Chapter Text
As the sulfur cleared, Ryuuji groaned, sitting up. His head was pounding, but that was to be expected. He had just fallen from...He didn't want to think about it. He should be dead by all means, and he felt it. Every inch of him ached.
As his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, the ache was promptly pushed out of his mind. That uniform...These people...Professor Colbert... This was...Impossible. Everyone had the clean, pressed uniforms: Button-up shirts with navy slacks for the guys, and skirts for the girls, complimented by a black cloak to signify they were in year two.
And of course, the pink-haired tsundere bitch that was his summoner, Louise Fran-something Valliere. His thoughts were cut short as Louise kneeled before him, speaking in a strange, garbled language. Of course, he knew exactly what she was saying. He'd lost track of how many times he'd seen this same scene unfold...The opening to his favorite anime, The Familiar of Zero.
There wasn't much Ryuuji could do just yet, so he decided to go along with what the canon tribute, garbage-trash-horrible Saito, had done, at least until he could speak to Louise. It really was a shame, he didn’t want Louise to be his first kiss...But, there was nothing to be done. But, wait, if he was here, then…! His eyes frantically scanned the crowd, automatically sliding over Kirche. He’d never cared much for Ambiguously Brown for no reason at all, especially if it was just one token character. Either commit to a full culture, or don’t bother. She did have a very nice rack, at least, and he liked the red hair.
Yes! There she was! Lady Charlotte...Although he should probably just call her Tabitha for now. His eyes traced over her beautiful figure. Thin, flat, almost sticklike...Ryuuji was even more enraptured in person. Of course, her eyes were fixed on her book, hidden behind her ever-present glasses. He really did admire the laser-focus she had, always reading away. And he could finally figure out what she was reading…! As soon as he learned how to read the language of this world. Her hair was beautiful...Short and icy blue, no vanity behind it. Absolutely perfect.
But Louise was knelt down in front of him, more gibberish spilling from her mouth. He couldn’t believe he was actually nervous. He’d never much liked Louise (she was too physically abusive for his taste), but she was so close, and she smelled nice...Something like a flash of light went off in his head as she kissed him. He braced himself for the coming heat, trying very hard not to notice how soft her lips had been.
Dammit, he hadn't expected the runes to burn THAT much.
He awoke on the haypile, feeling restored in an odd way. Perhaps it had something to do with the bond of the familiar. It was definitely odd, seeing the same cozy bedroom he’d watched so much. The garish gold vanity, the refined four-poster bed, the twin moons outside...He was struck by just how much elegance and refinement permeated the room. It made sense, being an academy for nobles...But, there was something he was supposed to do.
"Yo, Louise." He waved half-heartedly, knowing she couldn't understand him, and that he was just going to be detonated...Urgh. At least her failure at the silencing spell gave him the ability to talk to her. And if he didn't go for Kirche or dating Louise, she wouldn't abuse him, hopefully. He flushed as she began to undress, having completely forgotten that she did that before they could talk. Of course, that didn’t mean he wanted to look away. She threw the clothes to him, saying something more that completely went over his head.
"Hurry up and detonate me so we can start talking, please. There's a lot I need to tell you. Oh- Should I, actually? It might be-" He was interrupted by the explosion, coming just a bit before he remembered it. So much for being refreshed. He rose, shaking some of the soot out of his hair. They looked so harmless on the screen, but getting thrown back against the wall like that stung...
"Great, so you should be able to understand me now. I know this sounds hard to believe, but I know everything you're about to tell me. I come from another world, which you won't believe just yet, but this is Treistein, you are Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, and I have been summoned as your familiar. Is that right?"
Louise nodded, to her credit taking her odd familiar in stride thus far. "That's about right. I don't believe you. For such a different world to exist..Impossible." She sat on the bed, shaking her head. “Why is my familiar a peasant boy? I wanted something cool like a dragon or gryphon! And a weird stalker on top of that..”
Before she could continue, the boy jumped in. "And now you're going to get ready for bed, and insist I do the laundry for tomorrow. Although I guess that doesn't prove anything, if you'd always ask a servant to do that...Hrm." He fell silent, thinking about how he could prove it to her.
"That's right. At least you understand what your duties are." She stood, extinguishing the candle with a snap of her fingers, and completely finished undressing. He felt the tips of his ears burning, but again made no effort to avert his gaze. There was no reason to, he figured. It was just his master. Besides, she was cute. He’d read in something somewhere that the runes of the familiar supposedly made Saito fall for Louise...He hoped the same thing didn’t happen to him. And by gods above and down under the sea, he hoped he was less trashy and slutty and horrible and leads-people-on than Saito. Although, hopefully they could at least get along.
He didn't expect to be able to fall asleep. He'd never been good at that, and if you factored in the cold, and...everything buzzing around his brain...He realized he hadn't introduced himself to Louise just yet, so he'd do that in the morning. He was supposed to have the laundry done if he wanted to eat, and he was horrible at getting up early. He still had some time; he hadn't tried to run like Saito did. Which meant he could try to find her...So, he got up, heading out the door with one last glance at Louise. Damn it...She was cute, sleeping peacefully in the moonlight.
