When I was five I regained the memories of my past life. I had just choked on a small piece of bread which brought a flood of unknown memories to me as I got slapped hard on the back by a maid while my family watched in horror.

I, Azurine Driftwood used to be a japanese seventeen year old girl named Araki Mio. A quite boring life I used to live, half-way shut in whose only friends lived in the cyberspace. Day consisted of going to school, coming home, chatting with people online, playing video games and reading comics. Basically a deadbeat otaku. I never lived to be older than seventeen as the previous me also choked on bread but back then I had no one to save me as my old family was traveling on a holiday as I stayed behind. I was found a few days later long dead and starting to smell. I pity the person who found my body.

My wasteful previous life is not a point of concern but how my current life is that of a villainess from a very popular romance comic called “Good Luck! Magical Love!”. It’s a comic where the heroine enters a magical high school at the age of fifteen after being discovered by a famous magi family that adopted her and enrolled her into the school. There she meets her soulmate who is engaged to the villainess, me. From what I remember the villainess is banished and dies after harassing the heroine, who has stolen all the attention from her fiance.

I was reincarnated into this romance comic world of magic and at the end of the story I would die from bullying the heroine. The memories of my previous life are fuzzy and I can only recall the main points of the story. The villainess had known the heroine from when they were children and would often tease and bully her, but this time the heroine won’t get bullied and I will be able to live past seventeen. To achieve survival I must avoid the heroine at all costs.

I will become a background character! A mob!

The piece of bread stuck in my throat got coughed up across the dining table and my mother, teary eyed, stands up and runs towards where I sit. She grabs my shoulders and forces my body against hers in a hug.

“My child! My child! I thought you would die!”

I can hear my father and brother telling my mother that she is overreacting but I can feel tears swell up in my eyes as well. The emotions of a five year old are more flimsy than those of a seventeen year old. I could feel my throat burn a bit but that pain is nothing compared to the regret I felt in my heart after wasting my previous life. My small hands grabbed the dress of my mother and I wailed as she held me.

“My child, was it that scary?”

I nodded my head at mother, it was really scary dying. I do not want to die a second time. I’ll live my life to the fullest, since I’ve been given a second chance by someone out there.

After that incident my whole demeanor as Azurine changed. Azurine before was a spoiled child, just like in the comic. She treated those around her badly and had a superior complex because of her family background. Her family was filled with great magi who all had very impressive magical abilities, even though no one of very high magical ability had been born in awhile.

The magical system in this world is built on a hierarchy based on magical abilities. Abilities are ranked as High Magical Ability Class, Medium Magical Ability Class, Low Magical Ability Class and No Magical Ability class. Those of High Magical Ability Class are the people on the top, those who rule the world while other classes like Medium and Low deal with the ‘lesser’ positions in society. Those of who lack any magical ability are at the very bottom. It’s an unfair system where very few can climb to the top, but some magic can be improved by training and a person with no magical ability can develope one over time, even though that is rare. The heroine of the comic was one of those who developed her magical ability later in life.

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The Azurine everyone knew had vanished and a quiet, studious girl replaced the highly energetic, stubborn girl. Mother was happy that I started to show interest in books instead of playing outside a lot since I would get my clothes dirty but my brother was annoyed as he lost a playmate. The books I chose to read were history books and books which explained how the magical system in this world worked. I didn’t get that far as a five year old reading those books, as the words in the books were too large for me to understand. Even though some aspects of me were changed I still was a five year old and barely knew how to read.

Father found amusement in my new behavior and decided since I was starting to show interest in books, he would hire a tutor to teach me how to read. The tutor was an older man and had much experience in teaching children. He was a mild man who after studying I would sit with and talk to. It usually wasn’t more than what he had taught me previously and interesting words I had learned from a book I was reading.

Some time passed after I retrieved my memories, I was already the age of seven and I was able to read the harder books up at the shelve in my father's study. Even though some words I still did not understand.

“Nerien!”

I called after my older brother who was walking down the hallway of our house. He turned around to face me, he had a book under his arm and I curiously tried to peek at the title. It was a book about magic. Nerien was more interested in studying magic rather than academics. Brother was good at magic and his abilities grew with each day. He could create small golems and they could last five minutes before deteriorating. His magic was still improving and the size and the time of the golums kept getting better.

“Hey, Azu. What do you need?”

“Mother is going to a tea party soon and she wants both of us to join her.”

Mother was an avid tea party goer. She would drag Nerien and I all around town, meeting her friends and drinking tea. Us siblings would often get bored at these tea parties since some of mothers friends usually had older children who had no interest in playing games. Even though I was studious I was still a kid and enjoyed playing from time to time. This time it was a different tea party the women who invited us over had children me and my brothers age.

I led Nerien to the living room where mother stood, ready to leave. She was wearing a white dress with a beautiful bonnet decorated in blue flowers. Mother was a pretty woman. She held us two by the hands and we stepped in a drawn circle on the floor. In this world of magic, transportation was easy. There were cars and all like in my previous life, but it was usually the none magic ability persons who drove. Those with magical abilities used some sort of teleportation magic. In a blue flash we disappeared from the living room in our house.

In just a few seconds we had arrived in a large garden filled with green grass and flowers of all the colors you could think of. I could hear the noise of children and women talking, I still had not been able to get used to the feeling of teleportation. Feeling lightheaded I grabbed what I thought was the dress of my mother, but as I looked up it was a stranger. She had long black hair and smiled down at me. I looked around and saw my mother and brother already ahead of me.

“Oh, my! You must be feeling quite lightheaded still. I’ll bring you to a chair.”

She walked with me to where the tables and chairs in the garden were and sat me down. She kneeled to my eye level and looked into my eyes, the color of her eyes were ice blue but there was warmth behind them. She stroke my hair down from the top of my head and down to my shoulder.

“I hope you feel better. You can go play with the other children once you feel better.”

The lady stands up again, still looking into my red eyes.

“My child is somewhere in the garden playing, I hope the two of you can become friends.”

With that she smiles and leaves me to join the other ladies talking. I stroke my magneta hair where she touched it. This woman reminded me of someone, was this feeling what they call deja vu? I don’t remember seeing her at mothers other tea parties.

I sit where she left me for awhile until I feel like I could go explore the garden. I hop off the chair and proceed to walk towards the sound of children. A bush is blocking me from seeing the voices on the other side. I can hear my brother behind the bush as well. I find a small hole in the bush and crawl into it. I can see small feet running around. I pop my head out of the bush and there she is. Staring right at me.

The heroine.