Nine Goddesses and a Magician

by Bishop0407

Some would say he is a magician, but others would say he is a trickster. Join Viktor Ivanov, a magician sent to Japan to fix an ice princess's attitude that was mostly caused by his own cold personality. He solves problems, but creates a ton more on his way. First fic, pls don't hate. I do not own Love Live, but I do own my OC. BTW, pls review! It means a lot to me!

1. Chapter 1: How it all started

Ch. 1

The audience of the Bolshoi Theater all stood up and applauded for the blonde girl who just finished her performance of Swan Lake. The cold atmosphere of Moscow temporarily lifted, replaced with a wave of passion from ballet lovers.

However, I was not one of those people.

"I want to get out of here!" My little brother, Vladimir, complained, "It's so boring!"

"I know," I patted his head, "I'm bored, too."

"Wasn't it a wonderful performance?" The old woman said enthusiastically, "There goes my smart and cute Elichika!"

"Yes, grandma." I deadpanned, "Such a wonderful performance."

"I told you so!" The old lady didn't seem to hear the sarcasm in my voice, "let's go pick her up backstage!"

So we followed her through the freezing hallways of the Ballet Theater into the backstage. There stood Ayase Eli, the granddaughter of the woman who adopted Vladimir and I from the local orphanage. She had her hair tied into a bun, and was still in her ballet dress, her sky-blue orbs just screamed excitement when she saw her grandma, who enveloped her into a big hug.

"What do you think?" Eli, who finished hugging her grandma, came to us, still excited like the little girl she is.

"About what?" I asked expressionlessly.

"The performance, of course!" She beamed.

Grandma shot us a glance, both Vladimir and I caught it, but we had different ways of doing things.

"It was great!" Vladimir forced a huge grin that almost turned him into a Cheshire cat; I rolled my eyes at his phony reaction.

Eli beamed at his answer and turned towards me, her eyes filled with anticipation as ever.

I tried my best to muster a grin as well, but it just didn't work on me. Or shall I say, it never worked on me, smiling and grinning like a complete fool in front of people I know.

"It was good." that was my answer, without a hint of emotion.

"Oh," Eli's eyes were filled with disappointment when I almost spat out my answer, but she recovered quickly and nodded, "thank you!"

As we walked back to the cottage, which was where we lived. Vladimir tugged my shirt and whispered in my ear.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" I kept looking forward at Eli and her grandmother, whose minds and souls were still in the performance.

"You know old grumpy doesn't like that attitude of yours..."

"As if I cared." I took out a deck of cards from my pocket and started shuffling, "I never understood ballet anyway."

"Well, at least act like it!" Vladimir was worried, however I did not know why, "you're a magician! You should know how to act and lie and stuff like that!"

"That's for performances," I rolled my eyes, "I don't do performances to people I know."

"But..."

"No 'buts'," I sprung the cards with one hand and catching them with my other, "you know I preferred staying in the orphanage than be adopted."

"Man, you should really get over it," Vladimir said, "you know they're not going to come back."

My parents, both Intelligence Officers of the government, went MIA during one of their missions, and were presumed dead after three months. Their deaths were the nightmares that haunted me in my dreams, the reason why Vladimir and I ended up as orphans…..

And probably why I was an apathetic asshole all the time.

"Maybe my bond with them was deeper than yours," a ghost of a smile surfaced on my face, but Vladimir could easily detect that it was a sad one, "I love them very much."

"As do I," Vladimir put his hand on my shoulder, but with great effort, as he was much shorter than me, "but I moved on."

"Everyone adjusts themselves at different times, comrade." I sighed, looking at my watch, it was close to dinnertime, "and you better go do your homework."

"What about you?"

"I finished mine already."

"When?"

"At school."

"How do you do your homework so fast?"

"I don't waste my time."

We stepped into the cottage; the air instantly became warmer as the heat was turned on. The old couch before the television has been worn out for years, but old gramps still didn't bother to change it. A simple, also worn-out, wooden table was placed in the middle of the living room with a tablecloth covering it.

