The reincarnated perfect prince - Chapter 1
“It’s sad that Lady Mizuki is graduating.”
While I was lost in thought, I was unconsciously surrounded by the underclassmen who had attended the graduation ceremony.
“The high school campus is next door, so you can meet anytime, right?”
I smiled wryly and admonished them.
“That’s right, isn’t it? We won’t lose touch… ah…”
One of them, who was about to nod in agreement, quickly covered his mouth with his hand.
It was obvious that he had just realized his slip of the tongue.
It seemed like he had unconsciously mentioned the accident from two years ago.
Condemning looks rained down on the girl who had brought up the subject.
This was not good.
I figured I should deflect it, so I smiled a little.
“Hmm? It seems like you want to send me to a boarding school in Switzerland?”
“No!! Not at all!! Absolutely not!”
When I said it jokingly, the girls shook their heads, their faces red.
When it comes to boarding schools in Switzerland, there are many famous ones, but they must have been thinking of a certain school that is famous as a finishing school for brides.
In fact, many girls from famous families start going there a few years before their wedding once their engagement has been decided.
It seems like no matter their background, teenage girls are interested in a touch of romance.
I quietly watched them, waiting for the right moment to leave.
I didn’t mean to give off the air of being aloof, but as someone from a famous family and a student council officer, there weren’t many people who approached me.
The young ladies who squealed were an exception, but some of them felt a sense of intimidation towards me because I was considered an eccentric.
Two years ago, the accident I was involved in was both a coincidence and a matter of course.
It’s related to the game, but also an incident that isn’t related to the scenario.
It has to do with the student council president, Iori Suwa, who graduated this year and is the other half of the royal duo with my brother Yakumo.
Iori Suwa has an older cousin who he has been infatuated with.
He has been in love with her since elementary school, for the past nine years.
According to the scenario, during this spring break, he will be rejected by his cousin, and he will spend a year moping over heartbreak, after which he will fall in love with the protagonist after they argue about it. What a strange story.
Is he an M!? That’s what I want to scream, but he’s more the type of emperor who is an S-type sadist.
Maybe he’s a bit clingy. Suwa, who had been stalking his cousin like a stalker, trying to eliminate any danger, seemed to be useless on that day.
His cousin, Shiori Suwa, was about to be kidnapped right before his eyes.
I happened to witness Shiori-sama being caught by several men near the back gate of the high school and about to be taken into a van, and Suwa recklessly confronting them alone in an attempt to stop it.
For a middle school first-year student who was still small and delicate, it was reckless to go up against four adult men.
Moreover, Suwa was not particularly good at martial arts.
Although they are both from the same clan, the Suwa family has a history as a family of priests, and their upbringing is different from the Sagara family, who became warlords and then feudal lords.
Even I, who already had a black belt, could tell in an instant that it would be difficult to take on four adult men at once, but what is love, I wondered.
I decided that the right thing to do was to contact the appropriate authorities, so I used my cell phone to contact several places.
It has a GPS function and a special app, so it’s convenient for times like this.
Being rich means that your risk management is complete and unnecessary.
I was relieved to know that the police and the school security guards were already on their way, when Shiori-sama noticed me.
‘Mizuki-san!? No, run away!!’
I clicked my tongue at her cry, which completely ignored the rules of what to do when you are being kidnapped.
‘Sagara!? You….’
Oh, there’s another idiot here, I thought. It’s no wonder I’m not acting like a perfect young lady.
‘….!! Sagara? That brat, she’s from the Sagara family!?’
Would it be okay if I sulked, thinking that she was discovered because she had said something unnecessary?
If there were only two of them, I could probably handle it.
If the security guards came to help.
In that case, it would be better for me to act as a decoy.
So I purposely showed them the cell phone in my hand.
‘I’ve already contacted the police and the security guards. They’ll be here soon. You better run, uncles.’
Of course, I had already taken a picture of them.
‘What!? Hey, let’s run.’
‘But, even if we take the hostage…’
‘Let go of Shiori!!’
One of the men tried to take Shiori-sama into the van, but Suwa jumped on him.
He’s such a pain in the neck… I thought, as I turned on the camera and clicked the shutter.
‘You took a picture!? Dammit! Wait!!’
The man who heard the shutter sound pushed Suwa away, turned around, and chased after me.
I got him!
I waited for about three seconds, then turned around and started running.
Yes, I chose the route where the school security guards would show up.
