CH 1.1

Chapter 1: Reincarnation, Across the World, and Fated Reunion

Part 1

“Everyone, please take care of me.”

That voice roused my consciousness.

Though my mind was still hazy, I gradually became more aware of the situation around me.

This was the classroom of the Gunma Prefectural High School, Second Year, Class Two.

It was a little after 9:00 A.M., the scheduled time for the start of morning classes.

After surveying my situation, my gaze drifted to the front of the room.

Standing behind the lectern was a beautiful girl with long, shiny black hair. Despite my sleep deprivation, her face somehow still captivated me. She was short, but that didn’t make her any less cute.

But I didn’t recognize her appearance. The sound of her voice was also unfamiliar.

No matter how forgetful I was, I should be able to remember at least the faces of my classmates.

As I thought about this, I suddenly remembered.

The other day, the homeroom teacher said that a student was transferring into this class.

…Ah, finally the situation made more sense to me. That was why the girl gave us her greeting in front of the class.

Still, I didn’t expect her to be THIS beautiful…

The whole classroom was buzzing because of her loveliness. Not only the boys, but even the girls joined in the excitement.

“Hey, hey, she’s really cute. Man, I’m getting excited from this. What about you?”

The guy sitting in front of me turned around and started talking to me.

“Uh, yeah…”

In the middle of my reply, a yawn mixed in.

“What’s the matter, Godo? You seem to be in a low spirit today.”

The one who shook his head at me was a bad friend of mine, Kudou Shinji.

Underneath his dyed brown hair, he had a disgustingly pretty face. He was bigger than me, and his uniform was sloppily worn. He was a man whose frivolity was evident in his appearance.

“I worked till late last night. I’m sleepy.”

I answered while rubbing my eyes.

However, probably because I was surprised over how cute the transfer student was, my sleepiness gradually went away.

“As usual, you’re working hard on that part-time job of yours.” (バイト here is a slang for part-time job, not byte)

“‘…Money is important. As long as you have money, you can do anything.”

“Haha, you and your manga villain act.”

Shinji chuckled and then grinned as an idea came to his minc.

“If your place is short on part-timers, why don’t you invite the transfer student to join you? It’ll lighten your workload. It would also give you a chance to get to know a beautiful girl. Two birds with one stone, right?”

“…You wouldn’t gain anything from me befriending the transfer student.”

“Are you an idiot? I can get close to her through you..”

Shinji bumped his shoulder to mine.

“Don’t try to use me like that… Besides, she doesn’t look like the kind of kid who would break school rules in the first place.”

Even though it was tacitly accepted, part-time work was technically against school rules.

That transfer student… Mai Shiina, I believe. She may have seemed nervous, but she had this serious atmosphere around her. My first impression of her was that she didn’t seem like the type to break school rules.

Shiina finished her introductions and was currently being shown to her seat. It was located on the opposite side of the hallway from my seat at the end of the window. It was too far to start a conversation with her.

“Hello. Do you mind if I call you Shiina-san?”.

“Nice to meet you! Seriously, you’re cuter up close!”

Shiina was greeted by everyone sitting in the surrounding seats. Judging from the way she bowed her head in a hurried manner, she didn’t seem to be the extroverted type.

“Hmm, An orthodox school beauty type, I like it.”

Shinji seemed to be in a good mood.

He loved beautiful girls. He used his good looks to hook up with various girls and made them cry. He was a typical playboy.

The girls in our class didn’t like him, but he didn’t mind it that much. Well, to be fair, he was a keeper for a lot of girls outside the school.

”The girls in this class are generally high-class, but all of them dyed their hair brown or blonde, which made them look immodest. There was a lack of long black-haired girls here, that’s why the transfer student fit right in.”

“Hey, don’t fabricate her reason for transferring here.”

I looked at Shinji with a dead stare and then looked at Shiina again.

Morning homeroom had just ended, and Shiina was surrounded by the girls of the class. It was hard to see clearly from here, but it seemed like she was being bombarded with questions.

It was something that every transfer student had to get through, so if they weren’t good at socializing, well, tough luck.

“Are you guys sure you don’t want to talk to her?”

A gentle voice entered my ear. The voice was from a girl with permed brown hair who approached us.

“Trying to talk to her in that kind of situation… no chance I’ll be able to.”

I said, pointing at the scene, they looked like fish swarming around a bait.

“Well, Godo is Godo, but Shinji too? That’s surprising. I thought you would be more pushy.”

“A man who doesn’t know how to back down won’t be popular.”

Shinji snorted and then shrugged his shoulders.

“There’s nothing to worry about. They’ll get sick of doing it eventually.”

“Treating other people like a freak show, you really are bored huh…”

“True. Well, I’m not making fun of them. That’s just the way people are. When the hype is gone, Shiina’s surroundings will calm down. I don’t think it will last long with the way she’s acting.”

The name of the girl who sighed at Shinji’s unpretentious words was Kirishima Hina.

She was as beautiful as the transfer student, Shiina. Her eyes were large and clear, and her nose bridge was high. Her skin was porcelain white, without a single blemish, and her lips were plump and beautiful. In addition to her face, she was tall and slender, and had a large amount of fat on her chest.

