Here is the fourth conversation Noelle has to have and the second with a definite rival since realizing that she was in love with Asta. By the title I am sure that y'all can guess which character she has to talk to this time. Unlike the last few conversations however, this one is actually taking place during an episode of the show and is effectively a rewrite of the relevant parts of that episode, which is episode 135 for those curious and will have some spoilers from it. There will be another conversation that will also be like this and I am sure you can guess which one that is as that girl can only be talked to within that episode for various factors, the same for the girl in this conversation so it is a reimagining with Noelle now conscious of her feelings. Anyway, that is all I have to say for now as there are no questions to answer or guest reviews to respond to so it is time to sit back and enjoy Noelle's latest conversation.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Black Clover franchise.

Summary - Finral needs help to break his curse and make his heart stronger so that he can prove that he is worthy of Lady Finnes and he needs Asta's help with that. How will Finral do this? Why a mixer in the village of Nean of course. What could possibly go wrong with training like this? Well, Noelle had better follow and spy on them just in case. Wait, that redhead opposite Asta is awfully familiar. Oh no, here we go again.

Dinner Date Waifu

How the hell was a mixer training! Noelle growled as she clutched the wooden pillar in The Dreavy Hinker tavern in the village of Nean as she glared angrily at the sight before her while wearing a waitress uniform. She was not ok with this, and she was glad she'd decided to follow Asta again the moment this special training was proposed.

It had all started earlier that day when Asta had collapsed at a table after an intense morning training session. He was exhausted, hungry, and shirtless so the classic Asta that Noelle had fallen for. As he was groaning Finral had appeared and asked Asta for help as he too was cursed and wanted Asta to help him break it.

Naturally, that had been when Noelle had shown up and not because Asta was done training and needed her company while he ate some of Charmy's recovery food. Ok, she was no longer in denial, that was entirely why she was there because she wanted to spend as much time with the boy she loved as possible. Alas she'd arrived as Finral was begging for help breaking his curse.

Of course, that curse wasn't actually a curse, it was just Finral begging for help to stop being a serial womanizer and all-around sleaze. Apparently there was actually a girl who he was seriously interested and who might actually like him back so he wanted to improve to worthy of her but there were some noble politics that were in the way as there often were. Given how serious Finral looked, Noelle was willing to give him a chance to turn over a new leaf on this front.

Well, that and Asta had instantly agreed to help him because that was just the kinda guy he was, he helped all his friends out when they needed him the most. It was one of the many reasons why Noelle loved him, and it made her heart flutter when he enthusiastically agreed to help Finral overcome his 'curse', not that she would show that side of herself to him of course.

The act of Finral coming to Asta for support also showed another thing that was unique to Asta, his ability to make all of them better because of who he was as a person. She'd experienced it first hand with how he had been responsible for helping gain control of her magic, grow in confidence, and be less of an icy bitch most of the time though she'd never admit the last one to him.

She wasn't the only one though as she'd seen how Asta's personality had helped everyone else, most notably how Finral and Vanessa, the two biggest screw ups in the Black Bulls, become stronger and more confident since he'd joined the quad. This was showed by his absolute trust in them that gave them the courage to give it all in aiding him to defeat Vetto in the Underwater Temple. Without their magic they would have lost but those two had stepped up because of Asta and the three of them worked as a perfect team to hold Vetto off long enough for the rest to arrive and end him.

That was why Noelle was willing to believe that Asta's influence had also helped Finral in this sense as well. It genuinely appeared that he was trying to change his ways to impress one woman who was above his usual womanizing. It was such an Asta thing to do and made Noelle love him even more that Asta could make all those around him better, even if he didn't realize it himself, by simply helping them when asked.

That said, why did this training have to be in the form of a damned mixer? Noelle hadn't trusted Finral enough to be serious so naturally she'd followed him, Luck, and Asta the moment they left to keep an eye on them. Well, that and to follow Asta because she didn't like leaving his side as he was want to do something stupid if she wasn't there to look after him. At least now she could admit that her actions were driven by her love for Asta and not for reasons she didn't want to admit to.

As such, she had followed them through Finral's portal and was shocked to find out that they were in Nean and heading to a familiar tavern. Of course, one glance through the window was all Noelle needed to see saw what the training actually was.

Before she knew it, or could question her actions, Noelle had persuaded the owner to rehire her as a waitress and set to work spying on Asta to make sure that he was being a good boy and not falling for another woman while cursing herself for believing that Finral could change his ways. She was so focused on the situation that she didn't notice another new waitress had joined with her.

