My first week at school passed. The first few days had been a little rocky, but after getting familiar with my environment, I was able to adapt. Adaptability was a key to any survival, whether that was the survival under a psychopathic demon, a kingdom that desperately wanted you dead, or a high school.

“Aiko, you’re not working tonight, are you?” A voice asked as I was in the middle of reading a book while sitting in the school’s library.

I had heard of the library, but seeing it was far more impressive. This world’s access to literature was truly a marvel. Well, after discovering the internet, it wasn’t on my top priority list, but I found a teacher who would frown on you for reading a novel on your phone during class would not comment if you had a book open up on your desk. Even the internet couldn’t prepare me for the sight of endless rows of books. My literature collection could have been considered excessive, and even I only covered a single wall with books.

The royal castle had a great library, and back when I was working for the king before his disposal and the new church-led regime, I had spent countless hours looking through those texts. Yet, that world-famous library couldn’t measure to even half of the library in this school, and perhaps even more alarmingly, this school was only one of many schools, and that didn’t even touch on the public library system. I could look at a log and order any book I wanted and have it arrive within a week. It was incredible.

Also, most books in that world were hand-scribed. The strange way of computerizing characters so that they were consistent and always easy to read was incredible. I couldn’t describe how many hours I wasted trying to understand the writing of an extremely messy script, interpret the mistakes of a typo, or try to grasp a long-faded text. Every book here was fresh and the text was obvious. It was no wonder that this world could come up with so much technology in so short a time.

Knowing that the people of this world grew annoyed when you ignored them, or even when you spoke while only giving them partial attention, I closed the book and looked up at Skylar, who had approached me suddenly.

“No, I am not scheduled to work Fridays.” I couldn’t help but have a bit of bitterness in my voice.

Since Bob had advanced my check the first week, I wouldn’t be getting paid this week. I had been eager for my next paycheck, but that was some time off. I had been considering other ways to secure some income. Based on my observations, my sisters seemed to have taken well to the acne balm I had created. I noticed a disturbing number of youths affected by extreme degrees of acne. Acne existed in my world, but it wasn’t at that level. It seemed like the people of this world had greasier skin or something. Suffice it to say, where there was a want, there was an income potential.

I wasn’t typically an entrepreneur at heart, but I did learn from my mistakes. There was once a time when I acted altruistically and offered my services for free. I had quickly found that those that would take a service for free were the same who became quickly entitled and enraged when that service didn’t meet their standards. I faced more adversity from freely offered services than anything I sold. It was always better to set a price than to allow someone to take advantage of your goodwill.

“I see…” Skylar didn’t seem to notice that I was only half paying attention, as she was seemingly lost in her thoughts. “I don’t have to work either.”

“That’s surprising. Bob seems determined to be at work as much as possible.”

As soon as I said that name, she panicked slightly, looking around. I knew that she was worried about people learning about where we worked, but Bob seemed like a familiar enough name that I wasn’t worried about such a thing. Skylar seemed to eventually realize this on her own and calm down, her mouth tightening.

“Y-yes. Are you aware that there is a dance at the school tonight?”

“I am,” I responded shortly.

She bit her lip, her eyelashes fluttering slightly. “I was originally going to go with Daryl. Rather, he was going to make me go. However, I managed to shake him off, and he hasn’t been at school the last few days.”

“He won’t be back for a while…”

“Hmm?”

I cleared my throat. “Nothing, I was just musing about something. Why are you telling me this?”

“Ah… that… with Daryl and then the rumors floating around, no one has asked me to go.” Skylar’s voice grew a bit quiet. “A-are you going to the dance tonight?”

“I am.”

“Really?” Skylar immediately perked up in surprise, and then her face turned strange. “W-with someone?”

I shook my head. “Miss Alma has me helping with running the dance. This is the only reason I haven’t headed home. They’re expecting me to start working in an hour.”

“You’re volunteering?” Skylar’s eyes brightened. “I didn’t expect you’d do something like that.”

“Yeah, something like that,” I responded flatly.

It wasn’t exactly optional. I could read the writing on the wall and it was strongly suggested that I volunteer. I wouldn’t normally waste my time in the name of a social event for teenagers. I had none of those thoughts of being young again or experiencing the youth that I missed out on as a child. I had been quite happy as an adult and only felt irritated that the person who killed me was a mere child, although only by this world’s standard. Then again, there appeared to be a bit of a time differential between the two worlds. While Aiko’s coma had only lasted a week, he had been in my world for two years before breaking down my door. He had been a 19-year-old man when he broke down my door and killed me. Since that had been a full two weeks now, did that mean four years had gone by since then? I could only keep wondering.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I-I’ll be at the dance.” As Skylar spoke, her face turned red. “It’s just, I already have tickets, so I might as well go!”

“I understand.”

She was suffering from a version of sunk cost fallacy. I had always theorized about such a thing, but I had discovered during my random internet sleuthing that it had a name in this world. Since she already had acquired the tickets, she felt she had to use them since she had already sunk a cost into them. As someone who had often become caught up in my work, I had often wasted countless resources on projects that went nowhere with the hopes of some inevitable payoff that never came. It was something I could sympathize with.

