I stepped into the small dining room and took my seat. Father was already sitting at his desk, looking at the newspaper, and Mother is bringing food to the table. It’s the usual scene of the Doris family. The day begins unchanged.
“Good morning, Ryan. It’s your favorite scrambled egg.”
“Thank you, Mother. I hope you have a good day today.”
I said the usual line and kisses her on the cheek. Of course, I did not forget to smile so brightly. This is because my mother would lock herself in her room and sulk.
When I ate the scrambled egg on my plate, it tasted normal, not very delicious and not bad either. Well, it’s still good. Simple is best.
My mother in this life was not that good at cooking. Especially for me, who was born as the son of a chef in my previous life, the more my current mother cook elaborately, the more I reject it. Hence, simple is best.
Looking at the wall clock in the room, I saw that it was time to leave. I grabbed my bag and run out of the house. From here on, I am heading to the school where only aristocrats attend. The name is Royal Secondary School. I’m a freshman there. There were no uniforms, so I went to school in my own clothes.
“Gyaa!?”
The moment I turned around a building, I collided with someone. At that moment, there was a soft touch on my face. I was bounced off by the unexpected elasticity and fell on the cobblestones.
Ouch. I don’t know who it is, but he is not paying attention to what’s ahead. With that in mind, I looked at the other person and saw that just like me, the other party was also sitting on her butt. And unbelievably, she’s holding a round piece of bread that was about 30 centimeters in diameter in her mouth.
I see. I got bounced off by that bread huh.
“Hey, where are you looking when walking!?”
“Those are my words. You weren’t looking ahead.”
The woman puffed out her left cheek. She then chewed on the piece of bread and furrowed her eyebrows into an inverted figure of 八, revealing her displeasure.
She’s a tall girl with long red hair in a ponytail. Her eyes were a little slanted, but she was well-groomed and beautiful. She wore a short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts that fit her body, highlighting her good figure. She is probably about 16 years old. When I saw the armband on her arm, I realized that she is a senior high school student.
“That armband…… You’re in junior high huh.”
“…..Ryan Doris. Who are you?”
“I’m Julia Label. I mean, you have a big attitude.”
“It’s my nature. If I’m to say it, you are too.”
“You’re cheeky too huh. I can’t believe we bumped into each other.”
Julia ate the bread in her hand and looked displeased with my attitude. Then, as if remembering something, she exclaims,
“Aah! I was in a hurry because I had an errand today! I have to hurry!”
Julia rushed away. She was quite a noisy girl. Well, I guess that’s what youth is all about. I brushed the dust off my clothes before heading to the building.
◇◇◇
The Royal School proceeds on a stairway style from primary to high school. Technically, only aristocrats were supposed to attend here, but in reality, anyone could enter if they paid money. For this reason, the children of wealthy merchants were walking around the school normally.
However, this does not mean that the class has disappeared. The son of a baron is the son of a baron, even if it is in the school. Naturally, hierarchical relationships arise among children as well. And everyone is made to understand that the world is unfair, even if they don’t like it.
I was one of them.
“Ugue!”
“One more shot!”
A punch landed in my side. As I sat down leaning against the wall of the school building, a fat schoolboy in an aristocratic uniform stand in front of me grinning as he cracks his knuckles. Behind him, three male students are looking at me expressionlessly.
“I hope you’re ready to apologize, Ryan.”
“I…… I will not succumb to your violence.”
“You can still resist huh. I’m getting more excited.”
I endured the pain and stand up resolutely. The person I am talking to is the one in the middle of the three people behind the fat boy who beats me. His name is Johnny Dosad, the eldest son of Marquis Dosad. It’s easy to explain how this happened. I warned them about their insidious bullying so now I was targeted instead. That’s it.
“We were just telling that guy the difference in our status, but you got in the way. That’s very annoying you know. Even if I stomp on your head and you lick my shoes, I don’t think my anger will go away.”
“Let me guess, you won’t really want to stop even if I apologize, right?”
“Correct. Even though you don’t understand how society works, you still have a smart head as you can tell that much.”
“Yeah. Better than the guy who keeps his grades by letting the teacher edit his scores.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Ah right, hurt him more.”
A heavy fist slams into my face. I knew it, Johnny is rotten to the core.
This kid in front of me can do whatever he wants, such as threatening female students and forcing them to have physical relations with him or beating unresisting students to death by saying that he only want to relieve stress. Especially when he went up to junior high school, his extreme behavior became even more aggressive.
“But I think it’s time for you to apologize. Otherwise you won’t know what will happen to your house.”
“Are you threatening me this time? You’re a total scumbag!”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. The Dosad House’s family motto is to do whatever it takes to get what we want.”
“In that case, I’d rather be beaten to death here. And, I won’t let you touch my family.”
I tackled the orc-like student in front of me. The other party was tall and had a good physique, so he couldn’t catch me because I was small. I hold one of the enemy’s legs tightly and lift it up in one fell swoop.
Don’t underestimate Yasuhiko Kanzaki, a fifty-five year-old!
The fat male student loses his balance and falls to the ground. At that moment, I immediately mounted him and punched him in the face.
Win. Even I, who is powerless, can resist.
However, someone grabbed my arms. When I turned around, I saw that it was the two boys who are always on the left and right side of Johnny. The fat boy, who I just beat up, stood up, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and then he slammed his fist into my tightened abdomen. I was in so much pain that I wanted to cry.
“I’ll leave it here for today. See you tomorrow.”
“Aggh…… Ugh……”
After beating me as much as he wanted, Johnny disappears somewhere with the three of them. When the calamity finally passed, my whole body was still aching and I couldn’t stand up. It’s a terrible feeling. I want to strangle my past self who was floating around in this second life.
Just then, I heard footsteps nearby. In my blurred vision, I saw the red-haired woman from this morning looking into my face. Moreover, in her left hand, she held a large piece of half-eaten bread, just like in the morning.
“What are you doing here?”
“Leave me alone.”
“Hmm, I think it’s a fight.”
She lifts me up lightly and takes me somewhere. I was carried from the back of the junior high school building to the senior high school building. I was taken to a room that looked like an infirmary. Then, as I lay on the bed, a freshly wrung towel was thrown over my face.
“Use that to clean your wound.”
“That was rough. Can’t you be more gentle?”
“Tsk. So cheeky. You should be more grateful since I helped you.”
“……Thank you.”
I thanked her and put a wet towel on my face. It’s cool and pleasant. Julia sat down in a nearby chair and looked at me intently.
“You didn’t seem like the type to fight. Well, I guess that means people aren’t what they really seem to be.”
“Wrong. It’s just that the other person just picked up a bad habit and hit me.”
“Oh, yes, yes, that’s what I’m saying. There must be some bossy guy in your grade too. You have to train then. Shall I teach you swordsmanship?”
She just agreed to me and then now she’s smiling widely.
What a strange woman. I thought.
She tried to help me out and carried the conversation on her own. She was the type of person I had never met in my previous life.
“Why did you help me? You should have left me alone.”
“There is no way I can do that to someone I like.”
“Haa?”
“You bumped into me in the morning, and that’s when I knew you were my destined person. Or shoud I say, it was love at first sight? Ahaha.”
She laughs knowing that she said something ridiculous. I was simply stunned by Julia’s confession.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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