❝ the perfect girl and the boy of flaws ❞

     "PLEASE WELCOME THE girls from the l'étoile du matin academy! due to an unfortunate incident, their school has been overtaken by the goblins. in the meantime, please accommodate the fifty students that have been transferred here", dire crowley — the headmage of night raven college — stated.

     "thank you, crowley. I promise to repay you one day", pernelle beaumont — the headmage of l'étoile du matin — responded.

     "no worries! now, let me introduce you all to the housewardens and vice housewardens, so if you ever need any assistance, they can be of help".

     upon getting through most of the introductions, pernelle had mentioned the leading girls in her academy.

     "in our school, our dorms are named after the pleiades stars: electra, taygete, maia, celaeno, alcyone, sterope, and merope. then of course, we have le soleil — my daughter, adélie beaumont, — who helps me overlook the entire student body", pernelle informed.

a professionally dressed young lady with straight blonde hair and a polite smile had then bowed to crowley and his students.

     "pleasure meeting you, mr. crowley. I'm adélie beaumomt, and from now on, we'll be in your care".

     "oh my seven wonders! you've got a very well-mannered child on your hands!", the headmage of night raven college complimented.

     "I must say, my little soleil is my pride and joy. you'll find that she's very...extinguished in everything that she does", pernelle proudly grinned, resulting in adélie to internally cringe at her mother's subtle bragging.

     "I see...well, I can't wait to see what the girls have to offer. I assure you that night raven college is top-notch as well", crowley dryly chuckled.

     "yes yes. now, I must go visit my other girls who are currently residing at the royal sword academy".

     though before the woman had left, she had slyly given her daughter a tight hug, quietly reminding her of her duties.

     "I expect you to excel in all courses here as well. don't fail me".

     adélie displayed a slight smile and nod, as she watched her mother's departure.

     "I won't".

     though the ramshackle dorm was originally just for yuu and grim, it was quickly filled with the fifty girls that had taken shelter at night raven college.

     adélie was able to obtain her own room, as she was the soleil of the school. and with a few of her star leaders, they were able to quickly adjust to the rhythm of the academy.

"adélie-sama, it seems that the most concerning candidate academically is riddle rosehearts. for potions, I believe vil schoenheit and azul ashengrotto are worthy rivals. and though leona kingscholar may look and act lazy, he very well excels in magift. then of course, malleus draconia should never be lightly looked upon", genevieve — the leader of the maia dorm — informed.

     "thank you for that, vivi. it seems that I have my work cutout for me", adélie sighed, as the two girls were discussing potential rivals over dinner.

     "you needn't worry, adélie-sama!! you're the brightest star of us all, and the light to our dark—"

     "enough, lucie. you're exaggerating", adélie chuckled, as the leader of merope (lucie) just shrugged.

     "I have no doubt that you'd outmatch all the boys here. anyways, would you like to join vivi and me at the monstro lounge? I heard there's cute boys and—"

"I'm good. you two enjoy. I still need to head to the library to study", adélie replied, as she hastily threw her disposable lunch tray away and left.

"but...cute boys...", lucie pouted.

"adélie-sama doesn't have time for such frivolous matters", genevieve reprimanded, promptly dabbing the corners of her mouth with a napkin.

"who says?! perhaps our time here will do her some good; help her loosen up! maybe she'll experience an enemies to lovers romance with the stubborn yet actually soft leona kingscholar! or an academic rivals to lovers romance with riddle rosehearts! or even a classic friends to lovers romance with the great dragon fae: malleus draconia", lucie dreamily sighed.

"you're delusional", genevieve scoffed, as she couldn't imagine adélie focusing all her attention onto a boy, especially not when her mother — their headmage — is so strict.

"hey! let a girl dream, okay?! and plus, maybe a boyfriend would do adélie-sama some benefit. she could use a distraction once in a while~"

     "you're going to get her in trouble with madam beaumont. I'd rather you dump all those meaningless ideas out of your head", the leader of maia stated, cleaning up after herself and her friend.

     "hmph! you're no fun", lucie frowned, as she stomped out the cafeteria, leading genevieve towards the famous monstro lounge.

     upon arriving at the student-led café, the two had recognized some of their fellow dorm-mates there, and the housewarden of octavinelle running it all.

     "ah, welcome! if it isn't the leaders of maia and merope. what brings you both to monstro lounge?", azul greeted.