“…What’s with you, Godo? You’ve been staring at me.”

Hina and I have known each other since we were in kindergarten.

We’ve known each other for a while, so I guess our relationship is a little bit more than normal friends.

“…… No, it’s nothing. By the way, what kind of person is Shiina Mai?”

When I asked the question, Hina twisted her head as if she was at a loss for an answer.

“Mm… I was in that circle a while ago, and we talked for a bit.”

The “circle” that Hina referred to was probably the group of girls surrounding Shiina.

“I think she’s a serious and quiet girl. Well, it’s her first day at the new school, so maybe she’s just nervous and stiff right now. Maybe once you get used to it, you’ll see the real her.”

Shinji nodded with a hmm.

”Does she have an issue with her self-confidence even with that pretty face? I wonder whether she’s the ‘unaware of her own self-worth’ type or the ‘overly self-conscious’ type? Or maybe it’s just her personality? Which is it, I wonder?”

“You get to know her better first to understand that kind of thing.”.

“By the way, I’m assuming she’s the unaware type. It’s easy to get rid of this type’s problem by simply praising them. Well, unless the person is really dense…”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

Surely, with that level of appearance, she would be used to being called “cute”.

I stared at Shiina as she talked with the girls in her class.

Our eyes suddenly met.

For some reason, I felt her gaze was strangely sharp.

I realized that I had been looking at her for too long and looked away.

Still, thinking back, that was surprising. She didn’t seem to have a strong enough personality to do that. Even now, she had a terrified expression while smiling awkwardly.

Is it just my imagination? I don’t think I’m seeing a cat.

“I’m going to the restroom.”

I stood up.

First period class wouldn’t start for a while. I wanted to get this done while I still can.

“Bye!”

“Oi, don’t skip the first period, okay?”

I headed for the exit of the classroom, waved off by my bad friends.

As I did so, I walked right behind Shiina’s seat.

”…？”

A strange, uncomfortable feeling.

It was an air I had felt somewhere before.

I wanted to find out what this strange feeling was, but it was unnatural to suddenly stop right behind the transfer student.

I furrowed my brow, but continued on my way.

As I left the classroom and walked down the hallway, I started racking my brain.

…What was it? What was the feeling I just felt?

What was it? I had a feeling that I’d met her somewhere before. However, I recognized neither her appearance nor her voice. But… her atmosphere was familiar.

Yes, I recognized this atmosphere she let out.

But, I failed to connect it to a specific person.

Besides, if we did know each other, where and how on earth did we meet?

There were many questions that popped out in my mind, but I didn’t think they would ever be answered.

Maybe it was all just my imagination.

“Did you hear? I heard that the transfer student in Class Two is really cute.”

“Really? Let’s go take a look, then. I’m curious.”

“I’ve already seen her. She was amazing. Her beauty was probably on celebrity level?”

As I walked to the restroom, I overheard the guys hanging out in the hallway talking.

It seemed that the rest of the school was talking about the transfer student.

I guess it was only natural since she had such good looks.

“But…”

First semester of second year. Right before the summer vacation… Moving in halfway through the school period. Was there a reason for this? No, well, there was no way that someone would transfer school for no reason right…? While I was thinking about this, I arrived at my destination, the restroom.

Just before I opened the door, and thought about doing my business quickly.

A voice came from right behind me.

“Can I have a moment?”

My body stiffened.

I heightened my guard in reflex..

I didn’t notice anyone’s presence until they were this close? This me?

When I turned around, The first thing that came to my sight was a clear pair of jewel-like eyes.

Gradually, my sight received more information. Long black hair. A face so beautiful that you wouldn’t be able to forget it. Her height was short compared to other girls. The person there was, without a doubt, Mai Shiina, the transfer student.

“Ara, you seem quite surprised, don’t you? What’s wrong? Even though I’m a transfer student, I’m still your classmate, you know? Being approached by a classmate is nothing to be surprised about, no??”

With a mysterious smile on her face, Shiina asked me.

Her imposing demeanor was quite different from the one I had seen in the classroom.

“…What did you just do? Who the hell are you?”

I narrowed my eyes and asked.

I sharpened my concentration so that I won’t miss a single move she would possibly make.

The reason why I heightened my guard was simple.

There was no way that a normal student would be able to sneak up on me like that, no one from this world should be able to.

“Didn’t I tell you my name earlier? Mai Shiina. That’s my name in this world.”

Said Shiina.

“This world, huh?”

There were words mixed in with it that I couldn’t miss.

I didn’t think it was just mere words. The fearless expression on her face spoke volumes.

This woman was related to my previous life.

“Long time no see, Hero. You look much more masculine in this life.”

The way she called me. That tone of voice. That attitude. I recognized everything.

However, since they looked nothing alike, I failed to make the connection between both of them.

“You finally noticed. It’s too late for that. I think your intuition is fading.”

But if she was reincarnated in this world like me, it was only natural that she’d look different.

A vision of my previous life overlapped with the appearance of the mysterious transfer student named Mai Shiina.

“You… you’re Cerise, the Witch of Calamity.”

As I let out a scream, Mai Shiina──no, the witch, Cerise nodded.