But here’s where I made a mistake.
I was caught by one of the men by the shoulder, and using the momentum, I fell backwards, gave him a headbutt, and then grabbed his arm as he retreated, lowered my posture, took a step backward, and threw him over my back.
This is what you call a back throw.
My body was smaller than that of the man, and my movements were faster. As I possessed a firm understanding of the basics, I could perform a technique that was more than enough. Someone inexperienced would surely fail. I stomped on the neck of the man who was groaning in pain, clutching his throat and heart, before dashing off. However, one was still chasing me. I knew it wouldn’t be good if I was cornered. “You little runt, wait there!” This time, I turned around before he grabbed hold of my shoulders. I intended to avoid having him seize my long hair. “Intruders detected!” I heard a voice behind me, along with the sounds of multiple footsteps. They were finally here. Just as I thought this, I suddenly felt a jolting sensation, as though I was being thrown into the air as if I was on a rollercoaster. I landed with a thud on an object, and a feeling of heat ran through my body. I felt as if my head had been submerged in boiling water, and my mind only then registered that it was “pain.” I failed to understand why. My vision was filled with blotches of red. Various shades of red permeated my sight. “……” I could hear voices at a distance. However, I couldn’t move my body. My consciousness was being dragged down like a weight. I told myself not to fall asleep, yet I felt my consciousness being sucked into somewhere. And, eventually, I lost consciousness as if I had fallen into an abyss. When I regained consciousness, I understood that I was ‘Aihime Sagara’ and that I had been hit by a car after getting involved while trying to save an acquaintance. It was really a miscalculation. I had believed that the attacker would flee in his car, but he had attempted to kill me along with his companions, and had gotten away with it until the security that I had contacted reached the site, apprehended him, and called the police, who then arrested him. I later heard about this from my brother, who visited me after the incident, along with a lecture. In a sense, my response was correct, yet it was also mistaken. So, I was told, and I ended up paying the price for my actions. Having escaped death by a hair’s breadth, my body was mangled, covered with numerous serious injuries. I underwent countless surgeries as the best plastic surgeons from the Suwa family and mine were called upon to treat my injuries without leaving any scars. I also underwent strenuous rehabilitation to restore function in my limbs, which had been paralyzed at the time, to the extent that I could carry out my daily activities. At first, I endured the surgeries, believing that it was due to my own recklessness. However, I eventually cried out that I was tired of the surgeries, the gradually slowing movement in my limbs, and the extensive rehabilitation. My mother tried to persuade me repeatedly that she did it for my own good, but it was too much for me to bear. It was too much to handle both physically and mentally. The Suwa family sought out another plastic surgeon, but I refused. The attending physician and the new surgeon also agreed with my decision. I was still a child, after all. Still in the midst of puberty. I could naturally heal to a considerable degree if I refrained from undergoing plastic surgery because my body was still young. By contrast, the doctors convinced my parents and the head of the Suwa family that if I continued undergoing surgeries, my growth would be stunted, and it would put a strain on my body. They told me that they would regularly examine my injuries, and that it would be better to clean the ones that remained once I had stopped growing and recovered my strength. I was finally discharged on the condition that I would not expose the wounds to sunlight, that I would continue with basic exercise to improve my recovery, and that I would not overexert myself when the wounds were still painful. This was half a year after the incident.
I lost the latter half of my valuable first year of middle school to my time in the hospital. As my daily marks had always been good, I was able to advance to the next grade while lacking the required attendance record. I also submitted reports and took simple tests during my hospitalization to avoid losing a year. I suppose that I received preferential treatment to some extent since I had been helping someone when I got hurt. I asked my father not to expose my scars to others. The school uniform for girls revealed the injuries on my arms and legs. That’s why I asked him to obtain permission for me to wear the boy’s uniform, long sleeves in the summer, and a tracksuit for P.E. My father immediately acted upon his youngest daughter’s request. Though he might have pointed out loopholes in the school’s security system or discussed matters that would have caused us unnecessary anxiety, I hope it wasn’t so.
I refused to receive visitors from anyone other than my family during the period when I was starting to regain consciousness, and during my rehabilitation. It’s not as though I had always considered the Suwa family to be a dangerous place, as was depicted in that game. It was the Sagara family’s creed, that all injuries are the result of one’s own negligence, that prevented me from doing so. After finishing my rehabilitation and being discharged from the hospital, I was amazed to see that a Western-style guesthouse had been built in the middle of our traditional Japanese-style home. I was astounded by the head of the house’s stubbornness when told that he had decided to do so because he believed it would be difficult for me to live in a Japanese-style building while I was injured. To build a whole new house; surely that’s excessive!? This is what ordinary people would say. I, who had been a genuine “ordinary person” in my last life, almost made the same comment before swallowing my words. Wouldn’t it have been enough to just renovate my room?