"What's for dinner tonight, grandma?" Eli shouted in the toilet.

"What?" The old lady shouted back, since she couldn't hear Eli in the kitchen.

"She asked what's for dinner tonight!" I delivered the message to her one more time as I slumped on to the couch.

"Stew for mains and chocolate pudding for dessert!"

"We got chocolate tonight, Eli!" I shouted across the living room, and Eli burst out of the toilet, her hands still not dry after washing them.

"We got chocolate? For dinner?" She beamed ecstatically.

"It's just for dessert," I took off my coat and hung it up, "I just told you the 'important bits'."

I sighed as I hear her giggling through the living room. Turning around, I came face to face with my dear brother.

"What?"

"I need help with my homework."

"But I get to shower first today," I said, but just when he was about to bargain, I shushed him, "take it or leave it."

"Fine," he groaned, "you win."

"I always win." I patted him on the head as he went the room that him and I shared for at least three years already. The room was small, with a bunker bed and two desks, there was basically nothing else.

I stepped into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. The reflection with hazel eyes placed evenly apart; messy, dark brown hair; a defined, and slightly pointed chin with a steady jaw line stared back at me.

I wasn't one of the good-looking ones; at least that was what I thought. This was because the girls in school didn't really like having conversations with me, always having their faces a deeper shade of red when talking to me, and constantly pushing each other, while giggling, towards me even though I didn't do anything to offend them.

"Dinner's ready!" I heard the old lady shout from the living room. So I washed my hands and joined them at the table. As told, dinner was stew and chocolate pudding for dessert.

"You finished all of your homework already?" Eli asked me as we two washed the dishes.

"Yeah." I simply replied.

"Can you teach me how to do a few math questions later?"

"Maybe." I placed the clean plates in a tray to dry out, "depends on how fast Vlad's on his."

"Oh." Eli's head dropped, and I stared at her. However, her head quickly went up and looked at me with sad, watery puppy eyes that no one could resist, "But you'll have time to teach me, right?"

Puppy eyes? Really? I rolled my eyes, but something told me that helping her was okay, and I won't have to be bothered by old granny again.

"Fine." I sighed, wiping my hands with a towel, "but make it quick."

Eli ran into her room and grabbed what I presumed was her math book. It was well kept, unlike mine.

"So, what's this question?" Eli pointed at one of the questions, and I stared at it for a moment before answering her, "See?"

"Harasho!" Eli exclaimed while I just face-palmed, "But the question was so hard that even the best in our class couldn't do it!"

"I'm a year older than you, Eli." I scoffed, "I'm supposed to know all of this."

"Then, how about this question?" The blonde asked me again, her sky-blue eyes pinned on to my hazel ones peculiarly.

"This one? Well..." I did the math in my mind, it wasn't too hard, but I had to write down a few notes on an empty piece of paper napkin to remind myself of a few formulas, "the answer should look like this."

Eli blinked a few times as I wrote the answer down on her book, still confused as to how I got the it.

"That's it?" I gave Eli back her book, which she took carefully, "If there isn't anything else, I got to go deal with my brother."

"Hey!" I stopped in my tracks as I turned around to see Eli hugging the book that was almost as big as her.

"Thank you!"

"It's been three years since you've known me." I said, turning back, "still, why the courtesy?"

"And you could be a little bit more warmer to people around you!" Eli pouted, her cheeks puffed, "especially people who you are gonna spend a lot of time with!"

If I were a boy with a soul, I would have blushed at how cute she was at the moment. However, I was still in grief, a boy who has lost both his parents and wouldn't even try to feel and love anymore.

"Yeah, whatever." I scoffed as I walked into my room.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen!" The bartender announced, "now let's give another round of applause for our champion illusionist! Viktor Ivanov!"

The crowd cheered like animals as I bowed and sprung the remaining playing cards everywhere on the stage. Readjusting my eye patch on my right eye, I stepped down from the stage, where lots of fans, mostly girls, came surrounding me.

