A Sailor Moon cross, in which Usagi doesn't run into Luna and ends up picked up by the NRC carriage instead. As a result she gets her magical girl awakening a bit later than usual.
Usagi looked in the mirror and sighed heavily. Learning magic was real had been very exciting...right up until she found herself in a fight for her life because of "Overblot". While the situation had been resolved easily enough, and Riddle being given a stern reprimand (and overdue mandatory therapy), she hadn't exactly come out of the mess unscathed.
Though perhaps she was exceptionally lucky that the worst damage she took was that a good chunk of her hair had been burned clean off. Her usual odango hair style looked incredibly lopsided with one of the long tails burned half-off. She had no choice but to cut it.
With some dismay, Usagi looked high and low in Ramshackle, only to discover that there wasn't a decent pair of scissors to be found. And she refused to use a kitchen knife or something equally ridiculous for something as mundane as a hair cut.
To that end, Usagi went to find some help.
Trey was predictably very busy, helping to reset the dorm for a proper Unbirthday Party.
"Hey Usa-chan, what do you need?" asked Cater.
"Do you know where I can find some scissors?" she asked politely.
"Scissors?" said Cater confused.
She held out the chunk of hair that was clearly singed at the bottom. Cater winced, realizing what she needed them for.
"You planning to even it out?" he asked.
She nodded.
"I've never cut my own hair before, so I plan to use one of the mirrors at Ramshackle and hope for the best."
"Do you have a style in mind?" asked Cater, already planning to help.
"Not really? I've had the same hair style for years, and never really experimented with it."
"Sounds like you're overdue for a change up then!" said Cater cheerfully. "If you give me a few minutes I can track down some scissors and a spare room. No way am I forcing a cute girl like you to cut her hair...it was bad enough when I busted Riddle doing it."
Usagi settled into the chair and Cater had to whistle at how long her hair actually was.
"How long have you been growing it out?"
"A long time? Honestly, it's going to be interesting having shorter hair, and it'll take less time to clean it," said Usagi honestly.
Cater went to work, and soon long piles of rather beautiful blond hair began to from behind the chair. Usagi's hair was ridiculously long, and she looked good that way so he didn't want to cut it all off.
Once he evened it out, which took off about half the length, he took a step back for a moment.
"How short do you want it?"
"I don't want it to be too short. Naru always preferred shorter hair, but I like it longer. Though I was warned by my old teachers that the high school might make me cut it anyway," said Usagi.
Usagi felt Cater's hand on her back, a bit down below where her shoulder blades ended.
"Is this fine with you? It's only a few inches off where I had to even it out," he asked.
"Sure," she replied.
Cater went to work, and soon more hair joined the pile.
"Now, do you want the same style you had before?" he asked, though he honestly didn't know how she made it look so natural.
"I've honestly never really tried anything else," she admitted.
"Do you want to try a braid?" he asked seriously. He knew how to do those thanks to his sisters.
Usagi nodded, and Cater put the scissors down. He spotted a bit of checker-patterned ribbon, and began to go to work with it. It took him about five minutes to finish up, and Usagi was surprised with the change. It was like a massive weight had been taken off her shoulders...which in a way it had.
"I like it! It's super cute!" said Usagi happily. She especially liked the ribbon he added.
"I know right? Totes adorbs!" said Cater. "Mind if I took a picture for my followers?"
Usagi grinned and struck up a fun pose, which had Cater joining her with a smile. Usagi reminded him of Kalim...she was a giant ball of sunshine.
"What happened to your hair?" asked Ace, rather tactlessly.
Deuce was staring as well, his face red as a tomato. Cater could relate...there was something magnetic about Usagi. It was like she had a ridiculously high charisma stat or something.
"One of Riddle's fire attacks hit my hair during the failed party. Cater-san was nice enough to help me cut off the burnt bits," said Usagi.
"Cater is fine," he said cheerfully. It was like doting on an adorable little sister.
"You look really cute," said Trey. Though he gave Cater a slightly annoyed look.
Riddle looked incredibly guilty, as it was yet another reminder that he had snapped so publicly.
Usagi saw this, and lightly bonked the shorter teen on the head.
"None of that. You were under a lot of pressure, and if you want to make up for it then you can help me with my studying," said Usagi firmly. "I've never been good at that sort of thing anyway."
Riddle blinked, before a quiet smile filled his face.
"I can work with that," said Riddle. Adding one more to his study sessions wasn't that big a hardship.
Cater was grinning, as he couldn't wait to introduce Usa-chan to the rest of the Pop Music club.
Usagi wasn't much of a casual gamer, she preferred to watch movies rather than make them, and she was too clumsy for any of the sports clubs.
