“Kasumi-chan and Yuki-chan are so similar!”
“Yeah!”
Thus, Kasumi and Yuki were grouped together in the category of ‘weirdos.’ Their classmates, who had heard their argument, deepened their understanding that the two were ‘weirdos’ together.
Kasumi ended up bonding with Yuki inadvertently. Furthermore, she also became friends with Tiffy, another oddball friend of Yuki’s. The three of them often played together. They started going to after-school cram schools and piano lessons together, sharing each other’s hobbies. Kasumi even started inviting them to church on weekends. She found that watching girls’ anime, which she had initially seen just to accompany her friends, wasn’t so bad after all.
Through Tiffy, who was skilled at the piano, Kasumi also met another girl named Tuli, who was a prodigy in their piano class.
The free-spirited trio became known as troublemakers at school, spending their days noisily and happily. They held study sessions together to enter the same high school and supported Tiffy, who struggled with her studies.
Although Kasumi, who hadn’t attended school in her past life, didn’t have a significant advantage in her studies due to her reincarnation experience, she was still smart enough to easily pass the entrance exam for high school without much difficulty.
Once they entered high school, Kasumi also got to know a boy named Rain, who was friends with Yuki. She sometimes teased him and sometimes supported him as a close male friend.
Kasumi, Yuki, and Tiffy, the three oddballs, didn’t have many friends, but they continued to have fun together, just as they always had.
And so, she, reborn as Kasumi, spent thirteen years living her new life.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
In a corner of the school classroom, Yuki speaks up.”
“Well, you see, my mom got mad because she lost to my dad in a game, so she tampered with the controller. She made it so that the A button became the B button, and pushing the stick up made the character move back. But the first victim of that was my little brother, Haru.”
“What’s your mom doing…?”
This was during break time after the history class. Kasumi was chatting with her friends Yuki, Tiffy, and Tuli, gathered around a desk.
Kasumi was 13 years old, at the end of her first year of junior high.
“Anyway, can game controllers really be modified so easily?”
“My mom’s a researcher in magical tools, you know. If it’s mechanical stuff, it’s a piece of cake for her.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“Ah, but modifying commercially available products is actually not allowed, you know?”
The casual conversation continued. Naturally, it had nothing to do with the previous history class about the Progardia Witch Trials. Having completely forgotten the content of the history class, the four engaged in light-hearted banter.
“…”
However, for Kasumi, it was just a little unsatisfying.
The previous history class had been about the Progardia Witch Trials.
For Kasumi, that history class evoked very complex emotions. Her past was being narrated as history. Feeling a sense of unease in her chest, she continued to avert her eyes from the class with a melancholic expression.
But for her classmates, the class was nothing special. They listened to the class as usual, taking notes in a matter-of-fact manner.
Right in front of her, Kasumi’s friend had also forgotten about the class and was now indulging in idle chatter.
“……”
It couldn’t be helped. It really couldn’t be helped, but Kasumi felt a little unamused by it.
“We-ell, magic tools, huh… I wonder what the witches of long ago would think if they saw modern magic technology? Things like machines didn’t exist back then, ya know?”
So, stiffening her expression just a bit, Kasumi tried to steer the conversation back slightly. It was a modest rebellion against the times, a small resistance against the history that was passing by. Thinking it couldn’t be helped even if this topic was easily brushed aside, she tried voicing it out.
Then, Yuki blinked her eyes for a moment and grinned slightly.
“Ah, are you talking about the witch trials from the class just now? Kasumi, you do like the occult, don’t you? Are you interested in witches?”
“W-Well… something like that, I guess…”
Struck in a place not far from the mark within her heart, Kasumi was startled and shaken. Her friends couldn’t possibly imagine that she was the reincarnation of a human from that time, but she felt slightly embarrassed, as if the way she brought up the topic had allowed them to see inside her heart.
“As expected of our occult-lover Kasumi, do you know a lot about ancient witches too?”
“Y-Ye-Yeah, I suppose…”
It wasn’t just a matter of knowing a lot, but Kasumi gave Tiffy a safe reply. Thinking how foolish it was to trouble herself after bringing up the topic herself, Kasumi continued the story a little.
“There are lots of nonsense rumors and obvious lies in stories related to witches.”
“Lies?”
“That’s right. Witch hunts were a long-standing custom that lasted for several hundred years, and the victims are said to number in the tens of thousands, but it is said that real witches and mages made up less than 1% of them. So that means…”
“There was a lot of false testimony!”
“Exactly. They tortured and interrogated people who weren’t witches, and those people lied to try and escape because they wanted to be saved. There were real witches among the victims, but they got lost in the overwhelming amount of lies.”
“So even in modern times, we don’t know what’s true.”
“That’s right. …Really, witch trials brought nothing but harm. They didn’t reveal a single truth, just kept increasing the number of victims…”
“Kasumi…? Your face is a little scary, you know?”
Getting too absorbed in the past, Kasumi unintentionally let dark emotions fill the depths of her eyes. Tiffy was worried about Kasumi, whose face had suddenly become grim.
“Huh…? Ah, no… Tiffy… nothing. It’s nothing.”
“Looks like you’re too immersed in witches!”
“Yeah, maybe… got a little carried away.”
Kasumi smiles awkwardly to cover up her mistake.
“Haha, Kasumi seems witch-like. Into the occult and fortune-telling, very suspicious! A witch living in modern times!”
“Huh? I-I wonder… do I really seem like that? Hehe…”
“Please don’t undergo a witch trial. Kasumi seems like a witch, you know.”
“…Yeah, really.”
Each of Yuki’s jokes made Kasumi feel increasingly complicated.
Speaking of which, there was a movie about the witch trial in Progardia, right? I’ve seen it.”
“Oh, uh… that one…”
The witch trial in Progardia is a famous historical event worldwide, and there was a historical movie about it. It depicted the life of the protagonist witch leading up to the witch trial in Progardia, but…
“I didn’t see that one…”
“Huh? Really? It’s quite a famous work. There were impressive scenes where the protagonist witch mowed down enemies from the enemy church with a sword!”
“…………”
The movie was considerably fictionalized than the actual facts. The protagonist witch was also a master of swords and bows, and the content was about confronting the conspiracy of the powerful church.
There were flashy action scenes, and Kasumi couldn’t face them head-on. Of course, there are hardly any records of Aoi, the model for the protagonist witch, so if you want to depict the witch trial in Progardia, you have to leave much of it to imagination. Therefore, Kasumi felt embarrassed and frustrated and couldn’t watch the movie.
“Then, Kasumi, have you been to Progardia? When I look at the photos, there are impressive churches lined up, and it looks quite beautiful, but what is it actually like?”
“…No, Miss Tuli. I went there, but I don’t remember much about it…”
“Why not?”
Currently, a memorial stands in the square of Progardia, where the witch trial took place, and a memorial service is held every year to mourn the mages who became victims. It was one of the places that people interested in witches and magic wanted to visit.
However, for Kasumi, it was the place where she and her friends were executed. It was a very painful and heavy place, and although she went there for research on magic, she felt very uncomfortable in the city and crawled back home immediately. Therefore, she hardly remembered what happened there.
Kasumi couldn’t talk about the appearance of the city of Progardia.
“Do you really like witches, Kasumi? Aren’t you just a wannabe?”
“Guh… Being called a wannabe is… humiliating…”
Rather, Kasumi couldn’t explain that she had too many complicated circumstances, and Tuli and the others couldn’t imagine it either.
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