Author's Note) The Girl Born With Everything (Aoi)

--AN) to know which perspectives will be in the chapter, they will now be marked with the character's name. -- 

Some people think that being born into a rich family makes you God's chosen. But it’s not true—at least not for me…

 The last time I saw my parents was when I was three. They never come home. Only the maids are here to take care of the house. They make sure I have everything I need and that is about it. 

My grandfather is the only one who gives me any kind of familial love, and it is the reason why I am going to the school he runs. While this, too, makes me some kind of goddess in the eyes of those around me, in truth, I could care less. I was not blind to the fact that a bunch of people voted me to be some kind of school belle.

From young I have had kids sucking up to me left and right. They did not wish to become my friends but wanted to make close relations with me due to my money. Yes, I might have money but none of it was something I earned. Hell, my allowance was not much different than their own. The only difference is when it comes to clothes and other items such as my phone and daily body care, they were all top brands. I did not have any personal money to speak of except a few yen per week.

Everything else was already paid for. I did not need to pay for lunch. I did not need to pay for my school supplies. If I wanted anything beyond the necessity, I had to go out and get a part-time job. To not make my grandfather look bad I study all the time and work hard. I put up a facade around me to try to keep up appearances so no one looks down on my grandfather, but…. I am getting sick of it all. 

I could transfer to another school if I asked, but I decided to stay for two reasons. First, I did not wish to make my grandfather sad by transferring out of his school. And second I found an interesting person I do wish to get to know.

Small and cute. That was my first impression of Watanabe Haruhi. She did not seem to care too much about her looks, but even then, I found her slightly messy twin pigtails cute. She always had her head down writing in a notebook, and sometimes she would peek over at me. It made me curious as to what she was writing about but I held my curiosity in.  I didn’t want to suddenly pop up in front of her and scare her since she seemed to be the shy type. The last thing I wanted was for her to hate me.

During role call, her voice was always low and cute-sounding. For some reason, I was drawn to her, and I do not know why.

“She’s looking again. She is so creepy.” One of the girls who had been sucking up to me all week spoke as if her own actions were not the same.

“Is this what you do?” I asked coldly. There was one thing I couldn’t stand and that was people talking behind others backs. Especially about a person that I wanted to get to know.

“Huh? Did I do something to make you mad, Aoi?” the girl asked in a fluster. I only snorted. If I was any other day, I would have already punched her and kicked her to the curb, but I was holding it in. I did not wish to cause too much of a scene. This was my grandfather’s school, after all. 

In middle school, you could have called me the school boss. I had a habit of getting into fights with others. My grades were good, but I had an issue with fighting. Because someone in my family had donated a lot to the school, I never got in serious trouble for fighting. Whether it was my parents or my grandfather, I am not too sure. Although I did cause a lot of issues for my grandfather during that time. My parents would never show up when I sat in the principal’s office; only my grandfather would.

But I did make one request when I heard the news about our dungeon diving test. It was basically the first thing I had ever really begged my grandfather for. “Grandpa, please let me team up with Watanabe Haruhi!”

When he heard me say this, his eyes went wide. He probably never expected me, of all people, to have such a request. His first question to me was…. “Why?”

His old face, which was covered in a well-groomed white beard and mustache when added to his muscular build, made him kind of imposing. Even to this day, I still feel slightly scared of him. But on this day I looked him straight in the eye and asked such a thing.

“You do know that she is a walking time bomb. Until the age of ten, she was unable to go to school. Her word magic is nothing to mess around with. If you want to be partners with her you need to know the risks. If she freaks out, she might just kill you by accident. She might be an innocent young girl who means no harm, but her magic is not something the world has seen before. She is always under close surveillance.

“When her magic manifested at five years old, she made her entire bedroom and its contents disappear without a trace, causing her to fall into the basement and break her leg.  Knowing all of this, do you still wish to partner up with her?” My grandfather’s eyes bore into me. I couldn’t help but look at the floor. 

My grandfather’s words meant that out of all the first years, Watanabe Haruhi was actually the strongest of them all, maybe in the entire school or world….. Was her word magic really that scary? Was such a small and cute thing that dangerous? I just couldn’t see it.

“Not that you have a choice if you can partner with her or not anyway since I had already planned on it.” My grandfather broke my thoughts as I turned to look at him. “Anyway, go do your thing and leave me alone. I am busy.”

“Thank you, Grandpa!” I beamed at my grandfather with a smile and kissed his cheek. But this only got me kicked out of his office. For the rest of my high school life, I would be partners with the small cute girl.