Thankfully for Noelle, the mixer was going in classic Black Bulls fashion, that was to say it was on the brink of being a complete disaster given the terrible social skills of the men of her squad. Asta was currently stuffing his face like a pig, Luck looked like he usually did with a creepy smile that showed that he was clearly itching for a fight, and Finral was for some reason not sweettalking the three women who looked like they had made a terrible mistake coming.

That was good. Noelle wanted the woman opposite Asta, a pretty redhead in a familiar looking ruffled dress in different shades of pink, to realize how stupid Asta was so that she would not fall for him thus leaving Asta to Noelle as it should be. The other two women looked just as bored with their partners which was good.

Things were going well, and Noelle kept staring intently at them while ignoring the owner glaring at her back just to make sure that the mixer stayed on its current trajectory towards disaster. She was worried that Asta would fall for one of the girls and not her, but it so far seemed to not be the case and Noelle was safe from losing him.

"You've got a little bit of food on your face Asta." The redhead opposite him said to him reaching out a napkin to wipe it off with a smile on her face that was far to familiar and loving towards Asta for Noelle's liking. "Here, let me get it for you."

"Huh." Asta asked confused and suddenly Noelle recognized the woman who was now coyly flirting with a clueless Asta by wiping some food off his face, a trick Noelle realized she'd have to steal for the next time she ate with Asta, if she could find the nerve to do it that is. "What?"

Regardless, how could she have forgotten about that girl! She was one of Noelle's biggest rivals and of course if Asta was going to go to a mixer in Nean he'd reach out to her as she was the only one he knew well here and would want to invite her to this as that was just the kinda man Asta was. Sometimes he could be too nice for his own good, especially when it toyed with Noelle's poor heart.

Noelle knew that Rebecca had feelings for Asta, and she was certain that the commoner that Noelle also liked Asta that way. That damned vixen had had the audacity to kiss Asta on the cheek in front of her after all, a sight that still gave her nightmares of losing Asta to her though now Noelle at least understood those dreams.

Those nightmares would get worse after seeing Rebecca here with Asta on a date! Noelle growled and clutched the pillar so hard she cracked it under her fingers as she let out all her rage. She had been right to come here after all as she now had to actually deal with a rival for Asta.

"Hey, don't destroy my bar miss!" The owner yelled at her causing Noelle to turn around and glare at him.

"Mind your own business beer boy." Noelle said in her most imperious tone to show that she was better than him, though it was more to get him off her back so that she could return to why she was here in the first place than her actually meaning it.

"I'd say that this is my business wouldn't you?" The owner asked her while questioning why he had hired this chick again while Noelle continued to glare daggers at him. "Fine but if you destroy anything else then your fired."

Noelle turned back to Asta and kept clutching the pillar, ignoring her 'job' and growling at her rival and Asta being all buddy buddy on their date and wishing it was her not Rebecca eating with Asta. As she was turning back, a slender feminine hand appeared before her, and a flash of blue magic caught Noelle's eye. She looked down and saw the cracks she'd created vanish as the pillar was restored to normal. It was as if the magic had sealed them shut but the only person Noelle knew with sealing magic was…

Looking up Noelle jumped when she saw Nero standing before her in a matching waitress dress to Noelle's but with an expressionless look on her face. The girl had just finished fixing the pillar and was now looking at Noelle intently.

"Nero?" Noelle asked her already high-strung insecurities and jealousy over Asta being here with Rebecca kicking into overdrive at the sight of another rival appearing before here and for once not in her bird form. "Why'd you get a job here?"

"Just because." Nero said in her usual apathetic tone with a small shrug and left it at that.

"This isn't something you should do for fun." Noelle said with a hint of irritation to hide her annoyance at the girl being here. "It's a very serious profession…"

Noelle was about to finish when she got a full eyeful of Nero in her waitress outfit and all her jealousy and insecurities flared up as Noelle recoiled and went bright red at the sight. Nero looked positively adorable in the outfit as she stood there expressionless as usual. Noelle didn't know how the girl managed it, but she really looked the part unlike her and that was not good. If Asta saw her like that was to stop him falling in love with Nero and not her like she wanted. This was not good. Somehow the night had gone from bad to worse in a matter of seconds and all thanks to a cute girl with horns on her head.

