From French Village Girl to Overman Civil Servant

[The heroine is my original take on the source being of Rimbaud, not a gender-swapped version of any character from the original work!]

After running away from home, Arthur unexpectedly awakens an ability. The DGSS (Special Combat Bureau) discovers her, and she goes from a country girl in France to a high-ranking civil servant. She gets social insurance, subsidies, room and board, and an assigned partner. She makes an immediate career move and joins up.

Good news: Her partner is a gorgeous beauty.

Bad news: Her partner is a mental-type Transcendent, apparently assigned by the DGSS to keep an eye on her. He is also, in capital letters, mentally ill.

...Is it really a good idea, France, to give a civil servant position to someone with such a severe mental illness and then assign him this kind of task? She thinks her partner needs supervision more than she does, France!

Fortunately, their abilities complement each other perfectly. She charges ahead with her gravity ability, turning into a massive truck that crushes everyone in its path. Her partner directs the whole operation from behind the lines, then uses his mental ability to soothe her when she gets carried away and goes berserk.

People grow closer, and sometimes their feelings change, as they learn to work together. When she and her partner carve a path through the battlefield and make a name for themselves across Europe, he seems to develop feelings for her that go beyond partnership.

That day, she and her partner both got drunk.

Her partner, looking like a peach blossom, shy and coy, undid the buttons at his shirt collar and half-led, half-tempted her toward the bedroom. Bewitched for a moment, she couldn't hold back...

Sigh, let's not talk about it. It's all debts from our younger days. French people, you know how it is.

**

The global war of the ability users was fiercest on the European front. Even she couldn't avoid an accident.

She fell into an enemy ambush and was accidentally swept into a temporal rift. When she opened her eyes again, more than ten years had passed.

After investigating, Arthur was left bewildered by the chaos of the present day.

Fact one: The war was over. She had been missing for over a decade, the DGSS had presumed she died in battle, and her name had been added to the list of the dead.

Fact two: She'd become a big sister without lifting a finger. She had a French younger brother and a Japanese younger brother. Both were experimental subjects, and both were gravity users.

Fact three: It seemed her name had been passed down.

Fact four: Her partner had been a widower for over a decade and had become Chief Executive. He'd already been mentally ill before, but now he was even more unhinged. Everyone was afraid of him.

She could leave the first three for later. The last one was a serious problem. She was genuinely worried her partner had crushed all his French colleagues while she was gone, so she slipped back the first chance she got.

The night was deep. Her beautiful partner was still awake, drinking by himself beside a gravestone and humming a tune, leaning against her headstone as if nestled in a lover's arms.

Arthur unexpectedly came face-to-face with him.

Partner: "..."

Arthur: "Hi, Charles. I didn't actually die. Surprise! Hahahaha."

Partner (smiling): "..."

Yikes! Partner, let's talk this out. Don't just use your ability to control me right away!

**

After running away from home, Arthur never imagined that one day she'd enjoy the happiness of having children and grandchildren gathered around her (?), the joy of a family reunion (?).

Chuuya: Big sister!

Verlaine: Big sister!

Randou: ...Do I have to call you big sister too?

Baudelaire: That's right! And while you're at it, call me brother-in-law.

Dining notes:

1. The heroine is my original take on the source of Chuuya and Verlaine's abilities. The original work only vaguely mentioned the source once or twice, giving it practically no presence, so I'm going to make things up to my heart's content. (What if it was a beautiful blonde big sister?)

2. In the original work, Rimbaud and Verlaine switched names. The name "Rimbaud" was said to come from the Black No. 12 source, so the heroine is named Arthur Rimbaud. To distinguish them, Verlaine's partner is called Randou.

3. The timeline has been changed quite a bit. I want the three generations of gravity users together, and the whole thing is inspired by hearing Verlaine and Chuuya call her big sister. (Looks away.)

4. The heroine has a bit of a harem-protagonist vibe. She's the unattainable first love of the older generation of French Transcendents, the Moon of France. But there is a firmly established male lead, and the heroine only returns his feelings throughout the story.

Theme: Don't let waiting become a regret.