Therefore, I am still a loner living in a separate building.
While it’s true that I feel more at ease living alone due to privacy concerns since the Sagara family is a large family, I can’t say that in front of my family.
When it came to wearing the boys’ uniform, I decided not to grow my hair out.
When I entered middle school, it was long enough to cover my back, but most of it was cut off after the accident.
I was told later that it couldn’t be helped for the surgery, but I was more traumatized by the jagged haircut than by the fact that my hair was cut.
I understand that my hair got in the way because of my head injury.
But I was shocked to see that it was uneven and impossible to fix.
If they had just shaved it all off, I think it would have been less shocking.
Since it would grow evenly.
Then I could wear a wig.
It’s hard to even it out when it’s uneven like that.
During my hospitalization, my mother, who was concerned about my hair, called the beautician who cut my hair, and I’ll never forget the look on her face when she saw it.
She looked like a night ogre.
I apologized to her, but she flatly stated that it wasn’t my fault, it was the culprit’s and the nurse who cut my hair. I couldn’t apologize any further and was at a loss for words.
I also refused to see Shiori-sama because I felt like things would go terribly wrong again if I showed her my hair.
After half a year, my hair had grown out somewhat, and I was able to return to school, so I consulted with the beautician.
“I’m wearing a boys’ uniform, so I’m wondering if I should grow my hair out. I want a hairstyle that suits the uniform.”
I didn’t mind a very short cut.
I asked her with that in mind, and she smiled gently and said that trying out different hairstyles is a part of youth, and that’s how I got the haircut I have now.
Honestly, I’m surprised at how well it suits me.
That, and the fact that I’ve gotten taller, makes me look like a middle school boy from head to toe.
I’m also allowed to wear the boys’ uniform in high school, so I’ll keep this hairstyle for a while longer.
But I would like to stop being treated like a prince.
I have no interest in dressing up as men, nor do I enjoy being surrounded by girls.
Being handsome doesn’t really mean anything to me.
There is no longer any point in staying at middle school.
It’s not like you go out with your classmates to karaoke after graduation at a fancy school.
Most of the students probably haven’t even heard of karaoke.
Boys talk about stocks, and girls talk about classical music concerts and operas, party information, and what dresses they’re going to wear.
It’s an outlandish space that can only be described as another world, or another dimension.
Even if I want to talk a little about my studies, studying isn’t something that the wealthy people should put effort into since they need to prioritize their hobbies.
In that case, Suwa, Ookami, and I must seem like anomalies.
Well, Suwa and the others seem to be learning what they need to know to become the heads of their families.
In my case, I’m a completely different case.
It’s what I’m doing in case the plastic surgery doesn’t work.
The Sagara family is a large one.
And I’m the youngest child.
One of the Sagara family’s traits is that there are many families who want their daughters to marry into ours.
I was still a middle school student, not even an adult, when I received such a proposal.
My grandfather, the head of the family, turned them all down in one fell swoop.
No matter that I’m a Sagara, no one will stand in front of such a terrible injury and not be afraid.
Men are especially squeamish about such wounds.
In fact, no man other than my relatives and doctors has been able to look at my wounds directly.
Women will stiffen up for a while after seeing the wounds, but they quickly come to their senses and look distressed.
I thought ladies would be the type to scream at the sight of something gruesome, but in reality, it’s a bit different.
Really well-bred ladies understand that screaming will hurt the other person and never raise their voices. And then they immediately tell me that they’re glad I’m alive.
The ones who scream are from nouveau riche families who haven’t received a proper upper-class education.
Apparently, they force you to look even if you don’t want to show them, and then they scream and pretend to faint, acting fragile and weak in order to humiliate others, but here, such people aren’t taken seriously and they usually drop out on their own after a while.
They say that breeding is more important than birth, but Toono Gakuen aims to raise the children of super-first-class families, both in terms of birth and breeding.
That’s why I realized much later that I had been chosen as their touchstone.
Once I get back to the school building from the auditorium, I grab my things and head to the drop-off point.