"What's going on?" Nero asked calmly though now that she knew the full truth of Noelle's feelings for Asta and how she viewed her she had a very good reason what was going on, she just wanted to hear it from Noelle herself.

"Nothing just leave Asta's table to me." Noelle said frantically confirming Nero's suspicions.

"And why is that?" Nero asked.

"You know full well why." Noelle almost hissed back as she fought the urge to turn and deny her feelings, she couldn't with Nero as the girl knew the truth. "You said it yourself, I need to consider you a rival and I do, especially when you're dressed like that. If you aren't decided how you feel about him yet then back off Asta right now and let me keep an eye on him so that Rebecca doesn't snatch him up."

"Fine." Nero said surprising Noelle. "But only because you have no idea how to do this job so one of us had better actually do it."

"I so do." Noelle said defensively. "I've done it before."

"Hey sweetheart, I'll take another beer." A jovial man with rosy cheeks from drink shouted at Noelle thrusting out an empty wooden tankard at her.

"Get it yourself insect." Noelle said dismissively as she glared down at the annoying man interrupting her important spying on Asta.

"Oh no, not you are again." The man said recognizing Noelle from several months back.

"Here you go sir." Nero said having used the distraction to get the man his drink and slamming the full tankard down in front of him. "Enjoy."

"Thank you." The man said looking up at Nero and having a similar reaction to Noelle to seeing her in her waitress outfit. "You're an angel."

Nero ignored him and went back to work. She was still undecided on her feelings for Asta, she was mainly here to look out for him because she'd sworn her loyalty to him, so she was never going to be far from his side unless she had to. However, it was clear that Noelle had her agenda and at least the girl knew why she was here and pretending to be a waitress again to spy on Asta's mixer date. That was at least healthier than the girl being in denial about her feelings and why she did the strange things that she did around Asta.

With Noelle looking over him, Nero knew that Asta was in safe hands. Despite how little control the girl had over her emotions when they came to Asta, especially when Asta was around other women who were interested in him, Nero knew that Noelle loved him deeply. She probably loved Asta as deeply as Nero had loved her prince, so she could leave the Asta watching to the girl who knew she was in love with him.

Nero would continue doing her job that she'd gotten to watch over Asta and see if it would come in use in other ways. She was used to acting as a serving wench, though her prince had treated her as an equal despite her position, so she knew what to do and was easily able to carry several beers for the owner who seemed proud to have her around to help out.

There was another reason why Nero was actually doing her job. As a bird she'd learned that being someone insignificant in a setting meant that you could pick up a few things by just listening to those around her who were ignoring her and if she wasn't in her bird form then a lowly waitress was almost as good.

It was why she was able to recognize a member of the Golden Dawn in a bad disguise with a heavily wrapped woman sitting opposite him spying on Asta's table for some reason. That was something Nero would have to keep an eye on but first she had drinks to take upstairs to a private dining room being used up there.

Nero carried her tray up the stairs and to a corridor where she was surprised to see two members of the Blue Rose Knights trying to peek in through the crack in the door to the private room. As soon as Nero showed up they jumped to attention and stood guard as if they hadn't been spying. Nero didn't care, though she was curious as to why two Blue Rose Knights were present, as she made her way to the door to deliver her drinks.

She got her answer as soon as it was opened, and she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight that greeted her. Inside the room were three high ranking members of the Blue Rose Knights, all of whom Nero recognized right away.

Nearest the door was a plump, made up blonde woman with a wide smile who Nero knew had been in the Royal Knights and was possessed by an elf during the reincarnation incident. Farthest from her was a dark-skinned tomboy woman with short hair and little clothing eating at a speed Charmy would be impressed by that Nero knew was called Sol. In the middle of them, dressed in a revealing and gorgeous blue dress, was none other than Captain Charlotte herself that she was rocking as well as she rocked her usual armor.

All that was strange to begin with but what made it even stranger and why Nero stopped in her tracks, not even noticing the other two Blue Rose Knights also watching the scene over her shoulders, was that opposite the women were three members of her own squad. Gordan was opposite the hefty woman and seemed to be having an actual and good conversation with her, Magna was opposite Sol and arguing with her about something, while Captain Yami was opposite Charlotte and dressed in his usual attire.

Naturally, the latter two showed classic Black Bull table manners and social decorum, that is to say it was nonexistent and clearly annoying Charlotte greatly judging by the vein pulsing in her forehead. However, that wasn't a problem to Nero as she watched and tried to eavesdrop on them as hadn't noticed her there.