Putting the thought out of his mind, he hurried down the stairs. There was Guiche, cheating away, Kirche, thotting it up by the fountain (He was struck once again by the sheer decadence of the school. Who had an indoor fountain?!)..But Tabitha was nowhere to be seen. Figures, he finally got to a world where his waifu was real, and he couldn't even find her. She was probably in her room, reading her book. He could go back and talk to Guiche, but it wouldn’t accomplish anything. The blonde was probably just going to slink away and find another girl after the one he was talking to went to bed. He shook his head, figuring he'd get the laundry done anyway.
He headed over to the servant's quarters, but stopped short. Luckily, Siesta was already washing something over by the little open-air water fountain next to the quarters, so he could meet up with her. She was nice, cheerful and uplifting despite her status as a commoner maid. In short, someone Ryuuji wanted to befriend.
"Hey there. I'm supposed to do some laundry for my master. D'you have a spare, uh...Washboard?"
Siesta turned, smiling and nodding at him.
"Of course. There's a little compartment just beside the fountain, hidden away, that has all the cleaning supplies." She pried it open for him, gesturing to the little alcove.
"Thanks." He wasn't really sure what else to say, so he began washing. The icy shock of the water against his fingers felt good under the moonlight. He had to say something, it wasn't right to not befriend Siesta. Even if it was his own story now, Siesta was too kind to avoid. "So, I was summoned as the familiar of Louise today. I'm not used to doing stuff like this, so please let me know if I make a mistake, okay? My name's Ryuuji, by the way. Ryuuji Ikari."
Siesta nodded, already deep into her own laundry. "Sure. It's nice to meet you, Ryuuji. I, Siesta, have the honor of serving here. I hope we get along moving forward."
"I'm sure we will." He paused, arguing with himself about how much he should reveal. "This is going to sound...Crazy. Tomorrow, I'm going to duel Guiche. I'll win, but- Actually, I'm not sure I'll pass out if I have a sword to begin with, so..." He paused, trying very hard to think things though. "Um, anyway, in about a week, a noble named Count Mott will come to visit the academy; he has business with Old Osmand. Whatever you do, promise me that you'll avoid him. If you don't, he'll choose you as a personal, um...Something like a concubine." Damn, using these washboards was really not easy.
There was a very pregnant pause, Siesta silently focusing on her laundry for a moment. "I..See. How do you know this, if you don't mind me asking?” There was another pause, Siesta visibly weighing the pros and cons of humoring Ryuuji. “...Thank you for the warning. I don't know what I'd do if I were chosen for something like that. Ah, you need to be more gentle with the lace, like this.." She reached over, guiding his hands through the motions.
"Mmh, thanks. I'm actually not sure if I'll duel with Guiche, it might be better to keep my powers on the downlow...Sorry, not relevant. But, uh, yeah. This is going to sound beyond crazy. I'm from another world, and where I come from, this one-" Ryuuji gestured vaguely to the academy with a free hand, "Is something like a book. A story that I've experienced many, many times. So I kind of know how things are supposed to go. It was always my favorite."
Siesta's smile faded, replaced by curiosity. At least she, it seemed, was willing to hear him out. "That's more than a little hard to believe...But...If it's true, what can you tell me about me? Or...Can you predict what's going to happen?"
"Of course. But you have to promise not to freak out because I know about you." He paused, waiting for Siesta to nod her assent. "Great. So, um, your name is Siesta, obviously. Your grandpa, I'm pretty sure, flew in here on an artefact called the Dragon's Mantle. It's actually from my world, along with the writing on his tombstone, but that's not really relevant. You have kind of a big family, including an uncle named Scarron who runs the Enchanted Fairy Inn, with his daughter Jessica. That's...About all I got.”
He took a deep breath, and started again, “In terms of predicting, you got a little flanderized in the later seasons, I wonder if that'll happen here too. Well, if I do end up dueling Guiche, which I probably will just because I like food, and I wanna impress- um, that's not important. But, yeah, when I duel him, Martaeu, the chef, will decide he really likes me, because I stand up against nobles. He'll call me Our Sword, which I'm not crazy about, and try to kiss me, which I'm even less crazy about. He'll feed me after Louise gives me really sparse meals. I think I run into either you or him when I'm wandering around hungry one night or something? I don't really remember, it's been a while. But yeah. Oh, uh, sorry that I ramble and talk too much by the way, it's just, like, kinda how I do."
Siesta listened intently, nodding along as he spoke. "...Well, it still seems far-fetched, but...I guess I don't really have much of a choice than to believe you, after you know so much about me and my family. We'll wait to see if Martaeu really does that before I'm absolutely sure, though. So I'm just a fictional character in your world..? That's kind of a scary thought.” She was silent again for a short time, chewing the information over.
“But if you're here from the 'real world', then maybe I'm real too? Unless you suddenly became fictional.." She laughed, shaking her head. "Honestly, I don’t really think it’s anything I need to worry about. I'm me, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters."
"That's probably a good way of looking at it, to be honest. Thanks again for helping me with the laundry." He had about finished up, so he stood, shaking his hands vigorously to try to dry them.
"Of course. See you around." She nodded at him, having had quite a bit more to go through.
The boy stood, heading back towards his master's dorm. He didn't imagine he could find who he was really looking for, so he might as well turn in for the night. He'd have to see about asking his master for proper bedding...