So when he mentioned the club he was in, she was all for it.
As he expected, Usagi and Kalim hit it off within seconds. It like they were long-lost cousins or something, with how quickly they clicked.
"Well this is interesting," said Lilia with good cheer.
Usagi grinned when she saw Lilia.
"I love your highlights!"
"Thank you, but they're all natural," said Lilia with a laugh.
Usagi settled in and was relieved she wasn't expected to actually play music. The Pop Music club was mostly a place for them to occasionally play music and chat for hours on end.
Best of all, it came with snacks.
"So what is your world like?" asked Kalim.
Usagi grinned and happily told them about her family, her friend Naru, and her former school. While she did miss them somewhat, she was sure the headmage would find a way to send her home soon.
Usagi had to admit, Riddle was a really good teacher. He was rather patient, and the explanations he gave were detailed enough that even she could get it.
"So if I add the five like this..."
"Then you would get this formula," said Riddle.
"I am completely lost," complained Grim.
"Same," said Ace. Deuce looked like he had given up twenty minutes ago, but wasn't willing to admit it.
Riddle had no sympathy for them. He was a strict task master, but at the same time he was incredibly patient to those who made a genuine effort to learn.
Once he realized Usagi wasn't being difficult on purpose, but had never learned most of the underlying basics, he had given her a list of books he expected her to read.
Usagi had spent three painful weeks rereading and doing all the questions before submitting them to Riddle for inspection. In all fairness, she had a particularly nasty series of teachers before she ended up in Ms. Haruna's classroom who had dissuaded any love of learning.
"I find it hard to believe that you were a poor student like you claim. Once you had the basics down, you are surprisingly quick to pick up on general theory," said Riddle. "Even Ace has more trouble learning the material."
Usagi made a slight face.
"In my defense, I had one too many teachers growing up who didn't like the fact they had to teach a possible 'foreigner', or worse, an affair child."
That had everyone staring.
"Uh, what?" said Deuce utterly confused.
Usagi sighed. Before she pulled out the cheap phone she had. It had a set limit of minutes and texts and was only for emergencies. After a moment she pulled up a photo from last year.
"This is my family," she explained.
Riddle saw the issue immediately.
"Both your parents have dark hair, but you and your brother have different shades of blond."
"Japan predominantly has black or brown hair. It took a lot of digging into our family history to find out my great-great-grandmother had spent time in America shortly before the war broke out, and her daughter moved back to Japan with her husband where the family stayed."
"I'm confused. What war?" asked Deuce.
Usagi thought about how to answer that, before deciding it was way too much effort to explain.
"Let's just say my world had several wars and my great-grandparents moved back before one of the biggest ones hit her home country and before travel was heavily restricted."
She didn't really pay attention to history class, and by this point most of the information she did know was old history. Besides, she grew up in Tokyo.
"So the teachers didn't like the fact you were a blond?" asked Ace.
Usagi thought of the best way to describe the Japanese school system for a moment.
"Imagine if the Japanese school system is filled with students as...driven...as Riddle, with competition for the better schools being so cutthroat that an uncle screwing up in another prefecture can utterly ruin your chances of attending. And the higher the level of education, the more stressful it is," said Usagi. "So any student that doesn't show a bare minimum of actual dedication to studying or have some talent that makes them more attractive as a potential student in a higher tier school gets dismissed fairly quickly by teachers."
Ace looked utterly horrified at the mere though, while Deuce looked ill. Riddle just looked thoughtful.
"Why would having blond hair affect your schooling though?"
"Again, the predominant hair color of Japan is black or brown. Going blond is a sign of 'rebellion' to at best, or foreign blood at worst. And considering how cutthroat the education system is, standing out without having any merits to offset it means the teachers were extra harsh if I stepped out of line," said Usagi tiredly. "By the time I reached my final year of middle school, any real desire to study outside the bare minimum was taken out of me by older teachers who dislike foreigners."
Ms. Haruna was one of the better teachers, but she didn't have the time or energy to help Usagi catch up on years of information, especially since Usagi was supposed to be applying to high school next year. Honestly, Usagi had pretty much given up on even considering college and had settled on a more realistic goal of being a secretary or hopefully marrying into a good family and becoming a housewife.
Usagi was just grateful Riddle had no issue with her joining the regular study sessions in Heartsabyl, as he kept a firm eye on the students in his dorm. Since he had become housewarden they had never lost a single student from bad grades yet.
Misbehavior or financial issues were another story.
Thankfully they had Grim to help distract them from such heavy topics.
"I'm starving!" he complained.
At that, Usagi's stomach let off a slight growl of her own.
"Perhaps a break is in order," said Riddle.
"Thank the Seven!" said Ace with open relief.