It was clear to Nero what this was about given the fact that the two Captains were present. This was all about the devils and the investigation into them, so she was eager to hear what they were discussing to see if anything useful had been discovered by the Blue Rose Knights.

Meanwhile, Noelle was still doing what she'd come here to do, spy on Asta and make sure he didn't fall for that woman. It was looking like she was overreacting due to her love and jealousy which was understandable given who he was with but thanks to Luck's lack of social graces and Finral being aloof for some reason the girls weren't having a good time with her moronic teammates. Noelle was still wary of them but could relax a touch. That was when an annoying voice starting yapping behind her.

Noelle turned to see an arrogant looking blonde man wearing a green robe that denoted that he was a member of the Green Praying Mantises squad sitting between a chubby guy and a dude with an impressive afro bragging to the three women opposite them who looked like they had regretted their life choices in being there. He was making up a lot of bold lies to try and impress them and failing spectacularly though he didn't notice in a level of obliviousness that a Black Bull could only dream of accomplishing in such a setting.

As his grating voice kept talking, Noelle knew that she'd heard it before. It wasn't until he suddenly let out a loud 'ha-ha' at the end of a sentence that she remembered who he was. He was the annoying ha-ha guy who kept cropping up from time to time for some reason and seemed to know Asta.

"Darling, bring me and my boys some drinks." He suddenly said thrusting a finger at Noelle and winking in what he no doubt thought was a flirty gesture.

In response Noelle drew her wand and blasted him in the face with a jet of water flooring him and his boys. The girls turned and gave her a thumbs up for doing something about him. Noelle just nodded and went back to her 'job'.

It seemed that things had calmed down and she wasn't going to have to worry about Asta and Rebecca more than the usual amount. However, the moment she turned her back the table shifted and when she returned to looking at it, the girl who seemed least interested was now inexplicably and aggressively flirting with Finral the way he usually did but Finral was actually showing restraint which at least impressed Noelle. Meanwhile Luck had moved and was somehow successfully flirting with his girl. That wasn't what concerned Noelle though.

No, what concerned her was the fact that Asta and Rebecca were still chatting up a storm and now talking about Asta's recent trip to the Heart Kingdom. Rebecca's assumption was right, it was a beautiful place and Noelle had liked it there, she found it peaceful and natural, not to mention incredibly romantic and had already fantasized about the dates she could go on with Asta there. Alas, those fantasies would have to wait for a moment as the conversation was more important to Noelle.

It was clear that Asta was as dense as always and not noticing Rebecca's heavy flirting with him as he invited her and her siblings to visit the Heart Kingdom when things cleared up, providing they won, and he wasn't executed for treason that is. That was too much for Noelle to handle.

"She's got some nerve, if I let my guard down around her for a second she'll scoop him right up." Noelle said allowed as she furiously glared at Rebecca, this was an act of war from the redhead as far as Noelle was concerned. "I can't let this stand."

Noelle was so focused on the conversation that she didn't notice the owner behind her glaring at her and questioning why he hired this crazy chick again who seemed to only stare at one particular mixer table. In fact, Noelle was so irate and distracted that she didn't realize she'd spoken aloud and gotten the attention of Rebecca as she was listening to Asta talk.

Rebecca had heard the noise of someone speaking and picked up the tone of an extremely jealous female. Looking she saw one of waitress trying to hide behind a nearby pillar while angrily glaring towards Asta as she clutched the pillar so hard it was in danger of breaking under her fingers.

That alone would have been a strange sight, but the moment Rebecca saw the silver hair under the bonnet and the way she glared at Asta as if she wanted to be the one with him, Rebecca recognized her at once. Well, it looked like Noelle hadn't changed a bit, perhaps Rebecca would be able to have some fun messing with her rival later, providing the opportunity came up that is.

For now, though, Rebecca had the upper hand as Asta had invited her to the mixer, in fact she was the point of contact between the groups and had brought her friends for the mixer's sake. She had done so so that she could spend time with Asta again and tell him she didn't believe the accusations. As such, she was going to enjoy her date with Asta, even if he had no idea it was one, and rile Noelle up in the process. Hopefully, it would be enough to get the girl to admit that she was crushing on Asta hard.