"Mr. Ivanov!" One of the girls struggled to keep herself in front of the crowd, "Why do you wear an eye patch?"

"An accident." I chuckled, pointing at the black piece of cloth that covered my right eye, "And perhaps I might need this for the rest of my life."

"What happened? Did it hurt?"

"Well," I sighed, "people make mistakes all the time."

It was a starry night when my friends and I in the archery team went out to the range, all drunk and wasted. We laughed as we got out a bow, one arrow, and an apple.

"You gonna shoot that off my head?" I laughed as I stood in front of a target, with the apple on my head.

"Yeah, that's..." Peter held the bow and drew it, but had a small hiccup while he was aiming, "exactly what we're gonna do."

"Well, you'd better make it quick or I'm gonna piss myself!"

As the arrow soared through the air, I could feel it embedding itself into my right eye socket, and the blood flowing out of the gaping hole after I pulled it out in pain.

"Damn it!" I cursed. My friends, sober now, came to help me up and stop the bleeding, "get me to a hospital!"

"What was it again?" She asked.

"Boiling water," I smiled, "I wasn't being careful when I was cooking noodles."

"You should be more careful!" She gasped, although she didn't want to believe my story.

"Anyway, I got to go home now." I stared at my watch, "I still got school tomorrow."

"Aww... Can't you stay for a few drinks?" The girl said seductively, in which some of her friends nodded furiously to, "I mean...You're old enough, right?"

"Old enough for what?" I leaned close to her, tickling her with my breath. While she was blushing furiously, I swiped her wallet from her bag to my pockets.

Before she could answer, I walked out of the bar and closed the doors behind me.

"How much did you get this time?" Vladimir asked, standing beside me in the freezing Moscow streets.

"200 rubles," I shrugged, "enough for a decent meal, I guess."

It's been three years since Eli left Russia for Japan, while old gramps still tried to support me and Vladimir, we decided that putting that much pressure on her and Eli's parents wouldn't be a good idea, since we owe them too much.

"Let's go home." I went to a stall and bought two baked potatoes, "We don't want the old lady waiting."

As grumpy as she had been, granny was in good shape. And being in good shape actually meant poking me around with her walking stick when she wanted me to run a few errands for her.

"Viktor!" She almost shouted, "Get your butt over here!"

"What now?" I groaned, but was rewarded with a poke with her stick, "Ow!"

"How was school?"

"Fine, I guess." I shrugged, "don't worry, I still got that scholarship in the bag."

"You won't be needing it anymore." She suddenly said.

For a moment, I stared at her in disbelief.

"What?" My jaw dropped to the ground, "What do you mean I don't need..."

"You're transferring." She said.

"Where?"

"Japan."

Are you kidding me? I thought. You have got to be kidding me.

"Where?" I asked whilst trying to process and accept the information given, "You and I both know that I'm not bad at Japanese, but..."

"Otonokizaka High." Granny said, "You will be transferring there. Your visa is already done, and the plane leaves tomorrow at noon."

"Does Vladimir even know about this?" I asked, suspicious of her every move now.

"He doesn't." Granny said coldly, "You're going in solo."

What is wrong with you?

"You did not just..." I was speechless by now, "You are not pulling Vladimir into this..."

"I'm sorry, alright?" Granny snapped, and I stopped babbling at once, "Otonokizaka needs more students, and I wouldn't send you to Japan if I had any other choice!"

"And why is that?"

"The school is closing due to the lack of students."

"So?" I was still confused at this point, "not like it's any of my business."

"I studied there once." She sighed, "And I love my school."

"Now that's just selfish," I crossed my arms, "you can't let people sacrifice their future just to help solve one of your problems."

"And you need to look after Eli."

"Oh, really now?" I scoffed, "and to watch over your precious granddaughter?"

"She has always looked up to you, Viktor." She eyed me carefully, "Can't you just be helpful for once and at least guide her?"

"Guide her in what?"

"She's the Student Council President."

"She got elected by the students, which means they trust her judgment."

"Time changes people." She said, "Eli hasn't been the same since."

"How?" I narrowed my eyes at her.

