in her eyes. "You cast a spell to create a flower bed for her to land on, did you not, Viscountess?"

"I-!" Claudine has no response to that. Damn it! I wasn't trying to do that! It just happened!

"She did?" Nana blinks. "I didn't notice a flower bed."

"She got rid of it as soon as the Duchess saved Karen," Hikari explains.

"Aw~" Futaba grins. "Guess she got all bashful and didn't want everyone to know she was trying to help. You're too humble, Saijou!"

"What?" Claudine yelps. "That's not-!"

But no matter what she says now, it seems they've made up their minds, and they all refuse to believe she has an evil bone in her body. Claudine feels dizzy.

/No… No-! Why isn't anything I try working?/

She's tried all she could think of - everything - and nothing has worked to make her out to be the villainess she needs to be.

/At this rate I'll get kicked out of the ReLive and they'll all be trapped here forever-/

She doesn't think. In all her fear and her frustration, Claudine grabs Karen by the collar and screams at the top of her lungs.

"You idiot! You say you wanted to come here to shine as brightly as you can? Well, I have some news for you: you have no shine! No radiance! No brilliance! No talent! What could a lowly commoner Village Girl ever possibly hope to accomplish by coming here? This school is for nobles, you know! The best of the best! What makes you think you can waltz in here like you're someone important? You're nothing! You'll never amount to anything!"

She thrusts Karen away and staggers back, panting heavily as she glares up at her.

And this time…

This time it works.

This time, Claudine really hurts her.

She sees it in Karen's eyes - that genuine, genuine hurt.

And Claudine understands why this time.

Because in everything else she'd done up until this point - all the teasing and rumor-spreading and bullying, and even her actions just now while flying - had all been an act. Her act as the villainess.

But that… the rant she'd shouted at her just now had been real. It had been a manifestation of Claudine's genuine fear and anxiety at her own shortcomings for failing at her role. She'd let out Saijou Claudine's true emotions in all the nastiest words she could think of that would hurt Karen the most.

But… had she done that… because she had to? For the play?

Or could it be… that she truly felt such horrible things…?

If the real Saijou Claudine is actually that terrible deep down, enough to create a look of real pain in all her friends' eyes right now...

Karen limps back a pace, shaking her head as tears fill her eyes.

"Claudy… Why… Why would you say something so mean…?"

The others have been stunned into silence as well. Claudine tries to swallow, but her throat is dry and arid. Her heart hurts.

"Because-" she rasps. "I hate you."

She says it as if she means it. But she really hopes she doesn't.

Though now, she can't be certain anymore.

She isn't sure if she can draw the line between 'Viscountess' and 'Saijou Claudine.'

She's been in this ReLive for weeks now… Had the world of the play begun to take a hold of her…? Had the actress started to become her wretched character…?

She doesn't know anymore. She doesn't want to think about it.

But she also doesn't want to stay here with all of her friends staring at her in such disbelief, such disappointment, such distrust…

Claudine turns and runs, as far and as quickly as she can, casting an invisibility spell to conceal herself.

She waits for the play to expel her. She almost wishes it would. That would mean she'd failed to fulfill her role…

But when her role was a treacherous, violent, hateful criminal, would failing to fulfill it be a bad thing…?

Being trapped in this world… it might truly be turning her into the black-hearted villainess she's meant to play.

What if she's losing her true self…?

She runs, and she doesn't look back.

And the stage doesn't expel her, either.

Which means she's succeeding in her role now.

She's succeeding in being a wretched, evil, witch.

She doesn't know where to go from here.

She doesn't know what would be right.

If being evil means she'll save them in the end, she'd have to do horrible things to achieve that outcome.

But if she does the right things and rejects her terrible character, she'll never see or remember her friends again.

She doesn't know what she should do.

So she simply disappears.

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A/N: As 0mn and I were planning out Claudine's actions and misdeeds, we agreed to start with more harmless things like Claudine hiding Karen's clothes, the progressively getting worse, going from verbal attacks to real, physical ones with regular magic, and finally dark magic. She has no choice but to do these things, but even so Claudine struggles with her humanity...