Noelle for her part was now near apoplectic as Rebecca continued to flirt shamelessly with a clueless Asta while also wishing she had the courage to do so with him. It was as if Rebecca knew that Noelle was there and was using the fact that she had Asta's attention to her advantage. Noelle had finally come to terms with her feelings for Asta and now she had to deal with this going on in front of her. It ensured that she was going to confront Rebecca the moment she could, she just didn't know when that moment was and hoped it would come without having to reveal to Asta that she'd been here all along.

That was of course when fate decided to intervein in a spectacular fashion that Noelle could never have seen coming. As she was growling at Asta and Rebecca, she heard a screaming sound and looked up, as did everyone, in time to she the door burst open and off its hinges as a yelling blonde bombshell in a revealing blue dress with blue roses on it burst into the tavern holding her left wrist with her right hand.

The woman then proceeded to trip and Noelle watched as Finral acted faster than even Asta could when someone was in danger to create some spatial portals. A second later he was holding the woman in a full dip with one arm in a cheesy, romantic way that instantly made Noelle want to be held by Asta that way, though she much preferred it when he carried her like the princess that she was. Of course, the moment was ruined by Finral giving an extremely cheesy line in his best Casanova voice.

It took a moment for Noelle to process that the screams had stopped and the whole bar was looking at the sight near the door, one that Noelle knew was classic Finral and showed that he still had a long way to come to overcome his problems. That said, he did realize his mistake and yelled to the whole bar how sorry he was and that his heart belonged to Lady Finnes.

Well, at least he was being honest even if he had a long way to come so Noelle could tell that he was trying which was a start even if it would just take a long time. Perhaps a shock collar would be a good idea, she'd have to look into it next time she was in the Black Market. However, all that was pushed to the back of Noelle's mind when the name Finral had said to the woman when trying to be smooth hit Noelle and she looked at the shocked woman that Finral was still holding.

She couldn't help but gasp at the sight of Captain Charlotte Roselei dressed to the nines in her finest dress and absolutely rocking it, though the clear cleavage showing her very impressive bust made Noelle self-conscious of her own smaller breasts. That was only fleeting as Noelle openly stared at the Blue Rose Captain who had made such a scene in a very out of character way for the usually serious and controlled woman. Given the attire, she had been here for a mixer and if she were here then Noelle knew she'd been here for the guy she liked.

"Well, I didn't know we were having that kind of party." A familiar voice said, and Noelle's eyes were drawn to the doorless entry and suddenly they went wide in shock at the sight.

Standing in the door in all his unkempt glory was her own Captain Yami looking at Charlotte and Finral in confusion. With him were Gordan, Magna, and two Blue Rose Knights that Noelle recognized as Sol and Puli. So, it had been a mixer and given the people present it had to be with the three Black Bulls who'd just entered the tavern.

Almost at once the gears in Noelle's head kicked into overdrive. Charlotte was here, at a mixer, with the Black Bulls, and dressed to impress a man who was no doubt the one she was in love with. That meant that who she liked had to be one of the 3 Black Bulls in the doorway and it was obvious to Noelle who it was, and her jaw hit the floor at that realization. The person that Charlotte Roselei loved was none other than Captain Yami. Well, that was juicy to say the least but Charlotte was keeping her secret about being in love with Asta so Noelle would keep Charlotte's one regarding Captain Yami.

She was so surprised by the whole thing that she didn't hear what Charlotte said next and was only brought back to the current situation by the sound of Finral being thrown face first into the floor by the imposing blonde in traditional Finral rejection fashion with a little extra violence thrown in. Noelle shook her head as the bar began to clear with the dates for Luck and Finral deciding that they'd wasted their time and leaving, as well as several other patrons.

None of that mattered to Noelle as Charlotte panted and turned away from Yami to look at the bar her face bright red from what had just happened and Yami seeing her in such a position. It was as she was looking that she saw Noelle there in her waitress outfit of all things and locked gazes in surprise at the sight. Noelle just tilted her head to the table Finral had come from and left it at that.

Charlotte for her part understood the silent gesture. She was certainly shocked to see Noelle Silva of all people dressed like a tavern wench but at the tilt of the younger girl's head she saw what was going on. At the table that had been set for the mixer sat Asta, the boy Noelle was madly in love with, opposite an attractive redhead woman as they both looked at the strange sight before them.

At once the Blue Rose Captain knew what was going on. There had been another Black Bull mixer in the main part of the bar for 3 of the other guys, something that explained why Asta had not been one of the 2 with Yami upstairs, and he'd clearly invited the redhead to it.

