Usagi was utterly exasperated. Why is it that most of the housewardens were in desperate need of actual therapy? She had thought Leona and Riddle were a one-off, but now she was starting to wonder if there was an actual problem with this school.
Azul went into Overblot because of body image issues and being bullied as a child. Finding out that the entire reason he wanted to steal a photograph was because he was trying to hide his 'shameful' image as a child had come as a shock.
"Azul, do I need to give you the same lecture I gave Riddle about the stupidity of fad dieting?" asked Usagi. Her healing spells had gotten a major work-out, keeping everyone alive until Azul snapped out of it.
Azul winced in pain...before her words registered.
"Lecture?" he said, confused.
"Riddle's mother put it into his head that he had to eat a strict diet and never bothered to update it as he got older. I had to give him the riot act and explain to him that he was doing more damage than good by not eating enough," said Usagi tiredly. "Cater helped me with the research to prove my point. Trey and I have been trying to 'deprogram' all the nonsense she filled his head with."
She found it rather odd that Trey, who was supposed to be Riddle's childhood friend, had never stepped in sooner. Riddle was actually underweight according to the doctor.
Usagi walked up to Azul and poked him in the chest, which made him wince a bit.
"I can't believe you threw a fit because the other mermaids are idiots. Sure, you might have had some baby fat, but everyone knows that an octopus is a sneaky little bastard who are expert escape artists and ambush predators who are built with enough muscle to strangle their prey."
Azul stared at her.
"How could you possibly know that?"
"Aquariums exist," she deadpanned. "And I worked part-time for one before coming here. Feeding the octopus in the tanks was a complete trial because we had to close the tank just right or they'd escape and eat the fish in other tanks."
The look on their faces was downright priceless hearing that.
"I see," said Azul finally.
"Besides, I have no idea why you're so embarrassed by that photo. You looked absolutely adorable as a kid!" said Usagi.
Azul's blush made it worth it.
"You thought I was adorable?!"
"Well yeah. I mean the other mermaids looked rather boring, and you could see what a sneaking little imp Floyd and Jade were as kids just from the picture. I bet those two were utter menaces back then too," said Usagi grinning.
Floyd gave her a shifty grin at that, confirming her suspicions. Jade's smile was a bit more sly, and openly pleased. Azul was still in shock Usagi thought his ugly, pudgy form as a child was cute.
Leona scoffed at that, having been blackmailed into helping.
Usagi turned to him.
"Laugh all you want Leona-senpai...when I finally meet your brother the first thing I'm going to ask is for embarrassing baby photos to share with Ruggie to coo over," she said seriously. Leona's incredulous expression was hilarious, and Ruggie didn't help matters by not looking Leona in the eye when the lion turned to him.
Azul revised his opinion of the blond before him. He couldn't find it in him to hate her. That being said he quickly learned why she had immediately vetoed being a waitress or having anything to do with food. Serving food in a professional setting meant going at a fast pace, and while Usagi could carry food to tables, she was very clumsy.
It was safer for her to be at the host stand directing new customers to open tables than bring food out.
Later that night...
Floyd sidled up to Usagi with a grin.
"So were you serious about helping me with my Goldfishie?" he asked.
"You're the exact sort of person his mother would hate. And considering how much therapy he needs because of her, I can't think of a better person to be with him. So long as this isn't some cheap fling, I'll help you get Riddle to agree," she said seriously.
Floyd's grin widened. He had been trying to lure Riddle into at least agreeing to one date for over a year now with little success. The tiny tyrant had gotten his full attention their freshman year after he successfully beaten him after Floyd's casual disregard of the rules. The idea of someone so small managing to get one up on him had been too enticing.
~*~*~*~*
Usagi had a look of utmost concentration on her face. Since her core was still fairly untrained, she was undergoing basic spell practice with Grim. In a show of solidarity (and because it got them out of actually studying), Ace and Deuce were with her.
The goal was simple...blast the target with a ball of pure magic, no spell required. It was the most basic of basic applications of magic, and was used to help small children learn how to channel it properly. Or in the case of Grim, Ace and Deuce...how to properly aim.
So far it was going well...until suddenly Usagi's pendant felt very hot. Too hot for her to take.
With a yelp, she hastily removed her mage stone pendant from her bow and tossed it in the air out of instinct.
The stone all but imploded from the energy within, unable to contain it.
"What in the name of the Seven is going on?" demanded Riddle, having heard the explosion.
He saw Usagi's missing pendant, then the stone fragments. He stared, as did Cater who whistled impressed.
"How did you manage to overload the stone?" he asked, impressed.
"I...I don't know," said Usagi. "I was doing the same practice as everyone else, and suddenly it got super hot."
Riddle looked thoughtful.
"Did they get a proper scan of your core, or just a basic one?" asked Riddle.
"I think a basic one," she replied. "Mostly to see whether or not I had magic to begin with, and whether I cast the healing spell."
She looked at the shattered remains of the mage stone and winced. She knew that they were expensive, as Crowley had explained the replacement cost for the spell pens should she lose it.