My family’s car must be waiting, since it’s about time they came to get me.
“Sagare.”
A voice rings out behind me.
“…Suwa-sama, good day.”
It was Iori Suwa, carrying a large bouquet of flowers.
Ooren Ookami was beside him.
The former student council president and vice president.
“Are you leaving already?”
I also used to be the former student council secretary.
It’s not just because I can write well.
All the minutes are saved on the computer, after all.
“Yes. I have no more business at the middle school.”
“…You’re still as cool as ever. If you don’t have anything to do…”
“I have no business at Middle School, but I do have some personal errands to run. My father told me to have dinner with my family after the graduation ceremony.”
“…I, I see.”
Abruptly cutting off his invitation, Suwa nods as if he’s bewildered.
“Suwa, are you going to see Shiori-sama now?”
Ooren Ookami, standing beside him, asked me to talk to him with just a glance, so I continue with a sigh.
“Yeah. Shiori said she wanted to see Sagare…”
“I apologize, but I refrain from taking actions that are not on my schedule. I will see Shiori-sama another time.”
I have only met Shiori-sama a few times since that incident.
Shiori-sama, the older sister whom the female students adore, acts as if she cares about me a lot, but in reality, I know that she only wants to see me because she has a selfish request.
I feel sorry for Suwa’s pure love, who is being used so easily.
In other words, she wants me to give up on her because she can only think of Suwa, her cousin and childhood friend, as a younger brother, and she wants me to help her marry my brother, Yakumo Sagara.
My brother immediately rejected the proposal from the Suwa family branch.
That’s because the parents of Shiori-sama have never come to the Sagare family to apologize to me, even once, since the accident.
The main Suwa family, the head of the family and his wife, and the parents of Iori came to apologize immediately after the accident, but the branch family seems to think that’s enough.
They thought it was over and done with, and asked my brother to accept Shiori-sama as his fiancée.
The fact that I was hit by a car was definitely Shiori-sama’s fault.
That’s why the Sagare family, even the branch family, cannot forgive Shiori-sama.
When someone is kidnapped, one of the things they teach you to do is to make sure that the perpetrator does not notice you, and to escape from the scene and call for help.
Everyone at Toono Gakuen is taught this thoroughly in elementary school.
Anyone who happens to be at the scene must quietly leave the scene and call the school security, the police, or their home for help.
At that time, Shiori-sama called out my name on purpose.
That’s because she judged that the Sagare family was of a higher status than the Suwa family.
She figured that if the kidnappers were after ransom, they would extort more from the Sagare family than the Suwa family, so she thought they would attack me instead of her.
But, they were definitely after Shiori-sama herself.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have tried to kill me.
Fortunately, I managed to survive.
That’s why Shiori-sama’s sense of guilt has been halved.
My brother was furious at the time.
My older siblings, who are like clouds in the sky, were seriously discussing how to deal with the Suwa branch family with chilling smiles on their faces.
If I contact Shiori-sama, my older siblings will show those smiles again and actually carry out their plan.
“…I see. Shiori will be disappointed.”
Suwa, who failed to fulfill his mission, lets his shoulders drop and mutters in disappointment.
“Suwa, it may be better for you to stay away from Shiori-sama.”
Your unrequited love is about to run out of time.
“Why!?”
“The day after the entrance ceremony, we have a scholastic ability test. There will be external students, so it’s better to avoid dropping in the rankings.”
I only state the facts.
“Such a thing.”
“Yes, such a thing, but the external students are all excellent individuals who have passed the entrance exam. They are strong against pressure, unlike us who don’t know the outside world. They say that complacency can ruin you, so I think you should tighten your belt, protect your position, and show the internal students how capable you are.”
“Iori. I agree with Sagare.”
With a gentle smile, Ookami agrees with me.
I didn’t think Ookami would agree with me.
“Even you, Kuren? Don’t you and Sagare have enough ability to take first place without studying?”
“I think it’s our duty to show the internal students how capable we are by not neglecting our studies.”
“If Suwa is up for it, does that mean that Ookami and I will be first and second in the next test? I’m looking forward to the results. Well then, excuse me.”
Without saying goodbye, I try to leave.
“Sagare.”
Ookami calls out to me with a friendly smile.
“What is it?”
“If you have any questions about your studies, can I email you?”
“…Feel free to do so. I don’t know if I can answer them all.”
“Thank you. Take care.”
Seeing Ookami off, I walk slowly to the waiting car.