That was when Charlotte remembered what Noelle had said about how she'd twice followed him to Nean and knew at once that this was the rival Noelle had here. She'd clearly done the same thing again to keep an eye on him, something Charlotte couldn't deny she wouldn't do if she had been in Noelle's shoes and Yami was at a mixer with some other girl. Well, at least Noelle was still being honest with herself regarding her feelings.

Noelle was just glad that the night was coming to an end. It looked like the whole thing was basically over and while Charlotte's night had been a fiasco, Noelle could tell that, she would get out of this without being discovered by Asta and maybe catch Rebecca before she went home to have a private word with her. Naturally, that was the moment that fate again decided to step in again and screw Noelle over.

"Asta, aren't those your teammates as well." Rebecca said and Noelle saw a slight glance the woman gave her that contained a mischievous glint that made her go cold. "With some female Magic Knights, I believe."

"Huh, oh yeah that is Captain Yami, Gordan and Magna with some of the women of the Blue Rose Knights." Asta said looking over to them. "Hey Captain, looks like you guys were here as well."

"Yeah the Blue Rose Knights decided to treat a few of us to dinner." Yami called back and Noelle had to resist face palming at the utter density of her captain, apparently muscles didn't mean brains when it came down to Yami and Asta. "Though our meal was interrupted by the prickly princess jumping through a window."

"Well why don't you all join each other for a larger mixer." Rebecca called out while Noelle tried to process the level of Charlotte's freak out, even she'd never gone that far when her feelings for Asta got too much. "There are 6 of you here now so we can finish dinner together."

"A wonderful idea." Puli said in a loud, singsong, voice at the idea of salvaging this attempt at romance for her Captain. "We need to finish dinner and why not have all the Black Bulls present at it. However, there are only 4 women here."

"Fear not Lady Knight." Rebecca said with a look to Noelle and a grin on her face. "I believe at least one of the female Black Bulls is here too, she can join you lot."

Noelle wanted to throttle Rebecca for outing her in front of everyone, but she couldn't do anything about it as Puli already began using her magic to clean things up and create a long table for everyone. All Noelle could do was walk forward flushed red with embarrassment at being busted. However, if she was going down, she wasn't going down alone and grabbed Nero by the back of her collar and dragged her to the table as the other girl tried to slip out in the confusion.

"There are two of us actually, so we do have 6 ladies for the night." Noelle said ignoring the confusion from her squad mates at the sight of her and Nero in waitress dresses. "So, I guess we're set."

"Excellent then let's finish this." Rebecca said as she coordinated with Puli to set up the seats with the confused men of the Black Bulls on one side and the women on the other. "It would be a shame to waste a good mixer like this."

In short order Noelle found herself opposite Asta who was now between Magna and Finral as Magna and Sol weren't allowed to sit opposite each other following some Charmy level eating contest they'd apparently had upstairs. Noelle didn't care about that as she was too busy dealing with the fact that she was between Rebecca and Nero and opposite Asta as he looked at her in confusion, an adorable look that Noelle wouldn't admit to liking to him.

"I didn't know you two had jobs here." Asta said breaking the silence in classic Asta fashion by having no clue why Noelle and Nero had been working in the tavern that night.

"Yeah what the odds right." Noelle said knowing she had a forced, awkward smile at the situation she was now in, this had been what she'd been trying to avoid all night.

"Small world." Nero added seeming just as uncomfortable at being busted as Noelle.

"Yup it's a total coincidence." Rebecca said with a grin and a sidelong look at Noelle before turning to her rival and whispering so that Asta likely wouldn't here. "You should try being a bit more forward with Asta. We both know he isn't too bright."

Noelle instantly flushed and went into denial mode as Asta was right opposite her and completely confused by the actions of the two women. However, she calmed herself enough to suppress her usual reaction and turn to face Rebecca. Now was as good a time as ever to confront her rival.

"Rebecca, I need to power my nose if I am to be at a mixer." Noelle said in an imperious tone that she knew would ensure that Asta didn't question her actions. "Care to help me?"

Rebecca blinked in confusion at this, that wasn't what she'd expected from Noelle as their statuses were so different but agreed as it seemed that Noelle wanted to talk to her. She nodded and the girls got up to go to the bathroom, leaving Asta confused as Finral apologized to him while Nero was stuck in an extremely awkward situation, but Noelle didn't mind, it served her right for looking so adorable in that outfit.