The pendant she wore wasn't much cheaper, but she was less likely to lose it compared to a pen.
Usagi found herself back in the infirmary, Riddle explaining what had happened, with the broken mage stone pieces as proof. Crowley did not look happy, but if doing such basic spell practice caused the stone to overload (and not from blot) then it was the school's responsibility to replace it with a stronger one.
In his defense, it took a great deal of magic to overload a stone to the point it quite literally exploded.
The doctor had Usagi do a series of tests, and what they found was astounding.
"Her core could easily rival that of the Draconia boy from Diasomnia," said the doctor. "While her control over it is relatively weak, the base amount is easily ten times higher than most of the students."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you would overload any of the basic stones we give to the students," explained Crowley. He looked like he had a headache. "It also means that you'll be on restricted magic use until a suitable stone can be found."
Usagi had a tired look on her face. She just knew this meant she'd have an even smaller allowance than before.
At least Grim wasn't overloading his mage stone, or she'd really be in trouble.
~*~*~*~
"So you blew up your mage stone?" said Lilia, impressed.
He was also checking another tally in the 'good potential queen' column he had been making since finding out Malleus had developed a strong interest in her. So far the two had established a rather good relationship as friends...he'd like to see it develop into more if possible. If only so he knew that the Draconia line was secure.
Usagi had a tired expression on her face.
"Apparently my core is on par with Malleus. And because of that, I need to work on my control before I can even use a mage stone regularly due to all the ones available being too weak to properly handle it. And the ones that could handle it are all national treasure class or higher," said Usagi. "Which means there's no way I'd be able to get my hands on one."
Lilia made a noise of sympathy, as Crowley had to write a letter to Queen Maleficia to source a new mage stone once it became clear the standard ones used by the school were too low-quality to handle his core. Fortunately Malleus was the Crown Prince, so his pen had been replaced within the week.
For the average student however, that was out of the question.
Kalim had a thoughtful look on his face.
"What if instead of a single stone, it was several?"
Everyone looked at him.
"I saw some of the drawings you've been doing on your homework. You had a rather interesting pendant design that could fit multiple stones."
"I mean it is possible. Multiple stones, especially the good quality ones would offset the worst of the load, especially if they're properly attuned," mused Lilia. "Certain stones have better resonance with different magics."
"I remember reading somewhere that the stone used by the school are general mage stones specially cut without magic, so that the pen can attune itself to the student. That's why you won't get the same power out of another's pen," said Cater.
He had looked that up out of curiosity after hearing that Malleus had exploded his own. Mostly because he was bored and wanted a break from actual school work at the time.
"Problem is that there's no way Crowley is going to fork over that much money...especially not from a student he's taken on as a charity case to begin with," Usagi pointed out tiredly. "Schools are run on money, and while he could justify allowing me to stay on as a full student without the fees due to the tuition he's getting from everyone else, the same can't be said of paying for a custom made mage stone pendant. Especially if there's multiple attuned stones involved."
"True," said Cater with a wince.
"That goes double for the fact that Grim is included," said Kalim sighing.
"I find it hard to believe that your former teachers all considered you such a poor student, when you're this intelligent," commented Lilia.
Usagi snorted at that.
"They took one look at my blond hair and blue eyes and immediately assumed I was an exchange student or worse, the child of an affair. The only reason they were forced to drop it was due to the paternity test my mother brought to them from an accredited source that proved she didn't have an affair," said Usagi annoyed. "And even then they only really dropped it when she also managed to track down several photos of my great great grandfather who was also a blond."
"That's ridiculous," said Cater.
"As if that wasn't enough, when I entered high school I was separated from most of my friend group so I had to make a new one...which didn't end well at all," sighed Usagi. "Several girls targeted me for some stupid reason, to the point I almost dropped out."
"Targeted how?" asked Lilia. He seemed unusually serious.
"Destroying my homework, leaving nasty notes in my locker, shoving," said Usagi, listing them on her fingers. "I had the sense to remove my earrings before school and never took anything actually valuable with me, because I didn't want them stolen or destroyed. I'm pretty sure they were working their way up to actual assault, because I saw some pretty sharp looking scissors in the bag of one of the girls that I know had no legitimate reason to be there. In a way I was very lucky that the carriage picked me up when it did."
"And the teachers did nothing?" said Cater aghast. Even Kalim looked horrified.
"Japanese schooling is downright cutthroat. The higher the grade level, the more pressure is applied to do well. Either in sports, arts or through scholastic achievement. Add in my foreign looks, and the fact I had lost interest in really studying and the teachers gave up on me before I even got accepted into their class," said Usagi bluntly. "And don't get me started on the suicide rates. Bullying at that level is only the start of it."
"What about your parents?" asked Lilia.
Usagi shook her head.
"Mom's a housewife, Dad's a freelance photographer who's often out on assignment. I was lucky to even get into high school in the first place," said Usagi.
Kalim made a note to take a picture of the drawings Usagi had been making in her notebook, and see what he could find in the storage room. Perhaps he could find something that simply needed to be altered a bit for her to use.