"She became just like you."

"As in?"

"Cold, shut-off," she sighed, "but she isn't as calculating or cunning as you."

"What do you mean, I'm cunning?" I gritted my teeth.

"She's your problem, so you are going to deal with it."

You have got to be kidding me.

I sat on the plane, reminiscing all that happened in my childhood and adolescent years in Russia. All the pain, all the suffering, and all the few hints of joy and happiness I had…

So, an all-girls school then. I sighed at the thought. Just when I thought life was at least getting better for me…

What should I become if I were to survive in an all-girl's school?

Don't be a jerk.

"Give it back to me, Peter!" Natasha screamed, tears were forming at the edge of her eyes.

"I certainly will not." Peter snorted while dangling Natasha's lipstick in front of her, giggling like a little child.

"I swear to God, Peter!" Natasha chased after him.

"You ain't gonna catch me!"

Yes, don't be a jerk.

Be friendly? I mean, I could at least pretend to be.

I guess that's it. Let's go to school, then.

I stood in front of a big, brick building that just screamed old with a old gate in front.

Really? This pile of junk you call a school?

I took out my cellphone and contacted the person that old gramps told me to.

"Chairwoman Minami here. May I help you?" From the phone came a strong, but caring voice of a woman.

"Yes…." I stuttered, "umm… I'm the transfer student to Otonokizaka who's…."

"Oh! You must be….What's your name?" I heard an awkward laugh from the other end.

And old gramps didn't even bother to tell her my name….. Well, I guess that means I could be anyone I want.

"Uhhhhh….. Schmidt," I mustered up whatever's left of my German, "Johann Schmidt."

"A German? How exciting!" She was excited by the tone of her voice, "where are you now?"

"Right at your school gates." I looked up to that red pile of bricks and concrete.

"You do know that today's a Sunday, right?" She tried to suppress her giggle.

"I don't like trespassing." I said, "The gates are locked."

"I'm terribly sorry!" She panicked, "I'll come down and open them for you…"

"I'll do fine on my own," I took out two paper clips and bent them into shape while holding the phone between my shoulder and cheek, "you just… Stay put."

"A lock-picker?" She was really confused at this point.

"I do have a variety of hobbies and skills," I grunted, taking the padlock off of the school gates after I finished picking it, "What, are we starting the interview early?"

"No… It's just that…" She was nervous, "I'm not sure if someone with your skills could…"

"I'm not a pervert, if that's what you think I am." I threw the paperclips into a bin and walked into the school building, "anyway, where are we supposed to meet? This place is huge."

"The chairwoman's office is on the second floor." Minami-san said, "You should be able to see it."

Pushing the door in, I came face to face with the woman who had been talking with me over the phone in the past few minutes: she had ash-grey hair and was wearing a white blazer with a matching skirt, and a black dress shirt. Her amber orbs sparked with interest as I sat opposite to her.

"So, Schmidt-san," she placed her hands together on her lap, "we finally meet."

"It was just a three minute phone call," I replied, "you don't have to be all dramatic."

"It comes to my attention that you are to attend Otonokizaka High for the coming school year," Minami-san looked at some papers on her desk, "However, you have to know that…"

"It's an all-girls high school." I stroked my chin as if there was a beard, "I did my homewrok."

"Correct." Minami-san nodded, "So, I need you to know that if any one of my students…."

"Gets molested by some pervert that could pick locks?" I finished the sentence for her, to which she was very surprised, "you can call the cops on me anytime you want."

"I'm glad we are both on the same page." Minami-san sighed.

Well, I understood that she was just thinking for her students, but that sigh actually hinted me of something more than her career…It was something personal. Looking at her desk, I discovered a photo frame and turned it around, on it was Minami-san and a girl who was basically a smaller replica of her.

"Your daughter studies here, then." I turned the photo frame back, facing her, "No wonder you were worried."

"I just…." Minami-san looked away from me, obviously flustered and nervous now.

"Don't trust a guy who wears an eye patch and can pick locks who is going to study in the same school as your daughter? I could imagine."

