THE SECOND CLASSMATE
I was spending some time alone.
Sue had gone to her mother’s place.
Since Sue and I were half siblings, naturally I had no relation to Sue’s mother. In fact, since she was the king’s wife and I was born to one of his concubines, it made sense that Sue’s mother wouldn’t be particularly fond of me. So when my sister met with her, I made sure to keep my distance.
I was being sensitive, of course, but I also enjoyed having some rare alone time.
Whenever I left my room, Anna or Klevea, the other maid, would usually escort me, but neither was around today.
I didn’t give them the slip or anything. I just told them up front that I wanted to be alone.
Anna was a half elf, a master of magic.
Klevea was a former knight, a hardened warrior so muscular that she could be mistaken for a man at first glance.
I couldn’t shake them off even if I tried.
While I technically had more magic power than Anna already, according to her, I was still no match for her without the ability to use it.
Magic could only be activated by someone with Magic Perception, Magic Operation, and a magic skill.
I didn’t have a magic skill yet, so I couldn’t cast anything.
To learn a magic skill, you had to either pay the requisite skill points or earn proficiency by using a tool with magical powers, like an Appraisal Stone.
I had skill points, but Anna informed me that there were other restrictions on the acquisition of magic skills.
Apparently, this was because it would be dangerous for someone too young to acquire them.
My physical stats might’ve been high for my age, but they were still no match for those of an adult warrior.
In other words, I was basically helpless. So, could a weakling like me roam freely, even just inside the castle?
The answer was no.
No doubt somebody was guarding me in the shadows, and I simply hadn’t noticed.
I walked through the castle with Fei on my shoulder. My destination was the sporting grounds inside the castle. I was weak for now, but if I kept training, I’d eventually get stronger. The skills and stats that existed in this world were proof of that.
If I trained, the numbers for whatever skill or stat I was working on would go up accordingly.
Like Katia had said when we were skimming through the skill encyclopedia, if I powered up my basic stat skills, their levels would rise.
The most efficient way to increase basic physical status skills was simple exercise.
So I practiced running and weight training on the grounds. By my side, Fei exercised in a similar way. Whether she was just imitating me or was actually training herself was a mystery to me.
Fei was very clever, though, so she probably was trying to train with all her might.
“Whew.”
Once I’d worked out every part of my body, I took a break.
I drank some of the water that I’d prepared earlier.
Fei didn’t drink any, though. I didn’t really understand the physiology of monsters, but I had never once seen Fei drink anything.
As I took a breather, I hummed absentmindedly.
It was a song from Japan, not this world. I used to sing it at karaoke with Kanata and Kyouya…
The thought made me nostalgic.
“I know that song.”
Maybe that was why the sudden comment in Japanese made me homesick. Even when Katia and I hung out, we didn’t speak Japanese very often.
Surprised, I looked around, but I couldn’t find the source of the Japanese voice.
“Down here.”
The voice spoke again, and I felt a tug on my arm at the same time.
Looking down, I saw Fei play-biting my arm and pulling on it lightly.
“So, Fei, you’re…Shinohara?”
“That’s right.”
Once I’d calmed down a bit, I listened to Fei, aka Shinohara, tell her story.
To be precise, she wasn’t actually speaking but using a skill that allowed her to communicate telepathically. Apparently she’d noticed it when we were looking at the skill encyclopedia, and she’d acquired it using her SP.
“Ah, but you can just keep calling me Fei, of course.”
“Right…sure.”
I couldn’t help feeling somewhat awkward.
I mean, this creature that I’d been treating as a pet this whole time was actually my former classmate.
Since I was a kid again, my sexual maturity and such had been reset to zero, so I didn’t see it in a weird way, but it was still embarrassing.
“Aww, I can’t believe you turned out to be a prince, though, Shun. I have to admit, I’m a little disappointed.”
“Uh, excuse me?!”
What a terrible thing to say right to my face.
“I mean, I was reincarnated as a baby dragon, not to mention I wound up as a prince’s pet. Obviously the logical course from here would be to eventually turn into a human and become a princess, right?”
“No, not really.”
“Oh, come on. A girl can dream.”
That’s dreaming a bit too much, if you ask me.
“I mean, how am I supposed to go on without one? You can’t imagine what it’s like to be reborn as something other than a human.”
I hadn’t realized it until she said that.
That’s right. When I was reincarnated as a baby, even a human one, I still panicked.
What must she have felt all this time, being reborn as something else entirely?
Shinohara was right. I couldn’t even begin to grasp it.
“Yeah… You’re right, I’m sorry. That must’ve been hard for you.”
“Yes, I suppose it was. I was able to hear outside sounds while I was in that egg, you know. So I latched on to that with all I had and tried to learn the language.”
“Oh, yeah, I did that, too, when I was a baby. Wait, does that mean when you were cozying up to me whenever I was reading, it was because you were trying to study?”
“Yes, that’s right! Ahh, I was disappointed at first, but it’s a relief to have a friend here.”
A friend, huh?
“Oh yeah, I guess I can tell you, then. Katia’s actually a reincarnation, too.”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yeah. It’s Kanata Ooshima.”
“Are you kidding? But Ooshima was a guy.”
“I know, right? Her gender changed when she got reincarnated.”
“For real? That’s hilarious!”
“I don’t think it’s a laughing matter for Kanata.”
“Ah, I suppose not. Okay, I won’t laugh in front of…her, then.”
Those words surprised me a little.
To be honest, I didn’t have a very flattering impression of Shinohara. In her previous life, she was practically a bully. She constantly picked on another classmate named Wakaba.
The root of the problem was that Shinohara liked an upperclassman who had a crush on Wakaba. Though Wakaba herself had no idea. But apparently, when Shinohara confessed her feelings to him, he rejected her and stated who he liked instead.
Wakaba was the prettiest girl in class…no, in the whole school.
As a result, she became the target of a lot of jealousy.
And Shinohara was the ringleader.
She would harass her almost every day—deliberately saying rude things about her while she was in earshot and hiding her personal belongings, among other things.
Wakaba never gave any sign that she was bothered by it, so it never came to a head, but it was still basically bullying.
“Surprised?”
My thoughts must’ve showed on my face.
“Kinda, yeah.”
I answered honestly. I thought it was probably better that way.
“Well, I had a lot of time to think while I was stuck in the egg. It didn’t take long to realize that I wasn’t human anymore, you see. I thought maybe I was being punished.”
Fei’s telepathic words berated herself.
“But like it or not, I’m a pet now, you know? So once I was born, I figured I might as well try to serve my owner as best as I could. It’s not like I was intentionally trying to atone for my sins, since that seemed like the most likely chance for my survival. But it’s a fitting penalty that my ‘master’ would turn out to be a former classmate.”
“Sorry you got stuck with me as a penalty, then.”
“Ah-ha-ha! Did that bother you? I was only joking.”
“Didn’t sound like a joke to me.”
“Now, now. Let’s just try to stay friendly from now on, right, Master?”
Her voice was dripping with so much sugary sarcasm that I could only sigh.
And so, I had been reunited with my second fellow reincarnation.
Yes, the second one.
When I first met Katia, I began to have a slight suspicion.
But now that I’d met another one, that suspicion turned into conviction.
I believed the rest of the members of my old class might have reincarnated here, too.
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