So You've Become a Villainess: an (Otome) Isekai Raising Project

Reach Friendship Through Violence


You know what you have to do. You have to meet her fists with your own. No tricks, no dives, no shoe-kicking competition (fun as that might be). Just an honest conversation without words.

You take your fighting stance again: rear foot planted, front toes barely touching the floor. Arms open in front of you, ready to accept all of Bridgette's anger and sorrow.

"Bring it!" You shout your assent to her attack. She obliges, rushing you again in a peekaboo stance. You preemptively slip a punch to the head, only to catch a glancing blow to the body. Your petticoats absorb the blow through sheer poofiness, but you still feel the sting of her knuckles in your solarplexus.

Bridgette whoops with delight. "Gotcha!" She launches an uppercut strong enough to knock your head clean off.

Time slows down.


<Sporty> "I see it!"

You nod, smile, and twist out of the way, grabbing Bridgette's outstretched arm. "I see your strength and I respect it. Now let me show you mine!" You hoist her over your shoulder in a modified Ippon-seoi and chuck her like a workout bag.

She hits the ground with a thud and a yelp. "Wha?"

You put a little pressure on her shoulder to let her know the armlock is in, then let her go. "Come at me again."

She spits, gets up, and dusts herself off. "Are you mocking me?"

You shake your head no. "You were right. The way I acted was a disgrace to the Claudius line. I will no longer be that disgrace." You take your stance again. "Come at me as many times as it takes for you to understand my sincerity."

Bridgette swoons for a moment, before shaking it away and slamming her fists together. "Awright! You're gonna hafta beat respect into me!"

<Sensible> "...Isn't that supposed to be 'beat some respect into us'?"

Bridgette comes at you again and again, a completely earnest and linear in boxing style. You fend her off with judo and karate, knocking her down over and over. Every time she thinks she has a read on your style, you break out a new trick. Skill-wise, she's no match for you.

Heart-wise, she's more than your equal.

Frustration turns to anger turns to enthusiasm as she gets closer and closer to actually catching you again. After an hour of non-stop fighting, she's smiling and laughing.

The sun starts to dip, turning the sky a brilliant orange. Bridgette's staring at you through her peek-a-boo stance, her shoulders sag with fatigue. She's gulping down air and chuckling between wheezes. "You could've...finished me off at any time...why haven't you?"

You wipe sweat from your brow. "I already told you, I don't wanna knock out a prospective friend." You're feeling the burn in a way not even Camille's training made you. "But I also want you to keep going until you believe me. So do you believe I've turned over a new leaf yet?"

"Can't say until I catch you cleanly!" Bridgette dashes in once more, her speed unaffected by how long you two have been fighting. Her gas tank is unreal.

<Emo> "Our victory is inevitable... Why won't she quit..."

<Sporty> "Because she's got GUTS!"

You wait for her to weave into a Dempsey Roll, step back into a horse stance, and strike Bridgette in the stomach, solar plexus, sternum, chest and jaw.

"First Dragon Fist: Five Strikes, Dead Cent-OOF?!"

She catches you with a looping, overhand right right when you plant your fist into her jaw. Explosions play behind your eyes, she rocked you pretty good. You fall on your butt; she goes flying into the poppies.

<Brainy> "Are you daft? Is this a targeted attack on my person?!"

It takes you a second to find your legs again; the comfort enhancements make fighting in this less unwieldy, but it's still a lot of weight and mass to balance in.

Once the birds stop chirping in your ears, you shake out your hands, blow on your knuckles, and call out to Bridgette. "Bridgette? You okay? Wanna keep going?"

You get soft sobbing as a response.

<Sensible> "Oh dear, oh dear..."

You hurry over to Bridgette, held up by poppies crushed down to her size. She's got her forearm over her face and fat tears running down her scuffed cheeks. Her smile is pained and broad.

"Dammit..." she hiccups. "You're too honest now. How can I hate fists as honest and gentle as that?"

You offer her a hand and smile back. "Are you okay?"

She pushes your hand away and gets up on her own power. "S'blood, it's not like you knocked me out or anything..." She pouts playfully. "I just got stuck in these dumb poppies."

You step away, hands up. "Are you satisfied, then?"

She snorts and gets up in your face. "Not until I beat you," she hugs you tightly, burying her face in your shoulder lace. "...Sis Claudius."


After you and Bridgette get a hell of a scolding from Chi...your maid, your play date goes the way a play date between two noble girls in an Otome game probably should. Lots of tea, lots of cake, lots of small talk. Sure, it's about martial arts instead of boys and stuff, but at least it's just talk now. You learn Bridgette was taught how to box by another Isekai case, which Bridgette called an Etranger. Thankfully, you don't slip up and tell her you're one too.

You offer to teach her judo and karate to fill out her game and make her a true mixed martial artist and she hugs you again. She's a real hotblooded, heart on her sleeve kind of girl, like you were at her (actual) age.

<Emo> "Before life taught you to bow and scrape..."

She tells you you're the only person who's taken her desire for pugilism seriously; her family wants her to be a tame, passive, "proper" lady, unlike your demon of a mother.

<Flashy> "How backwards, dahling! How dare they consider Justine a demon? Or consider the only proper lady a delicate one?"

The way she describes it, her warrior's soul conflicting with her parents' desire for a passive princess is the cause of her stress. Stress fighting you has helped relieve a little.

[What do you tell Bridgette?]
[ ] Screw your parents (politely)! You're a princess, thst means you can do what you want and be who you want!
[ ] I don't really know what your family situation is like, but if you need to blow off some steam I'm always ready to spar.
[ ] Hey, you can look all passive and whatever while still being an asskicker! Just let the silk your parents want hide the steel inside.

In any case, passing the time with her has relieved you of some stress. The vision of Emo in your mind's eye fades, making her look even more like a ghost.



[Weekly Activity: What do you plan to do this week?]
[ ] Study (Brainy++, Sporty-)
[ ] Paint (Artsy++, Sensible-)
[ ] Exercise (Sporty++, Flashy-)
[ ] Play Dress-up (Flashy++, Brainy-)
[ ] Socialize (Sensible++, Artsy-)