“You do?” Her face brightened, and a smile grew on her face.

“Y-yeah…”

I heard a book thud as a boy behind me dropped it. Skylar was a rather beautiful girl, but she rarely smiled. She usually wore a melancholy expression on her face, as if little could satisfy her. Even I found myself losing my breath for a moment at her appearance. Was she so happy to find someone who understood such a minor thing? She should be more careful. If you attract enough attention, some of it was bound to be negative.

She seemed to notice she was being looked at, and her smile disappeared, a small tinge of pink touching her cheeks. “I-I will see you tonight, okay?”

She turned and ran away. I had opened my mouth to speak, but she was already gone before I could tell her that I was planning on setting up the dance, and had no intention of participating in it. It was unlikely I’d cross paths with her that night. I shook my head. It didn’t matter to me anyway. It wasn’t like I had been dishonest or something.

I went back to reading through my books while thinking about my plans. While I did want to regain the strength I used to possess as a flesh mage, I didn’t plan to share it with the world this time. I had no thoughts of bringing my knowledge to this world and making it better. Even if I could cure serious illnesses or solve world famine, this world wouldn’t appreciate me for it. As different as this world could be in some areas, I had learned enough to know that it was also the same in others. The rich and powerful would brand me a lunatic, fearful that I would steal their power. The masses would be so dumb they’d accept what the rich said without question, and I’d become an outcast again.

Of course, there was a solution to that. I could conquer the world. If I killed all of the powerful and left myself in charge, I could do whatever I wanted. I had no desire to do that though. It sounded like a lot of work, and as a ruler, I’d have to deal with people all day. Furthermore, I didn’t have that much confidence I could pull it off. My plan instead was to consolidate my power and then only use it to protect myself and those who were important to me.

That last part was a bit of a question mark. Who did I consider important to me? Aiko’s family was taking care of me now, but only because they believed I was Aiko. Did that mean that I was going to protect them? I didn’t think so. What about Lana, the young witch? So far, I didn’t feel any debt to her. As for Ivy, she was only a tool I was using. Why would I protect them? I supposed I had only been in this world for two weeks. It was too early to have people important to me. I guess I’d just protect myself then. Who was more important to me than myself?

The time in the library passed quickly and I finally left and headed to the auditorium where we’d be setting up the dance. It was after school now, and so the majority of the students had cleared out. Some were probably getting ready with the intent of coming back for the dance, while others were more like me, except they had the liberty to stay at home and pursue their interests.

As I walked into the auditorium, I found Miss Alma surrounded by a group of students, seemingly giving orders. One of the students near her turned to me and immediately broke into a smile.

“Aiko!” Lana shouted out, waving excitedly.

When Miss Alma heard my name, the normal pleasant smile she afforded to most students flickered for a moment and she stiffened visibly. Her eyes went in my direction. This brought the eyes of every other student there as well. Lana seemed oblivious to this, running a few steps toward me. Her movements caused her chest which appeared much larger on her frame that had lost so much weight to bounce in a very obvious way that immediately caught many boys’ eyes.

Perhaps, I should have developed the potion to take some fat off the chest as well so that things were more proportional. She had lost a lot of weight but kept all of the curves. It ended up giving her an hourglass form that most women would envy. She was dressed more conservatively than she had the first day she was back, but it was still difficult to hide a body like hers, especially when her movements seemed to exaggerate those attributes.

“You’re volunteering as well?” I guessed.

“Mm!” She nodded. “After I heard Aiko was… ahhh… ahem… I mean, I had always planned to volunteer. I was surprised to hear that Aiko is here as well!”

“I see, I guess it’s fate then,” I responded dryly.

“F-fate?” Her eyes widened like she had just had some kind of revelation.

“Aiko.” Another person approached, and I noticed for the first time that Ivy was present as well.

Ivy was quite beautiful too, but she was skilled at keeping her profile low. Perhaps, that was why she had started a friendship with Lana. Lana drew all of the attention, and it became easy to miss Ivy next to her, even though she was just as attractive, if a bit less voluptuous.

“You came as well?” I blinked. “What about… um… that other thing?”

“Ah, my parents are watching my daughter right now since it’s the weekend. I was able to come.” She smiled.

I blinked in surprise. She had spoken loudly enough that other people could have heard her. I thought she was trying to keep it a secret?

“Is… that okay?” I asked cautiously.

She seemed to understand what I meant, her smile growing slightly. “Yeah… it’s fine. I don’t… I don’t want to hide it anymore. I’m not ashamed of my daughter, or my life, so it’s fine.”

I nodded. It was good she was being true to herself. Plus, I no longer have to worry about accidentally leaking it myself.

“Aren’t you popular.” A third girl pushed her way between Lana and Ivy before glaring at me.

I had recognized the girl, but only because Naomi had shown me a picture of her. She had wild red hair, rich red lips, and a face that looked slightly angry. She had pale skin and freckles, and the only reason she couldn’t be called more beautiful was that the expression on her face came off as a bit volatile.

“Rosita is speaking to Aiko now?” I heard one of the boy’s whispers.

“When did he get so popular with so many cute girls?” Another boy whispered back.

I was wondering that myself.