     "we heard you've got some good drinks here and wanted to try it out. isn't that right, vivi?", lucie exclaimed.

     "I suppose...yes", the dark-haired girl solemnly replied.

     "great! let me get you two seated, and one of the twins will swiftly take your orders", azul fake smiled, as he led the two girls to the best seat in the house.

     "thanks!", lucie chirped, as before she could even speak again, one of the leech twins had arrived.

"welcome to monstro lounge. the name's floyd leech. what can I do for you both today?", the teal-haired boy asked with a large grin, showcasing his sharp canines.

"may we get a minute to look through the menu please?", genevieve politely asked.

"sure thing! guess I'll just come back late—"

"what does it mean at the bottom of the menu: a special price for a special deal?", lucie interrupted.

"ah, that..."

suddenly swinging his face super close to the brunette girl, floyd had scarily smiled.

"that's for customers who wish to strike a deal with azul. are ya interested, shelly?"

"s-shelly??? and what deal?", lucie chocked out.

straightening his posture, floyd had just shrugged like it was no big deal.

"anything you want, azul can make happen. but of course, there's a price for everything".

"sounds sketchy...", genevieve muttered.

"so what's the price??", lucie curiously questioned.

"it depends on the deal. do ya read?", floyd replied in an annoyed tone.

"lucie, we should order", the ebony-haired girl reminded.

"hm, interesting..."

"lucie, I hope you're not getting any strange ideas. anyways, may I get the blue lagoon please?", the leader of maia ordered.

"sure thing, clammy! and for you, shelly?"

ignoring the odd nickname, genevieve just stared at lucie, sending her a warning glance to diminish whatever wacky idea she had stored up in her brain.

     "actually, I'll just take the sea breeze", lucie ordered, as floyd just hummed.

     "alright~ your drinks will be out soon", he announced, before leaving to go make the order.

     unintentionally fiddling with her fingers, lucie had instantly stood up, stating that she wanted to look around.

     "uhm...alright. go on then", genevieve replied, shaking her head, as she was used to the brunette's weirdness.

     lucie, being the mischievous little troublemaker that she is, had found floyd — or who she assumed was floyd — and eagerly tapped him on the shoulder.

"I want to make a deal with azul", she brightly smiled.

jade leech, who had vaguely recognized the girl to be one of the closer ones to the soleil of the l'étoile du matin academy, was nothing but confused.

it wasn't until the girl had mentioned about "him" serving her table, that he had realized that she must've been talking about floyd.

"I can certainly lead you to azul now if you'd like, but just to make things clear, I'm jade leech, floyd's twin", the octavinelle student politely corrected.

"ah..."

"no need to feel embarrassed. people mix us up all the time. now, would you like me to inform azul of your decision?"

"y-yes please!", lucie persisted, as the more mature twin had led her towards a more private room, where azul was seemingly counting money.

"pardon the intrusion azul, but you've got a customer who wishes to strike a deal", jade announced.

"oh? well if it isn't the leader of merope. what may I do for you?", azul smirked, quickly stashing his money back into an envelope, as he invited lucie to take a seat before him.

jade promptly excused himself and closed the door, as lucie just thickly swallowed down her nerves.

     "umm...well, this deal doesn't exactly revolve around me..."

     azul raised a brow in curiosity, as usually most of his customers wished to change something about themselves. whether it be their beauty, their wealth, or their height — to which he wondered why riddle didn't come to him about his height issue — azul had always (almost) managed to satisfy his customer.

     "oh? let me guess. it's about the sun of your academy".

     "yes! though adélie-sama's perfect, I worry that..."

     "that..."

     "mm...how should I say this?? well, I was sorta hoping that you could help me loosen her up, like with a temporary boyfriend or something!", lucie blurted out.

"a...temporary boyfriend?", azul unsurely repeated.

he's heard of many odd requests, but none as outlandish as this one.

"yeah, why? you can't do it? guess I'll just—"

"wait! I can. it's just...what exactly is the purpose here? I need to know the end goal for this to work", azul intercepted, instantly recomposing himself.

"ah, well...I guess the end goal would be for adélie-sama to relax at times and enjoy her time here, instead of always sticking her nose in a book or wasting her free time studying".

"understandable. I will swiftly send someone suitable to approach her and befriend her. now, let's talk about the payment. because after all, nothing comes free".