"I just hope that you can understand where I'm coming from…" She forced a small smile.

"Maybe," I looked at her grimly, "just know that your daughter should be grateful to have a mother who cares for her so much."

"And your parents?" Minami-san looked at me curiously, "Where are they now?"

I took a deep breath. I guess it was a natural question for her to ask, but it just aches for me to answer it every time.

"They're in Russia." I forced a smile. Hopefully she didn't suspect anything.

"Oh, so you must know how to speak Russian then?"

"Indeed, I do."

"So, that relative of yours," Minami-san continued to scan the documents on her desk, "she didn't give me any specific details about you, only the fact that you're a boy."

"She, uh…" I thought for a while to find the right words, "wanted to uphold the traditions of this school, I guess."

Minami-san raised an eyebrow at me.

"Which means I stay off all school records." I crossed my arms, "Johann Schmidt never existed here."

"But hey," I shrugged, "desperate times, desperate measures."

"I don't see how that's going to help the school, though."

"I received a full-amount scholarship back in my old school," I scoffed, "I've been in the student council since middle school."

"Really?"

"Ended up as vice-president last year."

"Then maybe I should introduce you to the Student Council here, then."

"With pleasure." I smiled.

"Last question." Minami-san pointed at my right eye, "What happened there?"

"Noodles." I simply stated, "I was cooking noodles."

"Well, I guess that's it." Minami-san finally gave me a heartily smile, "Welcome to Otonokizaka Academy."

Wait, that's it?

"Yeah…..Thanks." I looked her awkwardly.

"This is your school tie, the rest of the dress-code is in the student handbook." She smiled at me warmly, "Small tip: the clothes you're wearing right now doesn't fit it."

I opened the small box that she gave me; sitting inside was a turquoise tie. For the dress code, I was supposed to be wearing a white dress shirt, a blue blazer with matching pants and dark leather shoes.

Glad there was nothing about eye patches, I gave a sigh of relief. On the other hand, I looked at what I was wearing…..

Black dress shirt, black jeans, and sneakers. Yeah, totally doesn't fit the dress code. I rolled my eyes.

"Anything else I need?" I asked, putting the tie in my back pocket since I only brought my wallet, phone, and a deck of cards during the entire trip.

"Your 'relative' wanted you to have this." Minami-san gave me an envelope, inside was a key and a credit card.

"Well, at least she gave me a place to stay." I twirled the key in my hand, while pocketing the credit card, "is that all?"

"I guess that's it." Minami-san smiled.

"Then I bid you a farewell, Minami-san." I stood up and gave her a small bow.

I closed the door behind me as I walked out. Supposing the school was empty, I looked around, hoping to know the place better if I didn't want to be late for class. However, I had to get all of my school supplies and find my apartment.

Finding my apartment wasn't hard, as the address was written on the key in very small letters. After I had settled my internal affairs and got my school supplies, I decided to take a walk at a shrine close by that wretched school I was going to study in.

I took up a flight of damned long stairs to reach the top, but thanks to my time at the archery team, it wasn't too tiring.

Taking a deep breath, I stretched myself in the vast empty space, but I was oblivious to whoever was closing up to me…

"You put on a relaxing vibe, but I can sense your stress within." She said calmly, "Are you here to pray to the Gods?"

"Or are you here for some spiritual power?"

What the hell was she talking about? I frowned as I turned around, coming face to face with a purple-haired girl in a white and red traditional outfit holding a broom.

"What?" I creased my eyebrows and narrowed my eyes.

"This place is magical, you know?" She smiled warmly. However, that smile was not only warm: it was disarming.

And from my experience, someone with a disarming smile just screamed 'dangerous' to me.

"I don't believe in magic," I deadpanned, "nor do I believe in Gods."

"Then why do you come here?" She looked at me curiously.

"You have an awful lot of questions for someone who cleans up the place." I eyed her broom carefully, "What's your name?"

"Toujo." She smiled again, the smile itself now more disarming than ever.

"Nozomi Toujo."