"So, what do you really want to talk about Noelle." Rebecca said as the bathroom door closed leaving them alone in the private room for women. "I know girl code and what bathroom means so speak."

"Just this." Noelle said as she locked gazes with Rebecca and drew on all her royal arrogance and her love for Asta to give her the confidence she needed to properly confront the redhead. "You may have flustered me today because of what just happened but in the end I will win. I will be the one who wins Asta's heart."

"Wait, you actually realized that you like him?" Rebecca said her eyes wide at that, she hadn't expected this when Noelle had called her out given how deep in denial the girl had been.

"Yes I did." Noelle said with a nod. "About two weeks ago or so. Took a while but I finally realized how I felt about him."

"How?" Rebecca asked curious. "I knew because you obviously had feelings for him by how you acted during that kidnapping incident, well that and a woman always knows a rival when she sees one, but you were clearly in denial to yourself about them."

"Believe it or not, it was all thanks to the busty blonde bombshell in blue who crashed through the door a few minutes ago and caused this situation." Noelle said further surprising Rebecca. "She's the reason I confronted my denial over my feelings for Asta."

"Her?" Rebecca asked even more confused now. "Isn't she the Captain of the Blue Rose Knights? They are known as an all-female, misandrist, squad if I recall."

"Well, that was true, but I think it will change for various reasons." Noelle said and leaving it at that as she wasn't going to say any more about Charlotte's private life then she absolutely had to. "But yes, it was thanks to Captain Charlotte Roselei that I was able to confront my feelings for Asta. She realized how I felt about him, I won't say how though, and invited me to talk about something else related to the Black Bulls before she sprung the real reason on me. She wanted me to face my feelings and accept them as a way to help me out."

"She does strike me as the kinda woman who can be very direct when she wants to be." Rebecca said. "Still, you are stubborn so it's hard to see anyone breaking through your walls."

"Well, when you are trapped in a cocoon of briars by a Magic Knight Captain with no way out you kinda have to deal with it." Noelle said with a sigh at how Charlotte had manipulated the situation into ensuring that Noelle confronted her feelings for Asta. "So, I pushed past the limits my denial had on me and realized my feelings for Asta. I love him and I will be with him. No rival will stand in my way."

"Good, now we can be proper rivals." Rebecca said with a grin though she was surprised that Noelle was fully in love with Asta already, it was just another sign of how much ground Rebecca had to overcome if she wanted to beat Noelle and now that Noelle was declaring her intent, Rebecca couldn't give up on Asta just yet. "I know that you have the edge but that just means that I have to try harder to win Asta. We both know he's dense so this will take time."

"Yes it will but at least now it is in the open between us." Noelle said. "Though only two other rivals and Charlotte know the truth, so please keep it that way."

"Of course, it's no fun otherwise." Rebecca said with a nod. "Now shall we get back; we are at a mixer so perfect battlefield for us to start our acknowledged rivalry on."

"Very well." Noelle said annoyed at how bad her situation was but knowing there was no way out of it now so she was going to give it her all the way only a royal could. "Let's go, though I will win."

"Not if I do." Rebecca said as they left the bathroom reminding Noelle again of how Asta, Yuno, and Leopold acted around each other and thinking that if they had Mimosa here then they'd have their own rivalry triumvirate present.

Regardless of her rivals, Noelle was going to give it her all and win Asta. Tonight, was a good test to see how she comfortable she could be around Asta in such a setting but deep down she knew she had a ways to go and was already on the back foot to Rebecca.

Thankfully Asta was too dense to realize so she had time and just as Asta would one day be the Wizard King, Noelle knew that her love for Asta would prevail. He'd be hers no matter how many rivals she put in their places along the way to winning his heart the way he'd won hers. She just wondered who would be next as these confrontations were suddenly coming from all sides it seemed, but Noelle was ready, she would be Asta's girl.

Well, there it is, Noelle had now confronted 3 of her rivals and all so soon after she realized her feelings. I know there wasn't as much in this one with the Noelle vs. Rebecca moments, but this is the only time in the anime after the Blue Rose Confession episode that Rebecca shows up, so this was the only time for Noelle to confront her rival. Still, she got to confront her and let her know who was going to win. I am sure y'all know who is next so stay tuned, if all goes according to plan it will be out tomorrow. Anyway, that is all I have for now, please let me know what you think in your reviews and PMs as I do like hearing from y'all and don't forget to follow and favorite my work.

Stringdog